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How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?


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Guest Opusita
Posted

A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed them

via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard or

otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system could

handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I would buy a 1

or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

 

Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?.......or how can I determine what my

system can handle?

 

Thanks,

 

O

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Guest Lil' Dave
Posted

Re: How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?

 

"Opusita" <Opusita@msn.com> wrote in message

news:uq2ZBsc7HHA.5160@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

>80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed

>them via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard or

>otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system

>could handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I would

>buy a 1 or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

>

> Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?.......or how can I determine what my

> system can handle?

>

> Thanks,

>

> O

>

 

A limitation would be a reflection of the firmware/bios in the external

enclosure. Not your PC's bios limitation if it has one. You're good to go

with XP with SP1 or SP2.

Dave

Guest Paul Randall
Posted

Re: How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?

 

 

"Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message

news:eDr$Nzd7HHA.4612@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

> "Opusita" <Opusita@msn.com> wrote in message

> news:uq2ZBsc7HHA.5160@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

>>80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed

>>them via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard

>>or otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system

>>could handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I would

>>buy a 1 or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

>>

>> Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?.......or how can I determine what

>> my system can handle?

>>

>> Thanks,

>>

>> O

>>

>

> A limitation would be a reflection of the firmware/bios in the external

> enclosure. Not your PC's bios limitation if it has one. You're good to

> go with XP with SP1 or SP2.

> Dave

 

I agree. My older USB enclosures can only handle 120 GB; I've used 300 GB

in my newer enclosures. I don't have any larger drives to test in the

enclosures. It sure would be nice if you could ask the enclosure what its

limits are. Same for PC's BIOS.

 

-Paul Randall

Posted

Re: How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?

 

Opusita wrote:

>

> A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

> 80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed them

> via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard or

> otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system could

> handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I would buy a 1

> or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

>

> Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?.......or how can I determine what my

> system can handle?

 

Put XP2 on to fix your problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--

http://www.bootdisk.com/

Guest Ken Blake, MVP
Posted

Re: How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?

 

On Sun, 2 Sep 2007 18:33:01 -0700, "Opusita" <Opusita@msn.com> wrote:

> A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

> 80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed them

> via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard or

> otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system could

> handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I would buy a 1

> or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

>

> Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?

 

 

Yes. I run 400s here.

 

>.......or how can I determine what my

> system can handle?

 

 

 

Assuming that you are running at least SP1 of Windows XP, and assuming

that your motherboard handles 48-bit LBA (unless it's several years

old, it almost certainly does), you can handle any drive made today,

and any that are likely to be made for the next several years.

 

--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User

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Guest Lil' Dave
Posted

Re: How large of a USB HDD will Windows XP handle?

 

"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message

news:%23Dcb8ve7HHA.3624@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>

> "Lil' Dave" <spamyourself@virus.net> wrote in message

> news:eDr$Nzd7HHA.4612@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...

>> "Opusita" <Opusita@msn.com> wrote in message

>> news:uq2ZBsc7HHA.5160@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>>A few years ago when HD's were starting to come down in price I bought a

>>>80GB and a 120GB and installed them in external enclosures and accessed

>>>them via USB. At that time while doing research about them I read, heard

>>>or otherwise learned....or was left with a belief that XP...or my system

>>>could handle only up to a 300GB HD. Now with prices still dropping I

>>>would buy a 1 or 2 of the 500GB self contained external enclosures.

>>>

>>> Am I wrong regarding the 300GB limit?.......or how can I determine what

>>> my system can handle?

>>>

>>> Thanks,

>>>

>>> O

>>>

>>

>> A limitation would be a reflection of the firmware/bios in the external

>> enclosure. Not your PC's bios limitation if it has one. You're good to

>> go with XP with SP1 or SP2.

>> Dave

>

> I agree. My older USB enclosures can only handle 120 GB; I've used 300 GB

> in my newer enclosures. I don't have any larger drives to test in the

> enclosures. It sure would be nice if you could ask the enclosure what its

> limits are. Same for PC's BIOS.

>

> -Paul Randall

>

 

Some external case manufacturers list the maximum capacity hard drive that

can be handled as part of specifications. If it don't say, don't buy it.

Dave


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