Peter Lewis, a recent buyer of a 200GB hard drive from Western Digital (WD), has had to endure three crashes in past months, data loss, "nonplussed" local support, and, in the end, having to find the solution himself.
The problem affects certain versions of both Windows XP and 2000, as is evident from technical literature. But according to Lewis, CEO of local casino games developer Technology Consulting Corporation, the solution has been poorly communicated to users and local support staff.
He says his calls to Microsoft and Drive Control Corporation (DCC, the local WD distributor) yielded no answer. "In the end, I found the answer myself," he adds.
Pierre van Tonder, who took the support call at DCC, was aware of the problem when ITWeb called. He says the best support is obtained when customers bring a problem drive onto support premises. "It`s not just a case of the operating system, it may also be the BIOS or the motherboard," he says. "It`s difficult to say in a phone call."
Microsoft technical manager Jonathan Hatchuel says he has personally not come across more instances of the problem, but promises Microsoft will get to the bottom of the issue and escalate Lewis` query.
The technical low-down
A technical article on WD`s Web site discusses the problem with drives over 137GB in capacity. "Whether or not a system can support [such a drive] depends on several factors," the article states, alluding to issues relating to motherboard, BIOS and other variables.
Systems that do not support the full capacity of these drives may report it only up to 137GB. But the real crisis to any owner of data, it admits, is that "there is some risk to your data if you use a drive that is larger than 137GB and your system does not support it properly".
"Once the operating system has used all the bits that it does support to access the drive, it may begin writing over data that already exists at the beginning of the drive. If the operating system files are overwritten, the operating system is rendered unbootable and inaccessible. Drivers or service packs for the operating system are necessary to overcome this issue."
XP, 2000 fixes, workarounds
Another WD article reveals specific problems with Windows 2000 and Windows XP. "The full capacity of EIDE drives larger than 137GB is not recognised in Windows 2000/XP," it warns.
48-bit LBA support is necessary for such drives, and in Windows 2000/XP, this can only function correctly with Windows XP Service Pack 1, for XP versions before August 2002. The system must have a 48-bit LBA-compatible BIOS installed. This includes EIDE controller card BIOSs. Furthermore, users must enable the support in the Windows registry.
Read the Microsoft article for full details.
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