Size barrier in HDD's

I am planning to buy a new HDD of 160gb capacity. But I want to know more about this 137gb barrier. What is it and how is it overcome? I am using WinXP + SP2. My mobo is ASUS P4P800 v. 1015 bios.

 

the 137gb barrier is for older computers that don't have the proper IDE code to accept any disk larger than 137gb. it's typically overcome by windows updates (if windows is old) and, more importantly, bios updates. you should have no problem with that, since you have an updated everthing

 

in order to go above 137 GB your board must support 40 bit addressing. Most newer boards do. If yours doesn't then getting a PCI interface card wil fix it, you can pick up a highpoint based card for cheap, under $40.

 

You got a typo, Fw.

48 bit.

 

And as Strogg said, the Asus P4P800 is a new motherboard and will have no problem handling 48-bit LBA.

 

So it won't need any special drivers, loaders etc?

 

No, as long as your motherboard supports it, (which it does) and you have at least SP1, (or SP4 on Win2000) you are good.