GA-M68MT-S2 - Can someone clarify HPA on this MB

[edz2k11]

Hello all

I have just purchased this board and put it into a file server only to read about HPA.

Can someone clarify if this board will write to the drive unasked to copy the bios. Unfortunately, if so, it will have to be immediately removed and sent back to the supplier as unfit for purpose as it will damage a self monitoring raid array.

I have checked the bios / revision is the latest (there is only 1 for 1.3) and there is no mention in advanced settings about deactivating backing up the bios to HDD.

Can someone please confirm this board wont mess with the contents of my drive, please 

[absic]

Hi there,

no need to worry, the BIOS image won't automatically be written to the HDD. You would manually have to enable this option if it is available in the BIOS. If it is present, it is normally disabled by default.

Just take care if you decide to use Windows 7 as an OS as this automatically creates an HPA when installing.

[edz2k11]

Many thanks for that and the speedy reply!

This is an unraid server array box so no worries about windows 7. I noticed on the unraid forums the issues it can cause and it would seem that some earlier / different boards created EPA entries on boot up or system change. Some users had commented that later bios revisions allowed the option to be switched off but the GA-M68MT-S2 doesnt have this option in the advanced, ctrl-f1 advanced or q-bios options and there is no later version -  causing mild panic here  

If the board wont write an EPA entry without installing win 7 (it cant be enabled since its not in the menu except in the manual save bios option in q-menu(?) ) then thats fine since otherwise its a nice small, power efficient and cool-running board.

Cheers

Edz