Help!! WD 2000GB Hdd's problem???

[bo kingdon]

hi,
First thankx for reading,
I have got a Spacewalker / Shuttle AK35GTR Mainboard and have just invested in two beautiful Western digital 200GB hard drives Model numbers:
WDC WD2000JB-00DUA0

They have an 8 MB cash and when attached to the onboard raid (strip mode) should show a lovely 400GB of available partitioning/formatting space : )

HOWEVER!!!
For some dam reason I think it must be my BIOS the drives only show 137GB of available space each.

Can anyone please help me!!!????

I would hate to think that i just spent £320 on two drives that are going to be wasting nearly 140GB of space : (

I appreciate your help thankx a lot.

Bo.
:confused: :confused:

[reboot]

You're going to need a BIOS flash (if there is one) to recognize the full size of the drives.
The direct download to your BIOS: ftp://ftp.spacewalker.com/BIOS/ak35/v1.x/ak35s00j.exe

Notes: http://www.spacewalker.com/english/readmeak35.htm
Revision AK35S00F allows hard drive recognition over 137 gig.

You're welcome :D

[sleepypost]

also winXP may have a problem with drives larger than 100 gb. I think the SP1 download can resolve that issue. But in general, there have been a lot of complaints about XP not working with large drives.

[Surge1243]

All versions of Windows have a 137 GB limit on hard drives. I'm not sure how to get around this since I've never had a drive that exceeds that limit.

[sleepypost]

there ya go. thats his problem. :( i wonder what OS he's running? im betting WinXP...

[Spyda]

well, seeing as all of them hit he same problem at 137, it doesnt matter one bit what OS hes using

[glc]

This document may be informative: (I picked Seagate because WD's papers on the issue are PDF)

http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/capacity/137/

You need WinXP SP1 or Win2K SP3 to do it right. WinME and Win98 can handle them once an OS is installed. You may need to use the WD software to set them up. You definitely need the bios update.

[reboot]

Assuming that 99% of people already have SP1, it shouldn't be an issue.
The BIOS upgrade is definitely needed.

[mike breck]

I thought you also needed a Registry tweak with W2K and XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

[reboot]

That issue is covered in SP1 Mike.

[Redo40]

I was under the impression that you needed to have SP1 to do the registry tweak or take a chance on losing data. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[reboot]

To paraphrase:
"This article describes 48 bit LBA..."
"48-bit LBA support will not be enabled and therefore supported <b>until</b> Service Pack 1 (SP1)"

This leads me to believe that SP1 supports it and enables it by default.

"...note that if you <b>manually</b> turn on 48-bit LBA support on Windows XP without Service Pack 1 installed, you may cause data loss."

Now the questions arise...
Does SP1 enable it, or just support it, and you still have to manually enable it?

Seems confusing enough, they sure don't spell it out in plain English.

On my XP boxes (all with SP1), the registry key is already enabled by default, and I didn't have to do anything to install my 200gb. I have no idea why.

[Redo40]

I agree, it is confusing! That's why I posted. So, since your machine (with SP1 on it) was already enabled we should be able to assume that SP1 takes care of it for us.

[reboot]

Heh, it's Microsoft, don't assume anything.
Just because mine was enabled, doesn't mean it's going to be enabled for everyone else.
I'm thinking that it will be disabled unless you have a hard drive in excess of 137 gig installed, and XP detects it as new hardware on bootup, and THEN enables the key, probably requiring a restart.

[sleepypost]

Spyda, it does matter what OS he's using.

[Spyda]

if you say so

[mike breck]

Yes,

Whether the Registry tweak is needed in all cases, is as clear as mud Jim.

This is what WD says about it.

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=928&p_created=1049320914&p_sid=kERucpJg&p_lva=950&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MzAmcF9jYXRfbHZsMT04MSZwX3BhZ2U9MQ%2A%2A&p_li=

They imply that it must be enabled manually after SP1 is installed. However, as you say, XP now might do it automatically. With all the updates flying out of MS, the issue may have been addressed.

As you say, it may be trial and error.

bo kingdon

Try the Registry tweak and see if that helps.

HTH

[Alex123]

This is directly from microsoft.

This should clear all doubts.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;303013

"Windows XP SP1 includes 48-bit LBA support for ATAPI disk drives. With this support, you can use hard disks that are larger than the current 137 GB limit. By default, support is enabled in SP1. To determine if you are running SP1, right-click My Computer and then click Properties. On the General tab, Service Pack 1 will be listed under System."

[reboot]

"By default, support is enabled in SP1". Definitely clears up that issue, thanks Alex.