Hard drive capacity, etc.

I have an old PII 400 with an SE400BX mobo.
3 hard drives, all SCSI.

I need to add a drive. SCSI is too expensive, not to mention, not sure how
easy it would be to rejigger the cable to handle a 4th drive.
So, I need to add an ATA 100 drive.

1. Anyone recall the BIOS restrictions on drive capacity imposed by the
SE440BX?

2. If I buy a 40GB or an 80GB drive, will I be able to ise at least the
first 32GB?

3. Do the capacity restrictions apply to individual partititions, or the
drive as a whole?

4. Currently, I have a CD-RW on one of the IDE connectors (I guess the
master), and a ZIP on the other.
What would be the best config: ATA drive on master, with CD-RW and ZIP on
slave?

5. Yes, I know the ATA 100 would only run as ATA 33, but I have no available
slots for an ATA controller.

6. Any recommendations for drive bay coolers?
--
http://www.standards.com/; See Howard Kaikow's web site.

Previously Howard Kaikow wrote:
I have an old PII 400 with an SE400BX mobo.
3 hard drives, all SCSI.

I need to add a drive. SCSI is too expensive, not to mention, not sure how
easy it would be to rejigger the cable to handle a 4th drive.
So, I need to add an ATA 100 drive.

1. Anyone recall the BIOS restrictions on drive capacity imposed by the
SE440BX?

Pretty low. 8GB? 32GB?

2. If I buy a 40GB or an 80GB drive, will I be able to ise at least the
first 32GB?

Usually not. Some drives have a jumper to limit capacity, that
could work, but only if the limit matches the BIOS limit.

3. Do the capacity restrictions apply to individual partititions, or the
drive as a whole?

The BIOS does not understand partitions, it the whole drive.

4. Currently, I have a CD-RW on one of the IDE connectors (I guess the
master), and a ZIP on the other.
What would be the best config: ATA drive on master, with CD-RW and ZIP on
slave?

Depends on your usage pattern.

5. Yes, I know the ATA 100 would only run as ATA 33, but I have no available
slots for an ATA controller.

I think you will need to find the slot. Actually I would recomend
dropping SCSI and getting both an SATA controller and an
SATA drive with enough capacity.

Arno

On 20 May 2007 21:35:03 GMT, Arno Wagner wrote:

5. Yes, I know the ATA 100 would only run as ATA 33, but I have no available
slots for an ATA controller.

I think you will need to find the slot. Actually I would recomend
dropping SCSI and getting both an SATA controller and an
SATA drive with enough capacity.

Unless there's a reason to keep the 400MHz P3, it may be better to
invest in a new mobo and CPU (or an used set that isn't quite as old).
They can handle hard drives into TB range without any size issue, and
most new mobo has onboard SATA and IDE support. Some may have SCSI as
well but those are often high end and somewhat rare. If your old POC
has SCSI PCI card you should be able to transfer that.

I have gotten away installing Win 98se on a 4 year old mobo with
1.4GHz P4 (originally had Win ME). Getting win98 driver was a
challenge but not impossible.

"Howard Kaikow" wrote in message ...
I have an old PII 400 with an SE400BX mobo.
3 hard drives, all SCSI.

I need to add a drive. SCSI is too expensive, not to mention, not sure how
easy it would be to rejigger the cable to handle a 4th drive.
So, I need to add an ATA 100 drive.

1. Anyone recall the BIOS restrictions on drive capacity imposed by the
SE440BX?

None for the chipset. Check the BIOS date: 1997 - 32GB, 1999 - 128GB.
If you set the drive type to NONE, Windows will use IDE driver limit.

2. If I buy a 40GB or an 80GB drive, will I be able to ise at least the
first 32GB?

3. Do the capacity restrictions apply to individual partititions, or the
drive as a whole?

Whole drive.

4. Currently, I have a CD-RW on one of the IDE connectors (I guess the
master), and a ZIP on the other.
What would be the best config: ATA drive on master, with CD-RW and ZIP on
slave?

HD by itself with good IDE cable.

5. Yes, I know the ATA 100 would only run as ATA 33, but I have no available
slots for an ATA controller.

Previously Impmon wrote:
On 20 May 2007 21:35:03 GMT, Arno Wagner wrote:

5. Yes, I know the ATA 100 would only run as ATA 33, but I have no available
slots for an ATA controller.

I think you will need to find the slot. Actually I would recomend
dropping SCSI and getting both an SATA controller and an
SATA drive with enough capacity.

Unless there's a reason to keep the 400MHz P3, it may be better to
invest in a new mobo and CPU (or an used set that isn't quite as old).

Well, yes. I assumed there was some good reason not to do the obvious....

Arno

"Arno Wagner" wrote in message
...

I think you will need to find the slot. Actually I would recomend
dropping SCSI and getting both an SATA controller and an
SATA drive with enough capacity.

THis is an old PC, even if possible, not worth adding more than another
drive.

One Concern is whether a mixed SCSI/IDE system would still boot from the
SCSI. and not mess up drive lettering.
Thanx

"Impmon" wrote in message
...
Unless there's a reason to keep the 400MHz P3, it may be better to
invest in a new mobo and CPU (or an used set that isn't quite as old).

It is necessary to keep the PC

This is an old PC, not worth adding more than another drive.

One Concern is whether a mixed SCSI/IDE system would still boot from the
SCSI. and not mess up drive lettering

"Eric Gisin" wrote in message
...
None for the chipset. Check the BIOS date: 1997 - 32GB, 1999 - 128GB.
If you set the drive type to NONE, Windows will use IDE driver limit.

My sister has the same PC, except I use SCSI and have a more recentBIOS.

When she got the system, it came with a 14.4GB Ultra DMA/33 drive.
So tlhe limit would be higher than 8.4GB

Later, I had her buy a 40GB Maxtor, along with a Promise controller to get
the full speed.

Howard Kaikow wrote:
"Impmon" wrote in message
...
Unless there's a reason to keep the 400MHz P3, it may be better to
invest in a new mobo and CPU (or an used set that isn't quite as old).

It is necessary to keep the PC

This is an old PC, not worth adding more than another drive.

One Concern is whether a mixed SCSI/IDE system would still boot from the
SCSI. and not mess up drive lettering

I've tried this a few times with different systems with mixed results.
Often a computer will insist on booting from the IDE drive even if you
tell it explicitly not to in the BIOS.

"Spam Bob" wrote in message ...
Howard Kaikow wrote:

It is necessary to keep the PC

This is an old PC, not worth adding more than another drive.

One Concern is whether a mixed SCSI/IDE system would still boot from the
SCSI. and not mess up drive lettering

I've tried this a few times with different systems with mixed results. Often a computer will
insist on booting from the IDE drive even if you tell it explicitly not to in the BIOS.

Not an issue if you don't activate any partition, or make them all logical, or set drive type to
NONE.