big disk on 503+

I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
since I can use the disk in another, newer system.

Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?

Ahhh, so the VA-503+ can see all the way up to 136 GB with that BIOS.
That is very good to know. As I am sure you know, 137 GB is the most
recent BIOS-limited hard drive barrier. There is no BIOS revision that
will let you get past 137 GB... at least, none that I know of.

I suppose you can always use one of the hard drive utilities from the
hard drive manfacturer's website to get past 137 GB, or buy a new PCI
IDE controller card.

$55 for 160 GB? Wow, that is quite a deal. As it stands, you are
"wasting" only $8.25 worth of hard drive space!

--Alex



Joel Mosher wrote:
> I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
> rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
> In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
> since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
>
> Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?

I have never seen a bios for the 503+ that supports 48-bit LBA so your only
alternative is to use a PCI ATA controller card which supports 48-bit LBA.
For more information see: http://www.48bitlba.com/

"Joel Mosher" <> wrote in message
news:sigHd.12893$ m...
> I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
> rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
> In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
> since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
>
> Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?

Another advantage of using another PCI ATA controller card is that you can get
support for ATA modes faster than 33. The FIC VA503+ EIDE controller is slow as
a slug.

>I have never seen a bios for the 503+ that supports 48-bit LBA so your only
>alternative is to use a PCI ATA controller card which supports 48-bit LBA.
>For more information see: http://www.48bitlba.com/
>
>"Joel Mosher" <> wrote in message
>news:sigHd.12893$ om...
>> I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
>> rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
>> In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
>> since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
>>
>> Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?
>


-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)

Joel Mosher wrote:
> I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
> rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
> In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
> since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
>
> Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?



I planned to install FreeBSD on this disk so I put it in my ECS K7S5A
Pro motherboard which saw the entire disk. I installed FreeBSD 4.11RC3.
Everything went well. I put the disk in the 503+ where it worked
flawlessly. I didn't have to use any goofy sofware or controller cards.
I suppose if I had to install Windows things would have been different.

Yes that would work because Linux/FreeBSD do not use the bios to determine
disk geometry. From the 136 GB number in your first post I just assumed you
were using XP.

"Joel Mosher" <> wrote in message
news:RokHd.12336$ om...
> Joel Mosher wrote:
> > I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55 after
> > rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole disk.
> > In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's ok
> > since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
> >
> > Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?
>
>
>
> I planned to install FreeBSD on this disk so I put it in my ECS K7S5A
> Pro motherboard which saw the entire disk. I installed FreeBSD 4.11RC3.
> Everything went well. I put the disk in the 503+ where it worked
> flawlessly. I didn't have to use any goofy sofware or controller cards.
> I suppose if I had to install Windows things would have been different.

Hi Alex:
So,then, if I'm using a FIC PA-2013 (Rev 2.1)MB, Windows98SE, with
a PROMISE Ultra ATA/66 controller card, will I have a problem pairing
it with a WD 120GB 7200RPM Internal EIDE hard drive? I wonder what the
upper limit is for the Promise Ultra ATA66 controller?
Thanks in advance.
Gibby
************************************************** ***************
Alex Zorrilla wrote:
> Ahhh, so the VA-503+ can see all the way up to 136 GB with that BIOS.

> That is very good to know. As I am sure you know, 137 GB is the most

> recent BIOS-limited hard drive barrier. There is no BIOS revision
that
> will let you get past 137 GB... at least, none that I know of.
>
> I suppose you can always use one of the hard drive utilities from the

> hard drive manfacturer's website to get past 137 GB, or buy a new PCI

> IDE controller card.
>
> $55 for 160 GB? Wow, that is quite a deal. As it stands, you are
> "wasting" only $8.25 worth of hard drive space!
>
> --Alex
>
>
>
> Joel Mosher wrote:
> > I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55
after
> > rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole
disk.
> > In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's
ok
> > since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
> >
> > Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?

Update: I just read on the Promose ATA Ultra66 box that it supports
drives up to 128GB.
Gibby

Gibby:
The only problem you'll experience is if you want to use the 120GB drive
as your boot drive, when you're installing 98SE. The 98SE install CD won't
see the hard drive through the Ultra66 PCI controller card. You might have
to install to a smaller hard drive (on the 2013's IDE controller), install
the Ultra66, get 98SE to recognize it, then attach the 120GB hard drive. I
haven't bought a WD hard drive in quite some time, so I don't know what kind
of installation software they come with, but hopefully it would allow you to
copy the contents of the small drive to a new drive, then remove the small
drive and boot the system off the 120GB drive.
Robert
"Gibby" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Hi Alex:
> So,then, if I'm using a FIC PA-2013 (Rev 2.1)MB, Windows98SE, with
> a PROMISE Ultra ATA/66 controller card, will I have a problem pairing
> it with a WD 120GB 7200RPM Internal EIDE hard drive? I wonder what the
> upper limit is for the Promise Ultra ATA66 controller?
> Thanks in advance.
> Gibby
> ************************************************** ***************
> Alex Zorrilla wrote:
> > Ahhh, so the VA-503+ can see all the way up to 136 GB with that BIOS.
>
> > That is very good to know. As I am sure you know, 137 GB is the most
>
> > recent BIOS-limited hard drive barrier. There is no BIOS revision
> that
> > will let you get past 137 GB... at least, none that I know of.
> >
> > I suppose you can always use one of the hard drive utilities from the
>
> > hard drive manfacturer's website to get past 137 GB, or buy a new PCI
>
> > IDE controller card.
> >
> > $55 for 160 GB? Wow, that is quite a deal. As it stands, you are
> > "wasting" only $8.25 worth of hard drive space!
> >
> > --Alex
> >
> >
> >
> > Joel Mosher wrote:
> > > I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for $55
> after
> > > rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the whole
> disk.
> > > In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS. It's
> ok
> > > since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
> > >
> > > Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above 136GB?
>

Robert: Thanks for the response. My biggest problem now is whether my
existing interface (a Promise Ultra ATA/66 controller card) will handle
the WD 120 gig hard drive. Western Digital Company says that the HD
interface specification is DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra)for the 120GB HD.
However, the Promise packaging for Ultra ATA/66 says it will support
drive capacities up to 128GB. So, I'm not sure.
Any opinions welcomed/appreciated.
Gibby
************************************************** ***********
Robert Akins wrote:
> Gibby:
> The only problem you'll experience is if you want to use the 120GB
drive
> as your boot drive, when you're installing 98SE. The 98SE install CD
won't
> see the hard drive through the Ultra66 PCI controller card. You
might have
> to install to a smaller hard drive (on the 2013's IDE controller),
install
> the Ultra66, get 98SE to recognize it, then attach the 120GB hard
drive. I
> haven't bought a WD hard drive in quite some time, so I don't know
what kind
> of installation software they come with, but hopefully it would allow
you to
> copy the contents of the small drive to a new drive, then remove the
small
> drive and boot the system off the 120GB drive.
> Robert
> "Gibby" <> wrote in message
> news: oups.com...
> > Hi Alex:
> > So,then, if I'm using a FIC PA-2013 (Rev 2.1)MB, Windows98SE,
with
> > a PROMISE Ultra ATA/66 controller card, will I have a problem
pairing
> > it with a WD 120GB 7200RPM Internal EIDE hard drive? I wonder what
the
> > upper limit is for the Promise Ultra ATA66 controller?
> > Thanks in advance.
> > Gibby
> > ************************************************** ***************
> > Alex Zorrilla wrote:
> > > Ahhh, so the VA-503+ can see all the way up to 136 GB with that
BIOS.
> >
> > > That is very good to know. As I am sure you know, 137 GB is the
most
> >
> > > recent BIOS-limited hard drive barrier. There is no BIOS
revision
> > that
> > > will let you get past 137 GB... at least, none that I know of.
> > >
> > > I suppose you can always use one of the hard drive utilities from
the
> >
> > > hard drive manfacturer's website to get past 137 GB, or buy a new
PCI
> >
> > > IDE controller card.
> > >
> > > $55 for 160 GB? Wow, that is quite a deal. As it stands, you
are
> > > "wasting" only $8.25 worth of hard drive space!
> > >
> > > --Alex
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Joel Mosher wrote:
> > > > I took a chance today. I bought a 160GB IDE disk at Frys for
$55
> > after
> > > > rebate. I didn't know if my 503+ motherboards would see the
whole
> > disk.
> > > > In fact, the 503+ only sees 136GB. I'm using the JE4333 BIOS.
It's
> > ok
> > > > since I can use the disk in another, newer system.
> > > >
> > > > Has anyone found a way to get a 503+ to see the space above
136GB?
> >