Can an external HDD be too big (crash system)?
 

I just bought an 250 GB external USB HDD, hooked it up, moved several
GB of files to it, and everything was working well until I tried to
shutdown the computer and I got the blue screen of death about a fatal
error and "dumping logical memory - disk 1,2,3...) I had to turn the
computer off and then reboot. XP informed me that the machine had
recovered from a serious error (no kiddin').

I discovered today that the motherboard (Aopen P3) only supports upto
137GM HDD. Is that what most likely crashed the system and if so can
I partition the drive into 2 drives and solve the problem. I hate to
have to take the thing back( I got a pretty good deal I
think...assuming I can get it to work.) Any help will be appreciated.

GP

Re: Can an external HDD be too big (crash system)?
 

gperry@peoplescom.net wrote:
> I just bought an 250 GB external USB HDD, hooked it up, moved several
> GB of files to it, and everything was working well until I tried to
> shutdown the computer and I got the blue screen of death about a fatal
> error and "dumping logical memory - disk 1,2,3...) I had to turn the
> computer off and then reboot. XP informed me that the machine had
> recovered from a serious error (no kiddin').
>
> I discovered today that the motherboard (Aopen P3) only supports upto
> 137GM HDD. Is that what most likely crashed the system and if so can
> I partition the drive into 2 drives and solve the problem. I hate to
> have to take the thing back( I got a pretty good deal I
> think...assuming I can get it to work.) Any help will be appreciated.

You need a BIOS that supports LBA 48. If there is not a BIOS up-date to
do this you will be limited to 137GB, (actually 128GB). Trying to use
sectors beyond this limit will result in problems, even if you partition
it as two or more drives. You can get a PCI card that will support
larger drives.

--
Virg Wall

Re: Can an external HDD be too big (crash system)?
 

"VWWall" <vwall@DEADearthlink.net> wrote in message
news:lm1Rg.4927$UG4.2119@newsread2.news.pas.earthl ink.net...
> gperry@peoplescom.net wrote:
>> I just bought an 250 GB external USB HDD, hooked it up, moved several
>> GB of files to it, and everything was working well until I tried to
>> shutdown the computer and I got the blue screen of death about a fatal
>> error and "dumping logical memory - disk 1,2,3...) I had to turn the
>> computer off and then reboot. XP informed me that the machine had
>> recovered from a serious error (no kiddin').
>>
>> I discovered today that the motherboard (Aopen P3) only supports upto
>> 137GM HDD. Is that what most likely crashed the system and if so can
>> I partition the drive into 2 drives and solve the problem. I hate to
>> have to take the thing back( I got a pretty good deal I
>> think...assuming I can get it to work.) Any help will be appreciated.
>
> You need a BIOS that supports LBA 48. If there is not a BIOS up-date to
> do this you will be limited to 137GB, (actually 128GB). Trying to use
> sectors beyond this limit will result in problems, even if you partition
> it as two or more drives. You can get a PCI card that will support larger
> drives.
>
> --
> Virg Wall

But he's in an external box connected by USB which presumably should be OK
as it was sold as a unit. So it's an unlikely source of trouble.

Re: Can an external HDD be too big (crash system)?
 

>You need a BIOS that supports LBA 48. If there is not a BIOS up-date to
>do this you will be limited to 137GB, (actually 128GB). Trying to use
>sectors beyond this limit will result in problems, even if you partition
>it as two or more drives. You can get a PCI card that will support
>larger drives.
>--
>Virg Wall

Virg,
I'm not exactly sure what you mean when you say I need a PCI card to
support the drive but I have installed (and it works with all other
devices) a new PCI USB 4-port card and that is what the drive is
plugged into. The original USB ports are built into the motherboard
and are 1.1 (the old stuff) but the new card is USB 2.0, so if that
is what you mean then I'm already there.

But maybe I really don't have a problem after all! Today I hooked up
the drive before booting up, added files to it, shut down, and all
worked as it should. So I guess I will just have to see if the
problem persists, altho the computer does slow down noticably when the
drive is connected. But since it is simply a file storage drive to be
used to back up files I don't want to lose it usually won't be
connected to the computer. If it delivers the "blue screen of death"
again perhaps I'll be back to see if you guys have any other ideas.
Thanks for the input.

GP