200GB drive not fully supported in XP?

[PuddingShorts]

I read something about hard drives, such as the Western Digital WD2000JB, not being fully supported in Windows XP. Something about having to partition the drive since it is so large. I heard this problem is either the fault of your motherboard or Windows itself but haven't been able to find an answer regarding these new mega HD issues.

Is it possible though to set up the hard drive so XP sees all 200GB as a single partition? Even if I did decide to partition the drive, it would be a very small partition (for the swap file or just for the OS itself).

I'm planning on building my own PC and I'd like to have a final plan set up instead of running into setup headaches.

Also, I head Norton Ghost won't let you create a NTFS backup. That you are required to have your NTFS backup stored in a FAT32 image file. Does Powerquest Drive Image 2002 let you backup NTFS to NTFS? I'm thinking of dumping my plan to get Ghost in favor of Drive Image. Any comments on this?

[thekemp]

some bios's have a limitation of 128 gig or something around that region, i have just bought a 200 gig maxtor and it works well with one 190gig partition(formated) but it is an up to date msi 845e max motherboard, consult your motherboards manual to see if it has the limitation i mentioned or email the motherboard maker.

[Atomic Rooster]

It's not XP that will have a problem with a 200Gb HDD, it will more than likely be your BIOS. Make sure your BIOS supports that large of a drive.

[PuddingShorts]

So any newly released motherboard should be cool? Because if I build my own PC, I'm going for a fully featured mobo regardless.

Oh, and I think 137GB is the limit. Which is why I was having mixed feelings about partitioning. After taking care of the 137GB, I'd have a much too large 63GB partition for either the swap file or WinXP itself. Of course, I could make three partitions: one for the swap file, one for the OS in addition to application software, and the rest for games and temp storage for MP3's until I get a secondary HD (possibly the Western Digital external firewire HD) for my songs.

[Atomic Rooster]

They should be. But you should check the manufacturer's site for more info.

[tdn327]

i have a 120gb=storage*only* and a 60gb=os=windowsxp pro, i cant get it to work, i dont want to install another os in my storage drive, and my mobo wont reconize it if i put the two drive in?

[BobViper]

ALOHA

Yes the ATA limit is 137GB not windows or bios limits.Linux can't either!

Easy fix with new motherboards or a addin card up to137.4GB to 144 petabytes (a petabyte equals 1 million gigabytes).

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