"jerryko" wrote in
...
I want to purchase a 160GB HDD to use with a new ABIT NF7
v2 motherboard (supports LBA45). The motherboard will
support the 160GB HDD (No hardware limit on HDD). Will
WIN98SE support the HDD? I have read so much vague
information about different barriers in Win98SE concerning
large drives over 137GB, it's makeing my head spin. I can
partition the drive (I plan on it) as needed. What are
the limits of Win98se when it comes to HDD (partitions,
physical disk size etc...)

Thank you,

Jerry

Above 128 gigabytes (abouit 137.000.000.000 bytes) 48 bits LBA (logical
block addressing) is used. Windows 98 SE does not support 48 bits LBA. If
you want one partition of over 128 gig, you will need a driver. Else windows
98 SE will see only 128 gigabytes.

There is a discussion whether or not you can split a 160 gig disk in two ore
more partitions, each less than 128 gig.

The old fdisk will work up to 128 gig.. It only _displays_ an incorrect
size when the hd capacity is over 64 gig. In fact it displays the capacity
minus 64 gig.
I used the old fdisk on an 120 gig hd, without trouble. But the new fdisk is
less confusing and easier to use.

Scandisk and defrag have internal counters which count untill 4 times 1024
times 1024 clusters. Example: if the disk has a clustersize of e.g. 16
kilobytes/cluster, scandisk and defrag will work fine with partitions up to:
4 * 1024 * 1024 * 16 * 1024 = 64 gig.
When you format an hd, the clustersize within a partition will be determined
so that the number of clusters does not exceed 4 * 1024 * 1024.

Knowing that the maximum clustersize is 32 kilobyte/cluster, the maximum
size of a partition which can be 'seen' with scandisk or defrag, will be:
4 * 1024 * 1024 * 32 * 1024 = 128 gig.

Grtz,

TR