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3.8
TECHNIQUES IN DRIVE CONFIGURATION
3.8.1
The 528-Megabytes Barrier
Older BIOS that only support Int 13 commands for accessing ATA drives through
DOS based operating systems will be limited to use only 1024 cylinders. This will
reduce the effective capacity of the drive to 528Mbytes.
Whenever possible the MaXLine Plus II 250GB AT drive should be used on systems
that support LBA translation to ensure the use of the entire capacity of the disk drive.
If that is not possible the following are some techniques that can be used to overcome
this barrier.
• Use a third party software program that translates the hard drive
parameters to an acceptable configuration for MS-DOS.
• Use a hard disk controller that translates the hard drive parameters to an
appropriate setup for both MS-DOS and the computer system's ROM-
BIOS.
• Insert the Cylinder Limitation Jumper (CLJ) on the drive (see Section
3.3.1.4).
3.8.2
The 8.4-Gigabytes Barrier
Newer BIOS's allow users to configure disk drives to go beyond the 528MB barrier
by using several BIOS translation schemes. However, while using these translations
the BIOS using Int 13 functions are limited to 24 bits of addressing which results in
another barrier at the 8.4GB capacity.
To overcome this barrier a new set of Int 13 extensions are being implemented by
most BIOS manufacturers. The new Int 13 extension allows for four words of
addressing space (64 bits) resulting in 9.4 Terrabytes of accessible space.
Whenever possible the MaXLine Plus II 250GB AT drive should be used on systems
with BIOS that support Int 13 extensions. If that is not possible the following are
some techniques that can be used to overcome this barrier:
• Use a third party software that supplements the BIOS and adds Int 13
extension support.
• Obtain a BIOS upgrade from the system board manufacturer. Many
system board manufacturers allow their BIOS to be upgraded in the field
using special download utilities. Information on BIOS upgrades can be
obtained on the System Board Customer Service respective web sites on
the Internet.
• Insert the Cylinder Limitation Jumper (CLJ) on the drive (see Section
3.3.1.4).
Maxtor MaXLine Plus II 250GB AT
Installation
3-21
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