Any drive size should work for this system, but updating to the latest bios will make sure it's most compatible with all drives.

just noticed your message - did you install a 400gb successfully in gx260, as so far I have unsuccessfully installed a 250gb

Remember: any ATA drive in a Dell system should be jumpered cable select. The position on the cable then determines whether the drive will be master or slave (end connector is master and middle connector is slave).

Okay I have installed a 300Gb Seagate Hard Drive in my Gx260 Bios A.03. What I did is left my old Hard Drive in ( 80Gb Seagate) and put the 300Gb drive on the Grey connector on the IDE cable it started up fine went in to the BIOS and selcted AUTO for the primary Drive 1.

 

Windows Xp started up fine. I went to my computer and my New HardDrive was nowhere to be found. So I went to Disk Wizard for windows ( Software that came with My 80Gb Drive) it said that a drive larger that 137Gb has been detected and a restrigy fix must be applied. I clicked okay and it restarted my computer. No Prblems yet.

 

Next I booted of of the diskWizard Cd and choose to copy files. After About copying for 5 Hours I took the 80 Gb Drive Out then I put the 300Gb Drive On the BLUE connector and left the 80Gb out. Restarted went in to the BIOS and set Primary drive 1 to OFF.

 

Computer Resterted went to the XP boot Screen worked fine on startup wnet to my computer and saw the whole Harddrive. So it worked fine. The only thing I noticed is that my computer is a bit slower than usual. Anyway Hoped this Helped

 

Gx260  P4 2.80Ghx

1Gb Ram 300Gb Harddrive

Windows Xp Pro Sp2

They will neither confirm nor deny any such compatability further complcated
by the fact that NO VERSION OF WINDOWS out of the box supports 48 Bit LBA.

Win98 needs the Application Accelerator and a Patched version of FDISK to partition and format a huge drive.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=263044

WIN2000/XP/2003 Need Service Packs and a registry hack like that from the Maxtor Big IDE enabler.

http://service.maxtor.com/rightnow/product_manuals/137GB_Solutions.pdf

137Gigabyte barrier solutions:
This information applies to the necessary steps that need to be taken to break the 137
Gigabyte barrier, whenever a Hard Disk drive larger than 137 Gigabytes is connected to the
motherboard's ATA bus. This does not apply to embedded or add-in Serial ATA, or ATA/133 hosts.
The Serial ATA and ATA/133 hosts should have 48-Bit compliant BIOS and drivers. Check with the
motherboard or add-in host manufacturer for the latest BIOS and driver updates, for these types
of controllers. Currently there are 3 options to remedy the 137 Gigabyte barrier. Failure to
implement the solutions will result in data loss when trying to access the hard disk beyond 137 Gigabytes.

Installation Option 1:
For drives attached to the primary or secondary channel on the motherboard controller, use
Windows XP (service pack 1 or newer) or Windows 2000 (service pack 3 or newer), and install
MaxBlast 3, or Maxtor Big Drive Enabler. Windows XP and 2000 with the newest service packs
can be used without additional hardware requirements. This option assumes you are attaching
the hard drive to the primary or secondary motherboard controller. If you are attaching the
hard drive to an additional controller (e.g., PCI adapter card), see option 3.
Step 1: Attach the large hard drive to the primary or secondary motherboard controller.
Step 2: Install one of the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 1
or newer. Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 or newer.
Step 3: Install MaxBlast 3, or Run Maxtor Big Drive Enabler software patch.

Installation Option 2: For drives attached to the primary or secondary channel on the motherboard
controller-and you don't have Windows XP (service pack 1 or newer) or Windows 2000 (service pack 3 or newer)
-install a 48-Bit LBA compliant IDE ATA/ATAPI controller driver, and run the driver installation software.
If you are not using Windows XP (service pack 1 or newer) or Windows 2000 (service pack 3 or newer),
you must use an IDE ATA/ATAPI controller driver supplied by the controller chipset manufacturer to
provide 48-Bit LBA support. This option assumes you are attaching the hard drive to the primary or
secondary motherboard controller. If you are attaching a hard drive to an additional controller
(e.g., PCI adapter card), see option 3. Step 1: Attach the large hard drive to the primary or
secondary motherboard controller, and install the operating system. Step 2: Identify the chipset
used in your operating system, and load the appropriate drivers if available from the chipset manufacturer.
Currently the only chipset manufacturer offering 48-Bit compliant motherboard controller drivers is Intel.

The driver effectively replaces the Windows 98/Me, 2000 and XP, ATA controller drivers.
The Intel 48-Bit LBA compliant IDE ATA/ATAPI controller drivers are limited to systems with Intel chipsets,
and support the following chipsets only: 810, 810E, 810E2, 810L, 815, 815EP, 815G, 815EG, 815P, 820, 820E,
840, 845, 845E, 845G, 845GE, 845GL, 845GV, 845PE, 850, 850E, 860. The Intel Application Accelerator can be
obtained here http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/ Please read Intel's accompanying documentation
and recommendations. You will need to periodically check other chipset and motherboard manufacturer's web
sites for 48-Bit LBA compliant IDE ATA/ATAPI controller drivers as they become available.

Installation Option 3:
Attach the large hard drive to an embedded or add-in Serial ATA/ ATA133 controller with a 48-Bit LBA compliant
BIOS and controller driver. Older Microsoft Operating Systems and other Operating Systems, such as LINUX variants,
can support large drives with the addition of an IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. Some of these are embedded motherboard controllers, but additional card controllers can be added to a system by inserting the controller
in an open PCI bus slot. Most IDE ATA/ATAPI drive controllers capable of 48-Bit LBA support, such as those
available from Promise, Highpoint, VIA, have 48-Bit LBA compliant drivers for many of these operating systems.
Using an IDE ATA/ATAPI controller that has a 48-Bit LBA compatible controller driver will allow safe use of
large drives beyond the previous limits of 137 GB capacity. Additional controllers that do not have 48-Bit compliant
drivers cannot safely access drives larger than 137 GB. Step 1: Attach the large hard drive to the additional
controller (e.g., PCI adapter card). Step 2: Install a 48-Bit LBA compatible controller driver. Most IDE ATA/ATAPI
drive controllers capable of 48-Bit LBA support, such as those available from Promise, Highpoint, VIA, and other manufacturers, have 48-Bit LBA compliant drivers for many operating systems. If your additional controller does
not come with a 48-Bit LBA compliant controller driver, you must download one from the motherboard or chipset
manufacturer's Web site. MaxBlast 3 and Maxtor Big Drive Enabler for Windows 2000 service pack 3 and Windows
XP service pack 1 After connecting a large drive to the motherboard's ATA bus, and installing Windows 2000 or
XP with the latest service packs. The Windows registry will need a patch to enable large drive support.

You can reference Microsoft KB article # Q30313 for Windows XP,

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=303013

or Microsoft KB article # Q305098 for Windows 2000.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=305098
You have two options for enabling big drive support in Windows 2000, or XP after the service packs have been installed. Install MaxBlast 3 Windows version that is included in the retail kit,
or download the Maxtor Big Drive Enabler.

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/big_drive_enabler.htm

Thanks for that.  Unfortunately disk wizard doesn't find the drive either, so I suspect the new drive or something else is faulty.

Well after installing the 300Gb drive I went into diskwizard it said a drive over 137Gb was detected and must apply a regestry fix. After that rebooted and it was there in My Computer. Then I imaged the whole drive using diskwizard in DOS. Then I used the 300Gb as the boot drive and that was it.

 

There are only two problems though.

 

1. I turned off the computer using the Hibernate feature on Windows XP. I turned it on and got the error message " Disk Read Error press Crtl + Alt + Del to restart" Now after seeing this my pulse got higher because i knew this isnt good. I restarted like three times and no luck so somwhare in the BIOS there is UMDA setting and it said to turn off to reduce compatability issues with older operating systems. I turned it off and then my computer booted up fine.

 

But I don't understand Windows XP is a current operating system or is it just not compatible with Drives over 137Gb?

2. Another thing I have noticed is that my computer is a little slowere than usaul. And this is before turning off the UDMA feature in the BIOS.

Thx

Psxmoe

 

Gx260 P4 2.80Ghz 1.0GbRam

300Gb Harddrive Windows Xp Pro