Date: November 26, 2000
Subject: New Harddrive specs.
From: William Patton

 Hello. I have purchased a new Western Digital HD, but have not opened it as
I fear I may have to return it.  I have an ASUS motherboard with HX chipset.
200 mhz, MMX. The Bios is dated 5-1997.  I have checked their site and there
are only two newer bios updates and neither address my concern. The
documentation says nothing about ATA33 or ATA66 and indeed I do not even
know what these specifications  refer to. Any insite would be appreciated.
The board supports LBA.  My old HD is WD 5.1 and is ATA33.  The new one in
the box says ATA66, but has a sticker on it saying it is ATA100.  I am not
sure what these figures mean, but am wondering if this drive will  work for
me.  I know you can use overlay software to make things work, but I prefer
not to do this.  I have also read about a PCI card I can get to allow
interface as ATA100.  Questions: What MB size limitations do I need to worry
about to begin with.  I am running Win98SE.  Also, can the drive work
without the overlay software and what will be the consequence?  Will it just
be slower?  Should I purchase the PCI card.  I do have room on my  secondary
channel for the drive. I would like to keep the old HD as well. Any help
would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you, William

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