[137gb barrier] -

Posted by: nitestick

[b] How to break the 137gb barrier[SIZE=3] Warning! this is a lengthy read![/SIZE] [/b]

[i]Written by H4x3r and Nitestick[/i]

Index:

[b] I. What causes the barrier

II. Solutions to the barrier
a. Windows 98
b. Windows 2k & XP
c. Other Solutions

III. How to slipstream SP2 into a Windows Xp install disk[/b]
a. Links

[b]I. [i]What causes the barrier?[/i][/b].... The previous standard for IDE/ATA interface uses 28-bit addressing which cannot recognize more than 137.4 GB of storage. To overcome this capacity barrier, larger hard drives have adopted a 48-bit addressing system which must be used in newer computer systems with updated controller chips/cards, BIOS codes, and operating system service packs.

Certain operating system utilities such as scandisk and defrag do not work properly with hard disks more than 137gb.

To avoid problems, partition your hard disks with 137gb or less.
If you still desire more than 137gb in a partition your hard disk must have the latest service packs and BIOS updates along with a 48bit controller card (if it isn't built into your motherboard. Newer motherboards needn't worry.)

32GB barrier:

If your BIOS was released before June 1999 your system may stall with drives larger than 32GB. The only solution is to update your BIOS.

Most hard disk manufactuers provide a partition CD which allows users to low-level format hard disks and create paritions if desired. This may be a work-around to those who do not have or do not want the latest service packs. You must have an integrated controller that supports 48bit lba or buy a controller card that supports 48bit lba.

[b]II. [i] Solutions to the barrier[/i][/b]

[b]IIa. Windows 98[/b]

Windows 98SE on a PCI Controller Card:

Controller cards support ATA interface disc drives through their own onboard BIOS and Windows device drivers. Since the drives are supported by drivers that emulate the SCSI driver approach, the native Windows 137GB ATA limitation does not apply since those drivers are not in use.

If your disc drives are recognized by the controller BIOS when the system is first powered on but later the drives are not seen by Windows then the device drivers for the controller card need to be installed. See your controller card documentation for direction.

lso, the native Windows 98SE ScanDisk and Defrag utilities are limited to smaller partition sizes and may not function on partitions greater than 127GB. There are no fixes available from Microsoft for this limitation. Third-party software may be available to defrag and monitor larger FAT32 file systems. Seagate recommends creating partitions of a size that can be managed by the native Windows 98SE ScanDisk and Defrag utilities.

Microsoft has issued updates that relate specifically to ATA (IDE) interface disc drives and Windows 98SE limitations and recommends that you keep the OS updated with the latest drivers. For more information, see the following Microsoft articles:
Q273017 - "Windows IDE Hard Drive Cache package"
Q263044 - "Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB"
Q184006 - "Limitations of FAT32 File System" (regarding the ScanDisk tool).

[b]IIb. [i]Windows 2k & XP[/i][/b]

W2K and XP users must have the latest service packs installed to access more than 137GB.

Enabling 48bit LBA for:
[url="http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=305098"]Windows 2K[/url]
[url="http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...Ben-us%3B303013"]Windows XP[/url]

[b]IIc. [i] Other Solutions[/i][/b]

Formatting: extra space beyond 137gb can be formatted as another partition.

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!

Merging Partitions: By using software such as Partition Magic or BootIT NG you may format the remaining space and then merge it with a 127gb partition you have already made. This should be done AFTER installing one of the service packs

[b]III. [i]How to slipstream SP2 into a Windows Xp install disk[/i][/b]

Why we might need to do this:

1. To keep from having to install SP2 after we already setup windows.

2. So when we install Windows XP on a hard disk larger than 137gb it will see and be able to and format the partition in NTFS format

[b][i]Procedure:[/i][/b]

[b]Building Directories[/b]

The first step is to build a directory structure to hold the files that will be used in the CD creation process. It's a simple structure, requiring nothing more than a few folders. It doesn't matter what names you use for your folders or where you locate them on your hard drive, but most users find drive C the easiest. I created the folders shown below, located on Drive C, and used the XP- prefix for each one so they would all be located together for easy access. Create whatever folders you are comfortable with or use the ones below if you want to copy and paste commands later in the tutorial.

XP
XP-SP2
XP-BootImage

[b]Copying and Extracting Files[/b]

The first step is to insert the Windows XP CD and copy the entire contents into the XP folder or the equivalent folder in your structure.
Before copying the XP CD make sure that the system is set to display all hidden and system files to ensure a complete copy of all files on the CD. The settings to control what files are visible are located in Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View tab. Make sure [Show hidden files and folders] radio button is selected and [Hide protected operating system files] is unchecked.

The second step is to navigate to where you downloaded the Service Pack 2 file. If you downloaded SP2 from Microsoft it will most likely be named WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe. Copy the file to the XP-SP2 folder if it wasn't downloaded there initially.
Use the Run dialogue shown below to extract the contents of SP2.

The Run dialogue box is accessed from [Start] [Run]
The command to begin the extraction is: C:\XP-SP2\WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe -x

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/Slipstream%20SP2%20Final/SP32-20040807-125756.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/Slipstream%20SP2%20Final/SP32-20040807-125903.gif[/img]

The prompt for where to store the extracted files shown above will open. I used the default C:\XP-SP2 but again, you can choose an alternate location if you wish.

[b]Updating The Windows Share[/b]

Apply the extracted Service Pack to Windows XP files in the XP folder that were copied in the first step using the [Run] dialogue box.

The Run dialogue box is accessed from [Start] [Run]
The command to apply the Service Pack is: C:\XP-SP2\i386\Update\Update.exe -S:C:\XP

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/Slipstream%20SP2%20Final/SP32-20040807-130107.gif[/img]

As shown below, Service Pack 2 is being integrated into the Windows installation folder.

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/Slipstream%20SP2%20Final/SP32-20040807-130637.gif[/img]

Successful completion of the integration process.

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/Slipstream%20SP2%20Final/SP32-20040807-131013.gif[/img]

[b] Extract the Imaging File [/b]

In order to make a slipstreamed CD bootable it's necessary to add an image file during the burning process. You need to extract the file Microsoft Corporation.img and save it to a folder. For my testing I just created a XP-BootImage folder on the C:\ drive. There are a number of ways to perform the extraction but the easiest is to use ISO Buster.

With the Windows XP CD in your CD drive, open ISO Buster. Click on Bootable CD in the left pane then right click Microsoft Corporation.img in the right pane, finally clicking Extract Microsoft Corporation.img file.

[img]http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/SlipStream/pic25.gif[/img]

Extract the file to the C:\XP-BootImage folder previously created or your equivalent.

[b]Burning the disk[/b]

With the preparation out of the way it's time to actually burn the CD. There are a number of different burning or CD creation programs that can be used to accomplish this task. I've included instructions here for Easy CD and DVD Creator 6 by Roxio and another set of instructions for Nero Burning ROM 6-SE. While the terminology and screens may vary depending on your CD burning program choice and version, the principles remain the same and can be easily adapted no matter what burning software is being used. Click on the burning instructions of choice below.

[url="http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd_roxio.htm"] Burning the Windows XP/SP2 Slipstreamed CD Roxio Easy CD and DVD Creator 6[/url]

[url="http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstreamed_xpsp2_cd_nero.htm"]Burning the Windows XP/SP2 Slipstreamed CD
NERO Burning ROM 6-SE[/url]

[b]FAQ[/b]
Q: Why is it called the 137gb barrier when the drive is shown as 127gb in windows?
A: 137GB refers to the metric number of bytes (as do hard drive manufacturers) in which the prefixes kilo, mega, giga etc are rounded to a multiple of 10. kilo being 1000, mega 1000000 and giga 1000000000. however computers operate in binary so the definition of these prefixes has been changed to fit the difference in numbers. for instance a kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes not 1000 bytes. therefore a megabyte is 1024x1024 and a gigabyte 1024x1024x1024 etc, binary quantities of bytes use an "i" in the suffix eg: MB vs. MiB and GB vs. GiB. so if the number 137,000,000,000 is taken (137gb) and divided by the number of bytes in 1 GiB (1,073,741,824 bytes) the number 127.59 results. hence 137GB=127GiB.

[i]if you would like to add a link to a useful site, please PM either Nitestick or H4x3r[/i]
E-mail adresses removed to avoid spamming of our mailboxes. if you PM me i'll still be more than happy to try and help

[b]A BIG THANKS TO H4X3R WHO DID SO MUCH HARD WORK TOWARDS THIS GUIDE[/b]

Posted by: nitestick

thanks to whoever stickied this :)

as soon as exams are over i'll update the first post and add as much info as i can get on the barrier.

Posted by: H4x3r

Solution:

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:

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 [URL=http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/]Intel Application Accelerator[/URL]. Intel's Application Accelerator supports the full capacity of drives larger than 137 GB.

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.

Of course these solutions are for people who do not have windows XP SP1 or higher

Posted by: nitestick

thanks for the extra info :) now added in first post

Posted by: H4x3r

Noobs -

When installing an ultra large hard disk (bigger than 137gb), you must ensure your BIOS and service packs are up to date.

Operating systems and system BIOS have separate limitations that are related to specific hard drive capacities that affect how your hard drive will be supported.

137GB barrier:

The previous standard for IDE/ATA interface uses 28-bit addressing which cannot recognize more than 137.4 GB of storage. To overcome this capacity barrier, larger hard drives have adopted a 48-bit addressing system which must be used in newer computer systems with updated controller chips/cards, BIOS codes, and operating system service packs.

W2K and XP users must have the latest service packs installed to access more than 137GB.

Certain operating system utilities such as scandisk and defrag do not work properly with hard disks more than 137gb.

To avoid problems, partition your hard disks with 137gb or less.
If you still desire more than 137gb in a partition your hard disk must have the latest service packs and BIOS updates along with a 48bit controller card (if it isn't built into your motherboard. Newer motherboards needn't worry.)

32GB barrier:

If your BIOS was released before June 1999 your system may stall with drives larger than 32GB. The only solution is to update your BIOS.

Most hard disk manufactuers provide a partition CD which allows users to low-level format hard disks and create paritions if desired. This may be a work-around to those who do not have or do not want the latest service packs.

SATA drives:

If running SATA with XP, it is NOT recommended to run SATA along with IDE/ATA. (Use one or the other.) XP sometimes gets confused where to look for the OS and normally defaults to IDE/ATA. You must have the appropriate SATA drivers when installing a SATA drive(s) on your system. XP does not default to SATA formatting otherwise.

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]Why do they call it 137 barrier? Cause the drives usually get limited to 127, not 137.[/color]

Posted by: H4x3r

i'm probably wrong..but 137gb might be the unformatted barrier..and it's 127 when it's formatted and all the indexing is made on the drive

Posted by: chevytrucknut

Sooo, does this mean since I'll have a BRAND spankin new Windows XP (with SP2) it shouldn't be a problem? I read the above posts but that was a LOT of info to take in.

Posted by: H4x3r

right...you'll be fine

Posted by: nitestick

to the major: because it is 137 metric GB. which is 137,000,000,000 bytes. a true gigabyte (binary gigabyte) is 1024x1024x1024 bytes not 1000x1000x1000 bytes. so if you take the metric number of bytes, 137,000,000,000 and divide it by a binary GB (GiB) which is 1,073,741,824 bytes you get the figure 127GiB.

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]I thought so, I tried calculating it but my math skills suck.[/color]

Posted by: RockyZ

I have that problem with my current computer. I have a fairly recent MB. I also have WIN XP Pro Sp1, what do you suggest I do to fix the problem? Would downloading that software you listed help?

Posted by: H4x3r

get SP2 and it should solve the problem

Posted by: Apokalipse

if you don't have an XP disk with SP1 or 2, you can slipstream SP1 and 2 onto a burned disk. I believe it's legal to do so if you have bought XP

Posted by: H4x3r

I have written a very detailed guide for this topic...which covers how to slipstream SP2 into a Windows XP install disk...it will be posted as soon as i can get in touch with Nitestick so he can edit the post:D

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]I used X-Setup to enable 48-bit LBA. [url]www.x-setup.net[/url][/color]

Posted by: Bruce

I saw this thread and had to join, I'd like to add for users of controller cards, just because the card's bios recognizes the full amount, dont assume the driver will.This was the problem I was just having.I had to force the driver into XP for it to work.

Here's a pretty cool site with lotsa info on the subject, and a cool little utility for checking if your OS supports lba and an option to set it if it doesn't.

[URL=http://]http://www.48bitlba.com/tools.htm[/URL]

Posted by: H4x3r

okay...will add it

Posted by: nitestick

theres been a massive update to the first post. the guide has been completely rewritten by h4x3r. the guide is going to be a continual work in progress so if anybody has anything they can contribute post it and we'll see if it can be worked in. next up i think i'll add some info about the barrier in xbox consoles

Posted by: H4x3r

ah yes...the guide is finally up and running :D

Posted by: nitestick

pictures are now up and running in case you haven't noticed :). a FAQ section has been started and there are now email links for myself and H4x3R.

Posted by: RicoDirenzo

Back in the Olden days, the originial Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface(ATAPI) or Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) all used a 28 bit addressing mode. That allowed for the addressing of 268, 435, 456 and 512 byte sectors only (128GiB or 137 GB). The newer speicifications allow 48 bit addressing, this extends the limit to 128 PiB or 144 petabytes because the doubling of the bit rate in exponential!!

1 petabit = 1 x 10 to the 15th bits = 1,000,000,000,000,000 bits. 6 bits per byte = 166,666,666,666,666 mB x 128 = 144,000,000,000,000,000 MB or 144,000,000,000,000 Gb. Holy Crap Batman!!!!! Now go ahead and fill up that drive!!!!!! LOL!!!
Yea like the 144 trillion Gb drive limit wil be to small exactly when? Hehehehehehehe!!!

Posted by: shdwsclan

I believe I can find enough pr0n to fill that up....

Posted by: H4x3r

lol

Posted by: nitestick

or if i keep buying ;) new games lol

Posted by: crazy_horse1

hi guy, i am new here and have been looking for a solution to my problem. I have just bought a new Hitachi 250GB Deskstar T7K50, and am running it as my slave drive with my Maxtor 130GB master, and as seems to be the problem with this big drives is that windows cannot recognise it in "My computer", although the drive does show up in device manager, and also within the bios. I have Windows XP service pack 2, and the HDInfo utiltiy recognises the drive.
Here is the rest of my setup, can anyone please help!

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Gigabyte NF-CK804 MOBO
Bios release date 12/17/2004
1GB DDR RAM

Posted by: H4x3r

format it

Posted by: Burnselk

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by H4x3r [/i] [B]
To avoid problems, partition your hard disks with 137gb or less.
[/B][/QUOTE]

H4x3r, are you recommending that I partition my new WD 250GB hard drive with something like Partition Magic?

I just installed it yesterday and I have the 137GB (acturally 127) limitation as well....and I don't have SP1 or SP2 installed.

I prefer going the simple route and if partitioning the hard drive is the simple route....that's what I'll do. Is there any free partitioning software out there?

I've read elsewhere that large hard drives should be partitioned in smaller drives to prevent problems.

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]It's a disk size limit, not partition size limit. I don't think you can see a 60GB partition on a 137GB+ hard disk if you don't have LBA 48bit enabled.[/color]

Posted by: nitestick

partition limit for 32 bit LBA is i think the same as the drive limit (minus space for FAT table etc)

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]Yes, but how would you make a partition bigger than your hard disk anyway?[/color]

Posted by: nitestick

well obviously it can't. i think i was mistaken anyway. partition size depends on the file system. FAT32 is constrained basically to the same as LBA32 i think it is at 127GiB.

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]FAT32 can be up to 2TB. It's just that Windows cannot detect a disk larger than 127GiB/137GB in LBA 32bit mode. Regardless of file system. You can however partition the disk in 32bit LBA mode I think, but you will only have 127GiB and if you enable 48bit LBA everything will be gone until you set it back to 32bit LBA.[/color]

Posted by: nitestick

sorry, you're right major. :( silly me lol. as soon as you said 2TB i remembered

Posted by: roadrunnerhemi

so is this why my 120gb Seagate in my pc registers 112gb capacity in disk defrag?

Posted by: nitestick

its not because of the barrier its due to the difference in binary and metric gigabytes. a true gigabyte is 1024x1024x1024 bytes. the size the manufacturer tells you takes a gigabyte as 1000x1000x1000 bytes

Posted by: Burnselk

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by TheMajor [/i]
[B][color=darkred]FAT32 can be up to 2TB. It's just that Windows cannot detect a disk larger than 127GiB/137GB in LBA 32bit mode. Regardless of file system. You can however partition the disk in 32bit LBA mode I think, but you will only have 127GiB and if you enable 48bit LBA everything will be gone until you set it back to 32bit LBA.[/color] [/B][/QUOTE]

I was told to install Windows XP SP1 and I'd be able to access my entire 250GB drive. Right now I can only access 137GB.

Tell me, what does SP1 have to do with enabling 48bit LBA? Because I too have been told to enable 48bit LBA so I can access my entire 250GB HD.

What must I do in order to access my 250GB HD; enable 48bit LBA.....or install SP1.......or must I do both?

Does anyone really know for sure which action I need to take in order to "see" my new entire 250GB HD? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks.

Posted by: nitestick

have you already formatted the hdd? what sort of hardware are you using. feel free to PM me or H4x3R instead of posting in this thread people.

if you have already formatted the hdd the partition you formatted will remain at 127GiB and you can format the rest as another partition. don't worry about enabling 48 bit LBA if you have SP1 or SP2 installed. i need to know whether the hdd is SATA or IDE and your motherboard/controller card if you are using one

Posted by: TheMajor

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Burnselk [/i]
[B]I was told to install Windows XP SP1 and I'd be able to access my entire 250GB drive. Right now I can only access 137GB.

Tell me, what does SP1 have to do with enabling 48bit LBA? Because I too have been told to enable 48bit LBA so I can access my entire 250GB HD.

What must I do in order to access my 250GB HD; enable 48bit LBA.....or install SP1.......or must I do both?

Does anyone really know for sure which action I need to take in order to "see" my new entire 250GB HD? If so, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkred]Either of them will work. You can install SP1a or SP2, you can edit the registry manually (search google), or you can use X-Setup to enable 48bit LBA mode (see link in my sig).[/color]

Posted by: alilxmas

Cant you just install Xp with SP1 on it and after installing, then go to the MS update web page and install SP2 then it will reconize your full drive.

And you can use something like partation magic to slam them back together again and make one large partation?

Posted by: TheMajor

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by alilxmas [/i]
[B]Cant you just install Xp with SP1 on it and after installing, then go to the MS update web page and install SP2 then it will reconize your full drive.

And you can use something like partation magic to slam them back together again and make one large partation? [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkred]Both SP1a and SP2 enable 48 bit LBA. Yes, you can use Partition Magic to merge partitions.[/color]

Posted by: takezo3001

I just went into Administrative Tools>Computer management>Disk management, and formatted the HDD, added my partitions, and was completely set! Win 2Kpro SP4!
EDIT: BTW: My HDD's a Maxtor 300gb!

Posted by: Aspirin

This is a sweet thread. Good practical solutions. I met one hardware guy already that just loaded on the OS to whatever size it recognized and then resized the partition afterwards to take the rest of the hard drive.. lol. He was a crazy guy.

Posted by: Snake-Eyes

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by nitestick [/i]
[B][b]FAQ[/b]
Q: Why is it called the 137gb barrier when the drive is shown as 127gb in windows?
A: 137GB refers to the metric number of bytes (as do hard drive manufacturers) in which the prefixes kilo, mega, giga etc are rounded to a multiple of 10. kilo being 1000, mega 1000000 and giga 1000000000. however computers operate in binary so the definition of these prefixes has been changed to fit the difference in numbers. for instance a kilobyte is actually 1024 bytes not 1000 bytes. therefore a megabyte is 1024x1024 and a gigabyte 1024x1024x1024 etc, binary quantities of bytes use an "i" in the suffix eg: MB vs. MiB and GB vs. GiB. so if the number 137,000,000,000 is taken (137gb) and divided by the number of bytes in 1 GiB (1,073,741,824 bytes) the number 127.59 results. hence 137GB=127GiB. [/B][/QUOTE]

Just some nitpicking, it's actually 1 [b]byte[/b] equals 8 [b]bits[/b]. The "binary KiB/MiB/GiB" are called [b]bits[/b]. Again, just me nitpicking. :)

Posted by: Burnselk

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by nitestick [/i]
[B]have you already formatted the hdd? what sort of hardware are you using.[/QUOTE]

I installed the WD 250GB HDD using the WD software....I suppose it contained the formatting instructions....I took no formatting action of my own. I wouldn't know how to format a new HDD anyway.

[QUOTE]i need to know whether the hdd is SATA or IDE and your motherboard/controller card if you are using one [/B][/QUOTE]

The new drive is a WD IDE HDD.....and I don't know what you mean by mobo/controller card....so lets assume I'm not using one.

Hope this enables you to help me.

P.S. I already have several GB of data on the new HDD. Will this be lost if I do a partition now?

Posted by: nitestick

wow somehow in the original guide it seems i failed to mention resizing the partition as an option. it is relatively easy to do this using a program such as BootItNG or Partition Magic. i am posting this because apparently there is now a 24 hour edit timeout on posts :( and i couldn't add it to the first post

Posted by: TheMajor

[color=darkred]You would still only have 137GB, though.[/color]

Posted by: nitestick

that would be if you didn't meet the hardware requirements or software requirements though. if you later installed SP1 or SP2 you could resize the partition although i haven't tried myself.

Posted by: Burnselk

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by nitestick [/i]
[B]that would be if you didn't meet the hardware requirements or software requirements though. if you later installed SP1 or SP2 you could resize the partition although i haven't tried myself. [/B][/QUOTE]

If you already have several GB of data saved to the drive that you intend to partition, would you lose any of the data?

I'd like to partition my 250GB HDD into three partitions; 100GB, 100GB; and 50GB for my system backup.....or something similar.

And I'd like to use both 100GB partitions for photos and videos that I've downloaded/saved. I can delete the downloaded video once I've burned it to DVD.

Posted by: nitestick

with partition magic it shouldn't be much trouble to split and resize partitions, there should be no data loss

Posted by: NurthinAziz

How funny xD My hard drive is 127 so will that cause me to have a barrier? >.<

Posted by: talldude123

No

Posted by: Biggie578

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by H4x3r [/i]
[B]Solution:

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:

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 [URL=http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/]Intel Application Accelerator[/URL]. Intel's Application Accelerator supports the full capacity of drives larger than 137 GB.

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.

Of course these solutions are for people who do not have windows XP SP1 or higher [/B][/QUOTE]

So without an intel chipset or buying the pci controller I cant get past the barrier on windows 2k? The registry fix didnt work for me.

Posted by: TheMajor

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggie578 [/i]
[B]So without an intel chipset or buying the pci controller I cant get past the barrier on windows 2k? The registry fix didnt work for me. [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkred]No, the registry fix should work for any chipset; as long as it doesn't have a lower limit like very old computers do.
If the registry fix doesn't work; use X-Setup to enable 48bit LBA mode (check the link in my sig) to make sure it is applied correctly.[/color]

Posted by: nitestick

make sure your 2K installation has SP4, using a controller card should circumvent hardware barriers.

Posted by: XxDeceptoRxX

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by takezo3001 [/i]
[B]I just went into Administrative Tools>Computer management>Disk management, and formatted the HDD, added my partitions, and was completely set! Win 2Kpro SP4!
EDIT: BTW: My HDD's a Maxtor 300gb! [/B][/QUOTE]

i would still have 127 if i didn't read this thread
after getting sp1 i did what you did

Posted by: 0tz

This is really mind confusing for me upon backreading..

I have A WinXP pro installer (no SPs)...I have installed SP2 but still it shows only 127gb...

Posted by: nitestick

you formatted the drive without a service pack, your extra hdd space is there but has not been partitioned. you can either format it as a second partition or merge it with the one you have using software.

Posted by: 0tz

Can i do these?

Im gonna reformat again my entire hd, partition it into two 80GB. In that way, can I utilize the whole 160GB?

Posted by: TheMajor

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by 0tz [/i]
[B]Can i do these?

Im gonna reformat again my entire hd, partition it into two 80GB. In that way, can I utilize the whole 160GB? [/B][/QUOTE]

[color=darkred]Yes[/color]

Posted by: bk11

[QUOTE]Solution: 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: 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. 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. Of course these solutions are for people who do not have windows XP SP1 or higher[/QUOTE]

This is not entirely accurate...I have Windows Xp Home SP2 and I just put a Seagate 400 gb drive in my pc. I did however have to get the latest updated accelerator for my 810 chip. This quoted post is correct, except for the last statement.