Hard drive larger then 120GB question

No data is safe on a HD over 137 GB using Windows 98/98SE. That is to say,
no partition that is accessible by those OSes should extend beyond that
limit.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Tried moving 25 GB of data out of the 250 GB drive,
and re-scandisk/defrag on it (91 GB/250)
didn't work, either

need better (free) scan and defrag for win 98 SE that will work with HDs
over 137 GB

ssome

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
The whole story

We bought 60 and 80 GB HDs and couldn't get win 98 SE to Fdisk them.
Store
didn't know or want to tell us how to correct the problem. i got on NGs
and the web for HD mfgr sites asking questions and found that WD HDs,
Western Digital, had 2 utils for win 98 - one for a new HD in a new
computer where DOS had to be used. and one for a new HD in a win 98
system
up and running. this was the key to Fdisk, format and use. Until ...

Your machine's BIOS also has to be updated to accept HD larger than 32
GB,
an earlier limit. Once this is done then you can work with HDs up to the
win 98 limit of 137 GB. But, i found a HD that is 250 GB for only $60 -
so, how to make that work.

i figured i could partition (Fdisk) the 250 into 2 ea 125 GB partitions
that
would then be within the 137 GB limit. this was a waste of hours.

the secret was to buy a $20 PCI card that is a HD Controller that has no
virtual limit. then i tried to partition it again pwrd thru this card
...and that was again a mistake. the new cntrlr can let win 98 'see' the
whole 250 GB as one partition. And, ... that worked. it took a little
doing to get the right drivers for the card in spite of them providing an
install CD; got 2 driver files from their site that helped. you can
now
install 8 ea HD devices like: 6ea 500 GB HDs, CDRW and DVDRW on win 98
with virtual unlimited mem storage.

Now, you can try it without going down the wrong pathways.

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
For Windows 98SE and ME, you need a PCI controller card to use an EIDE
hard
drive larger than 137GB without risking data corruption. The drivers
for
the
controller card enable large drive support in the operating system,
while
the card itself provides the hardware support needed for the PC to
recognize
the full drive capacity.

WD Lifeguard s/w and Fdisk only let me create a partition of 137 GB
max.
the rest of the HD goes to waste. screwed by the mfgrs again.

ssome

"J. P. Gilliver" wrote in message
...
"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
i'm running 3 HDs on two machines now, both with win 98SE

i run the 3rd HD on the secondary cable along with the CDR; slower
this
way, but extra mem is worth it. use it for storage and not
interactive
apps.
[]
I thought that bit about "same cable as CDR makes it slower" was only
true
for IDE, not EIDE? (If not, then what _is_ the "enhancement" the E
stands
for?) [True IDE-only drives are years ago - I am pretty sure even
CDRs
have
been EIDE for many years.]

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on the 250GB,
when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto ran another ver of
scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned. What is that exe or com
called so i can bring it up on purpose?

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Tried moving 25 GB of data out of the 250 GB drive,
and re-scandisk/defrag on it (91 GB/250)
didn't work, either

need better (free) scan and defrag for win 98 SE that will work with HDs
over 137 GB

ssome

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
The whole story

We bought 60 and 80 GB HDs and couldn't get win 98 SE to Fdisk them.
Store
didn't know or want to tell us how to correct the problem. i got on
NGs
and the web for HD mfgr sites asking questions and found that WD HDs,
Western Digital, had 2 utils for win 98 - one for a new HD in a new
computer where DOS had to be used. and one for a new HD in a win 98
system
up and running. this was the key to Fdisk, format and use. Until ...

Your machine's BIOS also has to be updated to accept HD larger than 32
GB,
an earlier limit. Once this is done then you can work with HDs up to
the
win 98 limit of 137 GB. But, i found a HD that is 250 GB for only
$60 -
so, how to make that work.

i figured i could partition (Fdisk) the 250 into 2 ea 125 GB partitions
that
would then be within the 137 GB limit. this was a waste of hours.

the secret was to buy a $20 PCI card that is a HD Controller that has no
virtual limit. then i tried to partition it again pwrd thru this card
...and that was again a mistake. the new cntrlr can let win 98 'see'
the
whole 250 GB as one partition. And, ... that worked. it took a
little
doing to get the right drivers for the card in spite of them providing
an
install CD; got 2 driver files from their site that helped. you can
now
install 8 ea HD devices like: 6ea 500 GB HDs, CDRW and DVDRW on win 98
with virtual unlimited mem storage.

Now, you can try it without going down the wrong pathways.

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
For Windows 98SE and ME, you need a PCI controller card to use an EIDE
hard
drive larger than 137GB without risking data corruption. The drivers
for
the
controller card enable large drive support in the operating system,
while
the card itself provides the hardware support needed for the PC to
recognize
the full drive capacity.

WD Lifeguard s/w and Fdisk only let me create a partition of 137 GB
max.
the rest of the HD goes to waste. screwed by the mfgrs again.

ssome

"J. P. Gilliver" wrote in message
...
"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
i'm running 3 HDs on two machines now, both with win 98SE

i run the 3rd HD on the secondary cable along with the CDR;
slower
this
way, but extra mem is worth it. use it for storage and not
interactive
apps.
[]
I thought that bit about "same cable as CDR makes it slower" was
only
true
for IDE, not EIDE? (If not, then what _is_ the "enhancement" the E
stands
for?) [True IDE-only drives are years ago - I am pretty sure even
CDRs
have
been EIDE for many years.]

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on the 250GB,
when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto ran another ver of
scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned. What is that exe or com
called so i can bring it up on purpose?

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Tried moving 25 GB of data out of the 250 GB drive,
and re-scandisk/defrag on it (91 GB/250)
didn't work, either

need better (free) scan and defrag for win 98 SE that will work with HDs
over 137 GB

ssome

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
The whole story

We bought 60 and 80 GB HDs and couldn't get win 98 SE to Fdisk them.
Store
didn't know or want to tell us how to correct the problem. i got on
NGs
and the web for HD mfgr sites asking questions and found that WD HDs,
Western Digital, had 2 utils for win 98 - one for a new HD in a new
computer where DOS had to be used. and one for a new HD in a win 98
system
up and running. this was the key to Fdisk, format and use. Until ...

Your machine's BIOS also has to be updated to accept HD larger than 32
GB,
an earlier limit. Once this is done then you can work with HDs up to
the
win 98 limit of 137 GB. But, i found a HD that is 250 GB for only
$60 -
so, how to make that work.

i figured i could partition (Fdisk) the 250 into 2 ea 125 GB partitions
that
would then be within the 137 GB limit. this was a waste of hours.

the secret was to buy a $20 PCI card that is a HD Controller that has no
virtual limit. then i tried to partition it again pwrd thru this card
...and that was again a mistake. the new cntrlr can let win 98 'see'
the
whole 250 GB as one partition. And, ... that worked. it took a
little
doing to get the right drivers for the card in spite of them providing
an
install CD; got 2 driver files from their site that helped. you can
now
install 8 ea HD devices like: 6ea 500 GB HDs, CDRW and DVDRW on win 98
with virtual unlimited mem storage.

Now, you can try it without going down the wrong pathways.

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
For Windows 98SE and ME, you need a PCI controller card to use an EIDE
hard
drive larger than 137GB without risking data corruption. The drivers
for
the
controller card enable large drive support in the operating system,
while
the card itself provides the hardware support needed for the PC to
recognize
the full drive capacity.

WD Lifeguard s/w and Fdisk only let me create a partition of 137 GB
max.
the rest of the HD goes to waste. screwed by the mfgrs again.

ssome

"J. P. Gilliver" wrote in message
...
"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
i'm running 3 HDs on two machines now, both with win 98SE

i run the 3rd HD on the secondary cable along with the CDR;
slower
this
way, but extra mem is worth it. use it for storage and not
interactive
apps.
[]
I thought that bit about "same cable as CDR makes it slower" was
only
true
for IDE, not EIDE? (If not, then what _is_ the "enhancement" the E
stands
for?) [True IDE-only drives are years ago - I am pretty sure even
CDRs
have
been EIDE for many years.]

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in DOS/Command
Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows is called SCANDISKW.EXE

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on the
250GB,
when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto ran another ver of
scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned. What is that exe or com
called so i can bring it up on purpose?

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Tried moving 25 GB of data out of the 250 GB drive,
and re-scandisk/defrag on it (91 GB/250)
didn't work, either

need better (free) scan and defrag for win 98 SE that will work with HDs
over 137 GB

ssome

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
The whole story

We bought 60 and 80 GB HDs and couldn't get win 98 SE to Fdisk them.
Store
didn't know or want to tell us how to correct the problem. i got on
NGs
and the web for HD mfgr sites asking questions and found that WD HDs,
Western Digital, had 2 utils for win 98 - one for a new HD in a new
computer where DOS had to be used. and one for a new HD in a win 98
system
up and running. this was the key to Fdisk, format and use. Until
...

Your machine's BIOS also has to be updated to accept HD larger than 32
GB,
an earlier limit. Once this is done then you can work with HDs up to
the
win 98 limit of 137 GB. But, i found a HD that is 250 GB for only
$60 -
so, how to make that work.

i figured i could partition (Fdisk) the 250 into 2 ea 125 GB partitions
that
would then be within the 137 GB limit. this was a waste of hours.

the secret was to buy a $20 PCI card that is a HD Controller that has
no
virtual limit. then i tried to partition it again pwrd thru this card
...and that was again a mistake. the new cntrlr can let win 98 'see'
the
whole 250 GB as one partition. And, ... that worked. it took a
little
doing to get the right drivers for the card in spite of them providing
an
install CD; got 2 driver files from their site that helped. you can
now
install 8 ea HD devices like: 6ea 500 GB HDs, CDRW and DVDRW on win
98
with virtual unlimited mem storage.

Now, you can try it without going down the wrong pathways.

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
For Windows 98SE and ME, you need a PCI controller card to use an
EIDE
hard
drive larger than 137GB without risking data corruption. The drivers
for
the
controller card enable large drive support in the operating system,
while
the card itself provides the hardware support needed for the PC to
recognize
the full drive capacity.

WD Lifeguard s/w and Fdisk only let me create a partition of 137 GB
max.
the rest of the HD goes to waste. screwed by the mfgrs again.

ssome

"J. P. Gilliver" wrote in message
...
"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
i'm running 3 HDs on two machines now, both with win 98SE

i run the 3rd HD on the secondary cable along with the CDR;
slower
this
way, but extra mem is worth it. use it for storage and not
interactive
apps.
[]
I thought that bit about "same cable as CDR makes it slower" was
only
true
for IDE, not EIDE? (If not, then what _is_ the "enhancement" the E
stands
for?) [True IDE-only drives are years ago - I am pretty sure even
CDRs
have
been EIDE for many years.]

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in DOS/Command
Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows is called SCANDISKW.EXE

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/User
www.grystmill.com

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on the
250GB,
when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto ran another ver of
scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned. What is that exe or com
called so i can bring it up on purpose?

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
Tried moving 25 GB of data out of the 250 GB drive,
and re-scandisk/defrag on it (91 GB/250)
didn't work, either

need better (free) scan and defrag for win 98 SE that will work with HDs
over 137 GB

ssome

"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
The whole story

We bought 60 and 80 GB HDs and couldn't get win 98 SE to Fdisk them.
Store
didn't know or want to tell us how to correct the problem. i got on
NGs
and the web for HD mfgr sites asking questions and found that WD HDs,
Western Digital, had 2 utils for win 98 - one for a new HD in a new
computer where DOS had to be used. and one for a new HD in a win 98
system
up and running. this was the key to Fdisk, format and use. Until
...

Your machine's BIOS also has to be updated to accept HD larger than 32
GB,
an earlier limit. Once this is done then you can work with HDs up to
the
win 98 limit of 137 GB. But, i found a HD that is 250 GB for only
$60 -
so, how to make that work.

i figured i could partition (Fdisk) the 250 into 2 ea 125 GB partitions
that
would then be within the 137 GB limit. this was a waste of hours.

the secret was to buy a $20 PCI card that is a HD Controller that has
no
virtual limit. then i tried to partition it again pwrd thru this card
...and that was again a mistake. the new cntrlr can let win 98 'see'
the
whole 250 GB as one partition. And, ... that worked. it took a
little
doing to get the right drivers for the card in spite of them providing
an
install CD; got 2 driver files from their site that helped. you can
now
install 8 ea HD devices like: 6ea 500 GB HDs, CDRW and DVDRW on win
98
with virtual unlimited mem storage.

Now, you can try it without going down the wrong pathways.

ssome


"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
For Windows 98SE and ME, you need a PCI controller card to use an
EIDE
hard
drive larger than 137GB without risking data corruption. The drivers
for
the
controller card enable large drive support in the operating system,
while
the card itself provides the hardware support needed for the PC to
recognize
the full drive capacity.

WD Lifeguard s/w and Fdisk only let me create a partition of 137 GB
max.
the rest of the HD goes to waste. screwed by the mfgrs again.

ssome

"J. P. Gilliver" wrote in message
...
"ssome" wrote in message
. ..
i'm running 3 HDs on two machines now, both with win 98SE

i run the 3rd HD on the secondary cable along with the CDR;
slower
this
way, but extra mem is worth it. use it for storage and not
interactive
apps.
[]
I thought that bit about "same cable as CDR makes it slower" was
only
true
for IDE, not EIDE? (If not, then what _is_ the "enhancement" the E
stands
for?) [True IDE-only drives are years ago - I am pretty sure even
CDRs
have
been EIDE for many years.]

"ssome" wrote in message

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on
the 250GB, when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto
ran another ver of scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned.
What is that exe or com called so i can bring it up on purpose?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in
DOS/Command Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows
is called SCANDISKW.EXE

Himem.sys must be loaded for (DOS) scandisk to function properly.

Win-98 version of Scandisk (scandskw.exe) and Defrag may not (or does
not) function on volumes larger than 137 gb, but Windows-ME versions
do. Specifically, you need to obtain the windows-ME version of
dskmaint.dll and defrag.exe and copy them to your win-98 system.

If your win-98 system is using the original protected-mode hard drive
driver (ESDI_506.PDR) then you will have problems with drives larger
than 137 gb. There is a modified version available that should fix
the problem.

If your drive is a SATA drive, then if you use it in RAID mode you
will by-pass the ESDI_506.PDR problem.

"ssome" wrote in message

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on
the 250GB, when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto
ran another ver of scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned.
What is that exe or com called so i can bring it up on purpose?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in
DOS/Command Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows
is called SCANDISKW.EXE

Himem.sys must be loaded for (DOS) scandisk to function properly.

Win-98 version of Scandisk (scandskw.exe) and Defrag may not (or does
not) function on volumes larger than 137 gb, but Windows-ME versions
do. Specifically, you need to obtain the windows-ME version of
dskmaint.dll and defrag.exe and copy them to your win-98 system.

If your win-98 system is using the original protected-mode hard drive
driver (ESDI_506.PDR) then you will have problems with drives larger
than 137 gb. There is a modified version available that should fix
the problem.

If your drive is a SATA drive, then if you use it in RAID mode you
will by-pass the ESDI_506.PDR problem.

I have the 98 Me defrag files, still won't work on the 250 GB HD, but
haven't updated the orig scandisk file(s)
i have ESDI_506.PDR file in the issubsys dir
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243450
installed, time reboot


not SATA



"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
"ssome" wrote in message

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on
the 250GB, when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto
ran another ver of scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned.
What is that exe or com called so i can bring it up on purpose?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in
DOS/Command Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows
is called SCANDISKW.EXE

Himem.sys must be loaded for (DOS) scandisk to function properly.

Win-98 version of Scandisk (scandskw.exe) and Defrag may not (or does
not) function on volumes larger than 137 gb, but Windows-ME versions
do. Specifically, you need to obtain the windows-ME version of
dskmaint.dll and defrag.exe and copy them to your win-98 system.

If your win-98 system is using the original protected-mode hard drive
driver (ESDI_506.PDR) then you will have problems with drives larger
than 137 gb. There is a modified version available that should fix
the problem.

If your drive is a SATA drive, then if you use it in RAID mode you
will by-pass the ESDI_506.PDR problem.

I have the 98 Me defrag files, still won't work on the 250 GB HD, but
haven't updated the orig scandisk file(s)
i have ESDI_506.PDR file in the issubsys dir
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243450
installed, time reboot


not SATA



"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
"ssome" wrote in message

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on
the 250GB, when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto
ran another ver of scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned.
What is that exe or com called so i can bring it up on purpose?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in
DOS/Command Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows
is called SCANDISKW.EXE

Himem.sys must be loaded for (DOS) scandisk to function properly.

Win-98 version of Scandisk (scandskw.exe) and Defrag may not (or does
not) function on volumes larger than 137 gb, but Windows-ME versions
do. Specifically, you need to obtain the windows-ME version of
dskmaint.dll and defrag.exe and copy them to your win-98 system.

If your win-98 system is using the original protected-mode hard drive
driver (ESDI_506.PDR) then you will have problems with drives larger
than 137 gb. There is a modified version available that should fix
the problem.

If your drive is a SATA drive, then if you use it in RAID mode you
will by-pass the ESDI_506.PDR problem.

rebooted
neither works
scandisk with update still won't start
98 Me defrag still can't get by 10%
i wish MSoft would realize that since 30% of all computer users still use
98, and refuse to buy Me, 2000, XP and certainly not Vista, that there is a
market for a 98 SE update that fixes the bad things and leaves out the
snooping things.

"98 Guy" wrote in message ...
"ssome" wrote in message

Although, i couldn't initiate scan disk, SCANDISK.EXE, at all on
the 250GB, when the machine crashed and i powered back up it auto
ran another ver of scandisk and that HD was successfully scanned.
What is that exe or com called so i can bring it up on purpose?

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

It's Scandisk.exe, and you can't run it in Windows. Only in
DOS/Command Prompt Only mode. The one that runs in Windows
is called SCANDISKW.EXE

Himem.sys must be loaded for (DOS) scandisk to function properly.

Win-98 version of Scandisk (scandskw.exe) and Defrag may not (or does
not) function on volumes larger than 137 gb, but Windows-ME versions
do. Specifically, you need to obtain the windows-ME version of
dskmaint.dll and defrag.exe and copy them to your win-98 system.

If your win-98 system is using the original protected-mode hard drive
driver (ESDI_506.PDR) then you will have problems with drives larger
than 137 gb. There is a modified version available that should fix
the problem.

If your drive is a SATA drive, then if you use it in RAID mode you
will by-pass the ESDI_506.PDR problem.