FAT32 is almost indifferent to heads and sectors and such. If the system
can address the clusters properly, then the file system will keep its
indexes and such in good shape.

However, it's quite possible that your problem is with the configuration.

FDISK doesn't look at the disk beyond the areas needed to write the
partition information, and if the disk access required for that task seems
OK then FDISK will happily report the whole disk as OK, and anything else
that simply reads the partition info will say the same thing.

FORMAT might or might not attempt to access the whole disk, but it doesn't
do any real testing.

The hardware diagnostic should test all parts of the system in a form that
ensures it is OK for use. For instance, it is possible that two different
head/sector/track combinations actually map to the same physical disk
location. This can fool FDISK and FORMAT and even Windows and the file
system (for a time) but it shouldn't get past a decent diagnostic program.
OTOH, sometimes hardware diagnostics bypass BIOS and access the disk
directly, so if the problem is in the BIOS it is possible that the
diagnostic won't see it.

That's why I suspect your problem is with the configuration and the way that
BIOS uses the configuration information. If you can get some standard
hardware diagnostics not matched to the specific hardware (and therefore
forced to use BIOS routines to test the disk) then that may reveal the
problem. These sorts of tests are not good tests of the drive itself, but
they can reveal problem in accessing a particular disk in a particular
configuration.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Jerry" wrote in message
...
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
Keywords: kbDiskMemory kbinfo kbinterop kbsetup KB127851
Technology: kbMSDOSSearch kbWin95search kbWin98 kbWin98search kbWinME
kbWinMEsearch kbWinNT350search kbWinNT351search kbWinNT400search
kbWinNTS350
kbWinNTS350search kbWinNTS351 kbWinNTS351search kbWinNTS400
kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTW350
kbWinNTW350search
kbWinNTW351 kbWinNTW351search kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search
kbWinNTWsearch
kbZNotKeyword3

Send feedback to Microsoft
© 2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.--

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Jerry" wrote in message
...