Tim Slattery wrote:
Paul wrote:

There is a size limit, but it's complicated. For a modern
user of WinXP (say an SP3 installer CD) and a modern (just purchased)
computer, the limit is the limit caused by 32 bit sector numbers in
the MBR. That's 2.2TB. WinXP supports MBR and allows (easily) drives
with 2.2TB size. GPT partitioning allows larger disks and partitions,
but a later OS is needed.

Not necessarily. I use a 3TB external disk (actually two of them) with
an XP machine. I think that the first time you use it, it installs a
driver for the GUID partition system. After that, it works fine.


I have a 3TB drive here, and mine uses the Acronis Capacity Manager driver.
As far as I know, there's no Microsoft GPT support in WinXP x32.
There is GPT support in later OSes.

It says here, GPT is available on WinXP x64 but not on x32.
I've only got x32 here. And that's why I use the Acronis driver.
I think there is also some other driver besides the Acronis one,
but don't remember the details. The Acronis one is effectively
a filter driver, that wedges in each drive stack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

And the tables there show a UEFI BIOS is needed to boot
from the GPT choice.

It's the kind of thing, you have to do a homework assignment,
before you can buy a new large internal disk. So you know
what you're getting into. Buying a 2TB drive is so much easier.
And probably cheaper per GB as well.

Linux doesn't officially support partitions above 2.2TB with MBR.
But there is a way to do a loopback mount, with a 64 bit offset
parameter, that makes the upper NTFS partition on my 3TB drive
visible from Linux. It's just slow (10MB/sec), when the disk is
good for 135MB/sec.

Paul