A question about slipstreaming

[dcc]

Hi all, I'm going to install a 200GB hdd that I've wiped and is ready to go. I have made a disk using Autostreamer slipstreaming W2k pro and sp4. My question is in regards to the partitioning section of the installation of the OS, I know from previous experience that the section will open with a screen with the words "Unpartitioned Space" with the amount shown on the right. With the 137GB limit, will my 200GB of unpartitioned space show or only the 137GB? If it doesn't and I proceed with the amount shown will the slipstream enable me to see the whole 200GB when it's finished?

[caperjack]

Hi all, I'm going to install a 200GB hdd that I've wiped and is ready to go. I have made a disk using Autostreamer slipstreaming W2k pro and sp4. My question is in regards to the partitioning section of the installation of the OS, I know from previous experience that the section will open with a screen with the words "Unpartitioned Space" with the amount shown on the right. With the 137GB limit, will my 200GB of unpartitioned space show or only the 137GB? If it doesn't and I proceed with the amount shown will the slipstream enable me to see the whole 200GB when it's finished?

Slipstream shouldn't have any affect on the what win2000 shows as the size of the drive ,if you have a bios limit of 137gig then I think that all you will see .try the hdd manufactor for a utility to setup the drive first ,if it a maxtor for instance look for maxblast software on there site

[dcc]

Thank you for the response caperjack, The beauty of the slipstreaming is that the service pack will be seen in the same installation as the OS, and with W2k and sp4 installed toghether it will allow me to see drives larger than 137GB. My question is when I'm installing the OS, when the installation gets to the partitioning part will it show a unpartitioned size larger than 137GB, and if not does it mater what is entered if I'm slipstreaming the OS and sp4?

[dcc]

Slipstream shouldn't have any affect on the what win2000 shows as the size of the drive ,if you have a bios limit of 137gig then I think that all you will see .try the hdd manufactor for a utility to setup the drive first ,if it a maxtor for instance look for maxblast software on there site

The purpose of slipstreaming is so that is does have an effect on what W2k shows for the hdd size, the sp4 will allow it to recognize hdds over 137GB. The slipstream combines the W2k and sp4 onto a CD for the purpose of one installation of the two.

The hdd in question is a 200GB Maxtor, and the Maxblaster CD does have a section for partitioning. Are you suggesting that I partition the drive prior to installing the operating system?

[caperjack]

The purpose of slipstreaming is so that is does have an effect on what W2k shows for the hdd size, the sp4 will allow it to recognize hdds over 137GB. The slipstream combines the W2k and sp4 onto a CD for the purpose of one installation of the two.

The hdd in question is a 200GB Maxtor, and the Maxblaster CD does have a section for partitioning. Are you suggesting that I partition the drive prior to installing the operating system?

yes i understand, and use slipstreaming ,but i don't understand you gig limit ,my understanding of size limit harddrives is its with your computers the Bios,and not with windows ,therefor having sp4 in with win2000 shouldn't make any difference with the size limit ,
and yes if your bios has a size limit of 137 gig ,then use maxblast to make 2 or more partitions less than 137 gigs each and format them , before you install win2000 ,this way you computers bios will see 2 different drives ,both less than the 137 gig limit

[dcc]

yes i understand, and use slipstreaming ,but i don't understand you gig limit ,my understanding of size limit harddrives is its with your computers the Bios,and not with windows ,therefor having sp4 in with win2000 shouldn't make any difference with the size limit , and yes if your bios has a size limit of 137 gig ,then use maxblast to make 2 or more partitions less than 137 gigs each and format them , before you install win2000 ,this way you computers bios will see 2 different drives ,both less than the 137 gig limit

The 137GB limitis imposed by the BIOS, but for some reason with W2k the sp3 or sp4 will enable you to see hdds larger than the limit, the same is true with XP and sp2. I'm trying to find this out even as I write this.

As to my original question, it looks like the largest partition size offered while installing W2k is 131GB.

[caperjack]

The 137GB limit is imposed by the BIOS, but for some reason with W2k the sp3 or sp4 will enable you to see hdds larger than the limit, the same is true with XP and sp2. I'm trying to find this out even as I write this.

As to my original question, it looks like the largest partition size offered while installing W2k is 131GB.

ok,i work on a lot of computer ,have to admit that most have smaller drives than 100 gig ,some have large ones but are new computers and don't have the 137 limit ,sorry i can't answer you ? ,but as i said before if you create 2 partitions of 100gig each you will not have that problem

[dcc]

Thanks Caperjack, I'm just trying to understand this. On the one had I'm being told that the BIOS is the controlling factor for the 137GB limit, and then I read something like what I've attached below and realize that I'm a lost ball in high weeds.

Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. Its most notable new features were USB 2.0 support and a Set Program Access and Defaults utility. For the first time, users could control the default application for activities such as web browsing and instant messaging, as well as hide access to some of Microsoft's bundled programs. This utility was later brought into the older Windows 2000 operating system with its Service Pack 3. Service Pack 1a was later released to remove Microsoft's Java virtual machine as a result of a lawsuit with Sun Microsystems.

LBA-48, which allowed the OS to view and use HDD space above 137 GB, was enabled by default. Native support for Serial ATA was added.

[caperjack]

Yeah,like all computer s-hit is so confusing ,i know, all i know is on some motherboard a BIOS update would fix hdd size limits ,as there has always been a limit ,like 32 ,then 64 then 128 and so on and so on ,this is a little old but interesting as to why the limits .
http://www.spcug.org/reviews/bl0107.htm

[dcc]

I'm beginning to make some sense out of this. The BIOS limits the size of the hdd that it will recognize, but there are several ways to get around this. One way is to update the BIOS, another is to add a BIOS expansion card. The next two are the ones that I have been looking at, obliquely mind you.:lol: Those are the LBA-48 which I have mentioned previously, and the other is a Software Translation Driver (Dynamic Drive Overlay). I wasn't aware of what it was at the time, but this is what I used with the Maxblast4 software to partition my 200GB hdd prior to slipstreaming W2k pro and sp4.

[_alphaBeta_]

The hard drive limitation is due to both Windows 2000 and your motherboard BIOS. If you're like me, and using an original Win2k CD, you'll have a problem seeing more than 137 GB at the partitions screen of the install.

The easiest way I've read is to slipstream SP4 with the install and make a SP4 Win2k CD. When I do this, however, it's still showing the disks as 137 GB. As an interesting side note, it actually shows the disks as 137 GB and the partitioned space as 150 GB. That's because I already have SP4 installed and claimed the extra space after the fact using a partition utility. In my case the motherboard/BIOS can see the drive.

The question was asked, but I didn't see a clear answer: Using a slipstreamed SP4 CD, should the disk capacity be correct? No where do my setup screens say anything about SP4, which I thought was odd. Did I slipstream properly or is this screen always going to say 137 GB regardless of the slipstream? There's no acknowledgement when using the slipstreamed CD that SP4 is there?

[dcc]

The work around that I found was to partition the hdd first with the utility that came with it, in my case I have a Maxtor which came with the Maxblast 4 software. After the hdd is partitioned I used a slipstreamed CD of W2k and SP4. Just choose to use the partitioned space.

[_alphaBeta_]

For everyone's reference it turns out that you can get the initial windows 2000 setup to recognize the full size of larger disks. Using a slipstreamed Win2k CD is not enough though.

You have to edit the setupreg.hiv file in the i386 directory to include the EnableBigLba fix that SP4 addresses once windows starts booting on its own. I guess Microsoft didn't see it as important enough to change the initial registry that is used by the initial setup program. I haven't confirmed that this leads to a stable install, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't with a slipstreamed SP4 behind it. Besides, a lot of people have been partitioning outside windows setup and it has been working fine. This only means that you can windows setup do it for you as well, which I prefer.

[rexluporum]

The 137GB limit is imposed by the BIOS, but for some reason with W2k the sp3 or sp4 will enable you to see hdds larger than the limit, the same is true with XP and sp2. I'm trying to find this out even as I write this.

As to my original question, it looks like the largest partition size offered while installing W2k is 131GB.

Are you sure that the service packs will allow the windows installer to see larger partitions if you're BIOS doesn't recognize them? My understanding was that first your BIOS has to recognize >137GB, and only then will slipstreaming the service pack allow windows to recognize it as well.