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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0

1 7-Mar-2003

Status: Final – Public

Disclaimer: The information contained in this document is for general reference. It is not

intended to be a complete reference of computer or hard disc drive service information. We have

tried to ensure that the information contained herein is as accurate and current as possible;

however, Seagate makes no warranty of its accuracy, completeness or timeliness. Seagate

reserves the right to change, without notice, content or suggestions. Before using the information

contained in this document - see Appendix A "Seagate Technology Legal Terms of Use". Those

Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier

48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support

for

ATA, Serial ATA or ATAPI Disc Drives

version 1.0

March 7, 2003

Abbreviations and Acronyms

See Appendix B.

Overview

The Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier is also known as 48-bit Logical Block Addressing Support

for ATA (IDE), Serial ATA or ATAPI disc drives. The 137GB limitation does not affect SCSI

interface disc drives.

In order to properly access the full capacity of an ATA interface hard drive larger than 137GB,

your system must meet the system requirements described below. There are three general

methods of support:

1) Operating System Solutions for Windows XP and Windows 2000

2) Ultra ATA/133 PCI Controller Card for Windows XP, 2000, Me, 98SE and NT 4.x

3) Intel Chipset Solutions for Windows Me, 98SE and NT 4.x (partial)

Warning: Formatting an ATA interface drive past the 137GB barrier on a system that does not

meet all requirements will result in data loss.

Attention: Always Back Up First - Whenever you make a significant change to your system, be

absolutely sure to back up your critical files. Whether you are troubleshooting a drive,

adding a new hardware or installing an application, back up your data first. These are

the kinds of events that may need a recovery plan if aborted prematurely. Also, all

required system maintenance such as ScanDisk, Defrag, and virus scanning should be

Summary of content (27 pages)

PAGE 1
Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Status: Final – Public Copyright ©2003, Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Disclaimer: The information contained in this document is for general reference. It is not intended to be a complete reference of computer or hard disc drive service information. We have tried to ensure that the information contained herein is as accurate and current as possible; however, Seagate makes no warranty of its accuracy, completeness or timeliness.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 completed on all existing disc drives before proceeding. Windows Startup or emergency recovery diskettes should be created and on hand in case a recovery requires their use. Seagate is not responsible for lost data. Windows XP and Millennium users should also consider using the System Restore capability and create a new Restore Point prior to making any significant change to your system. (See support.microsoft.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 If you intend to install a new hard disc drive and also upgrade an older version of Windows to Windows XP SP1 or Windows 2000 SP3, the preferred approach is to do the OS upgrade prior to installing the hard drive. If you do not have one of the operating systems listed above, Seagate recommends that you limit the partition size to 137GB or upgrade your operating system or try one of the solutions listed below.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Otherwise, if you plan to upgrade to an operating system that has native support of 48-bit addressing, the drive could be prepared up to 137GB with the remaining capacity added later.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Background Hard disc drives and Microsoft disk operating systems (OS) have evolved together in a mutually supportive way. Many times since the introduction of the original DOS v1 operating system the fundamental reason for an OS upgrade has to do with the support of larger and larger disc drives. The operating system elements that deal with storage devices are the kernel, file system and hardware specific device drivers.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 binary (base 2) this is 11111111111111111111111111112. In hexadecimal notation this is FFFFFFFh. In ordinary decimal notation it is 268,435,455. If each LBA is 512 bytes then this represents a maximum addressable capacity of 137,438,952,960 bytes or 137GB. ATA-6 defines 48-bit Addressing and opens a new higher limit that will carry storage capacities far into the future towards a theoretical maximum of 144 petabytes.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 system when the 32-bit direct access device drivers take over. The DDO exists only to detect and then present the full capacity of the disc drive to these operating system device drivers. BIOS Update Considerations Many manufacturers of motherboards provide a means to update the system BIOS. Updates are also available for many brands of controller cards.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 the drive order. If two drives are attached on one serial ATA host adapter, the host operating system views the two devices as if they were both “masters” on two separate ports. Operating System Considerations Microsoft supports 48-bit Addressing (ATA>137GB) in Windows XP SP1 and Windows 2000 SP3. While no other native Microsoft solutions are available for earlier versions of Windows, some third-party support solutions exist for the legacy versions.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Installation Matrix and Guidelines Installation instructions and advice are significantly different depending on whether the drive is attached to the motherboard or to a controller and also which operating system is in use.
PAGE 10
Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Microsoft Knowledgebase article Q331958:"Hard Disk May Become Corrupted When Entering Standby or Hibernation" at support.microsoft.com. New system consideration – If your system BIOS sees the full capacity of the drive and your Windows XP CD says "… Including Service Pack 1" you are completely ready to utilize ATA interface disc drives greater than 137GB.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Windows XP has a feature call System Restore that records and tracks changes to the system settings and files. If a restore point exists you can undo harmful changes to the previous settings. It is highly recommended that you create new system restore points prior to making significant changes to your system. New system consideration – Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is designed to make building a new system as easy as possible.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 of 48-bit addressing, the drive could be prepared up to 137GB with the remaining capacity added later. The Intel Application Accelerator v2.3 or above is listed compatible with Windows Me. Detailed information and the latest version of the driver can be downloaded from http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/. See the Intel Application Accelerator section below for addition information.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 4. Windows Millennium (Me) on a PCI controller card Controller cards support ATA interface disc drives through their own onboard BIOS and Windows device drivers. These storage controller cards are plug-and-play compatible and usually detected in the Windows Device Manager as "SCSI controllers" due to the similarity in disc access command structure.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 has this support by inspecting the installation CD artwork. It should say "Windows 2000 Including Service Pack 3." Windows 2000 manufactured prior to August 2002 has a native limitation of 137GB supporting ATA interface disc drives that are attached to traditional Primary and Secondary IDE Channels on the motherboard.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 emulate the SCSI driver approach, the native Windows 137GB ATA limitation does not apply since those drivers are not in use. Companies which are known to manufacture ATA controller cards that support drives greater than 137GB are SIIG, Inc (http://www.siig.com), Promise Technology, Inc. (http://www.promise.com), HighPoint Technologies, Inc. (http://www.highpoint-tech.com) and ACARD Technology (http://www.acard.com).
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 7. Windows 98SE on a traditional motherboard Microsoft Windows 98SE has a native limitation of 137GB supporting ATA interface disc drives that are attached to traditional Primary and Secondary IDE Channels on the motherboard. In this configuration Win98SE will not create partitions greater than 137GB. Nonetheless, the native Windows 98SE ScanDisk and Defrag utilities are limited to smaller partition sizes and may not function on partitions greater than 127GB.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 New system consideration – Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is designed to make building a new system as easy as possible. If your system BIOS sees the full capacity of the drive DiscWizard will not install a DDO. If your BIOS has a capacity limitation, DWSE will install a DDO that is compatible with the IAA or eventual OS upgrade.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Cache package", Q263044:"Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB" and Q184006:"Limitations of FAT32 File System" (regarding the ScanDisk tool) at support.microsoft.com. New system consideration – Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is designed to make building a new system as easy as possible.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Some sources may suggest the IAA. While it is true that WinNT is listed, for the purposes of this discussion, Seagate only suggests the IAA as an alternative when building a new system and not for adding a drive to an existing Windows NT system. Windows NT supports FAT16 and NTFS file systems. Several partitioning rules exist for Windows NT which are beyond the scope of this paper.
PAGE 20
Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Q114841:"Windows NT Boot Process and Hard Disk Constraints", Q119497:"Boot Partition Created During Setup Limited to 4 Gigabytes", Q138364:"Windows NT Partitioning Rules During Setup" at support.microsoft.com. New system consideration –Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is designed to make building a new system as easy as possible. This software supports several controller card models.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 (http://www.siig.com) and Promise Technology, Inc. (http://www.promise.com) and ACARD Technology (http://www.acard.com). 13. Linux on a traditional motherboard Linux kernels have added native support for 48-bit LBA addressing with IDE driver patches beginning with kernel v2.4.16. Most current commercial compilations of Linux have incorporated the newest IDE/ATA drivers. For example, Red Hat v7.2 has the native 137GB limitation while Red Hat v7.
PAGE 22
Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Regaining Capacity After-the-Fact Often, a system is prepared and put into use before a capacity limitation is discovered. Primarily, because most partitioning utilities, unlike DiscWizard, are unable to recognize BIOS or operating system limitations and make appropriate suggestions. In the event that a working system is found to have a 137GB limitation, after-the-fact, there are usually ways to add 48-bit addressing support.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Chipset Identification Many utilities are available to help identify the CPU and chipset components that are used on a PC motherboard. These utilities can be found on the Internet by searching for "CPU ID utility" or "CPU chipset identification utility". Intel chipsets are typically a 5-digit number starting with 82 and the last three digits being the chipset number. For example, the "82810s System and Graphic Controller" is the 810E chipset.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Appendix A – Trademarks Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Seagate logo and DiscWizard are trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Seagate Technology Legal Terms of Use PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the information in this document ("Document"). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THIS DOCUMENT.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 no representations whatsoever about the content of any of these web sites. Seagate does not endorse or accept any responsibility for the content, or use, of any such web sites. JURISDICTION AND GOVERNING LAW. You may not use this Document or export information available in this Document in violation of U.S. export laws and regulations.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.
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Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0 Appendix C – Change History March 7, 2003 version 0.9 (Draft) March 2, 2003 v0.91 (Draft) March 7, 2003 v1.0 (Final) March 7, 2003 Minor changes addressing comments. Added Disclaimer Appendix A. Added Regaining Capacity After-the-Fact section. Added Chipset Identification section. Released to Seagate support services, PDF file format version to public.