DL320 - ATA disk Size Limits

[Tom Mayer]

I am trying to upgrade my hard drives in an older Proliant DL320 using Wndows 2000 Server OS.
I have purchased a 200 Gigabyte 133/ATA hard drive to add in the secondary slot, but when I use MS Disk Manager to create my partitions, it only shows 128GB of space available to partition.
I understand (now) that there are disk size limitations on some of these older BIOS servers, but was wondering if there is anything (BIOS updates, service packs, firmware updates etc.) that will allow me to utilize the full size of this disk drive?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Ryan Goff]

Wether this will work depends on which DL320 you are using. If you are using a G1 server you will see that in the quickspecs, only 80GB drives are supported in the server:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10692_na/10692_na.HTML

If you are using a DL320 G2, it supports the larger drive but you will see the note inside quickspecs:

Internal storage capacity of up to 274 GB in ATA Models (2 x 160 GB 1" ATA/100 Non-Hot Plug Drives) or 145.6 GB (2 x 72.8 GB 1" non hot plug SCSI)
NOTE: Please note that the internal ATA controller will only recognize a maximum of 137 GB/HDD in the HP ProLiant DL320 G2. If the hard drive bays are populated with 160 GB HDDs, the system will recognize a max of 137 GB each, for a maximum storage capacity of 274 GB.

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11512_na/11512_na.HTML


If you are using a DL320 G3 this is not an issue so long as you are using the latest support pack from Microsoft as noted above.

Which service pack of windows 2000 are you using? A certain version is required to access partitions greater than 127 GB:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;305098

Due to BIOS limitations, you will not be able to create larger than 128 GB partitions.

Please see Microsoft's article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327202

Also please note that if the system BIOS does not support 48-bit addressing, a 48-bit-enabled operating system should not be used with a hard drive larger than 137 GB. This is dangerous because the operating system installation program may place boot files in regions on the hard drive that are inaccessible to the non-48-bit-enabled system BIOS. This could result in a system hang, or â blue-screenâ , when attempting to boot to the operating system.

Also see the following article:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=PSD_EM040513_CW01

[Tom Mayer]

Ryan,
Thank You!
You have gone above and beyond in supplying the detailed and complete information about the DL320 and its size limits.
It looks like I'm going to have to eat the extra 72 gig of space not recognized.
Again thanks for the help

Tom Mayer

[Prashant (I am Back)]

Hi,

If post helpes you then do assign point to same post
Where as which generation of server you have
of DL 320
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;327202
APPLIES TO
â ¢ Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
â ¢ Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
â ¢ Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition

So it is due to hardware only.

Regards,
Prashant S.