Hello:



I am going to buy a new hard drive. My BIOS is a few years old. I have
a 4.3 GB drive which it recognizes fine. I am wondering, if I get a 6.4
GB drive, and the BIOS doesn't recognize it, will I still be able to use
as much of the drive as it does recognize? Example: If it recognizes a
max of 4.5, will I still be able to use the 6.4 as a 4.5 without problems
or risk to my data? I don't want to go through the hassle of finding out
what motherboard I have, then locating an update for the BIOS so I can
flash it. (Maybe a risky procedure?)

Another question. Would it be better if I get a controller card to
recognize large hard drives?  I know that if I get a controller card,
there will be more code to fit in the upper memory area. Would that be
a possible source of conflict?

One more question please: Even if my BIOS does recognize a 6.4 GB drive,
would  a good controller card help to speed up my system? If that is the
case, are there any recomendations on which make, model of card I should
use? I would like more speed, but not at the risk of instability or other
problems.

 I have a 133 MHZ
(actually I have a 166 MHz chip, but the motherboard only goes up to 133)
Pentium, with an HX chipset. Under Hard Disk Controllers in the Device
Manager, I have :
Intel PIIX PCI IDE controller [Bus Mastering Not Supported]
Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)

Don't think the following info is relevant, but..., I am using
Win95(with downloaded updates) : Millenium graphics card  :
parallel port zip drive : E6 scanmaker with the SCSI card that came with it.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Brad Britton