Want to add 80GB HD to Win98

Hi,
I want to add an 80GB HD to my Win98 system.
I know that 98 has problems recognizing drives bigger than 64GB, so my
question is this: Do I download the 64GB fdisk fix first, or should I connect
the new drive and then download the fdisk fix?

I have one mo The fdisk fix needs to be "run" or is it just installed
somewhere?

Any help or info. on the easiest way to go about this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks.

Sean.

The disk should be partitioned using the upgraded version of the FDISK
utility. However, it is possible that you have used some third party
utility to do the partitioning, in which case FDISK is not required. After
partitioning it is then formatted and it's ready for use.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I want to add an 80GB HD to my Win98 system.
I know that 98 has problems recognizing drives bigger than 64GB, so my
question is this: Do I download the 64GB fdisk fix first, or should I
connect
the new drive and then download the fdisk fix?

I have one mo The fdisk fix needs to be "run" or is it just installed
somewhere?

Any help or info. on the easiest way to go about this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks.

Sean.

Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive. If I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't I avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated fsdisk
fix?

Thanks!

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The disk should be partitioned using the upgraded version of the FDISK
utility. However, it is possible that you have used some third party
utility to do the partitioning, in which case FDISK is not required. After
partitioning it is then formatted and it's ready for use.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I want to add an 80GB HD to my Win98 system.
I know that 98 has problems recognizing drives bigger than 64GB, so my
question is this: Do I download the 64GB fdisk fix first, or should I
connect
the new drive and then download the fdisk fix?

I have one mo The fdisk fix needs to be "run" or is it just installed
somewhere?

Any help or info. on the easiest way to go about this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks.

Sean.

I don't know the product you mention, so I don't know if it will work
properly with large drives. For FDISK, the size of the partitions doesn't
matter - whether you have many small ones or one large one, you must use the
latest version with drives larger than 64Gb. Every hard disk must be
partitioned before it can be used, whether its a boot disk or an additional
disk.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive. If
I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't I
avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated
fsdisk
fix?

I'm confused now Jeff...
"Every" hard drive must be partitioned?
My original hard drive wasn't - I partitioned it to allow for a dual boot
option (English and Japanese) but before I did this it was just a single 4GB
drive.

Jeff, can I bend your ear about FDISK...
If I download the FDISK fix now (before installing my new hard drive) it
won't cause any problems, will it...or is it best to wait until I connect the
new HD and then download?

Sorry for so many questions...

Sean.

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

I don't know the product you mention, so I don't know if it will work
properly with large drives. For FDISK, the size of the partitions doesn't
matter - whether you have many small ones or one large one, you must use the
latest version with drives larger than 64Gb. Every hard disk must be
partitioned before it can be used, whether its a boot disk or an additional
disk.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive. If
I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't I
avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated
fsdisk
fix?

Every drive must be partitioned translates to every drive must have at least
one partition. Could also have more than one but MUST have at least one.


"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
I'm confused now Jeff...
"Every" hard drive must be partitioned?
My original hard drive wasn't - I partitioned it to allow for a dual boot
option (English and Japanese) but before I did this it was just a single
4GB
drive.

Jeff, can I bend your ear about FDISK...
If I download the FDISK fix now (before installing my new hard drive) it
won't cause any problems, will it...or is it best to wait until I connect
the
new HD and then download?

Sorry for so many questions...

Sean.

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

I don't know the product you mention, so I don't know if it will work
properly with large drives. For FDISK, the size of the partitions
doesn't
matter - whether you have many small ones or one large one, you must use
the
latest version with drives larger than 64Gb. Every hard disk must be
partitioned before it can be used, whether its a boot disk or an
additional
disk.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive.
If
I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't
I
avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated
fsdisk
fix?

"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
I'm confused now Jeff...
"Every" hard drive must be partitioned?
My original hard drive wasn't - I partitioned it to allow for a dual boot
option (English and Japanese) but before I did this it was just a single
4GB
drive.

You have mistaken . . .
"Partition" does not mean dividing.
It is the word used in FDISK to mean creating
a Logical Drive (C, D, E etc.) even if you create
only one C: using all available drive space.
1. Partitions are of various types, e.g. Primary
DOS, Extended DOS or Non-DOS. A Windows
computer needs one Primary DOS partition to
become bootable.
2. All partitions (logical drives) must be FORMATted
to enable data to be written to them.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

You original hard drive must have been partitioned - DOS/Windows cannot use
an unpartitioned drive. Perhaps it was partitioned by the manufacturer, and
perhaps it was partitioned with a single 4Gb primary partition.

You should download the new version of FDISK as soon as convenient. What's
important is that when you partition the new hard drive you must be using
the updated version of FDISK.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
I'm confused now Jeff...
"Every" hard drive must be partitioned?
My original hard drive wasn't - I partitioned it to allow for a dual boot
option (English and Japanese) but before I did this it was just a single
4GB
drive.

Jeff, can I bend your ear about FDISK...
If I download the FDISK fix now (before installing my new hard drive) it
won't cause any problems, will it...or is it best to wait until I connect
the
new HD and then download?

Sorry for so many questions...

Sean.

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

I don't know the product you mention, so I don't know if it will work
properly with large drives. For FDISK, the size of the partitions
doesn't
matter - whether you have many small ones or one large one, you must use
the
latest version with drives larger than 64Gb. Every hard disk must be
partitioned before it can be used, whether its a boot disk or an
additional
disk.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive.
If
I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't I
avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated
fsdisk
fix?

Depends what version of System Commander DELUXE you have. The older
stand-alone product did not have a partitioning/formatting program with it
at all. See v-com.com for your answer. And there are nuances with the
original System Commander Deluxe's accompanying partitioning/formatting
program. Its not a Win98 / MS product, you do the research.
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Jeff,

Thanks for that, but why do I need to partition it?
I was hoping to just connect the new one as slave.

But anyway, you may have found me an easier solution...
Yes, I have used SYSTEM COMMANDER to partition my existing hard drive. If
I
use this to partition my new 80 GB drive into 40GB and 40GB, wouldn't I
avoid
the 64GB bottleneck and do away with the need to download the updated
fsdisk
fix?

Thanks!

"Jeff Richards" wrote:

The disk should be partitioned using the upgraded version of the FDISK
utility. However, it is possible that you have used some third party
utility to do the partitioning, in which case FDISK is not required.
After
partitioning it is then formatted and it's ready for use.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Seanromano" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I want to add an 80GB HD to my Win98 system.
I know that 98 has problems recognizing drives bigger than 64GB, so my
question is this: Do I download the 64GB fdisk fix first, or should I
connect
the new drive and then download the fdisk fix?

I have one mo The fdisk fix needs to be "run" or is it just
installed
somewhere?

Any help or info. on the easiest way to go about this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks.

Sean.

Depends on your system.

I have a PI 200 MHz system for which the IDE controller is not capable of
coping with 80 GB disks, still I use a single 80 GB disk as a single
(primary) partition with Win98 SE.
To be able to do this I have a Promise IDE controller PCI card and connected
the drive to this additional IDE controller. Using fdisk I created the needed
primary partition (say yes when fdisk asks to enable the usage of large
disks) and after that I formatted the disk in the standard way. Due to the
way the file system has been set up I now have about 76 GB of free storage
area. So yes: Win98 (SE) is able to cope with 80 GB drives. I only used the
fdisk and format that has been delivered with the Win98 SE rescue disk, no
fancy stuff!

A problem may be that your IDE controller on your motherboard may not be
able to cope with large drives...In that case a PCI card like the Promise I
got may help.

Splitting the drive in partitions may help to reduce the "overkill" in the
file allocation tables, but that is a free choice and is not necessary.

Be aware of the fact that formatting a large disk will take some time to be
done.

"Seanromano" wrote:

Hi,
I want to add an 80GB HD to my Win98 system.
I know that 98 has problems recognizing drives bigger than 64GB, so my
question is this: Do I download the 64GB fdisk fix first, or should I connect
the new drive and then download the fdisk fix?

I have one mo The fdisk fix needs to be "run" or is it just installed
somewhere?

Any help or info. on the easiest way to go about this would be much
appreciated.

Thanks.

Sean.