Motherboard & HDD Size Limit

[brinks]

My friend has an AOpen MX6B EZ motherboard and is planning to get a bigger hard drive, but the specs... limits his size. He wants a 200GB HDD.

MotherBoard Specs...
# Integrated DMA33 Controller
# Max Disk : 137GB [28 bits ATA Spec.]

I was wondering if there is anyway for a bigger hard drive to work with this motherboard. Not sure if updating the bios will make any difference.

 

[jolancer]

maybe he should not get a new HD and just save up a little bit more and he could prolly put together a nice budget system, there cheap nowadays.

 

[Nubius]

maybe he should not get a new HD and just save up a little bit more and he could prolly put together a nice budget system, there cheap nowadays.

Agreed....the board says what it says...I highly doubt the BIOS will have any effect on the max it can take but I suppose it is something to try, but they put that info in there for a reason. I would agree with jolancer...he should look into just upgrading his system specs.

 

[brinks]

Thanks for the help everyone, atleast now there is a few options that my friend can choose from now.

 

[gcr777]

ATA Controller

Here is the product that you're looking for:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=280534&CatId=508

This is what I have on my machine right now with a 160 GB and a 40 GB hard drive. Many large drives, though, come with this card included (mine was Maxtor and it did) which will save you $30. Hope this helps

 

[Nubius]

wonder how well that controller actually performs

Supports Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000 and Linux

no winXP?

and it says 'supports drives larger than 30mb' well then whats the MAX it supports? Not a bad little device though.....maybe I'll start throwin in a couple more HD's

 

[gcr777]

Ooops

Sorry about that link. I just threw it in there without researching. This is the card that I actually have in my system.

http://accessories.gateway.com/Acce...llers_316520/2494456_proddetail.htm?ref=merch

It DOES WORK! No matter how big your drive is!

Drives such as this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...ductCategoryId=pcmcat33200050001&type=product

come with Ultra ATA Controller cards.

Good luck!

 

[HoLoCroN]

Also remember, Windows XP does not support any drives over 137 GB unless it has SP1 or SP 2 installed. This might be tricky since most of the time the install is WITHOUT a service pack installed...

 

[Nubius]

Also remember, Windows XP does not support any drives over 137 GB unless it has SP1 or SP 2 installed. This might be tricky since most of the time the install is WITHOUT a service pack installed...

lol good point