LBA48 support help?

[bnm81002]

how can I tell if my computer has LBA48 support? I have an old computer system that I'm using till my newer bigger faster computer is finally built but I would like to check to see if my computer does support LBA48 in order for me to upgrade my 3 units to larger hard drives beyond the >137GB limitation, please tell me how to check for LBA48 support in the computer itself? thanks

[mick66]

You computer has little to do with it. What you need is an LBA48 aware MFStools boot disk.

[bnm81002]

I read somewhere in here that if the computer is not supporting >137GB(LBA48 support) then it wouldn't matter if there is the LBA48 boot disc, because the computer won't read the new larger hard drives >137GB, is that correct?

[blindlemon]

Not usually.

You just need to set the HDD type in the BIOS to "None" and then boot from the CD. Linux will scan the hardware directly anyway and will support LBA48 addressing itself.

Both my "tivo upgrade" PCs are over 5 years old - one is a P166 from 1997 - and both work just fine with the LBA48 CD.

[AV_Novice]

I read somewhere in here that if the computer is not supporting >137GB(LBA48 support) then it wouldn't matter if there is the LBA48 boot disc, because the computer won't read the new larger hard drives >137GB, is that correct?

On Windows OS machines, there are limitations for accessing drives larger than 137GB depending on what operating system you are using.

When you boot with with a CD like "Mfs Tools Boot CD (11.5MB) with large drive support" then you are all set. Of course this is all assuming that you are going to put a drive larger than 137GB in a Tivo that can handle it.

[mick66]

I read somewhere in here that if the computer is not supporting >137GB(LBA48 support) then it wouldn't matter if there is the LBA48 boot disc, because the computer won't read the new larger hard drives >137GB, is that correct?

If you're trying to say that if a pc's BIOS can't recognize >137GB of a larger HD, the LBA48 boot cd won't help - you're incorrect.

If you're trying to say that if a pc's BIOS can't recognize >137GB of a larger HD, it doesn't matter because an LBA48 aware boot disc will recognize the entire drive - you're correct.

My pc's BIOS can't recognize more than 137GB of a HD, but I have used an LBA48 boot cd without any problems to upgrade several Tivo's with HDs of 200GB and larger.

[JamieP]

If you're trying to say that if a pc's BIOS can't recognize >137GB of a larger HD, the LBA48 boot cd won't help - you're incorrect.

If you're trying to say that if a pc's BIOS can't recognize >137GB of a larger HD, it doesn't matter because an LBA48 aware boot disc will recognize the entire drive - you're correct.

My pc's BIOS can't recognize more than 137GB of a HD, but I have used an LBA48 boot cd without any problems to upgrade several Tivo's with HDs of 200GB and larger.The important thing is that the ide controller and OS support ATA-6. As you say, bios support is unnecessary. A really old computer (pre 2000?) might have an ide controller that does not support ata-6. I have an old intel-810 celeron 400mhz system I use for tivo imaging, and it supports lba48 just fine.

[Tracy RainH2o]

As long as your PC isn't an early P1 you'll be OK. I tried it with the first computer I built back in 1996 or so. A P1 100mhz, but it did have MMX. :D

The BIOS would not recognize a drive larger than 32mb. My PII worked great for all my upgrades. It's OS was limited to drive size but not the BIOS. You will never need to boot into the OS anyway. That was my experience anyway.

[bnm81002]

thanks for the help here guys, I searched through my computer and since I have Windows XP with the Service Pack v.2 and my Atapi.sys is version 5.1.2600.1135, those 2 are needed for my computer to support LBA48, but I learn some things here from your replies that I didn't know before, thanks once again :up: