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   Someone from Unicore (appearently they own Award now) is suppose to contact 
me within the next day or two, about upgrading the BIOS - I sent them the 
request.<br>
 Is that (whether the bios ... will recognize a hd that large) a question 
they should (and could be expected) to answer?<br>
 I've never upgraded a BIOS before - big issue? - easy? - safe? -risky?<br>
Is BIOS even an issue if I get a PCI ATA/100 IDE card?<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:JM5379@sbcglobal.net">JM5379@sbcglobal.net</a>
 wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:AA-C7DBD696BE6A24E035505F2270999D38-ZZ@homebase1.prodigy.net">
  <pre wrap="">one other thing to consider is whether the bios on your m/b will<br>recognize a hd that large.<br><br><br>--- Original Message ---<br>From: Fred James <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fredjame@concentric.net">&lt;fredjame@concentric.net&gt;</a><br>To: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:discuss@ntlug.org">discuss@ntlug.org</a><br>Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Hard drive question<br><br></pre>
  <blockquote type="cite">
    <pre wrap="">If it makes a difference, it is a 120 GB Western Digital 7200 RPM - <br>couldn't find anything that said it was incompatible, though I<br></pre>
    </blockquote>
    <pre wrap=""><!---->did see <br></pre>
    <blockquote type="cite">
      <pre wrap="">that it might want to be on its own IDE.<br>Space is more the issue for me than speed, but I am sure I<br></pre>
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      <pre wrap=""><!---->wouldn't mind <br></pre>
      <blockquote type="cite">
        <pre wrap="">having both.<br>Not looking at RAID just yet.<br>I'll look into a PCI card.<br>Thank you.<br><br>Daniel Hauck wrote:<br><br></pre>
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          <pre wrap="">In general, I would say everything should be just fine.  But I<br></pre>
          </blockquote>
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          <pre wrap=""><!---->don't <br></pre>
          <blockquote type="cite">
            <blockquote type="cite">
              <pre wrap="">know how large your drive is.  The ATA/100 mode most likely<br></pre>
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              <pre wrap=""><!---->will not <br></pre>
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                <blockquote type="cite">
                  <pre wrap="">be used and I have had only rare instances where compatibility <br>problems surfaces from that and these were limited to one<br></pre>
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                  <pre wrap=""><!---->drive not <br></pre>
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                      <pre wrap="">wanting to work when connected to the same controller as<br></pre>
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                      <pre wrap=""><!---->another.  You <br></pre>
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                          <pre wrap="">don't mention the capacity of the ATA/100 drives so I can't<br></pre>
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                          <pre wrap=""><!---->comment on <br></pre>
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                              <pre wrap="">that.  But if you want access to the speed you want, I would<br></pre>
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                              <pre wrap=""><!---->recommend <br></pre>
                              <blockquote type="cite">
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                                  <pre wrap="">buying a PCI controller that supports the speed.  If you can<br></pre>
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                                  <pre wrap=""><!---->find one <br></pre>
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                                      <pre wrap="">that does only ATA/100 you will find it will be cheap.  I<br></pre>
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                                      <pre wrap=""><!---->picked one <br></pre>
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                                          <pre wrap="">up from CompUSA for like $10.  It worked nicely too... running<br></pre>
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                                          <pre wrap=""><!---->a Linux <br></pre>
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                                              <pre wrap="">software RAID on it.  (There's some trivia associated with<br></pre>
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                                              <pre wrap=""><!---->that too -- <br></pre>
                                              <blockquote type="cite">
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                                                  <pre wrap="">it seems that the Promise Fastrak 100 controller is merely a<br></pre>
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                                                  <pre wrap=""><!---->software <br></pre>
                                                  <blockquote type="cite">
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                                                      <pre wrap="">RAID controller in the first place -- I discovered that when I<br></pre>
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                                                      <pre wrap=""><!---->wanted <br></pre>
                                                      <blockquote type="cite">
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                                                          <pre wrap="">to use my Promise RAID controller with my RedHat 7.3 and they<br></pre>
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                                                          <pre wrap=""><!---->wouldn't <br></pre>
                                                          <blockquote type="cite">
                                                            <blockquote type="cite">
                                                              <pre wrap="">supply the drivers soon enough... I looked into it and finally <br>realized that it's all driven by software.  I went out to find<br></pre>
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                                                              <pre wrap=""><!---->a PCI <br></pre>
                                                              <blockquote type="cite">
                                                                <blockquote type="cite">
                                                                  <pre wrap="">controller (Maxtor ATA/100) and realized that the Maxtor and the <br>Fasttrak 100 were IDENTICAL!!!  The only difference was the<br></pre>
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                                                                  <pre wrap=""><!---->BIOS on <br></pre>
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                                                                      <pre wrap="">board!)<br><br> <br><br>Anyway... I guess I'm going off in a different direction... it's <br>06:30... go figure.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br>    ----- Original Message -----<br><br>    From: Fred James <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fredjame@concentric.net">&lt;mailto:fredjame@concentric.net&gt;</a><br><br>    To:Discuss North Texas Linux Users Group<br></pre>
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                                                                      <pre wrap=""><!----><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:discuss@ntlug.org">&lt;mailto:discuss@ntlug.org&gt;</a><br></pre>
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                                                                          <pre wrap="">    Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 06:18<br><br>    Subject: [NTLUG:Discuss] Hard drive question<br><br><br>    Will I be able to run an ATA/100 hard drive on my 1998<br></pre>
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                                                                          <pre wrap=""><!---->motherboard?<br></pre>
                                                                          <blockquote type="cite">
                                                                            <blockquote type="cite">
                                                                              <pre wrap="">    Would upgrading the BIOS be of any benefit?<br>    Does upgrading the BIOS dangerous in terms of OS and data<br></pre>
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                                                                              <pre wrap=""><!---->already<br></pre>
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                                                                                  <pre wrap="">    on the hard drive?<br><br>    Elitegroup P6BX-A+ motherboard<br>    Award BIOS v4.51PG<br><br>    (the following information is from:<br>   <br></pre>
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                                                                                  <pre wrap=""><!----><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/193/1/">&lt;http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/193/1/&gt;</a> )<br></pre>
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                                                                                      <pre wrap="">    The specifications of the P6BX-A+ are as follows:<br><br>        * Chipset: Intel 440BX processor<br>        * CPU: Intel Celeron, Pentium II &amp; Pentium III<br>        * Bios: Award<br>        * RAM: 3 DIMM - Max 768MB<br>        * Slot: 2 ISA, 5 PCI, 1 ISA/PCI shared and 1 AGP<br><br>        I/O:<br><br>        * One - EPP/ECP mode parallel port<br>        * Two - 16550 high-speed serial I/O ports<br>        * Supports 360K~2.88M Byte, 3 Mode FDDs or LS120<br>        * Dual PCI IDE interfaces - PIO mode 4, DMA Mode 2,<br></pre>
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                                                                                      <pre wrap=""><!---->Ultra DMA 33<br></pre>
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                                                                                          <pre wrap="">        * PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors<br>        * ATX Power Supply Connector<br>        * Two USB connectors<br><br>-- <br>small is beautiful<br><br></pre>
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                                                                                          <pre wrap="">-- <br>small is beautiful<br><br><br></pre>
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                                                                                          <pre wrap=""><!----><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss">https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br><br><br></pre>
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                                                                                          <pre class="moz-signature" cols="$mailwrapcol">-- 
small is beautiful
</pre>
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