I have an HP Pavilion 8860 running Windows ME. It can installed with a
60 GB hard drive. I want to add a second hard drive. What is the
maximum hard drive space that can be used? |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
26 Jul 2003 18:32 PDT
rashaan...
This will depend more on the motherboard you are using, and the
BIOS associated with it (as well as the version number of the
BIOS). BIOS means 'basic input/output system', and it is the
operating system which your computer uses, prior to installing
(or opening) a system like Windows, in order to recognize, and
interface with, your hard drive(s), floppy drive(s), CD drives
and other basic hardware.
This page from the Sarasota PC Users Group, by Brian K. Lewis,
Ph.D, explains it all in thorough detail:
"In general, computer systems with a BIOS dated 1998 or later
can work with drives up to 32 gigabytes (GB) in size. The 32GB
barrier is due to the inability of the BIOS to address an LBA
that is larger than 66,060,287. Only in the most recent
computer systems has the BIOS been upgraded to work with
drives larger than 32GB. In addition, in some computers, a
64GB barrier is still to be overcome. So, the primary limit
to the size of the hard drive your computer can use is the
LBA limit of your system's BIOS."
...and, as for operating system limitations:
"Windows 95B introduced the FAT32 system. In theory, this new
file allocation table system can address a hard drive that
is 2 terabytes (2,199,023,255,552) in size. The FAT32 table
does not scale well in that as its size increases, it takes
more time for Windows to find information in it. It also
takes more time to calculate free space at boot-up. The
maximum size of the FAT32 table is about 128 megabytes.
The maximum size of any one file on a FAT32 drive is 4
gigabytes. Win98, WinME and Win2000 all support the FAT32
file system."
More on the page, including the option to use a SCSI drive,
with the very accommodating BIOS on the SCSI controller,
and the option of adding a PCI controller card with its
own built-in BIOS:
http://www.spcug.org/reviews/bl0107.htm
If the current version of your BIOS is supporting a 60GB
drive, chances are very good that it will support up to
137GB, yet it may be one of those that exhibit a 64GB
barrier, as Dr. Lewis notes above. The very latest BIOSs
have no practical limitations.
So, do you know the model number of your motherboard,
or at least the name and version of your BIOS? You
should be able to see this information displayed
at the very beginning of your boot sequence, perhaps
right after your videocard's information is displayed.
sublime1-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
rashaan-ga
on
26 Jul 2003 19:45 PDT
I haven't been able to get the motherboard info.
The BIOS is EPP revision 9.00
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
26 Jul 2003 20:05 PDT
rashaan...
Below is a list of popular BIOS manufacturers:
1. American Megatrends (AMI)
2. Award Software International Inc.
3. Microid Research Inc.
4. Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
The only reference I can find for EPP is for Enhanced Parallel
Port, as on this page from FAQS.com:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/laptops/compaq-aero/section-123.html
Can you check again, please?
sublime1-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
livioflores-ga
on
26 Jul 2003 22:07 PDT
For info related to the hardware installed on your PC please download
and run the following free software:
AIDA32:
http://www.aida32.hu/aida-download.php?bit=32
http://www.webattack.com/get/aida32.shtml
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Request for Question Clarification by
techtor-ga
on
26 Jul 2003 23:19 PDT
Hello Rashaan,
I looked around and saw that a possible candidate for your HP Pavilion
8860 motherboard would be the Asus A7V-VM. Look for info on this and
you might find what you need. Hope this helps.
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Clarification of Question by
rashaan-ga
on
27 Jul 2003 09:06 PDT
I ran AIDA32. It was not able yo get a name for the motherboard.
Motherboard chipset: VIA VT8363(A) Apollo KT133(A.
BIOS: Pheonix (12/07/00)
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Request for Question Clarification by
feilong-ga
on
27 Jul 2003 09:23 PDT
Based on the "make" of your motherboard, I believe it can handle up to
80GB HD. However, Sublime-1 is correct that this depends on your BIOS.
If your current BIOS can't support or recognize an 80GB drive,
upgrading the BIOS can be a solution.
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Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
27 Jul 2003 13:02 PDT
rashaan...
I went to the Hewlett Packard site, and navigated to the page
'HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Updating the BIOS for Windows Me Computers'
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph07105&prodId=hppavillio28316
Under Step 2 on that page, it says:
"Go to the Find Software page, and enter the model of the
HP Pavilion PC".
Following the link to the 'Find Software' page, I entered
Pavillion 8860. There were some software upgrades available,
but no BIOS updates.
I was unable to locate the limits of your current BIOS, but
as feilong-ga mentioned, it may be around 80GB. You could
purchase a drive of that size, clarifying that you wish to
be able to return it if it is not recognized as 80GB by
your current BIOS. I think most stores, such as Best Buy,
will honor your intentions.
However, I was able to locate a product by Micro Firmware
which will work in conjunction with your current BIOS, and
offer the ability to use up to a 127 GB hard drive. It's
called the ATA PRO FLASH card, and is installed in an
ISA expansion slot. And, it costs only $19.95, here:
http://store.firmware.com/cgi-bin/mfi/flash.html
There's a link to a FAQ page at the bottom of that page.
If this satisfies your needs, let me know, and I'll post
it in the 'Answer' box.
sublime1-ga
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