**Answered** ? about 137 GB HD Barrier

[Darn]

How can you tell if your IDE controller is limited by the 137 GB barrier?

Are only SATA controllers capable of using drives larger than 137 GB?

I have an Abit KR7A-133R and was thinking of getting a 160 or 180 GB HD but if I can only use 137GB of it I will just stick to 120GB.



**THANKS billyjak** and all others that replied

 

[Derango]

If you have an ATA133 controller, then it is definitly capable of drives above 137GB, also most standalone controller cards don't have this limit either. A lot of the motherboard controlers do though.

 

[Ilmater]

Just pick out a controller and go to the manufacturer's website. I'm certain that they'll all tell you what the maximum capacity drives are.

 

[halkebul]

Hello. I think you mean 127GB barrier. And 127GB+ is supported by ATA133 and ATA-100 (version with 48-bit addressing only).

 

[Pariah]

Any retail drive (WD and Maxtor) above 128GB includes a PCI controller that supports large drives.

 

[Darn]

According to Western Digital it is a 137GB limit and it depends on if your controller supports 48-bit addressing.

I have not been able to confirm if my Abit KR7A-133R supports 48-Bit addressing.

It does have ATA 133 RAID provided by the HighPoint HPT372 controller but niether ABIT's nor High Point's websites have information about drive capacity supported or support for 48-Bit addressing.

I do not wish to add another IDE controller to this pc. My PCI slots are crowded enough and 4 IDE channels are enough for me.

I did find one article that hinted that ATA133 controllers support 48-bit addressing but the article was not very thorough.

Thanks for the replies.

D.

 

[billyjak]

Yes it does Get the 6n bios if not already installed Look here