how many hard drives can win xp pro see?

**canadian_divx** · May 9th, 2004

how many HDD's can win xp pro see and how much space can it see? i know there is a limit but i dont know waht it is

i am just woundering because i am building a 1.5tb server and was thinking for an easy os i would use XP and also for remote desktop

**gonaads** · May 9th, 2004

Well SATA RAID controllers such as the RC4000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controllers can use up to 32 drives.

And it has greater than 2 Terabyte support per array.

And supports Windows 2000, XP and 2003.

Adaptec also has Serial ATA 16-port RAID cards. Soooo that's alot.

I don't know how much capacity XP can use though.

Maybe this will help?

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...c_fil_tdrn.asp

**gonaads** · May 9th, 2004

I found this also:

Problems running 2 250gb hard drives with xp pro?
DanG
I'm gearing up for the boxing day sales and am hoping to get a pair of WD 250GB se's for cheap tomorrow or the day after.
I'm going to be running them off a promise ata card that they say will support LBA 48bit larger than 137gb as long as I have the newest bios for the card, which is not a problem to do, it's more so windows that I'm concerned with.
Xp pro, with SP1. Any problem getting it to see the full capacity of the 2 drives?

Geeky1
None whatsoever.

I've got 4 160GB hard drives in my dual 2500 system, and they're in 2, 2-drive RAID 0 arrays; each array has a formatted capacity of ~310GB, and Win XP sees all 310GB just fine.

Don't know if any of this or my other post is helpful or not.

**canadian_divx** · May 9th, 2004

thanks gonaadsit privided me with some info.

dick471 · May 10th, 2004

I'm running 13 Hard Drives on IDE, SCSI, USB, Promise for a total of 947.5GB's and have no problem in XP Pro. Other devices (DVD burners, etc) complete the 26 drive letters allowed. It takes about 7 minutes to boot completely to a working desktop, but I'm retired and have lots of time. Everything works fine.

Tweakfiend · May 20th, 2004

As gonaads mentioned difficult to see what if any limit XP has.
I have 2@120GB .and 1@40GB IDE133's and 1@120GB Sata =400 GB ......no problem.

**j79zlr** · May 20th, 2004

I think the limit is actually in partitions, I don't think you can have more than 24; C-Z since A,B are reserved for floppies, but if you use an array I would think that 2TB is the limit.

May 9th, 2004	Top \| #1
canadian_divx Canadian_divx Joined: June 2002 Location: waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth Posts: 1,551 Reputation: 150 Power: 137	how many hard drives can win xp pro see? how many HDD's can win xp pro see and how much space can it see? i know there is a limit but i dont know waht it is i am just woundering because i am building a 1.5tb server and was thinking for an easy os i would use XP and also for remote desktop

May 9th, 2004	Top \| #2
gonaads Beware the G-Man Joined: March 2002 Location: XP-erience, NTFS, OSNN, Bay Area, California Posts: 18,474 Reputation: 4070 Power: 348	Well SATA RAID controllers such as the RC4000 Series Serial ATA RAID Controllers can use up to 32 drives. And it has greater than 2 Terabyte support per array. And supports Windows 2000, XP and 2003. Adaptec also has Serial ATA 16-port RAID cards. Soooo that's alot. I don't know how much capacity XP can use though. Maybe this will help? http://www.microsoft.com/resources/d...c_fil_tdrn.asp *"I play violent video games, I could snap at any second."*

May 9th, 2004	Top \| #3
gonaads Beware the G-Man Joined: March 2002 Location: XP-erience, NTFS, OSNN, Bay Area, California Posts: 18,474 Reputation: 4070 Power: 348	I found this also: Problems running 2 250gb hard drives with xp pro? DanG I'm gearing up for the boxing day sales and am hoping to get a pair of WD 250GB se's for cheap tomorrow or the day after. I'm going to be running them off a promise ata card that they say will support LBA 48bit larger than 137gb as long as I have the newest bios for the card, which is not a problem to do, it's more so windows that I'm concerned with. Xp pro, with SP1. Any problem getting it to see the full capacity of the 2 drives? Geeky1 None whatsoever. I've got 4 160GB hard drives in my dual 2500 system, and they're in 2, 2-drive RAID 0 arrays; each array has a formatted capacity of ~310GB, and Win XP sees all 310GB just fine. Don't know if any of this or my other post is helpful or not. *"I play violent video games, I could snap at any second."*

May 20th, 2004	Top \| #7
j79zlr Glaanies script monkey Joined: February 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 2,725 Reputation: 1520 Power: 155	I think the limit is actually in partitions, I don't think you can have more than 24; C-Z since A,B are reserved for floppies, but if you use an array I would think that 2TB is the limit. http://www.j79zlr.com

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May 9th, 2004	Top \| #4
canadian_divx Canadian_divx Joined: June 2002 Location: waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth Posts: 1,551 Reputation: 150 Power: 137	thanks gonaadsit privided me with some info.

May 10th, 2004	Top \| #5
dick471 OSNN Junior Addict Joined: September 2002 Posts: 47 Reputation: 10 Power: 119	I'm running 13 Hard Drives on IDE, SCSI, USB, Promise for a total of 947.5GB's and have no problem in XP Pro. Other devices (DVD burners, etc) complete the 26 drive letters allowed. It takes about 7 minutes to boot completely to a working desktop, but I'm retired and have lots of time. Everything works fine.

May 20th, 2004	Top \| #6
Tweakfiend OSNN Senior Addict Joined: January 2004 Location: UK Posts: 340 Reputation: 202 Power: 108	As gonaads mentioned difficult to see what if any limit XP has. I have 2@120GB .and 1@40GB IDE133's and 1@120GB Sata =400 GB ......no problem.