hard drive size limitations

[kamiam]

does anyone know if win98se has a hard drive size limitation???was thinking about buying a 40 GB hard drive but don't know if windows will recognize it... assuming my bios will(abit BE6-II...last years model)

 

[kmmatney]

No problem, although I don't think you'll be able to partition it as a single drive. There's a partition limit of 32GB for the FAT32 file system, I believe.

 

[kamiam]

I was wondering about that... but heard there is a patch for 98se so it can see above 32 GB... is that true??? has anyone heard of this???

 

[metallibloke]

I now there is a partition limit for fat32 but 32Gb seems a bit small.

 

[AndyHui]

Windows 98 does have issues with 32GB hard drives.

Both the fix and the KB article are located here at Microsoft

There are further issues related to FDISK and Format under Windows 98, with the fixes and description available here.

 

[Workin']

Andy, those fixes only apply if you have a Phoenix BIOS - Doesn't the BE6 have an Award BIOS? Should be no problem on that board.

I think the limit for a FAT32 partition is like 4 terabytes, not 32 gigabytes...

 

[AndyHui]

This one is interesting.

FAT32, which originally shipped with Win95B, could only handle a partition up to 32GB in size.

FAT32X, with Win95C? onwards, can handle up to 4TB.

I remember reading somewhere else that not just Phoenix BIOSes were affected, although I can't find the article now.

 

[johnlog]

Why not make life simple for yourself? Just FDISK your 40 gig hard drive into two 20 gig partitions? All your worries about partition sizes then goes away. Gone. nada, whatever...

You could also go with four ten gig partitions.

JL

 

[kamiam]

thanks for the help guys... looks as if I wont have any problems w/ a 40 gb drive

 

[TBone202]

I just got a Maxtor 40GB hard drive and I also have a BE6 mobo (not even BE6-II) and Win98 has had no problems with it; no partitioning necessary.

 

[johnlog]

Here is what MS says about the 32 gig limit in Win98, etc.:

**If you use the protected-mode (graphical) version of ScanDisk to perform a thorough scan (which includes a surface scan) on an integrated device electronics (IDE) hard disk that is larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size, ScanDisk may report errors on every cluster after approximately cluster number 967,393. **

My resolution to that problem is to buy Norton System Works 2000 or 2001 and that solves that problem rather nicely using Norton Defrag (SpeedDisk).

JL

 

[Workin']

Yeah, johnlog, that applies IF you have a PHOENIX BIOS only. You don't have to buy any extra crap unless you have a Phoenix BIOS AND use their proprietary drive geometry translation. It doesn't apply if you use LBA addressing or have any other brand of BIOS. It says that right in the article you cut'n'pasted.