[PLUG] Linux and >137G IDE Drives

[Robert Kopp]

I was thinking about getting another hard drive for
either internal or external use, so I wandered into
Circuit City. My eyes nearly popped when I saw a WD
160G drive, $90 after rebate. Oh, boy! What a steal!

So I open the box, and out slides this controller
card. Except for the lastest systems, they say, you
need to use this controller because the drive is
larger than 137G, Drivers are included for Windows, of
course.

Does Linux suffer from the same limitation? If so,
does it have its own drivers? If not, can the drive be
used without the card, merely sacrificing some of the
drive's capacity, which is gargantuan? At least, by my
standards? BTW, the PCI card is for 2.1-compliant
systems. My HP Pavilion 7950 is fairly new, so can I
be pretty confident that this requirement is met?

With hard drive capacity increasing continuously, I'm
sure that many potential upgraders would be interested
in the answers to these questions.

Oh, yes. If it doesn't seem suitable for installation
inside the computer, could it be used in a FireWire
enclosure without the controller? 

=====
Robert "Tim" Kopp
http://analytic.tripod.com/

"Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies."--Frederick Nietzsche