We have a somewhat older computer - it's not archaic but it's not
"new".
We currently have a - newer than other bits - AOpen Ax34 Pentium III
FCPGA 133MHz 4xAGP ATX *stops to take a breath* Motherboard, and
roughly 40GB worth of disk-space between our two hard drives.

It is almost full and we want more space... when I phoned the store,
they said that our motherboard would not support any more than 40GB
worth of hard drive, so I have two questions:
1. Were they telling the truth?
2. If we can't buy a larger hard drive, will we be able to hook up an
external hard drive to get a bit more storage space?

We are debating getting a new computer, but as this one still functions
perfectly well, it seems like a waste if all we need is more disk
space.




---Please excuse my Layman's (and probably inaccurate to boot)
vocabulary... my father is the one who knows about computers but he
refuses to look anything up himself.---

canids@gmail.com wrote:
> We have a somewhat older computer - it's not archaic but it's not
> "new".
> We currently have a - newer than other bits - AOpen Ax34 Pentium III
> FCPGA 133MHz 4xAGP ATX *stops to take a breath* Motherboard, and
> roughly 40GB worth of disk-space between our two hard drives.
>
> It is almost full and we want more space... when I phoned the store,
> they said that our motherboard would not support any more than 40GB
> worth of hard drive, so I have two questions:
> 1. Were they telling the truth?
> 2. If we can't buy a larger hard drive, will we be able to hook up an
> external hard drive to get a bit more storage space?
>
> We are debating getting a new computer, but as this one still functions
> perfectly well, it seems like a waste if all we need is more disk
> space.
>
>
>
>
> ---Please excuse my Layman's (and probably inaccurate to boot)
> vocabulary... my father is the one who knows about computers but he
> refuses to look anything up himself.---
>

According to this page on AOpen's site:
http://usa.aopen.com/Products/mb/ax34.htm
The board will support up to 137 GB hard drives. The controller should
also allow up to 4 drives (hard drives and optical drives) so it sounds
like the store did not do any research before answering your question.
The only question is whether your case has room for an additional hard
drive or if you will have to replace the current one with a 120 GB drive.

If the computer is that old, is it going to be able to handle OS upgrade?
Hard to believe computer will not handle 40 gig HDD.'
What store did you call?
Surely they don't still sell this machine!!

what machine do you have?

"canids@gmail.com" wrote:

> We have a somewhat older computer - it's not archaic but it's not
> "new".
> We currently have a - newer than other bits - AOpen Ax34 Pentium III
> FCPGA 133MHz 4xAGP ATX *stops to take a breath* Motherboard, and
> roughly 40GB worth of disk-space between our two hard drives.
>
> It is almost full and we want more space... when I phoned the store,
> they said that our motherboard would not support any more than 40GB
> worth of hard drive, so I have two questions:
> 1. Were they telling the truth?
> 2. If we can't buy a larger hard drive, will we be able to hook up an
> external hard drive to get a bit more storage space?
>
> We are debating getting a new computer, but as this one still functions
> perfectly well, it seems like a waste if all we need is more disk
> space.
>
>
>
>
> ---Please excuse my Layman's (and probably inaccurate to boot)
> vocabulary... my father is the one who knows about computers but he
> refuses to look anything up himself.---
>
>

Sometimes the motherboard BIOS can be updated to supprt larger HDs. And
some HD manufacturers provide overlay software, such as Maxtor's MaxBlast.

But in the end, it doesn't really matter. Worst case? You visit eBay and
get yourself a Promise Ultra100 (or Ultra66 is you want to save a couple
bucks) ATA PCI Controller card, problem solved. Heck, they can be had for
$10-20, shipped. In fact, when the larger HDs started hitting the market
several years ago, they often came w/ a FREE PCI controller. The HD
manufacturers knew lots of ppl would have support issues w/ their
motherboards. So they pre-empted the problem by providing the workaround,
the PCI card. They stopped doing this 2-3 yrs ago as large HD support
became more common w/ newer motherboards. But nothing stops you from
getting this same card off eBay.

In fact, for a few bucks more, you even get a Promise FastTrak100 TX2 RAID
Controller card instead, and add RAID support as well (if you're into that).
Will also serve as non-RAID PCI controller card too, of course.

Jim


<canids@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133218417.241682.121800@g49g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> We have a somewhat older computer - it's not archaic but it's not
> "new".
> We currently have a - newer than other bits - AOpen Ax34 Pentium III
> FCPGA 133MHz 4xAGP ATX *stops to take a breath* Motherboard, and
> roughly 40GB worth of disk-space between our two hard drives.
>
> It is almost full and we want more space... when I phoned the store,
> they said that our motherboard would not support any more than 40GB
> worth of hard drive, so I have two questions:
> 1. Were they telling the truth?
> 2. If we can't buy a larger hard drive, will we be able to hook up an
> external hard drive to get a bit more storage space?
>
> We are debating getting a new computer, but as this one still functions
> perfectly well, it seems like a waste if all we need is more disk
> space.
>
>
>
>
> ---Please excuse my Layman's (and probably inaccurate to boot)
> vocabulary... my father is the one who knows about computers but he
> refuses to look anything up himself.---
>

It is a custom built computer and has had a few things upgraded...
The motherboard is relatively new and we still had the box, but I don't
really know what the other individual components are.
I know that it (or the connection... something anyway) is IDE.. not
EIDE or ATA etc. From what I have gathered EDIE will work with IDE
because it is essentially the same thing. Is that right?

Are there any other compatibility issues I need to know about?

....and about external hard drives, I know my father would still like to
get one. If we replace one of the hard drives within the computer and
bring it up to its maximum capacity, will we be able to use an external
hard drive as well? ...and will *that* be limited to 137GB too?

canids@gmail.com wrote:
> It is a custom built computer and has had a few things upgraded...
> The motherboard is relatively new and we still had the box, but I don't
> really know what the other individual components are.
> I know that it (or the connection... something anyway) is IDE.. not
> EIDE or ATA etc. From what I have gathered EDIE will work with IDE
> because it is essentially the same thing. Is that right?
>
> Are there any other compatibility issues I need to know about?
>
> ...and about external hard drives, I know my father would still like to
> get one. If we replace one of the hard drives within the computer and
> bring it up to its maximum capacity, will we be able to use an external
> hard drive as well? ...and will *that* be limited to 137GB too?
>

The site I mentioned earlier stated that the board has an ATA66 IDE
controller. You can use newer hard drives with an 80 wire IDE cable.
As far as external drives go I would add a USB2 controller card and
connect the drive to it. This drive will not be limited by the 137 GB
limit of the built-in controller.

<canids@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1133231878.761026.275230@g49g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> It is a custom built computer and has had a few things upgraded...
> The motherboard is relatively new and we still had the box, but I don't
> really know what the other individual components are.
> I know that it (or the connection... something anyway) is IDE.. not
> EIDE or ATA etc. From what I have gathered EDIE will work with IDE
> because it is essentially the same thing. Is that right?
>

For the purposes of this discussion, you can use the terms IDE and EIDE, and
even ATA, interchangeably.

> Are there any other compatibility issues I need to know about?
>

No, any modern IDE (aka PATA, or parallel ATA) HD will work with any modern
mobo, this is the least of your concerns. Virtually any PATA HD off the
shelf will be compatible w/ the IDE controllers on your mobo. The only
issue you typically see are these addressing limits, which manifest
themselves as limits on the maximum HD you can install and still address ALL
of it.

> ...and about external hard drives, I know my father would still like to
> get one. If we replace one of the hard drives within the computer and
> bring it up to its maximum capacity, will we be able to use an external
> hard drive as well? ...and will *that* be limited to 137GB too?
>

An external HD will usually be sold w/ either a USB or Firewire interface
(sometimes both, for more flexibility). Internally, the HD is usually the
SAME EXACT type of HD that you install on your motherboard's IDE controller.
That's why some people, in order to reduce costs and choose their own
components, will buy their own IDE HD and separate external enclosure, and
construct their own unit. Incredibly simple to do, the enclosure is
typically nothing more than an aluminum case, perhaps a fan, and IDE
controller. You hook up the IDE HD to the IDE controller exactly as you do
on the motherboard. But for convenience, some ppl just buy an already
constructed external enclosure.

The 137GB limit you hear about is a motherboard BIOS limitation, that
involves limits on addressing larger HDs. When you move to an external
enclosure, esp. for a prebuilt unit, the issue is moot, since obviously the
manufacturer would not sell you an external HD enclosure + HD that did not
support the enclosed HD, right?

When you construct your own external HD enclosure, you do want to be sure it
can support the largest HD you intend to install. That's a given. Just
like the motherboard, the enclosure's IDE controller could have limits too,
but it would be VERY unusual to encounter a modern external HD enclosure
that didn't support even the largest HDs available today. Afterall, the
reason for the limitations on older motherboards was simply because vendors
didn't expect HD capacity to expand so quickly. Remember, the 80GB, 100GB,
200GB, and even larger HDs we see today were a pipe-dream only a few years
ago. Back then, they thought 137GB wouldn't be breached for a long time, if
ever. But that proved incorrect, and so when those larger HDs hit the
market, many older motherboards simply couldn't support them, the BIOS that
supports the on-board IDE controllers simply didn't have support for the
proper addressing. Some motherboard manufacturers addressed the problem w/
a BIOS update, if you were lucky. If not, well..., you typically had to
turn to a PCI controller card that had no such limits.

So the issue of an external HD enclosure is not really a major problem, esp.
for prebuilt units. The only real decision you need to make is whether to
go w/ USB, Firewire, or BOTH. Of course, that hinges on whether you have
these interfaces on your mobo. And if you don't, there's always the PCI
card option, you can simply purchase a USB or Firewire (or combo) PCI card
to add this capability. Once installed, you then power up the external
enclosure, insert the cabling (USB or Firewire), and Windows recognizes it
as external storage (you'll see a drive letter assigned dynamically). Very
very easy to do.

HTH

Jim

canids@gmail.com wrote:

>We have a somewhat older computer - it's not archaic but it's not
>"new".
>We currently have a - newer than other bits - AOpen Ax34 Pentium III
>FCPGA 133MHz 4xAGP ATX *stops to take a breath* Motherboard, and
>roughly 40GB worth of disk-space between our two hard drives.
>
>It is almost full and we want more space... when I phoned the store,
>they said that our motherboard would not support any more than 40GB
>worth of hard drive, so I have two questions:
>1. Were they telling the truth?
>2. If we can't buy a larger hard drive, will we be able to hook up an
>external hard drive to get a bit more storage space?
>
>We are debating getting a new computer, but as this one still functions
>perfectly well, it seems like a waste if all we need is more disk
>space.
>
>
>
>
>---Please excuse my Layman's (and probably inaccurate to boot)
>vocabulary... my father is the one who knows about computers but he
>refuses to look anything up himself.---
>
>
>
Your BIOS has no limit on the total amount of HD storage, only a limit on
individual HDs. Guessing from the implied MB age, your BIOS probably has
a 137GB limit, but it may have a 32GB limit (those were two common limits).

If your BIOS can handle 137GB HDs, then I suggest replacing the non-boot HD
in that PC with a 120GB HD. If your BIOS can only handle 32GB HDs, then
I'd look for a BIOS update on the MB vendor's website so that it can handle
137GB (or larger) HDs, then buy a 120GB HD. If your BIOS is stuck with a
32GB limit, then buy an add-in controller card which can support large HDs,
and buy a large HD.

--
Cheers, Bob