Specifications

Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0
11 7-Mar-2003
Windows XP has a feature call System Restore that records and tracks changes to the system
settings and files. If a restore point exists you can undo harmful changes to the previous settings.
It is highly recommended that you create new system restore points prior to making significant
changes to your system.
New system consideration
– Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is
designed to make building a new system as easy as possible. This software supports several
controller card models.
When building a new system, if you are using a ATA/133 PCI controller card which includes new
ATA or ATAPI disk device drivers, the Windows XP operating system installation will pause briefly
and ask for you to insert a OEM floppy diskette. This pause for new "adapter" drivers happens
soon after the boot near the beginning of the installation. See your controller documentation for
specifics.
If your Windows XP CD does not indicate SP1, then your boot drive partition will have a
maximum size of 137GB. After the OS and SP1 are installed, any additional gigabytes will show
up as unallocated space on the drive and you can easily create a second partition with
DiscWizard 2003 or the Windows disk management tools. Also, if you prefer to have a single
partition, third party applications such as Partition Commander from VCom or Partition Magic
from Powerquest may be able to stretch the partition to annex the newly found capacity.
Microsoft does provide a method of merging the Service Pack into an older copy of Windows XP.
This process is called "Slipstreaming" and is very complicated. This process requires that you be
able to burn a new Windows XP OS installation CD. You can search the Internet for
"slipstreaming Windows XP" to find instructions on this process. Seagate does not assist in
preparing slipstream installation CDs.
Adding a drive to an existing system
– The installation procedure is relatively easy if your original
boot drive is attached to the motherboard and your new drive is attached to the controller card as
additional storage. If you want your new drive to become the boot drive, your system BIOS must
have an option to control the boot device or to release boot control from the Primary Master to the
controller card. This is sometimes listed as "boot from SCSI". Windows XP may require re-
registration of the operating system if the boot device is changed after the original installation.
Seagate's DiscWizard 2003 disc installation software for Windows is designed to make adding a
new drive to a system as easy as possible.
3. Windows Millennium (Me) on a traditional motherboard
Microsoft Windows Me has a native limitation of 137GB supporting ATA interface disc drives that
are attached to traditional Primary and Secondary IDE Channels on the motherboard. In this
configuration WinMe will not create partitions greater than 137GB.
Intel offers drivers to support the full capacity of drives larger than 137 GB on motherboards
equipped with the Intel 800 Series chipset. For help identifying your Intel chipset see the Chipset
Identification section below. If you are not sure what kind of chipset your motherboard has,
contact your system or motherboard manufacturer. If your motherboard is unsupported by a non-
Microsoft driver, Windows Me support of ATA drives larger than 137GB is possible on an ATA
controller card. Otherwise, if you plan to upgrade to an operating system that has native support