One possible solution to a system with a size barrier that cannot have its BIOS
natively upgraded, is the use of an enhanced BIOS expansion card. In essence,
this is a "BIOS upgrade on a card". It goes into a system expansion slot and
contains nothing more than new BIOS code for controlling your motherboard's IDE/ATA
controllers. The new BIOS code takes over for the hard disk controller code of your
system's BIOS, and in doing so, gets around hard disk size barriers. You continue to use
the IDE/ATA connectors on your existing motherboard or controller card.
These expansion cards are very inexpensive--often under $20. They usually use
an ISA expansion slot, and most older systems have an extra ISA slot available, so this is
a fairly easy upgrade. (Many newer systems have only one ISA slot or even no ISA slots at
all, but they usually don't run into size barriers the same way.)
Despite their low cost, these cards have never seemed to be quite as popular amongst PC
enthusiasts as add-in controller cards that
include actual IDE/ATA interface ports. This may be because the add-in cards continue to
let you use the existing motherboard controllers for other devices, or it may be the ISA
slot requirement. BIOS expansion cards were more popular in the 1990s when the earliest
hard disk size barriers began to appear, but add-in cards are now more commonly prescribed
for BIOS size barrier problems, even though they generally cost more.
Next: Upgraded Controller Cards
