HDD help needed

[Dave Jones_7]

i've got an old compaq presario 5050 it comes standard with an 8 gig hd, i want to add another larger hd, ive downloaded the bios upgrade that says it will support larger hds, however it doesnt tell how large a hd it will support. i want to throw an 80 gig in this thing and wondering if it can read it, also wondering if i'll have to partition it into maybe 8-10 gig partitions or 4-20 gig partitions etc.any help would be appreciated.

[Alexander M. Ermes]

Hi there.
AFAIK the next limit is 128 GB for disks.
Partitioning :

Part 1 FAT32
Main os partition 10 GB
install MS stuff

Part 2 FAT32
program install partition 30 GB
install mainly used programs
( office apps and so on )
store data

part 3 FAT32 30 GB
games and fun

part 4 ext3 10 GB
testing second OS ( Linux ? )

First three partitions with FAT32 accessible r/w for Linux.

Just my 2 ct.
Rgds
Alexander M. Ermes