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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