Jaxtraw wrote:
Rick Chauvin wrote:
snip
Since W98SE in it's stock condition with it's Windows IDE controller
driver does not support 48 bit LBA even though your new onboard bios
mostlikely does, and so you must replace that W98 IDE controller
driver (esdi_506.pdr) with a substitute/better driver that will
support 48bit for your large HD's - and if you don't then corruption
'will occur' on that drive.

Just to clarify; is this the case even if the drive is partitioned into
normal sized chunks (i.e. under 100MB?)

Yes

I'd thought if the drive is partitioned, W98 would just see it as two
normal IDE drives of that capacity..?

Yes that's true too, but, there's more to it than that and just left like you
said it is trouble. Understanding it is one, two, and three.

1. ...esdi_506.pdr
2. & 3. ...scandisk & defrag

1, 2, 3 explained is that once you dissolve the original limitation of the
windows driver (esdi_506.pdr) preferable by using an appropriate 48 bit LBA
supported pci controller card like the one I've always mentioned, and so that
takes care of the limitation of using any Hard Drive over 137/128 GB; but also
take notice, now you have to deal with the other Win9x OS limitation that will
always exist which is the fact that now you also cannot have any one partition
over 128 GB (when using W98 (FAT32)) since the Windows utilities of defrag and
scandisk will still not work properly with anything over 128 GB and will corrupt
....that's why I have always said realize that you really have two limitations
(both easily overcome) ...again the first to overcome is the HD size limitation,
but then once you do that then you Still have to deal with the Windows Utilities
limitation (which as it now stands will be forevermore unless MS rewrites the
Scandisk/Defrag which is not going to happen) but no problem because that's
easily to overcome as well if you always remember to partition up a larger hard
drive so that no one partition is ever over 128 GB then scandisk and defrag
works just fine. With both situations taken care of you now have no limitations
to Win9x (within the context of what we are speaking of)

Rick


Ian