OT: large hard drives and W98SE

My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a 250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCI EIDE controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the drive is hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? (My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.) Thanks for your insights, itazura

Why not just partition the drive? Win98SE might have trouble with one 250GB drive, but might not with two 120GB drives. On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 15:17:07 -0500, "SS" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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>My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a >250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there >are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCI EIDE >controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, >but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the drive is >hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? >(My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.) > >Thanks for your insights, >itazura > > > >

Remove "hi" from address or it will bounce....

himrlipid wrote: > Why not just partition the drive? Win98SE might > have trouble with one 250GB drive, but might not > with two 120GB drives. > Hmmm..of course I haven't used Win98 in ages, but I thought fat32 could only format up to 32 Gigs.

"SS" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a > 250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there > are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCIEIDE > controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, > but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the driveis

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> hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? > (My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.) > > Thanks for your insights, > itazura > > > > >

The only problem I know of with large drives is that FDISK does not "see" the full drive if its bigger than 60G. To solve it you need to D/L an updated FDISK from Microsot.com (search the knowledge base there). Jo�o Gonzalez

On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 14:31:07 -0600, Anthony Brooks <[email hidden]> wrote: >Hmmm..of course I haven't used Win98 in ages, but I thought fat32 could only >format up to 32 Gigs. So MS say. But I have heard of others using larger FAT32 partitions so I don't know what the real story is. But, the Fdsik utiltiy that comes with Win98 won't see all of the HDD so you have to download an updated version of Fdisk from MS. Or use the latest version of PQMagic. The older version of PQM won't see all of a 250gb drive either.

> > >Hmmm..of course I haven't used Win98 in ages, but I thought fat32 couldonly

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> >format up to 32 Gigs. > > So MS say. But I have heard of others using larger FAT32 partitions so > I don't know what the real story is. But, the Fdsik utiltiy that comes > with Win98 won't see all of the HDD so you have to download an updated > version of Fdisk from MS. Or use the latest version of PQMagic. The > older version of PQM won't see all of a 250gb drive either.

Hmm, yes, it's sounding about as complicated as I feared it might be. The Western Digital drive packaging says that the drive will work with Windows 98SE (with their formatting software and possibly with an IDE controller card), but the more I read online, the more I am lead to believe that there may be problems. I still haven't opened the box, so I can make a return if need be, but I could really use the drive space. Does anyone have any experience successfully running a 150GB+ drive under Win98SE? Thanks again, itazura

Cobblers! wrote:

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> On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 14:31:07 -0600, Anthony Brooks <[email hidden]> > wrote: > > >>Hmmm..of course I haven't used Win98 in ages, but I thought fat32 could >>only format up to 32 Gigs. > > So MS say. But I have heard of others using larger FAT32 partitions so > I don't know what the real story is. But, the Fdsik utiltiy that comes > with Win98 won't see all of the HDD so you have to download an updated > version of Fdisk from MS. Or use the latest version of PQMagic. The > older version of PQM won't see all of a 250gb drive either.

Yep, you're right. Win95 is stuck at 32gb and Win98 you need the updated fdisk, but even then up to 137gb or so they say.

SS wrote:

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> Hmm, yes, it's sounding about as complicated as I feared it might be. The > Western Digital drive packaging says that the drive will work with Windows > 98SE (with their formatting software and possibly with an IDE controller > card), but the more I read online, the more I am lead to believe that > there > may be problems. I still haven't opened the box, so I can make a return > if > need be, but I could really use the drive space. Does anyone have any > experience successfully running a 150GB+ drive under Win98SE? > > Thanks again, > itazura

I'm sure someone could provide better info. I haven't been in Win98 in ages, but here is the link from microsoft that I found: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263044 Personally, I would keep it. You might have to divide the drive up into say 2-125gb partitions or something like that. Maybe Western Digital's formatting software will take care of the problem for you.

It's not a partition thing... It's the LBA Bit-Depth that's the issue. Whether Win98se can see the whole drive even with that card is a damned good question, though. You're the first I"ve heard try it :)( -Larry "himrlipid" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> Why not just partition the drive? Win98SE might > have trouble with one 250GB drive, but might not > with two 120GB drives. > > On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 15:17:07 -0500, "SS" > <[email hidden]> wrote: > > >My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a > >250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there > >are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCI

EIDE > >controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, > >but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the driveis

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> >hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? > >(My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.) > > > >Thanks for your insights, > >itazura > > > > > > > > > > > Remove "hi" from address or it will bounce....

I've got a 70GB FAT32 partition but I'm using WinXP - there is some sort of limit in Win98 but I can't recall what it is - it's around the 80GB mark from memory....

Damien Smith wrote: > > I've got a 70GB FAT32 partition but I'm using WinXP - there is some sort of > limit in Win98 but I can't recall what it is - it's around the 80GB mark > from memory.... That would be the 60 GB (or thereabouts) limit of the original Fdisk that came with Win98 as the others have mentioned, 120GB is not a problem on a HD partition and formatted with Seagate's "Wizzard" tool, I've never tried anything bigger than that I'm afraid Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "goyl at nettx dot no" http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--

"Joao Gonzalez" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3fbd4ac3$0$25675$[email hidden]... > The only problem I know of with large drives is that FDISK does not "see" > the full drive if its bigger than 60G. To solve it you need to D/L an > updated FDISK from Microsot.com (search the knowledge base there). Gee, that's funny. My W98 FDISK formatted by new 160gb drive at 137gb's. Only reason it stopped at 137, as explained in the manual that came with the drive, had to do with the fact that I have an older PCI card (ATI/66) and nothing but ATI/100's and above can read past 137gb's.

"Goy Larsen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > > > Damien Smith wrote: > > > > I've got a 70GB FAT32 partition but I'm using WinXP - there is some sortof

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> > limit in Win98 but I can't recall what it is - it's around the 80GB mark > > from memory.... > > That would be the 60 GB (or thereabouts) limit of the original Fdisk > that came with Win98 as the others have mentioned, 120GB is not a > problem on a HD partition and formatted with Seagate's "Wizzard" tool, > I've never tried anything bigger than that I'm afraid

My FDISK must be broken then, because I formatted a 160gb drive a couple months back through MS-DOS at 137gb's. :-)

Bamboozled wrote: > > My FDISK must be broken then, because I formatted a 160gb drive a couple > months back through MS-DOS at 137gb's. :-) Your Fdisk is broken :-), or most likely updated as per this article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=263044 Beers and cheers (uncle) Goy "goyl at nettx dot no" http://www.theuspits.com "A man is only as old as the woman he feels........" --Groucho Marx--

"Goy Larsen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... > Your Fdisk is broken :-), or most likely updated as per this article > > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=263044 > According to that article, my FDISK isn't updated. The filedate on mine is 5/11/98, and the updated one is 5/19/00 (W98FE) So I guess it must by broken. ;-)

Itazura, A week ago I had a hard drive failure (40 Gig) and upgraded to a Western Digital 160 Gig. I am running Windows98SE (for games) and Linux (for everything else). The Western Digital (WD) drive utility came with a disk that had several utilities (partitioning, diagnostics and EZ-BIOS). The instructions for the drive said to use the disk the first time you boot the computer after the new drive is installed. I did and used the partitioning tool on the WD disk, however, it required fdisk for it to function. It prompted me to insert a disk with fdisk on it. After doing this, the WD partitioning tool was very simple to use. The size of the hard disk was correctly displayed in this tool. Please note that I did not have an up-to-date fdisk program. I don't know if Win98SE comes with an up-to-date fdisk program. I do know that the WD utility disk will automatically install EZ-BIOS onto the new hard drive, which I assume is needed to enable older BIOS's, and perhaps the fdisk program, to work properly. Because my BIOS does natively support a 160 Gig hard disk, I uninstalled EZ-BIOS. All works well! Alan Hood www.nwstsimracing.net - the original offline sim racing experience! SS wrote:

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> My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a > 250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there > are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCI EIDE > controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, > but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the drive is > hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? > (My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.) > > Thanks for your insights, > itazura > > > > >

> Itazura, > > A week ago I had a hard drive failure (40 Gig) and upgraded to a Western > Digital 160 Gig. I am running Windows98SE (for games) and Linux (for > everything else). >[big snip]> > All works well! Well, that's encouraging. I called Western Digital the other day and the best their tech guy could manage was something along the lines of, "yeah, it should probably work fine." I was hoping for something a bit more definitive from the drive manufacturer. If and when I give this a try, I'll report back. Thanks, itazura

Yes, your current contoller is limited to the once-standard 28-bit LBA. -Larry "Bamboozled" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:L0xvb.134994$[email hidden]... > "Joao Gonzalez" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:3fbd4ac3$0$25675$[email hidden]... > > > The only problem I know of with large drives is that FDISK does not"see" > > the full drive if its bigger than 60G. To solve it you need to D/L an > > updated FDISK from Microsot.com (search the knowledge base there). > > Gee, that's funny. My W98 FDISK formatted by new 160gb drive at 137gb's. > Only reason it stopped at 137, as explained in the manual that came withthe > drive, had to do with the fact that I have an older PCI card (ATI/66) and > nothing but ATI/100's and above can read past 137gb's. > >

In article <[email hidden]>, "SS" <[email hidden]> writes:

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>My apologies for sneaking in a non-simming question. I'd like to add a >250GB Western Digital hard drive to my system but I understand that there >are obstactles to accessing drives over 137GB. I bought a Promise PCI EIDE >controller card which should (I hope) handle the hardware side of things, >but will my OS (Windows 98SE) have any problems, provided that the drive is >hooked up through the Promise controller? Any other issues to beware of? >(My MB is an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 2000+ processor.)

I previously had 2 120GB Western Digital drives, both partitioned FAT32 under Win98SE. No special software needed. When my main drive died in September, I replaced it with a Maxtor 160GB. I had to use Maxtor's software to get it to work on my system. It's currently formatted as 120GB and 30GB partitions. I'm not sure if the limitation is my old BIOS(system is about 3-4 years old), or the OS. Eldred -- Homepage - http://www.umich.edu/~epickett Member Screamers Racing League IICC League GPLRank -2.4 MoGPL rank +302.38 ChallengeRank +54.48 MoC +743.77 Hist. +82.82 MoH in progress N2k3 rank:in progress Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.