Lutrin wrote:
> Hi
>
> I need a bigger hard disk than my that I have now (20 gigabytes) but my
> question is: what max hard disk size my motherboard (Asus CUV4X-VM)
> supports?
>
> thanks in advance for any help
That's a tough call. I'm unable to explicitly find anything for your
motherboard, but the latest BIOS was released in Oct-2001. The ATA-6
standard, which lays out LBA-48 (needed for drives larger than
128GiB/137GB) was released in Dec-2001. It's entirely possible that
last BIOS update (v1004) included LBA-48, but I wouldn't bet upon it.
If I were in your position, I would probably put in a 120GB drive.
They're fairly inexpensive, yet large enough for a workable system and
user space. If you need more storage, and want it in larger volumes,
you can alway pick up an LBA-48 card for about $20.
Lutrin wrote:
> Hi
>
> I need a bigger hard disk than my that I have now (20 gigabytes) but my
> question is: what max hard disk size my motherboard (Asus CUV4X-VM)
> supports?
>
> thanks in advance for any help
sonstige CU... - Serie Aktuelle Final bis einschl. 128 GB
(other) (to inclusively)
Which means, use the last BIOS available, for your CU series
motherboard, and you can have up to a 128GB disk. So a 120GB
disk should work.
For an IDE drive, the hard drive may have a "limit" or "clip"
jumper, which will limit the capacity of the disk to 32GB. If
the drive won't work properly, simply "clip" it with a jumper.
Paul wrote:
[...]
> http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm
>
> sonstige CU... - Serie Aktuelle Final bis einschl. 128 GB
> (other) (to inclusively)
>
> Which means, use the last BIOS available, for your CU series
> motherboard, and you can have up to a 128GB disk. So a 120GB disk
> should work.
[...]
Hi Paul
Thanks very much for your help! but BIOS updating may be dangerous or
it's ever a safe operation?
assuming I have a fear of updating bios, the max hard disk size is...?
> For an IDE drive, the hard drive may have a "limit" or "clip" jumper,
> which will limit the capacity of the disk to 32GB. If the drive won't
> work properly, simply "clip" it with a jumper.
[...]
Right! thanks again. this *limit* is the last jumper position behind
hard drive? (IV)
Grinder wrote:
[...]
> That's a tough call. I'm unable to explicitly find anything for your
> motherboard, but the latest BIOS was released in Oct-2001. The
> ATA-6 standard, which lays out LBA-48 (needed for drives larger than
> 128GiB/137GB) was released in Dec-2001. It's entirely possible that
> last BIOS update (v1004) included LBA-48, but I wouldn't bet upon
> it.
[...]
So, is not sure that after updating, my bios is enabled to support these
disks
> If I were in your position, I would probably put in a 120GB drive.
[...]
for few money, I may buy a 80 gigabytes IDE hard drive (maxtor
STM380215A). this disk capacity is fully supported also without updating
bios?
Lutrin wrote:
> Paul wrote:
> [...]
>> http://rma.asus.de/support/FAQ/faq076_32gb_ide_hdd.htm
>>
>> sonstige CU... - Serie Aktuelle Final bis einschl. 128 GB
>> (other) (to inclusively)
>>
>> Which means, use the last BIOS available, for your CU series
>> motherboard, and you can have up to a 128GB disk. So a 120GB disk
>> should work.
> [...]
> Hi Paul
>
> Thanks very much for your help! but BIOS updating may be dangerous or
> it's ever a safe operation?
> assuming I have a fear of updating bios, the max hard disk size is...?
>
>> For an IDE drive, the hard drive may have a "limit" or "clip" jumper,
>> which will limit the capacity of the disk to 32GB. If the drive won't
>> work properly, simply "clip" it with a jumper.
> [...]
> Right! thanks again. this *limit* is the last jumper position behind
> hard drive? (IV)
I don't really know what the limit previous to the 128GB one would be.
It could be 32GB but I'm not sure. These are the two links for older
systems and hard drive limits. The second link contains references to
a 32GB limit, so that could be it.
Check with your hard drive manufacturer, for jumper information.
The label affixed to the drive, may not contain all possible jumper
options. And sometimes the information is hard to find on the website,
especially if the drive is an older one and no longer in production.
Some drives have an "OEM specification" document, and one of those
has a pretty complete treatment of the hard drive. If that is missing,
sometimes there will be a single web page with jumper information.
If the current web site has no information, you can go back in time,
by using web.archive.org .
BIOS updating can be dangerous, but you can also recover from a
bad flash, by using a BIOS chip company like badflash.com . If
you are that concerned about flashing the BIOS, you could order
a new chip from them, with the new version of the BIOS flashed into
the chip. Unplug the old chip and plug in the new one. That
is one option.
A second option, is to buy a PCI IDE card, and connect the larger
drive to it. That is a reasonably safe option, in the sense that,
the PCI IDE card either works or it doesn't. If it doesn't work,
you can just unplug it. This is an example of a card uses to
bypass the 128GB limit, plus it will allow faster UDMA transfer
rates to work in an older computer.
Lutrin wrote:
> Paul wrote:
> [...]
>
> interesting and complete answer. thanks, but, i want ask you a little
> final question... to bypass these problems, may I buy an USB external
> hard disk? or the disk size is ever problematic? in this case also I
> have an hard disk limit with older motherboards or not?
Sure. USB is an option. Do you have a USB2 PCI card ?
USB2 will give a faster transfer rate.
What OS are you using ? USB2 is supported on WinXP SP1
and Win2K SP4.
interesting and complete answer. thanks, but, i want ask you a little
final question... to bypass these problems, may I buy an USB external
hard disk? or the disk size is ever problematic? in this case also I
have an hard disk limit with older motherboards or not?
Paul wrote:
[...]
> Sure. USB is an option. Do you have a USB2 PCI card ? USB2 will give
> a faster transfer rate.
>
> What OS are you using ? USB2 is supported on WinXP SP1 and Win2K SP4.
>
[...]
Windows Millennium Edition unfortunately. but i must use it, why I have
a Millennium licence. however, it's important tranfer and backupping
data, in one way or other
Lutrin wrote:
> Grinder wrote:
> [...]
>> That's a tough call. I'm unable to explicitly find anything for your
>> motherboard, but the latest BIOS was released in Oct-2001. The
>> ATA-6 standard, which lays out LBA-48 (needed for drives larger than
>> 128GiB/137GB) was released in Dec-2001. It's entirely possible that
>> last BIOS update (v1004) included LBA-48, but I wouldn't bet upon
>> it.
> [...]
>
> So, is not sure that after updating, my bios is enabled to support these
> disks
>
>> If I were in your position, I would probably put in a 120GB drive.
> [...]
> for few money, I may buy a 80 gigabytes IDE hard drive (maxtor
> STM380215A). this disk capacity is fully supported also without updating
> bios?
Probably. There are some BIOSes, though, that have a 32GB limit. Short
of finding a specific discussion of your mainboard and BIOS, you'll just
have to roll the dice. With prices as they are now, an 80GB hard drive
is barely more expensive than a 20GB, if you can find it, so you're not
really risking much. Buy the 80GB, and if your BIOS cannot see its full
extent, use the capacity limit jumper.
Asus CUV4X-VM and max hard disk size 
Linear Mode
