Controller Cards, Are They Necessary?

I purchased a Western Digital 160GB 7200RPM, High-Performance EIDE. Upon reading the installation information there is a notice that states.

"IMPORTANT: Use Data Lifeguard Tools 10.0 or later installation software to access the full capacity of your hard drive. Hard drives larger than 137 GB require a controller card to utilize full drive capacity."

Are controller cards necessary when the HHD is used with a P4 processor? If so whom would be a good choice to use?

 

Depends on the controller on the motherboard. If the card is faster than the one on the motherboard by all means use it. How much ya want for it?

 

How would I find out how fast the controller is that is on the MoBo? Or should I say how the controller that is on the MoBo, compares to optional controller cards.

 

This has nothing to do with your P4 processor. It has to do with your OS and BIOS.

How old is your BIOS? If it's older than a year then that's too old for larger drives. The controller card uses it's own kind of BIOS, that's how they work around the problem.

Also even if you do buy a controller card you still might not be able to access the full drive. This is because only Win XP was set up for drives that big. Do not use overdrive software. It will most likely mess up your hard drive, and it is VERY hard to remove

 

I purchased the MoBo for this system I am building about 4 weeks ago, An Asus P4P800E-Deluxe. I am assuming that it is less that a year old, but then again there is really no way to tell when the Mobo was produced? I know Asus use to use Awards BIOS with their Mobo's but from what I have read about the board they have change to their own BIOS now??? But then again I may have misread something some where in manual.

 

When the computer boots up look at the date on the BIOS. It's how old the BIOS is, not the board. I would also look to see if there is a newer BIOS available from the mobo manufacture. If you have a new BIOS, AND you are running Windows XP, then you shouldn't need a controller card.