View Single Post
  #7  
Old July 12th 05, 10:31 AM
Jeff Richards
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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
...
Hello Jeff, ,,,,

THANKS for the REPLY!!!

I am fairly a newbie at these very large drives (2GB),,,I have not worked
with disk drives in many years. Especially the use of a single disk drive
that is 6GB on any operating system. And, on a system that is still an
original delivery of Windows 98 Second Edition with no Windows Updates or
Service Pak Updates. For this situation, the 6GB drive is an addition for
more storage for the Hard Disk Drive environment on the IDE/ATAPI
interface
Secondary/Master (D.

The Fujitsu supplied ERASE (fjerase.exe) and DIAGNOSTIC (fjdt.exe) for
this
model drive (MPB3064ATU) have been executed as required in a pure DOS
environment and both ran to completion without error. These have been
executed several times. And, the test code displayed at the end of the
DIAGNOSTC (B000B6) is defined by the support group at Fujistsu
(http://www.fcpa.com/support/hard-drives/contact.html) as:

"Drive is OK to use."

And, the BIOS is post 1994 and accepts a manual setting for 6GB.

I thought I read somewhere (after I had posted this) that this is a known
situation (W98SE SCANDISK for 2GB drives) and maybe a Service Pak
upgrade
would fix the original delivery of W98 Second Edition where the following
routines will work on disk drives 2GB:

FDISK.exe and
FORMAT.exe
but,
"A SCANDISK will not work for disk drives 2GB"

And, I cannot remember if the described situation was related to FAT16,
FAT32, or both.(????)

If this is a possibility, I do not no where to go in Microsoft to get any
Service Pak upgrade for W98 Second Edition.

THANKS for your time, advise, and help!!!!