windows 98SE & 120GB hard drive

[asuh]

I'm reformatting an old computer for some friends and trying to use Windows 98SE and a 120GB hard drive. After using fdisk, it only sees 48GB of the 120GB. I want to use the whole disk for the installation, which will be 111GB of available space. How can I get this to happen?

[dougkinzinger]

1) Welcome to Neowin, man.

2) Why Windows 98?

3) Why a 120GB drive with Windows 98?

4) Why not upgrade to XP?

5) I may be wrong, but I think FAT32 only supports up to 48GB of space, so you're kinda screwed if you want to stick with 98.

[Jediweasel]

Does the BIOS see the whole drive? May have to use a drive overlay file to get it working. I've setup 98 on drives of that size before on newer machines.

[Joel]

File System Specs

FILE SYSTEM - MAXIMUM FILE NAME LENGTH (CHARACTERS) - MAXIMUM VOLUME SIZE - MAXIMUM FILE SIZE

FAT16 8 2GB* 2GB

FAT32 255 2TB 4GB

NTFS 255 16TB 16TB

Ext2 255 4TB 2GB

*4GB under Windows NT

[asuh]

1) thanks

2) because i'm not upgrading their computer yet. They still use some older software used by Win98 only. They aren't willing to upgrade just yet. No biggie.

3) All they had before was a 15GB HD. 120GB is a nice upgrade that'll be useful in their future upgrade.

4) Because the system is a PII 400, they're not willing to spend money to upgrade, and I'm just using what I got (a crappy, old Gateway computer).

5) I guess according to the last two posts, I should be able to install a 120GB drive.

So, knowing what you know now, what are my options?

[dougkinzinger]

Yes, it seems you should. Try this, if you can. Create a new partition on the drive from a 2000 or XP box. Then format it FAT32. Finally, put it back in your 98 machine and boot off the XP CD, but don't reformat, just install it. I did that back in the NT4 days to let it have more than a 4GB C: drive. It worked well.

[asuh]

upon further inspection, it seems the bios only sees 65GB. When I got this computer (someone already messed with it before I got it), it had Windows installed on all 111GB. I dont' understand how that's possible and the bios only sees 65GB.

And on top of that, when I tried FDISKing the drive, it only sees 48GB. So weird.

What do you mean boot off the XP CD? I'm trying to install 98, not XP.

[barnabas]

the FAT 32 file system in Windows98 has a maximum partition size that it will work with of somewhere around 48GB. i believe that this is why you only see 48GB within FDISK, because it is using that filesystem natively. you will have to partition your HD with at least a 48GB C: partition to install windows.

let's just answer questions as best we can and not offer operating system upgrade advice when it is not requested. we all know the advantages of XP over 9X, but who can always afford to upgrade when new OSes come out?

:) love, peace and hair grease :whistle:

[dougkinzinger]

What do you mean boot off the XP CD?? I'm trying to install 98, not XP.

I meant to say boot off the 98 CD. I said to "put the drive in a 2000 or XP machine and partition/format it there. Then take it to your other PC, put it back in, and install 98 off of the CD."

Also, check out Gateway's site for a BIOS upgrade, although I doubt it'll fix your problem.

[asuh]

ok! i wasn't sure what you meant from the xp cd thing. it's all good.

i think i'll go ahead and format and use the 48GB partition for now. When I get into Win98, is it possible ot install Partition Magic 8 and add the rest of the space to that existing partition? That way, after loading Windows in the 48GB partition, I go into the OS, install and run PM, and add on the rest of the free space to the existing 48GB to have one big 111GB drive?

[Storm]

You will need to use SJS on the HDD (Spare Jumper Settings)

[pjak]

what make is the drive?

if it's a Western Digital drive, simply use "Data Lifeguard v11.0 for DOS" to prepare the disk (can overcome most BIOS, Hardware or Software limits), and then start Windows installation in the regular way. no fdisk, format, or any other program required.

download it <here> (this will make a boot floppy for you).

depending on the actual problem, you may also need "Data Lifeguard v11.0 for Windows" straight after the Windows installation, but if it's the BIOS at fault (which is most likely), then this is not required. for more help, see the "online help" included with the downloads.

if it's another make, try see the maker's website for a similar program.

Edited January 30, 2004 by pjak

[asuh]

the HD is a seagate 120GB. I found some utility on the website but it doesn't seem to work in DOS.

[thingsforjason]

was it the DiskWizard? i'm guessing that's the program you'll need to use.

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html

[asuh]

that's correct. I downloaded it, made two disks, and tried booting up with disk 1. It just said there was an error. So, instead of agonzing about what to do, I went ahead and formated the drive and am loading Windows as I type. There's a chance that fdisk was reporting the size incorrectly and when Windows 98 comes up, there will be all 111GB of space available. I'll update when I find out.

[asuh]

After loading Windows 98 SE, I checked the space of the installation and there was the total capacity allowed of 111GB for the 120GB Seagate hard drive. It turns out it was reported incorrectly in DOS mode, in fdisk, and so on. So, unfortunately, I guess there never really was a problem.

Thanks for all your help!!