Will hard drive work with Win98

I just bought a new Western Ditital external hard drive (Essential Edition)
for making a full backup to my laptop files. The label said Windows98 SE
would support it but I have Windows 98 standard edition. I got it anyway
thinking I might get it working....wishful thinking..yes. Anyway, I
downloaded the recommended driver from the manufacturer's website and finally
got it installed ok as it was a zip file...rather than a simple ".exe" setup
program like I'm familiar with.
But when I click New Hardware in control panel, the Wizard doesn't
recognize or find the new driver for the hard drive (I typed the file
location in, with full path names to the directory, in the wizard's dialog
box); Should I :
1. Upgrade to SE ...I have an SE oem CD...and saw a website for using
that to upgrade via a link in a thread here elsewhere.
2. Return it and get flash stick drives.
3. other.....?
TIA for any help.

rvw

Sorry, but I needed to Update my own question above....I went back to the
Manufacturer website and found a FAQ on it. They said there is "limited"
support for Win95/98 (first edition)...but because of various
factors....Bios...hardware incompatibility...etc...they recommend upgrading
to SE. So if I try to do that, I think if I get my downloaded programs
safely backed up on drive D: ....they shouldn't be effected by doing an
ugrade, hopefully. Right?
And I read on another ng (windows update) what Gary Terhune said about Flash
sticks....so that option might not be supported either...have to check with
Manufacterer if not stated so on product label.
I wonder what "limited" support means? Maybe it would work for me then if
only for backups?

rvw


"Rvwinkle" wrote:

I just bought a new Western Ditital external hard drive (Essential Edition)
for making a full backup to my laptop files. The label said Windows98 SE
would support it but I have Windows 98 standard edition. I got it anyway
thinking I might get it working....wishful thinking..yes. Anyway, I
downloaded the recommended driver from the manufacturer's website and finally
got it installed ok as it was a zip file...rather than a simple ".exe" setup
program like I'm familiar with.
But when I click New Hardware in control panel, the Wizard doesn't
recognize or find the new driver for the hard drive (I typed the file
location in, with full path names to the directory, in the wizard's dialog
box); Should I :
1. Upgrade to SE ...I have an SE oem CD...and saw a website for using
that to upgrade via a link in a thread here elsewhere.
2. Return it and get flash stick drives.
3. other.....?
TIA for any help.

rvw

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:18:02 -0800, Rvwinkle
wrote in post:
So if I try to do that, I think if I get my downloaded
programs safely backed up on drive D: ....they shouldn't be
effected by doing an ugrade, hopefully. Right?

Right. I upgraded my Win95 (95!) desktop to Win98. All my
programs and data remained intact.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 8.1

iQA/AwUBRXHqrKRseRzHUwOaEQJbVACgowbPeKM0Tq7jSWgnm4Z02P xNV5wAoPOM
jLKhO9ul3Kbz9A01jco5rQqD
=I7hk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
Laura Fredericks
PGP key ID - DH/DSS 2048/1024: 0xC753039A

Usenet Flamewars:
http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/usenet/

Check out TurboNote+, the best onscreen sticky note program EVER!
http://turbonote.com/TBNPlusIntro::.@HGT

Remove CLOTHES to reply.

In wikipedia under "visually ugly usenet posts" you will find this:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Laura Fredericks wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:18:02 -0800, Rvwinkle
wrote in post:
So if I try to do that, I think if I get my downloaded
programs safely backed up on drive D: ....they shouldn't be
effected by doing an ugrade, hopefully. Right?

Right. I upgraded my Win95 (95!) desktop to Win98. All my
programs and data remained intact.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 8.1

iQA/AwUBRXHqrKRseRzHUwOaEQJbVACgowbPeKM0Tq7jSWgnm4Z02P xNV5wAoPOM
jLKhO9ul3Kbz9A01jco5rQqD
=I7hk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
Laura Fredericks
PGP key ID - DH/DSS 2048/1024: 0xC753039A

Usenet Flamewars:
http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/usenet/

Check out TurboNote+, the best onscreen sticky note program EVER!
http://turbonote.com/TBNPlusIntro::.@HGT

Remove CLOTHES to reply.

That's good to know...thx.
rvw


"Laura Fredericks" wrote:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:18:02 -0800, Rvwinkle
wrote in post:
So if I try to do that, I think if I get my downloaded
programs safely backed up on drive D: ....they shouldn't be
effected by doing an ugrade, hopefully. Right?

Right. I upgraded my Win95 (95!) desktop to Win98. All my
programs and data remained intact.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 8.1

iQA/AwUBRXHqrKRseRzHUwOaEQJbVACgowbPeKM0Tq7jSWgnm4Z02P xNV5wAoPOM
jLKhO9ul3Kbz9A01jco5rQqD
=I7hk
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--
Laura Fredericks
PGP key ID - DH/DSS 2048/1024: 0xC753039A

Usenet Flamewars:
http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/usenet/

Check out TurboNote+, the best onscreen sticky note program EVER!
http://turbonote.com/TBNPlusIntro::.@HGT

Remove CLOTHES to reply.

"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

I just bought a new Western Ditital external hard drive (Essential
Edition) for making a full backup to my laptop files. The label said
Windows98 SE would support it but I have Windows 98 standard edition. I
got it anyway thinking I might get it working....wishful thinking..yes.
Anyway, I downloaded the recommended driver from the manufacturer's
website and finally got it installed ok as it was a zip file...rather
than a simple ".exe" setup program like I'm familiar with.
But when I click New Hardware in control panel, the Wizard doesn't
recognize or find the new driver for the hard drive (I typed the file
location in, with full path names to the directory, in the wizard's
dialog box); Should I :
1. Upgrade to SE ...I have an SE oem CD...and saw a website for
using that to upgrade via a link in a thread here elsewhere.
2. Return it and get flash stick drives.
3. other.....?
TIA for any help.

rvw

Not that I'm sure it matters or not, but do you have the black Western
Digital My Book Essential Edition or the silver regular Essential drive. I
only ask because the My Book one has 2 different dated drivers and you
would of wanted to download the one that pertains to your portables
particular manufacture date.

You mentioned the zip file verses the exe one, but they are really exactly
the same thing, only that one is given as an exe and the other is that they
zip the exe first and offer it that way (for a few reasons of
security/convenience) ...but then naturally you would have to unzip it and
out comes the exe from that which is the same. If you don't have a zip
software to unzip it then of course just download the exe one - in the end,
they are exactly the same install.

Anyway I've got the palm size portable WD Passport 60 USB drive which works
excellent, http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...sp?DriveID=258
but as you noticed all of them indicate that there is only a driver for W98SE
edition which of course the SE edition gives USB 2.0 capabilities but the
regular W98FE edition only has USB 1 ..will it still install of W98FE and
work right ..that's a good question and I wish I had FE here so that I
could try it for you.. ..if you did get it to work on W98FE then naturally
you would only get USB 1 performance.

If you upgrade to SE (and also have and install the USB 2.0 drivers for your
particular Motherboard) then when you installed your WD SE drivers it
should work just fine. ..well mine does anyway.

To your last question is that the stick pens work fine too, however they
are not physical rotating hard drives like the others which are flash
memory sticks and have no moving parts, but as you've noticed their GB
capacity is much smaller at this stage of their development with the
largest sizes like the 4GB (or slightly larger) are much more pricey too,
and so rvw, if you only need 1GB to store your stuff then by all means use
the memory stick because you can pick them up on sale for only $10 these
days, whereas for example the WD Passport usb powered 60 GB drives are
about $79..

Are your needs for storage 1 GB ..or do you need many many GB's storage
capacity which in that case the portable is the way to go, but you would
need the W98SE edition for proper driver operation.

Rick

Rick,
Thanks a lot for the info. Sounds like the Passport is a good choice. My C:
drive is 3 GB total so I wouldn't need much, but yes the 4 GB memory stick
was about $119.00. The MyBook Essential cost #130.00 and claims a 250 GB
capacity, but I thought would be more versatile for the future. I tried
three drivers and none worked with the F.E. Win98. Not even the 1.0x.0x for
USB. It said SE in the file name and there were none I could find for the
First Edition.
It is interesting that they say FE has "limited suppore" but there is
not a driver for it, that I could find anyway. When I tried to email the
company, an automated responce gave me 10 faq links which is how I found the
1.0.1 driver, so I didn't submit the email...but it didn't work either so....
I suppose I could email them again or call the 800 # , but I think I'll try
upgrading first, and go from there. If that doesn't work, well the chain
store where I got it has an easy return policy if you know where I mean
G... Thanks again.

rvw

"Rick Chauvin" wrote:


"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

I just bought a new Western Ditital external hard drive (Essential
Edition) for making a full backup to my laptop files. The label said
Windows98 SE would support it but I have Windows 98 standard edition. I
got it anyway thinking I might get it working....wishful thinking..yes.
Anyway, I downloaded the recommended driver from the manufacturer's
website and finally got it installed ok as it was a zip file...rather
than a simple ".exe" setup program like I'm familiar with.
But when I click New Hardware in control panel, the Wizard doesn't
recognize or find the new driver for the hard drive (I typed the file
location in, with full path names to the directory, in the wizard's
dialog box); Should I :
1. Upgrade to SE ...I have an SE oem CD...and saw a website for
using that to upgrade via a link in a thread here elsewhere.
2. Return it and get flash stick drives.
3. other.....?
TIA for any help.

rvw

Not that I'm sure it matters or not, but do you have the black Western
Digital My Book Essential Edition or the silver regular Essential drive. I
only ask because the My Book one has 2 different dated drivers and you
would of wanted to download the one that pertains to your portables
particular manufacture date.

You mentioned the zip file verses the exe one, but they are really exactly
the same thing, only that one is given as an exe and the other is that they
zip the exe first and offer it that way (for a few reasons of
security/convenience) ...but then naturally you would have to unzip it and
out comes the exe from that which is the same. If you don't have a zip
software to unzip it then of course just download the exe one - in the end,
they are exactly the same install.

Anyway I've got the palm size portable WD Passport 60 USB drive which works
excellent, http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...sp?DriveID=258
but as you noticed all of them indicate that there is only a driver for W98SE
edition which of course the SE edition gives USB 2.0 capabilities but the
regular W98FE edition only has USB 1 ..will it still install of W98FE and
work right ..that's a good question and I wish I had FE here so that I
could try it for you.. ..if you did get it to work on W98FE then naturally
you would only get USB 1 performance.

If you upgrade to SE (and also have and install the USB 2.0 drivers for your
particular Motherboard) then when you installed your WD SE drivers it
should work just fine. ..well mine does anyway.

To your last question is that the stick pens work fine too, however they
are not physical rotating hard drives like the others which are flash
memory sticks and have no moving parts, but as you've noticed their GB
capacity is much smaller at this stage of their development with the
largest sizes like the 4GB (or slightly larger) are much more pricey too,
and so rvw, if you only need 1GB to store your stuff then by all means use
the memory stick because you can pick them up on sale for only $10 these
days, whereas for example the WD Passport usb powered 60 GB drives are
about $79..

Are your needs for storage 1 GB ..or do you need many many GB's storage
capacity which in that case the portable is the way to go, but you would
need the W98SE edition for proper driver operation.

Rick

"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

Rick,
Thanks a lot for the info. Sounds like the Passport is a good choice.

The passport is USB powered and fits in the palm of my hand or shirt
pocket; it does not need an external power supply like the My Book does.
It does need SE though.

My C: drive is 3 GB total so I wouldn't need much, but yes the 4 GB
memory stick was about $119.00. The MyBook Essential cost #130.00 and

You mean you have this one:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...18&language=en

claims a 250 GB capacity, but I thought would be more versatile for the
future. I tried three drivers and none worked with the F.E. Win98. Not
even the 1.0x.0x for USB. It said SE in the file name and there were
none I could find for the First Edition.

You see with a 250 GB drive you have other issues here too, in that you
will have to use partition software to partition it up so that your
partitions are not larger than your bios and controller is designed for,
and I would not be surprised if your older PC will only let you use 64 GB
partitions (unless you change bios or plug in a pci controller card, etc,
etc, etc..

It is interesting that they say FE has "limited suppore" but there is

Yes I now see that he
http://tinyurl.com/yje5hw
..and what that means is that you would only get USB 1 performance
..but at least it should work is what they insinuate.

Perhaps 'if' you have a USB Series 1 drive you need to use that driver:
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=15
..or it was this one ..I've temprorally forgot where I was on their
site, and so You confirm what's for your specific unit k..
http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=16
..alternately if you have the Series II unit you will use the USB 2.0
Driver http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp?swid=14

not a driver for it, that I could find anyway. When I tried to email the
company, an automated responce gave me 10 faq links which is how I found
the 1.0.1 driver, so I didn't submit the email but it didn't work either
so.... I suppose I could email them again or call the 800 # , but I
think I'll try upgrading first, and go from there. If that doesn't work,

You say you will upgrade to SE, okay that's great.
Sounds like you will have your hands full more than you currently realize
with many different nuisances that you will need to know in order to pull
all this together - and so good luck ..err, skill.

Why not just call them, I believe you have free installation support for 15
days after you call them.

I meant to mention in my first reply that even the little 1, 2, 4, etc GB
memory sticks 'will need' a W98 driver too

Rick

well the chain store where I got it has an easy return policy if you
know where I mean G... Thanks again.

rvw

"Rick Chauvin" wrote:


"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

I just bought a new Western Ditital external hard drive (Essential
Edition) for making a full backup to my laptop files. The label said
Windows98 SE would support it but I have Windows 98 standard edition.
I got it anyway thinking I might get it working....wishful
thinking..yes. Anyway, I downloaded the recommended driver from the
manufacturer's website and finally got it installed ok as it was a
zip file...rather than a simple ".exe" setup program like I'm
familiar with. But when I click New Hardware in control panel,
the Wizard doesn't recognize or find the new driver for the hard
drive (I typed the file location in, with full path names to the
directory, in the wizard's dialog box); Should I :
1. Upgrade to SE ...I have an SE oem CD...and saw a website for
using that to upgrade via a link in a thread here elsewhere.
2. Return it and get flash stick drives.
3. other.....?
TIA for any help.

rvw

Not that I'm sure it matters or not, but do you have the black Western
Digital My Book Essential Edition or the silver regular Essential
drive. I only ask because the My Book one has 2 different dated
drivers and you
would of wanted to download the one that pertains to your portables
particular manufacture date.

You mentioned the zip file verses the exe one, but they are really
exactly the same thing, only that one is given as an exe and the other
is that they zip the exe first and offer it that way (for a few reasons
of security/convenience) ...but then naturally you would have to unzip
it and out comes the exe from that which is the same. If you don't
have a zip software to unzip it then of course just download the exe
one - in the end, they are exactly the same install.

Anyway I've got the palm size portable WD Passport 60 USB drive which
works excellent,
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...sp?DriveID=258 but
as you noticed all of them indicate that there is only a driver for
W98SE edition which of course the SE edition gives USB 2.0 capabilities
but the regular W98FE edition only has USB 1 ..will it still install
of W98FE and work right ..that's a good question and I wish I had FE
here so that I could try it for you.. ..if you did get it to work on
W98FE then naturally you would only get USB 1 performance.

If you upgrade to SE (and also have and install the USB 2.0 drivers for
your particular Motherboard) then when you installed your WD SE drivers
it
should work just fine. ..well mine does anyway.

To your last question is that the stick pens work fine too, however they
are not physical rotating hard drives like the others which are flash
memory sticks and have no moving parts, but as you've noticed their GB
capacity is much smaller at this stage of their development with the
largest sizes like the 4GB (or slightly larger) are much more pricey
too, and so rvw, if you only need 1GB to store your stuff then by all
means use the memory stick because you can pick them up on sale for
only $10 these days, whereas for example the WD Passport usb powered 60
GB drives are
about $79..

Are your needs for storage 1 GB ..or do you need many many GB's storage
capacity which in that case the portable is the way to go, but you would
need the W98SE edition for proper driver operation.

Rick

"Rick Chauvin" wrote in message
...


"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

Rick,
Thanks a lot for the info. Sounds like the Passport is a good choice.

The passport is USB powered and fits in the palm of my hand or shirt
pocket; it does not need an external power supply like the My Book does.
It does need SE though.

My C: drive is 3 GB total so I wouldn't need much, but yes the 4 GB
memory stick was about $119.00. The MyBook Essential cost #130.00 and

You mean you have this one:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...18&language=en

claims a 250 GB capacity, but I thought would be more versatile for the
future. I tried three drivers and none worked with the F.E. Win98. Not
even the 1.0x.0x for USB. It said SE in the file name and there were
none I could find for the First Edition.

You see with a 250 GB drive you have other issues here too, in that you
will have to use partition software to partition it up so that your
partitions are not larger than your bios and controller is designed for,
and I would not be surprised if your older PC will only let you use 64 GB
partitions (unless you change bios or plug in a pci controller card, etc,
etc, etc..


The onboard bios and (ide) controller are not an issue regarding USB
connected hard drives via USB enclosure.
The enclosure's bios does the CHS detecting.
64GB is the limitation of the original fdisk without wrap of partition size
appearance. Doubt if WD is making the single FAT32 partition with fdisk.
And a problem with scandisk and defrag if that partition size is exceeded.
--
Jonny

Sorry I took so long getting back to this thread. I have had my virtual hands
full doing the FE to SE upgrade. It was succsessful!!! I followed the
advice carefully of the OEM "trick it" guide from Ron Badour's website linked
elsewhere on this NG.....and printed it out before hand so would have a hard
copy of it, since I would be offline during the procedure....NOTE: my C: and
D: drives were not compressed after my original quick restore so that might
have helped as I read something to that effect one of the readme.txt/s on the
Win98 SE OEM CD-- (or was it at the MS knowledge base website...sorry, ...I
can't remember which)?
It was what Ron called an "over the top" upgrade ....which was
risky....but anyway, the MyBook hard drive is working now, too, but I did
have to call the company 800 number. It had to do with extracting my zip
files and unpugging it and then plugging it back in "after" installing the
"MyBook..." driver.
.................................................. ..
.. Find Ron's website link, for the SE upgrade procedure...."but"...I
would carefully consider your individual situation before doing it, ..(and
Ron's website doesn't even advise it, either)....unless you have plenty of
backups.. and rescue.. and startup disks...and midnight oil handy, too,
perhaps.. G...thanks, Ron...
........and,..anyway..now that all my files are on the HDD I can always
uninstall the SE if I have to and use the backup files to go back to Win98 FE.
....................................
rvw
..
"Jonny" wrote:

"Rick Chauvin" wrote in message
...


"Rvwinkle" wrote in message

Rick,
Thanks a lot for the info. Sounds like the Passport is a good choice.

The passport is USB powered and fits in the palm of my hand or shirt
pocket; it does not need an external power supply like the My Book does.
It does need SE though.

My C: drive is 3 GB total so I wouldn't need much, but yes the 4 GB
memory stick was about $119.00. The MyBook Essential cost #130.00 and

You mean you have this one:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...18&language=en

claims a 250 GB capacity, but I thought would be more versatile for the
future. I tried three drivers and none worked with the F.E. Win98. Not
even the 1.0x.0x for USB. It said SE in the file name and there were
none I could find for the First Edition.

You see with a 250 GB drive you have other issues here too, in that you
will have to use partition software to partition it up so that your
partitions are not larger than your bios and controller is designed for,
and I would not be surprised if your older PC will only let you use 64 GB
partitions (unless you change bios or plug in a pci controller card, etc,
etc, etc..


The onboard bios and (ide) controller are not an issue regarding USB
connected hard drives via USB enclosure.
The enclosure's bios does the CHS detecting.
64GB is the limitation of the original fdisk without wrap of partition size
appearance. Doubt if WD is making the single FAT32 partition with fdisk.
And a problem with scandisk and defrag if that partition size is exceeded.
--
Jonny