Whats the deal with XP only recognizing 132GB hard drive - I want to upgrade my HD - is there an easy way?

Question

This is a newbe area for me.

1) I just learned of this 132GB limit - first off is this true? I would like to upgrade to 250GB or less. Is it possible to go larger and is there an easy way to explain it, maybe a program that helps??
2) Does my BIOS / motherboard limit this also? How do I find out?

Computer : older Acer aspire 3200lci laptop.

Answer 1

What is the formatting system? Start -> Run -> compmgmt.msc, if it's FAT32, convert to ntfs, Start -> Run -> cmd, type convert c: /fs:ntfs /v

Answer 2

"The only current Windows operating systems that natively support the full capacity of ATA drives larger than 137GB are:



Windows XP Home Service Pack 1 (SP1) or higher

Windows XP Professional SP1 or higher

Windows 2000 Professional SP3 or higher

Windows 2000 Server SP3 or higher



The original Windows XP (RTM or Release to Manufacturing) and previous Windows 2000 Service Packs do not support ATA interface disc drives larger than 137GB. "



(The above was written prior to the release of Vista.)



As mentioned above, the drive must be formatted using NTFS instead of FAT32, as FAT32 is limited to 128GB.



And yes, the motherboard chipset can be a problem as well. But if it's less than 5 years old or so, it should be okay. You can open the Device Manager and look in System Devices to find out which chipset you have.

Answer 3

These old size limit are only for the old FAT format style. Even in the FAT format style you can still use a larger HD, it just has to be partitioned into smaller amounts. For years WinXP has been able to use the NTFS HD format that was introduced back in 1993. The volume limitation on the NTFS format is several Terrabytes.



When you buy your new HD and format it just make sure to use the NTFS format. Your HD will prompt you to select which format type you want to use.

Answer 4

Based on my experience, using windows xp without service packs allows you to use up to 132gb of hard disk space only. You'll need to install windows xp SP2 to use the whole 250gb up to 500gb per hard disk.

Also, your hard disk space will be limited depending on the type of format it has, FAT, FAT32 or NTFS, ntfs can support up to 500gb (dunno if SP2 already supports 1 TB though,).

Answer 5

yes probably that is the limit, laptops are hard to upgrade, so try getting an external harddrive, they run from about 100 for 250GB and about 300 for a terabyte. that would be your best bet and you can get them at circuit city, best buy, and any electronic store.

Answer 6

I had that SAME problem. I had to get service pack 2 for it to find it the right size....and I don't mean download sp/2...I had to install the Windows WITH SP/2 on it....I think you might be able to find a driver that will recognize it somewhere...but you can find cheap windows software online for as little as $64 I've seen.

Answer 7

Look at the manufacturer's website for their "large drive enabler" or whatever they call it. I have used it, and it works.

Answer 8

its a limitation of windows called LBA : Logical Block Addressing...



do a quick google search of this and you will find instructions of how to enable LBA which will let the computer recognize the entire hard drive....



all of the above answers completely fail.

Answer 9

needs windows xp w/service pak 2