Largest Hard Disk size with Promise Ultra66?

31 Mar 2005 11:47 PM

Patrick E. King

Anyone know if the Promise card will recognize disks above 128GB in size.
Mine has BIOS Ver 1.12 Build 0518 (late'99 vintage)
Latest available seems to be Ver 1.14 Build 0728 but I cannot find info on
what extra functionality the update delivers.
I'm trying to use a 250GB disk but I don't want to flash the BIOS if it does
not solve the issue.
TIA
Patrick

1 Apr 2005 3:19 AM

Grinder

Patrick E. King wrote:

> Anyone know if the Promise card will recognize disks
> above 128GB in size.

> Mine has BIOS Ver 1.12 Build 0518 (late'99 vintage)
> Latest available seems to be Ver 1.14 Build 0728 but
> I cannot find info on what extra functionality the
> update delivers.

This indicates that the "current" BIOS for the Ultra66 is v2.00 b18:

http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=12&category=bios&os=0&go=GO

> I'm trying to use a 250GB disk but I don't want to
> flash the BIOS if it does not solve the issue.

This is just idle speculation, but I would not be hopeful that the
aforementioned update would give you LBA-48. This 2002 update, for
another card, is finally bringing that support -- 2 years after the
update for the Ultra66.

http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productID=11&category=all&os=100

Sorry I can't give you anything definite. Have you tried shooting
Promise an email?

5 Apr 2005 12:03 AM

Patrick E. King

"Grinder" <grinder@no.spam.maam.net> wrote in message

news:%433e.126233$Ze3.59101@attbi_s51...
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> Patrick E. King wrote:
>
>> Anyone know if the Promise card will recognize disks above 128GB in size.
>
>> Mine has BIOS Ver 1.12 Build 0518 (late'99 vintage)
>> Latest available seems to be Ver 1.14 Build 0728 but I cannot find info
>> on what extra functionality the
> > update delivers.
>
> This indicates that the "current" BIOS for the Ultra66 is v2.00 b18:
>
> http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productId=12&category=bios&os=0&go=GO
>
>> I'm trying to use a 250GB disk but I don't want to flash the BIOS if it
>> does not solve the issue.
>
> This is just idle speculation, but I would not be hopeful that the
> aforementioned update would give you LBA-48. This 2002 update, for
> another card, is finally bringing that support -- 2 years after the update
> for the Ultra66.
>
> http://www.promise.com/support/download/download2_eng.asp?productID=11&category=all&os=100
>
> Sorry I can't give you anything definite. Have you tried shooting Promise
> an email?

Thanks for the suggestion.
I have just had a reply from them and they advise max size supported is
137GB.
Patrick

1 Apr 2005 8:21 AM

larry moe 'n curly

Patrick E. King wrote:

> Anyone know if the Promise card will recognize disks above 128GB in
size.
> Mine has BIOS Ver 1.12 Build 0518 (late'99 vintage)
> Latest available seems to be Ver 1.14 Build 0728 but I cannot find
info on
> what extra functionality the update delivers.
> I'm trying to use a 250GB disk but I don't want to flash the BIOS if
it does
> not solve the issue.

A program called 48LBACHK.EXE can check for this, and Intel's website
has it.

The 48-bit LBA BIOS update for my Ultra100 card is dated 4/2002. If
you have to buy a new card, www.acortech.com has Silicon Image RAID
controllers for $13, including shipping if you mention coupon
FREESHIPPING.