whats the maximum ide hdd that can be accessed on 386 rigs? is it 500mb or something? is it a limitation of the isa ide controller or the bios? can 32bit os(win95, nt, freebsd) access larger than that?
504MB tends to be the limit for 386 class machines. It's a BIOS limitation, it can be overcome with an Option ROM type BIOS (either a specific IDE controller with its own BIOS or something more generic like the XTIDE BIOS on a network card) or with drive overlay software.
8.4GB with a hardware based "Enhanced IDE" controller.
These limits are BIOS limitations. You can bypass them with either a DDO or disable BIOS HDD support and use the XT-IDE BIOS (using a NIC) instead.
Btw does anyone know if XT-IDE on a 386 can access HDDs bigger than 137GB? Since ISA->IDE controllers are more like adapters than actual controllers (AFAIK) as long as the HDD supports 48-bit LBA it should work as long as the BIOS does, no? No practical value in that, but would be interesting to know regardless.
I currently use a 2gb drive in a Compaq by means of the SIIG enhanced BIOS card.
"It's science. I ain't gotta explain sh*t" 
