9 techniques in drive configuration, 1 the 528-megabytes barrier, 2 the 8.4-gigabytes barrier – Maxtor D540X-4K User Manual

Page 34: 9 techniques in drive configuration -16

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Installation

3-16 Maxtor D540X-4K 20.4/40.0/60.0/80.0 GB AT



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Older BIOS that only support Int 13 commands for accessing ATA drives through
DOS based operating systems will be limited to use only 1024 cylinders. This will
reduce the effective capacity of the drive to 528 Mbytes.

Whenever possible the Maxtor D540X-4K 20.4/40.0/60.0/80.0 GB AT drive
should be used on systems that support LBA translation to ensure the use of the
entire capacity of the disk drive. If that is not possible the following are some
techniques that can be used to overcome this barrier.

• Use a third party software program that translates the hard drive

parameters to an acceptable configuration for MS-DOS.

• Use a hard disk controller that translates the hard drive parameters to an

appropriate setup for both MS-DOS and the computer system’s ROM-
BIOS.

• Insert the Alternate Capacity jumper on the drive (see Section 3.3.5).



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Newer BIOS’s allow users to configure disk drives to go beyond the 528 MB barrier
by using several BIOS translation schemes. However, while using these translations
the BIOS using Int 13 functions are limited to 24 bits of addressing which results in
another barrier at the 8.4 GB capacity.

To overcome this barrier a new set of Int 13 extensions are being implemented by
most BIOS manufacturers. The new Int 13 extensions use a 64-bit address field
resulting in 9.4 terabytes of accessible space.

Whenever possible the Maxtor D540X-4K 20.4/40.0/60.0/80.0 GB AT drive
should be used on systems with BIOS that support Int 13 extensions. If that is not
possible the following are some techniques that can be used to overcome this barrier:

• Use a third party software that supplements the BIOS and adds Int 13

extension support.

• Obtain a BIOS upgrade from the system board manufacturer. Many

system board manufacturers allow their BIOS to be upgraded in the field
using special download utilities. Information on BIOS upgrades can be
obtained on the System Board Customer Service respective web sites on
the Internet.

• Insert the Alternate Capacity jumper on the drive (see Section 3.3.5).

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