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My motherboard doesn't support drives bigger than 137 GB, and I do have the latest BIOS update. I have a 160 GB IDE drive that I'd like to use for storage, so I was thinking about getting a Promise "PCI to SATA Controller Card, Model SATA150 TX2plus". It has two SATA ports, and one IDE port that I can connect two IDE drives to.
If I install this card and connect my 160 GB drive to it, will I be able to use the full capacity? I'm just hoping that my motherboard's limitations don't restrict the controller card.
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Is the 160g drive a SATA drive? If not the card won't help.Originally Posted by Brent212
I believe the 137g limit is a Windoze limitation and not your BIOS...
What r u running for Windoze - W2K and XP should not have any problems, as I am running 2 160g drive as well as an additional 80g drive...
makntraksIn the theater of the mind...
It's always good to know where the exits are... -
Okay, I came up with another, possibly better alternative for my dilemma - buy a new motherboard. The promise card costs around $50. For 10 bucks more I could just get a new motherboard, which should increase my system's performance by at least a little bit, even without a new CPU or memory. My question now is, are there any problems with doing this? I'm somewhat of a newbie to this sort of thing, but are there any difficulties with simply switching out motherboards while leaving all the other components alone? I have checked into it a bit, and it looks like my processor (Athlon Thunderbird 1 GHz, socket A) should work with the motherboard I'm looking at (ABit KV7). Also, my 256 MB stick of 2100 Kingston should also be compatible with the new board. Other than that, are there any problems with taking a CPU and heatsink+fan off a motherboard after sitting there for about 3 years and installing them onto a new motherboard?
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Well, both windows and your hardware can be cause the limitation. I believe the software poses a problem at the 128 GB mark, and hardware limits drives to 137 GB, though. However, I have XP with SP1, which fixes any software limitations. My motherboard simply won't support drives bigger than 137 GB.Originally Posted by makntraks
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The card WILL help if it has support for 48-bit LBA. It doesn't have to be an SATA drive since the controller has an IDE port.
Nothing can stop me now, 'cause I don't care anymore. -
Nice, thanks for the response. Yes, the Promise does have support for 48-bit LBA. I just wanted to make sure it'd work with my motherboard.
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I don't see why it wouldn't, the board isn't all that old. Thinking about it, I believe I have the exact same card, it came with my Maxtor 250GB ATA drive. So you should have no problems with it.
Nothing can stop me now, 'cause I don't care anymore. -
Yes, I had no doubts about the Promise card. That's a new card and definitely supports 48 bit LBA. I just wasn't sure if, in general, a controller card would be able to sidestep the limitation created by an older motherboard. Now I know they can.
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The Promise card does support drives larger than 137, and will support both SATA (2) and IDE (1). It has it's own controllers so as long as the motherboard is PCI 2+ compliant there would be no hardware problems. I've seen the card online for $42 + $1 shipping.
As far as software goes, you need XP at SP1.
The only issue (not really an issue) with a new motherboard is that it will require a completely different chipset driver set. The drivers will come with the board but you should do a complete reinstall of Windows or you will have problems.
The drive will work fine with what you have (cheapest solution) if you're willing to give up the 23 gig difference between 137 and 160. -
If I try swapping in a new motherboard without re-installing windows, what would be the best way to do it, as far as when to install the new drivers, etc. If it ends up not working, no biggie, but I'd like to try it to minimize the time spent working on my computer.
On a (somewhat) related note: my main computer, which has only one drive (120 GB samsung SATA), took a crap on me yesterday. The drive started clicking, and everything froze. When I reset the computer, the drive wasn't detected. A couple cntrl-alt-deletes later it was detected, but now it has errors that can't be fixed by windows check disk. Everytime I get into windows it will freeze up for 30 seconds or so randomly (but very often). So I popped in a backup IDE drive and installed windows and am now trying to salvage what I can from the SATA drive. It's reads very sporadically, though, so I'm thinking the drive is screwed. I've only had it about a month. I got it from newegg. I've heard they're pretty good about exchanges, so I'll probably send it back to them for a replacement. I'm just glad I'm able to get most of my stuff off it, although a few large files (VHS captures) won't copy, which sucks. -
Well, there isn't any special way to do it. You basically shut down. Swap motherboards. Power up and see what happens. XP will hopefully come up OK although it may immediately begin to "find new hardware". I would try not to let Windows install anything at this point and cancel out of anything calling for a disc or floppy. When you get past all that, immediately use the disc that came with your new motherboard and install the drivers there (usually chipset, USB 2.0, audio). After that go to My Computer>Device Manager and check for yellow tags. Hopefully there won't be any. Any "old" drivers will remain on your hard drive but not be used. If your computer won't come up in XP then try safe mode to install your new drivers.If I try swapping in a new motherboard without re-installing windows, what would be the best way to do it, as far as when to install the new drivers, etc. If it ends up not working, no biggie, but I'd like to try it to minimize the time spent working on my computer.
Some people favor a second approach which is to delete all the motherboard drivers in My Computer immediately before shutting down and swapping motherboards. I don't see much advantage to this approach and it does pose the risk you computer will lock up before you get done.
As I mentioned earlier (I think), getting a new motherboard is a really big deal to Windows. I'm convinced the extra effort to reinstall everything from scratch will pay off in a much more stable system in the future.
It's up to you. I guess you could take a shot at it with little risk but I would back up your data just in case a complete install is needed to get your machine up. -
Alright, thanks for your help. It really isn't a big deal, since I just use this computer mainly for storage, with a small drive running the OS. Before I put in the motherboard, I'll remove the other drives just to be safe, and if anything goes wrong, I can just reformat the smaller drive and re-install.
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With Windows 2000 and XP, swapping the motherboard will most likely result in a non-bootable system. Had this bad experience twice in the recent months.Originally Posted by Brent212
The only case in which the new motherboard will operate is if both the new and the old mobos have the same chipset. With the myriads of chipsets around, it's most likely they won't.
The easiest and safest way out is to get the extra RAID/SATA/IDE controller.The more I learn, the more I come to realize how little it is I know.
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