Can Linux re-size a 137+GB XP-NTFS partition so an old BIOS can boot it?
 

My newbie dilema:
Can Linux come to the rescue of an old BIOS that cannot boot XP from disks larger than 137GB by reducing the primary partition size?

I bought a pair of 160GB WD hard drives, brand new. It's been a while since I last installed a HD and I didn't know about size limitations on my 8-year old BIOS. It appears it cannot recognize a disk more than 137GB. I cannot boot windows XP home edition from the new disk, despite an image of my old XP installation sitting on it within an active partition that itself occupies the whole disk.

Meanwhile, I also have an Ubuntu CD and a much smaller 20GB drive that can boot up Ubuntu Linux. I've heard that Linux can re-size the NTFS file system of an XP installation--how I don't know--and then also re-size a windows XP partition--again how? And how reliably is the key question?

If this is true, I hope to re-size the primary partition and its NTFS file system below the 137GB limit, and hopefully be able to boot from the 160GB disk. The balance of the drive could later become another logical partition, etc.

I should mention that I can still boot Windows XP from yet another smaller hard drive that holds my older installation of the same copy of XP. And, once booted, it can read and write to and from the 160GB disk without any problems. Booting the 160GB disk is my only problem. This confirms my suspicion that it's a BIOS issue, since I've read XP and many modern OS's today can and will bypass the BIOS in this day and age of LBA (accounting for the ability to access the drive once booted), but only after BIOS is used to boot-up (which is where I am snagged trying to boot from the 160GB disk directly).

Can anyone confirm this can be done, or say if it is wise? One thing I do not understand is how can my BIOS not be able to boot the 160GB disk if, despite its age, it supports LBA? I thought LBA broke this limit? Although I've heard of an older 28bit LBA, I cannot confirm which form of LBA is employed by my BIOS. I will admit the BIOS is otherwise ancient--circa 2001. And, the only possible hole in my hypothesis pointing to a BIOS issue is this: I can edit the XP INI file on the small XP drive to give me the option at start-up to boot from the second disk (i.e.: rdisk(1) instead of rdisk(0), which would point to the 160GB drive). I have therefore, using this method, booted from my 160GB disk. But this is not in a direct manner, since it requires the smaller HD, so it's not a real solution. But it is not clear to me that by the time the INI file is in control, XP has loaded it's own drivers for accessing the hard disks directly, using LBA and ignoring any limitation of the BIOS.

I also checked the manufacturer for BIOS updates; there are none (but there are updates offered from 3rd party vendors). However, I'd rather not go down the road of a BIOS update that may or may not cure this limitation, and might turn my PC into a brick. A BIOS update is furthermore out of the question since my floppy drive for some reason will be seen and recognized, but a boot-able floppy in it is ignored. I would therefore have no means of backing up and recovering in case of a bad BIOS update. [ It's even been replaced in the past and is a long story in itself of trouble. Thankfully having one is not as critical as once was. ]

I do not have access to a machine with a more modern BIOS from which I could boot Windows XP and that could re-size the partition on the 160GB drive into 2 smaller partitions. Which in itself is a task, because I've read XP can only make partitions larger! Ugh! I'd still have to get my hands on 3rd-party software to revise the partition downwards. To top it off, such a move would still beset me with doubts of reliability of that re-sizing operation.

My only fear of going the Linux route is that the change to the partition might be unstable or I risk wiping out my data on the drive, or damaging the MBR or its ability to otherwise boot the copy it holds of XP directly. [ BTW-some recovered data from a crashed HD is on the 160GB drive with the XP image, so I cannot merely wipe the drive, repartition and re-install. That's an older story I thought I had solved already with someone else's assistance, to which I no longer have access.]

Many thanks in advance. Any better suggestions welcome in my quandry.

The LBA support should be on bootloader. Grub supports LBA. You can force it's use through the force lba option. IN your case of 137GB limit; you can install the linux kernel and the initrd's in a partition which is less or equal to the first 137GB limit.

Didn't work for some reason. Not being familiar with GRUB at all I realized I could use the Ubuntu live CD to make room for itself on the 160GB drive, and install GRUB. I did this; the NTFS XP partition was cut in half (well below the 137GB limit of my BIOS), and despite this XP still won't boot. Although Linux boots from the second half of the disk. I even booted up XP from my smaller drive, and it ran check disk on the larger drive automatically, and again the 160GB drive wouldn't boot XP even with an partition well below the limit.

I guess I have to buy a new computer.