Hello,
You're right, the intended OS makes a big difference here, but
assuming that you're sticking with 98SE then I'll lay out the issues
you might face. If you're running later versions of Windows you will
face fewer problems with large drives. You will also probably face
fewer problems if you install Linux, but I am no expert on Linux so I
couldn't tell you with any certainty.
To answer your questions in order, let's start with the processsor
question. The short answer is no, the processor doesn't care about
the drive and the drive doesn't care about the processor. As long as
the BIOS works with the drive you should not have any problem. The
big issue revolves around the BIOS. First thing to do is to get the
latest BIOS revision from the Dell web site. Go to
http://support.dell.com and select the appropriate system type. Under
the Downloads tab you should be able to choose the latest BIOS
Firmware update. This isn't a perfect solution though, because drives
over 128GB use 48-bit logical block addressing (LBA). If the BIOS
upgrade doesn't provide support for 48-bit LBA then the system will
not report drive sizes larger than 128GB. This doesn't necessarily
mean that the drive won't work, just that it won't be able to use any
extra capacity over 128GB.
You're right about limitations of the older version of fidsk. Windows
98 and 98SE fdisk uses some 16 bit values to calculate the size of the
drive. If the drive is larger than 64 GB fdisk gets confused. There
is an update available from Microsoft. The update file is here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/Win98/Update/8266R/W98/EN-US/263044USA8.EXE
and the full Knowledgebase article is here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B263044
You will likely run in to problems if you are installing this drive on
a system with no previous OS installed though, because the update
wants to run on a system with Win98 already installed. So, your
solution may be that you must run the update on a working 98 system,
then copy the fdisk.exe to a disk for use on the new system. The file
you want to copy should have the following attributes (as described in
the MS Knowledgebase article):
Date Time Size File name Operating System
---------------------------------------------------------------
05/19/00 10:30am 64,428 Fdisk.exe Windows 98
05/18/00 8:35am 64,460 Fdisk.exe Windows 98 Second Edition
Be aware though, that this version of fidsk does not work with 48-bit
LBA and does not support drives over 137 GB.
So you should be pretty safe with a drive up to 128 GB, unless your
system is very old and there is no BIOS update available. For larger
drives you can probably overcome problems by using the installation
software provided by the manufacturer. Seagate DiscWizard can work
from a floppy disc or CD, so it doesn't require a bootable system to
work. The WD software operates in the same way. But, for each of
these you'll need access to the manufacturer's web sites in order to
get the software. So you'll need to prepare yourself for the
installation on a working system ahead of time.
Unless you're really in desperate need of very large amounts of
storage space you're probably best to just keep the size of the drive
to 120 GB or less. Not that you can't use something bigger, but
you'll eliminate the risk of undue hassle by using a smaller drive.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the older PII system is likely
to have an ATA-33 or ATA-66 interface, while newer drives will have
ATA-100 or ATA-133 interfaces. The new drives are compatible with
older interfaces, but you will not appreciate the full performance
capabilities of the new drive on an older system. You might consider
whether it's worth spending a lot of money on a big, fast drive if the
system isn't going to be able to take advantage of the drive's
performance.
Best of luck to you with the installation. You probably won't have
too much trouble as long as you stick with a reasonably sized drive.
Hibiscus |
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