How it support 120G hard drive

I have a old system which is Intel SE440BX-2 Motherboard, PIII 550Mhz CPU.

The BIOS version is 4S4EB2X0.86A.0024.P17.

someone told me there is a special IDE files to support big hard like 120G on this. But I can't get it from Intel website.

Can anyone help me?

 

I found a BIOS update that mentions LS-120. As you may know, LS-120 is totally different from 120 gig hard drives. That person may have misread something in the list of BIOS updates.

It could also be they meant a Windows update, if you are using something above Win95. (Accessing full capacity of a 120 gig drive is impossible in Win95.) You might ask them to clarify what they previously told you.

 

The two ways to get a drive recognised that is larger than the current capabilities is by flashing a BIOS upgrade or by using a Drive Overlay.

Some motherboard manufacturers don't mention the "BIOS limitation" of the size of drive that the BIOS will recognise, so it may be case of going to (flashing) the latest BIOS and see what happens. If you decide to flash the BIOS make CERTAIN you have the correct one for your motherboard (the Intel website has instructions for identifying the motherboard). If you have not flashed a BIOS before, get someone who has to help you or just follow the instructions (and warnings) very carefully. (EDIT: check through the BIOS upgrade information for your motherboard. Check the FAQs for your motherbord. No luck, email Intel support and ask)

If you are interested in using a Dynamic Drive Overlay, check the harddrive manufacturers website. They may have it with their utilities. DDOs react BADLY to changes in the drive configuration and if so you may lose all the data on your drive. If you decide to use one, run the utility to backup your Boot Sector (or may be called the MBR). I run a DDO on an IBM drive and have had to reinstall it each time I have changed the drive configuration (changed it's IDE location or added another harddrive). Some drive manufacturers do not offer DDOs any more for those reasons.

Me, I would flash the BIOS and see if it was recognised. If not, the drive may have a limit jumper (to limit it's recognised size...probably 32GB) and know that I could get to use the whole drive when it was transferred to a newer computer. I would only use a DDO as a last resort.

I suggest you do your research first, you may end up having to get a new computer to run your new drive.

Matt

 

It probably won't require buying a new computer, because there are additional ways.

3. Get an IDE card. I prefer the Startech PCI2IDE because it supports CD drives in command line only mode. The Promise Ultra66 doesn't, but used ones can be found at really low prices.

4. Get a USB2 case for the drive and, if necessary, a USB2 card. Drivers are required for Win98 but not 2000/XP (not sure about ME). The BIOS would no longer know or care about the drive, but it will be usable only in a regular Windows boot (not command line only) and you can't boot from it either.

 

Good points, thanks Hotaru. My one dimensional thinking

Matt

 

I'll ask a question here and mayhaps offer another possibility... Or make myself look really stupid.

I have no idea how the bios would react to this but what if... what would happen??

1) Put the 120gig drive in a system that can handle the whole thing.
2) Partition and format it as 4 30gig partitions.
3) Put it back in the origional system.

Whould the bios be able to see it as at least a 30gig drive (1st partition) and once windows was reached be seen as 4 30gig drives or would the bios definately still see it as a whole unit of 120gig??

 

You can get away with that in OS/2 (if you don't use FAT) and Linux, but not Windows. Those operating systems use the BIOS only long enough to get started and then never again. In Windows, it may appear to work at first, but once you have added more data and have to go beyond where the BIOS can, you'll have trouble.

 

Thankyou for the info, Hotaru! Again, I have learned something.

 

He is sure there is must a IDE files that support 120G hard drive on the MB I mentioned.

The BIOS version is the lastest on I downloaded from www.intel.com.

And I just checked it on BIOS, not far to OS.

 

Found this:

From this page
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/cs-002770.htm

From the Application Accelerator page:

I think your choices are:
Limit the harddrive size via jumpers.
Install a DDO.
Get an IDE card (or run it as USB)

Run the drive manufacturer's utilities, although they will probably only suggest to install a DDO.

Matt

 

Thank you Matt for you information.

I will try.