What limits are there on external USB disk drive size?

[dalchina]

Hi, I have been advised by an HP chat technician that
My laptop (Vista, 32 bit, < 1year old)
a. will not access more than 320Gb via USB
b. will not accommodate more than 320Gb internally

Both he attributes to mother board limitations.

Now (b) I'm willing to accept, althought disappointed - my laptop's under a year old- but (a) surprise me.

What limits the size of external drive you can access?

a. USB2 limitation? - but there are bigger drives on the market
b. Windows limitation
c. motherboard limitation (even though it's connected by USB

In other words, should I believe the HP tech advice on (b)?

Thanks! David

[Seten]

if it has no additional power supply, then power.

I had 2 different 500GB USB-HDD (3,5") and no problem. I would only think of filesystem problem/limitation.

Maybe chips in the USB-Hdd (not the HDD itself)

[dalchina]

So it turns out, as I expected, that what the HP tech guy was saying was a load of nonsense. I recently bought a 500Gb 7200rpm drive, carefully checking the power consumption should be similar to the 5400rpm one I was replacing and..

- it works in the PC
- and of course it works as a USB drive.

I think the tech guy was simply looking at the spec. sheets for that model and regurgitating the max drive size it had ever been shipped with by HP.