Specifications

Windows 137GB Capacity Barrier Version 1.0
18 7-Mar-2003
Cache package", Q263044:"Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64
GB" and Q184006:"Limitations of FAT32 File System" (regarding the ScanDisk tool) at
support.microsoft.com.
New system consideration
– Seagate's DiscWizard Starter Edition disc installation software is
designed to make building a new system as easy as possible. DWSE also provides the
convenience of a fast partition and format saving nearly an hour over the operating system tools.
This software supports several controller card models.
As noted above, controller cards utilize custom 48-bit device drivers that support the full capacity
of the drive. Unfortunately, in Windows 98, these drivers are added after the operating system is
installed. This means that the initial partition may be smaller than the full capacity of the drive.
Once the controller card drivers are installed, any additional gigabytes will show up later as
unallocated space on the drive. You can easily create a second partition with DiscWizard 2003 or
the Windows Fdisk partitioning tools.
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".
Seagate's DiscWizard 2003 disc installation software for Windows is designed to make adding a
new drive to a system as easy as possible.
9. Windows NT v4 on a traditional motherboard
Microsoft Windows NT v4 SP4 or higher 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 WinNT4 will not create partitions greater than 137GB.
Since the likelihood of an existing Windows NT installation will be on an older BIOS and
motherboard is high, it is best to use an controller card when adding an ATA drive greater than
137GB. The sensitivity of the operating system to changes can create difficult recovery scenarios
and the controller card approach, which is based on a SCSI-type of support model, is significantly
easier.
Caution: If your system's old boot drive is less than 137GB and uses a drive overlay program
(DDO) to overcome a previous BIOS capacity limitation (such as Disk Manager or
DiscWizard and identifiable as a blue banner box before the operating system loads),
then the Intel Application Accelerator is incompatible with your system. If you have this
legacy configuration, the Ultra ATA controller card is the only solution for Windows NT.
If you install the Intel Application Accelerator on this type of system, loss of data will
occur. If you are not sure if your system uses a DDO, contact your drive manufacturer.
In general, if you are building a new single-drive system with a 137GB BIOS limitation
and the drive is greater than 137GB, then DiscWizard Starter Edition will utilize a DDO
that is compatible with IAA.