Re: large HD partition: who is right?

This is one area where it isn't worth taking risks, because of the issue of
sudden and catastrophic data loss if you get it wrong. If the system as a
whole isn't large-disk compatible, an IDE disk will work until 137GB full,
and then instantly nuke everything on the disk as the addressing wraps-around
and the MBR (track 0) is over-written.

Windows' disk manager is intelligent enough (even in NT4) that if it spots a
likely address-wraparound situation it will generally not let you create
partitions above 137GB. But, there are of course ways of circumventing that,
and Windows will not complain about a disk which is already partitioned and
formatted by external software.

If you are at all in doubt about this you need to test by filling the disk
past this point. (or just creating a partition in the 130-150GB region and
filling this) Since this is a laborious process it's easier just not to take
the chance.

BTW, partitioning the disk into two will not solve the problem, it's the
total cluster-count that's the issue. Though, you can accept that space above
137GB must not be used. On a 500 that's a rather large sacrifice, though,

"ML" wrote:

Dear friends

Thank you for all the inputs to this post.
The reason I'm keeping my P3 is I do not need something better, I just want
a larger HD storage space.

Thus, I'm keeping my existing 30GB HD with XP SP3. Will either add an
external or internal slave HD of 500GB, and use XP to partition the whole HD.

Regarding the "utility that attempts to access the disk using the BIOS's
real mode driver" that might cause file corruption. Could you explain more.
Do 3rd party tools like those disk defrag software for windows come under
this?

Thanks.

"dg1261" wrote:

Andy's explanation is exactly right. Real mode and protected mode require
different device drivers. The BIOS provides only a real mode driver. Once
XP-SP2 kicks into protected mode and replaces the device driver with its own
protected mode driver, the BIOS driver is out of the loop. The trick is
getting it to boot in the first place so it gets to that point. That's the
reason for keeping the OS partition entirely within the lower 137GB.

The "theoretical possibility of disk/file corruption" comes into play if you
use any utility that attempts to access the disk using the BIOS's real mode
driver, so you have to be careful what tools you use. Windows' native
functions won't do that, so as long as the upper part of the disk is only
accessed by Windows, you'll be okay.


"DL" <address@invalid> wrote in message
news:%23$mh$08DJHA.4904@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Not according to a tech post I read, sometime ago, which stated there was
a theoretical posibility of disk/file corruption.

"Andy" <1@xxx> wrote in message
news:i8krb49ojvh67ptccla3e2n1msp8cvne2g@xxxxxxxxxx
The only time the BIOS comes into play is during the boot process. If
the BIOS has to access past the 137 GB point on the disk in order to
boot Windows XP, then booting will fail. Once Windows XP starts to
run, the CPU is switched to protected mode, and real mode BIOS code
can no longer be executed.

If the 500 GB is installed as a second non-bootable drive, then
Windows XP SP2 will be able to fully access the drive. If Windows XP
is installed on a small partition below the 137 GB point on the 500 GB
drive, Windows XP SP2 will be able to access the rest of the drive in
a second partition.






.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: xp on intel Mac from usb stick?
    ... Would it be possible to run windows xp native from a usb stick? ... A custom slipstreamed CD is required to install XP on a Mac. ... partition managers but if you're feeling adventurous you may ... This procedure WILL WIPE YOUR iMAC DISK CLEAN. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.apps)
  • Re: Cloning a disk using dd
    ... It seems to have cloned the MBR correctly and the partition layout ... inaccessible boot disk error. ... The drives have to be almost identical to work, ... especially with Windows in the mix. ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: Move space from one partition to another
    ... Which partition contains Windows XP Pro? ... To increase you free space on your Windows XP partition select Start, ... Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk CleanUp, More Options, System ... Create a My Documents folder in another partition and copy the ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: 2 versions of win2000 on disk
    ... I have windows200 and winnt on disk, ... either boot the Windows 2000 install CD-Rom or setup ... existing partition, If you press D to delete an existing partition, you must ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.general)
  • Re: New HDD Installation
    ... Right clicking on the partition or using the | Action> All Tasks menu at the top of the console should show the option, either greyed out or usable to make the partition active. ... Do the fixboot and fixmbr things in the Recovery Console then see if things change. ... There are other ways to mark the partition active, either with a Windows 98 startup disk or using the DISKPART command while in Windows XP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
Loading