Hello Jeff,,,,
OK,,,,THANKS for that reply and the articles!!!
Having read all that and relating it to all the things I use to be familiar
with in the original stuff that came out in DOS and BIOS it all makes sense.
The OLD STUFF (16bit sizes, 504MB, the GB limits, FAT16, etc.) and then the
changes that occured( pro 1994) in BIOS and the "AT ROM BIOS INT13h" and the
use of LBA, #cyls, #heads, #sectors, to make 2GB work.
In this case the BIOS for USER and MODE NORMAL, the BIOS allows the setting
of #cyls, #heads, #sectors to get the 6gb size with the following:
FOR FAT32
#cyls = 13,410
#heads= 15
#sectors= 63
And, for a FAT32 I do not know if these are all acceptable based on any
limits for FAT32(???). These settings were listed on the SPEC SHEET supplied
by Fujitsu.
And, once FDISK and FORMAT are executed the disk is reported as a FAT32 by
the W98SE operating system using MYCOMPUTER/PROPERTIES fon drive D and is
recognized as a 6gb drive.
I have no idea how this FAT32 was set (FDISK/FORMAT). I do not remember any
selection I made for FAT32 or FAT16 while running FDISK or FORMAT.
I am at a loss, because I can find nothing on the INTERNET or at Microsoft
that indicates a 2GB problem with SCANDISK on a FAT32 size of 6GB. And, the
delima is that FDISK and FORMAT run to completion with no errors and report
the 6GB size. And, the Fujitsu DIAGNOSTIC and ERASE for this model drive run
to completion and report no errors..... OHH WELLLL
-------------------
I am gonna start all over again and see if there is a place that I am not
setting the numbers correctly in the BIOS for a "FAT32" and "AT ROM BIOS
INT13h" (#cyls, #heads, #sectors); or I am not seeing the numbers correctly
in the reports from the Fujitsu Diagnostics, BIOS, FDISK, and/or FORMAT for
total size, number of clusters, and size of clusters.
THANKS for your advise, time, and HELP!!!!! Exceptional!!!!
Jerry
"Jeff Richards" wrote:
AFAIK there is no issue with Scnadisk at 2Gb and there are no service packs
that I know of that address any such issue. This might be what you are
thinking of:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=243450
ScanDisk Errors on IDE Hard Disks Larger Than 32 GB
or possibly"
Knowledge Base
Problems Accessing FAT16 Drives Larger Than 2 GB
PSS ID Number: 127851
Article Last Modified on 5/6/2003
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 98
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft MS-DOS operating system
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
This article was previously published under Q127851
SUMMARY
Microsoft Windows NT supports the creation of primary partitions and logical
drives of up to 4 gigabytes (GB) using the File Allocation Table 16 (FAT16)
file system, but Windows 95/98 and MS-DOS do not support these drives. The
size limit for logical drives using the FAT16 file system in Windows 95/98
and MS-DOS is 2 GB.
NOTE: Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2 and later support drives larger than
2 GB using the FAT32 file system. For more information about FAT32, please
see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: 154997
TITLE : Description of the FAT32 File System
Windows NT 4.0 does not support FAT32, but FAT32 support has been added in
Windows 2000.
MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft does not recommend using MS-DOS or Windows 95/98 with a 4 GB FAT16
drive created in Windows NT. If you use Windows NT's dual boot feature to
boot MS-DOS or Windows 95/98, you may be able to access the drive, but you
may experience unexpected behavior. In particular, some programs or
utilities may incorrectly report that no free space (0 bytes) exists on the
drive.
In addition, you cannot run Windows 95/98 Setup if your computer has a FAT16
drive created by Windows NT.
For example, during Windows 98 Setup you receive the following error message
if your system has a FAT16 drive larger than 2 GB:
Setup has detected that your hard drive has a 64K-cluster FAT partition.
Because ScanDisk does not work on disks with this cluster size, Setup cannot
continue. To complete Setup, you must repartition your hard drive, format
the partition with a FAT file system that has a cluster size of 32K or less,
and then restart Setup.
Other problems accessing FAT16 drives larger than 2 GB in Windows 95/98 may
include the following:
Running the Defrag tool on the drive causes a "Divide by zero" error message
or the Defrag tool stops responding (hangs).
ScanDisk for MS-DOS stops responding (hangs) or causes an "Out of memory"
error message.
The Chkdsk tool may report multiple "allocation errors" on the drive.
ScanDisk for Windows typically runs without error on 64k cluster FAT16
drives and shows 64K clusters/allocation units on the Summary dialog.
Both MS-DOS and the retail release of Windows 95 use a 16-bit FAT for
logical drives larger than 15 megabytes (MB). The maximum number of clusters
for a 16-bit FAT drive is 64K. In addition, the maximum cluster size for a
FAT16 drive in MS-DOS, or Windows 95 is 32K. Therefore, the maximum logical
drive size for FAT16 is calculated as follows:
32K x 64K = 2048 MB = 2 GB
The maximum cluster size for a FAT16 drive in Windows 98 is 32K, or 32,768
bytes. Therefore, the maximum logical drive size for FAT16 is calculated as
follows:
32K x 64K = 2048 MB = 2 GB
Windows NT uses a 64K maximum cluster size to allow drives larger than 2 GB
using FAT16. The maximum logical FAT16 drive size in Windows NT is
calculated as follows:
64K x 64K = 4096 MB = 4 GB
NOTE: On a FAT drive, space is allocated by clusters. That is, a file that
is smaller than the drive's cluster size is still allocated one full
cluster, thus wasting the additional space in the cluster. Similarly, a file
that is large enough to fill 3-1/2 clusters is allocated four full clusters.
Using a smaller cluster size typically results in less wasted space on the
drive.
The cluster size for a FAT drive is determined when the drive is formatted
and varies depending on the size of the logical drive. For more information
about cluster and logical drive sizes in MS-DOS, please see the following
article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: Q67321 67321
TITLE : FAT Type and Cluster Size Depends on Logical Drive Size
Windows 95 and MS-DOS use the FDISK utility to partition a disk. When it
accesses a hard disk, FDISK uses the system AT ROM BIOS INT13h interface,
which has a maximum of 1024 cylinders, 255 heads, and 63 sectors per track.
FDISK can access any drive within the limits imposed by the AT ROM BIOS,
which means that FDISK can access drives of up to 8 GB, calculated as
follows:
1024 cylinders x 255 heads x 63 sectors per track x 512 bytes per
sector = 8,422,686,720 bytes, or roughly 8 GB
The original IDE hardware interface is limited to 16 heads, which reduces
the maximum drive size to 504 MB. Newer IDE (ATAPI) technology, however,
uses a translation scheme called Logical Block Addressing (LBA) to exceed
the 504 MB limit as imposed by the system AT ROM BIOS and IDE specifi-
cation. SCSI and ESDI hard drive controllers use similar translation methods
that are usually built into the controller card's ROM BIOS to exceed the 504
MB size limit. For more information about the use of large hard disks with
MS-DOS and Windows 95/98, please see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
ARTICLE-ID: 126855
TITLE : Windows Support for Large IDE Hard Disks
The FDISK utility in MS-DOS and the retail release of Windows 95 can create
an extended partition larger than 2 GB. FDISK can then create multiple
formatted drives of up to 2 GB in this extended partition that conform to
the AT ROM BIOS constraints mentioned earlier. FDISK does not, however,
allow the creation of a primary FAT16 partition or logical FAT16 drives in
an extended partition that is larger than 2 GB. Note also that, as mentioned
earlier, logical drives larger than 504 MB cannot be accessed using MS-DOS
or Windows 95 unless LBA or geometry translation is used.
In Windows NT, you can create 4 GB FAT16 drives, either as a primary
partition or as a logical drive in an extended partition. Because MS-DOS and
Windows 95/98 have a maximum logical FAT16 drive size of 2 GB, FAT16 drives
larger than 2 GB created using Windows NT cannot be reliably accessed using
MS-DOS or Windows 95/98.
Additional query words: 98 msdos
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Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Jerry" wrote in message
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