Member Avatar for Muralidharan.E

Hi friends
I am using old p3 processor(933 mhz) with 512+256 ram and 40 gb harddisk.
I want to extend my harddisk capacity. Is it possible to update in to 500 gb
hard disk for p3 processor. Will it accept?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by caperjack

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— it can be done, but the limiting factor is often the motherboard BIOS and how the drive is attached, not the CPU. and have already touched basic connector and power issues; the extra detail below explains the reliable ways to get a 500GB drive working and what to check first.

Older P3-era BIOSes sometimes use 28-bit LBA and will only see ~137GB of a disk. That is a firmware/addressing limit rather than a physical one; see Logical block addressing for the technical background. If your BIOS (or motherboard) does not support larger addressing you’ll need a workaround.

Practical options and trade-offs:

  • Install a PCI SATA host controller card with its own BIOS. This is the most reliable internal solution because the card handles the drive and often supports large SATA disks. If you plan to boot from the new disk, make sure the card advertises boot support.
  • Use an external USB-to-SATA enclosure or USB adapter. This bypasses the old BIOS disk limits for data drives and is easiest to install. Booting from USB may not work on very old systems.
  • Replace the drive with a large PATA (IDE) drive only if you can find one and want an internal-only fix; prices and availability are hit-or-miss today.

Quick checklist before buying:

  • Locate the exact motherboard model/string printed on the PCB and check the vendor site for BIOS updates or notes about large-disk support.
  • Make sure you have a free PCI slot if choosing a controller card.
  • Confirm PSU connectors; if no SATA power, a Molex-to-SATA adapter solves it.
  • Decide whether the drive must be a boot disk (requires card/BIOS boot support) or only for storage (USB enclosure works fine).

Note: cheap passive IDE-to-SATA adapters are often flaky (as observed). For long-term reliability, prefer a PCI controller or a good USB enclosure.

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Member Avatar for flagstar

Yes it'll run but check first for HDD port. Most P3 supported motherboard use IDE instead of SATA so you have to make sure your motherboard has SATA port or the HDD can't be used on your computer.

Member Avatar for Muralidharan.E

Mother board name is VIA. It dont have the option to use SATA. Atpresent i am using IDE only. Is there any convertor which contains SATA type in one end and IDE type in another end ?

Member Avatar for flagstar

There's suppose to be one. A IDE/SATA converter in a form of card which you have to place it on IDE port and it'll convert to SATA which you can use SATA HDD for it...

So far I think this converter in unreliable because it doesn't work on my end and I've tested on several computers with same result but you can test it if you want. You can get it from your computer local store. They should have one for about 20$ for it.

Member Avatar for caperjack

don't forget the power supply has to have a sata plug or adapter as well,and you can still but large ide drives .just google it

Edited by caperjack because: n/a
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