System limitation on hard drive size

[JWorld]

Hi, guys

My system is HP Pentium III 1 GHz, with 60.0 Ultra DMA Hard drive and preinstalled Windows ME.

I guess this kind of OLD system is very likely to have a limitation on the size of hard drive that could be installed. But before I knew about this issue, I had already purchased an internal hard drive that has a size of 160 GB.

But I also found an article saying that if my hardware has 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support, I would NOT have this problem. So the question I am asking is How to determine if My PC's hardware has this kind of support or not?

Another way to overcome this limitation, as others suggested, is to installed Windows 2000 sp3 or later OR windows XP SP1 or later, regardless of the hardware condition. Is this statement true?

The information I gathered is quite confusing, and sometimes contradictory to each other. So I have to turn to you guys for help.

I am really appreciate for any relevant input.

 

[Freestone]

http://www.48bitlba.com/

for definitive information.

http://www.48bitlba.com/win98.htm

for answers regarding Windows ME. "Windows 98 and Me do not natively support 48-bit LBA drives larger than 137 GB."

In a nutshell for Windows 2000 and XP, BOTH your BIOS and the OS must support 48-bit LBA. Windows 2000 must be at least at SP3 level, and XP must be at least at SP1.

The referenced site also has a tool to test for 48-bit LBA compatibility, including BIOS, at

http://www.48bitlba.com/hdinfo.htm.

I've never used it.

 

[Freestone]

I should have mentioned that another way to check for BIOS support of 48-bit LBA is to install the drive into your system, then boot into BIOS and check if it reports the correct size of the drive. It so, you're in luck, if not, then check your system manufacturer's site for a possible BIOS upgrade that enables support.