Steve I have a 200 and a 250 in my Dell 8200 and they work fine.  Even my P1 Sony with Win 98 has a 160 that is split into two partitions using the vendors included software so I would not expect problems

--
David

-------------- Original message --------------

> Hi PCBuilders,
>
> I have a Dell Dimension 4600 that I purchased in December 2003 that has an 80
> GB Seagate HD (Barracude 7200.7 Model ST380011A - Ultra ATA 100). Now, I
> would like to purchase a new 250 GB HD as a slave.
>
> Now the question... After talking with a tech person at Seagate, I was told
> that hard drives over 137 GB in size require "48-bit addressing" and that this
> is part of the MOBO chipset. Otherwise, the maximum space that a HD can support
> is only 137 GB. He also said that systems older than about 2 years or so only
> have 24(?) bit addressing. Mine's close to that age.
>
> So, how do I determine whether my PC will be able to handle a 250 GB HD?
>
> System specs...
> Dell Dimension 4600
> 2.7 GHz Intel P4 "80532" processor (that's what's one the order form)
> 533 MHz FSB,
> 80 GB Seagate HD 7200 rpm
> MB ? just says "DELL"
> 2.0 GB RAM
> BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A07 11/06/2003
> Win XP SP2
>
> Running Intel's Chipset ID Utility gives me the following info:
> Chipset: "Intel 865G chipset family"
> Memory Controller: "82865G/GV"
> I/O Controller: "82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R), SATA and PATA enabled"
> Integrated Graphics: "Intel 82865G graphics controller"
>
> Is any of this info useful in telling me if I have 48-bit addressing?
>
>
> The new HD that I'm interested in is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 Ultra ATA 100
> (Model ST3250823A). TigerDirect has it on sale for $69.97 after rebate.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Steve
>
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