[hzpurple]

I have rebooted (Win XP on a Toshiba laptop) hit F8 to take me to a screen of selections (Start in safe mode, troubleshooting mode, etc.) all of which, when selected, just start XP in the appropriate mode. I need to get into BIOS (I think) to change the setting corresponding to the largest any drive can be (particularly a 320gb external drive). I can't seem to get to the right place.

The chore I'm trying to accomplish is to have my computer recognize this new, huge external drive without unplugging/plugging everytime I start up.

 

[leroys1000]

The computer requires 48 bit large block addressing.
If it is a new laptop,that shouldn't be a problem.
If your having a problem with it recognizing the full size of the drive,
then you probably need to update to at least service pack1,
although I would recomend updating to service pack 2.
Hope that helps.

 

[crazijoe]

This should not be an issue with your BIOS. The external enclosure's controller will handle the 48 bit LBA of the drive and not the system BIOS. If the drive shows up as 320GB in Windows then the 48 bit LBA is not the issue. I guess my question would be, does the drive show as 320GB when you plug it in? And After the computer boots up, is this when you have to unplug and plug it back in for Windows to see it?
Another note. Most drives will come unpartitioned and unformatted. You will need to partition it and format it in Disk Management.

 

[GmanUK]

Agree with above!

Just to let you know 'hzpurple' for future reference:

F2 - Enter BIOS
F8 - Enter Safe Mode
F11 - Boot Menu

You will need to hit the desired key after the beep on reboot/startup but before windows screen appears!