WinXP and 250GB HDD's
 

I just replaced my HDD with a 250GB unit. Apparently, XP original only supports to a 137GB partition. I found out how to enable the rest of the drive via the registry, but I don't have the keys that it lists to modify, and if I add them in, it doesn't help. I have installed SP2, and that didn't help, either. There's something about 48-bit LBA. Anybody have any help to offer on this?

It’s not your OS, it’s your controller, is this plugged into your motherboard, or somewhere else, either way, check the manufactures site for firmware/bios updates.

I believe that you need to slipstream your copy of winxp with sp2
here is one site I found with instructions on how to do this
http://www.helpwithwindows.com/Windo...p2-bootcd.html

When you have the sp2 files integrated in the install the updated files that winxp needs to support the larger hd will be there. The other option would be to use something like partitionmagic to resize your partition after xp has been installed.

yeah i had to slipstream my XPSP2 and it was a pain

even the original xp should be ok with a 250 gig hd. at least, mine had no problems with my 160 gig when I did the original install. I would look into a controller isue with the mobo.

As I previously stated, the 137 gig limit is firmware related, he needs to update the firmware on his disk controller... unless he set the jumper on the disk to limit the drive to 137 gigs...

I guess we will need to know what kind of pc/mobo/hd controller that DEI37 is running on to definitively answer the hd controller issue.

Have you checked in Computer management/disk managment to see if XP recognizes the whole drive, i.e. you have the rest of the hd available, just not in your current 137GB partition?

The controller will only show 137gigs no matter what size the harddrive. Disk management will only be able to report what the controller is telling it, in this case, 137gig.

Dilbert is correct that the controller will need to be updated to see past the lba48 limitation. Windows XP (pre service packs) only allowed up to 137gig, but this was fixed in SP1 for XP, so we're at the point to update the firmware now. Windows XP-SP2 can see up to 16 Terabytes or so I believe, this may have changed though.

How to enable 48-bit Logical Block Addressing support for ATAPI disk drives in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...en-us%3b303013

More Support
http://techpatterns.com/forums/about260.html

Yet more info: http://www.dewassoc.com/kbase/hard_d...e_barriers.htm
Due to BIOS limitations as well as those unique to Windows®, partitioning and formatting drives larger than 137 Gigabytes without proper driver or controller support will result in data loss when storing data to the drive beyond the 137 GB Barrier.

In order for you system to recognize more than 137 GB you will need to utilize one of the following recommended solutions:

1. If you have a motherboard that has a Intel chipset (810, 810E, 810E2, 815, 815, 815E, 815EP, 815P, 820, 820E, 830M, 830MP, 830MG, 840, 845, 850, or 860) please visit Intel's web site and download the Intel Application Accelerator. Intel's Application Accelerator supports the full capacity of drives larger than 137 GB.
2. If you do not have a motherboard that has a Intel chipset then it is recommended that you purchase an Ultra ATA 133 PCI card that supports 48 bit Logical Block Addressing (LBA). You can purchase the Maxtor Ultra ATA 133 PCI Card, which supports drives that are larger than 137 GB, directly from us or your local distributor.

Relatedly:

I have a pentium 166 (yes, with MMX ;) ) that runs linux.
It has a drive with a reported capacity of 300 GB.

The disc runs fine and is completely accessible for the full 300 GB (divided in 2 partitions: 230 GB / 70 GB).

I never updated the firmware on my board (purchased in '97) and I don't believe the disc is properly recognized by the BIOS. Still, linux manages the disc just fine.

Shouldn't MS Windows be able to access the drive in a similar fashion and 'just work'?

No.

Under the rules of customer driven development, sure, but this is the Windows universe.

Anyway, too many programs depend on the entrenched crap. All the block math would be screwed up between drivers and applications and we'd end up with more knots in the spaghetti.

And it would have meant pulling engineering resources off DRM and Trusted Computing (gag).