From: BillW50 on
In news:hefn1o$cfr$1(a)news.eternal-september.org,
Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:22:01 -0500:
[...]
> Note that the entire issues only applies if you are using an IDE drive
> with the "real" IDE ports on the motherboard. For example, on a
> machine that DOES NOT support 48-bit LBA, you can take a 250GB IDE
> drive and connect it via an IDE to USB converter, and it can be used
> just fine (even for booting, with a single 250GB partition, if the
> BIOS supports USB drives for booting).

Actually Windows won't boot from an USB drive without about 3 pages of
registry hacks. As Windows resets the USB ports in the middle of booting
and then it loses it. Many Linux distros have the same problem. So it
isn't just Microsoft.

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2


From: Barry Watzman on
No; the issue is 48-bit LBA support. That requires 3 things:

1. Hardware support; a 48-bit LBA IDE port is actually [hardware]
different from a pre-48-bit LBA port.

2. BIOS support.

3. OS support.

I was PRESUMING that the Dell 6000 had the 1st two (if the BIOS support
is missing, a BIOS update may fix that).

I then gave a summary of the status of XP relative to OS support for
48-bit LBA (in XP). But certainly, if you want to use an IDE drive
larger than 120GB, it makes sense to update to SP2 or SP3.


notwobe wrote:

> Barry, if I understand what you are saying, the issue (assuming IDE) is
> related to XP Service Pack. So, your answer boils down to, yes, any
> available size will work but you are advised to update XP to SP3 (would
> not make much sense to stop at SP2). Is this correct?
>
> When I first read the question, my first thought was, there could be a
> Bios problem, not knowing the Inspiron 6000. For what it is worth, I
> have a 160G installed on an old Twinhead 9110 dating back year 2000
> running SP3.
>
> With regards to brands, I am not a big fan of WD drives but for lack of
> choice (my various machines only use IDE drives), I bought a WD 320 G
> nearly 2 years ago and so far, no problem. I concur with your preference
> for Hitachi.
>
From: ron on
Thanks to all for the very informative discussion so far. Yes, the
Inspiron 6000 uses IDE drives. Spent all last night downloading
windows updates which I assume include the Service Pacs needed. Is
there a way I can verify that on my machine?

There was some discussion (on the sites evaluating the drives) saying
that if I partition the HD into smaller drives for the operating
system, limitations on the HD size might not be an issue. Is that
fact or fiction? I have my drive partitioned into C, D, E, F and G.

My research seemed to show that people that bought the WD 250G over a
year ago don't seem to be reporting problems but drives bought within
the last 9 months seem to be dying. Most of the reports on the WD
320G were older and seemed not as prone to failure. A recent bad
batch maybe?

I'll see if I can find anything by Hitachi.

Thanks again, Ron
From: BillW50 on
In
news:09ee3cd0-fab1-4220-8232-9549cd82bf67(a)g23g2000vbr.googlegroups.com,
ron typed on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:44:09 -0800 (PST):
> Thanks to all for the very informative discussion so far. Yes, the
> Inspiron 6000 uses IDE drives. Spent all last night downloading
> windows updates which I assume include the Service Pacs needed. Is
> there a way I can verify that on my machine?

Yes, check under:

Control Panel
System (right click and choose Properties)

> There was some discussion (on the sites evaluating the drives) saying
> that if I partition the HD into smaller drives for the operating
> system, limitations on the HD size might not be an issue. Is that
> fact or fiction? I have my drive partitioned into C, D, E, F and G.

No! It will still be unusable after the barrier, if there is one.

> My research seemed to show that people that bought the WD 250G over a
> year ago don't seem to be reporting problems but drives bought within
> the last 9 months seem to be dying. Most of the reports on the WD
> 320G were older and seemed not as prone to failure. A recent bad
> batch maybe?

Very likely.

> I'll see if I can find anything by Hitachi.
>
> Thanks again, Ron

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2


From: Barry Watzman on
Re: "There was some discussion (on the sites evaluating the drives)
saying that if I partition the HD into smaller drives for the operating
system, limitations on the HD size might not be an issue. Is that fact
or fiction?"

Fiction; absolute nonsense.

If a computer does not support 48 bit LBA and you have an IDE drive
larger than 120GB attached to the motherboard IDE controller, any writes
to areas beyond the small LBA (I think it's 28 bits) size limit of 137
decimal GB "wrap" back to the start of the drive. That is catastrophic
since it can wipe out the MBR and boot record of the first partition.


ron wrote:
> Thanks to all for the very informative discussion so far. Yes, the
> Inspiron 6000 uses IDE drives. Spent all last night downloading
> windows updates which I assume include the Service Pacs needed. Is
> there a way I can verify that on my machine?
>
> There was some discussion (on the sites evaluating the drives) saying
> that if I partition the HD into smaller drives for the operating
> system, limitations on the HD size might not be an issue. Is that
> fact or fiction? I have my drive partitioned into C, D, E, F and G.
>
> My research seemed to show that people that bought the WD 250G over a
> year ago don't seem to be reporting problems but drives bought within
> the last 9 months seem to be dying. Most of the reports on the WD
> 320G were older and seemed not as prone to failure. A recent bad
> batch maybe?
>
> I'll see if I can find anything by Hitachi.
>
> Thanks again, Ron