Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2004 17:17:22 +1000 From: Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] OT: 30GB BIOS barrier on Dell Dimension
A disk overlay might help to use a disk up to 128 GiB (= 137 GB in SI units).
Bear in mind though that AFAIK the drive overlay is designed to get around the 8GB limit ... I don't know if the 30GB limit is due to the same thing (if not, the drive overlay may not help much). Having said that, no harm in trying given (I presume) the hard drive is blank already anyway (just make sure when you're testing that you DO test right up to the end of the drive!).
For still larger disks LBA48 is needed, I don't know if that can be fully emulated in software. Perhaps the connector cable/bracket needs more wires/pins for LBA48? if so, you're out of luck.
Nope, 48 bit LBA uses (AFAIK anyway) exactly the same hardware, it's purely a firmware/software issue.
Besides, also the operating system must be able to support it. Not all OS may be able to.
Win2k and above and (AFAIK) all modern desktop flavours of Linux will do it. Note that for some weird and wonderful reason, Win2k and XP require a reg hack to get onboard IDE controllers to use 48 bit LBA (see below).
> Then there was the option of installing an external 160GB HDD via a USB 2.0 > cable. Anyone know if I'd still be running into the 30GB barrier there?
No problem, as it is the responsibility of the USB I/O and not the (mainboard) IDE controller. IDE and USB Mass Storage are very different things.
It'll certainly get around the 30GB barrier (and if you're lucky it might the motherboard might even let you boot off USB2.0). As for the 48 bit LBA issue, I had a weird experience with this one which I may have recounted earlier ... I had a 200GB drive and a Win2k install without the reghack required to get it to use 48 bit LBA. Plugged the drive into the onboard connector, only saw 128GB (or thereabouts). Plugged it into a USB2.0 IDE converter (actually a hacked 2.5" USB2.0 HDD case!) and it saw the full drive. Enabled the reg hack and both the USB2.0 IDE converter and onboard IDE controllers saw the full drive. Not entirely sure why Windows was able to see the full hard drive even without the reg hack given AFAIK the reg hack works at a level where both types of interfaces should have looked the same but there you go ... heh
Good luck!
- Raymond
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