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137 Gb Limit?



 
 
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  #1  
Old August 2nd 04, 11:18 PM
jerryko
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

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

  #2  
Old August 3rd 04, 08:48 AM
Lil' Dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

Natively, no. Win98SE does not support anything beyond 64GB partition for
partitioning, diskchecking, and defragmenting. Newer fdisk will do twice
that size for one partition, but the other two things are out the door. I
would investigate aftermarket applications for this at the outset before
even installing such a drive.
"jerryko" wrote in message
...
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



  #3  
Old August 3rd 04, 06:06 PM
CJT
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

Lil' Dave wrote:

Natively, no. Win98SE does not support anything beyond 64GB partition for
partitioning, diskchecking, and defragmenting. Newer fdisk will do twice
that size for one partition, but the other two things are out the door. I
would investigate aftermarket applications for this at the outset before
even installing such a drive.


I've had no problem with an 80 GB disk. I think the problems start at
128/137 (depending on how you define a GB).

"jerryko" wrote in message
...

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






--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .
  #4  
Old August 3rd 04, 07:53 PM
Ron Martell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

"jerryko" wrote:

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


If your hardwared (motherboard + BIOS) will support the drive then
there is no real problem.

However, FAT32 has a practical partition size limit of 128 binary
gigabytes (137 billion bytes) and drives larger than that need to be
split into two or more partitions so that no single partition is
larger than the limit.

And you may need to use an updated version of FDISK in order to create
partitions on hard drives larger than 64gb. See the following article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 263044
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=263044


Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
  #5  
Old August 4th 04, 12:03 AM
Lil' Dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

The fdisk provided with Win98/Win98SE won't do beyond a 64GB partition etc.

Define "no problem", and your current partition size(s).

I've worked with 2 80GB hard disks with no problems with 98SE. But the
reasons are in the details.

Midstream reply was original.
"CJT" wrote in message
...
Lil' Dave wrote:

Natively, no. Win98SE does not support anything beyond 64GB partition

for
partitioning, diskchecking, and defragmenting. Newer fdisk will do

twice
that size for one partition, but the other two things are out the door.

I
would investigate aftermarket applications for this at the outset before
even installing such a drive.


I've had no problem with an 80 GB disk. I think the problems start at
128/137 (depending on how you define a GB).

"jerryko" wrote in message
...

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






--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .



  #6  
Old August 4th 04, 12:19 AM
Lil' Dave
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

"Ron Martell" wrote in message
...
"jerryko" wrote:

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


If your hardwared (motherboard + BIOS) will support the drive then
there is no real problem.

However, FAT32 has a practical partition size limit of 128 binary


Nope, this is a size limit of the last version of fdisk provided by
Microsoft. This is a 1 digit increase binary (X2), big deal. FAT32
partition/drive limitation capacity sizes are way beyond that.

Define "practical".

Unneeded adjective to protect MS's lack of response for creating a partition
related msdos real-mode program to suit today's hard drives for msdos based
windows.

gigabytes (137 billion bytes) and drives larger than that need to be
split into two or more partitions so that no single partition is
larger than the limit.

And you may need to use an updated version of FDISK in order to create
partitions on hard drives larger than 64gb. See the following article
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - 263044
http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=263044



Either version of fdisk will not allow one partition to use the entire
capacity of the hard drive noted. The later version will simply allow a
larger partition. Tools checking the the partition and FAT, and
defragmenting are useless once the partition size is past 64GB. Oh, you
forgot to mention that. Darn.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."



  #7  
Old August 4th 04, 12:40 AM
Ron Badour
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

"Lil' Dave" wrote in message
...
The fdisk provided with Win98/Win98SE won't do beyond a 64GB partition

etc.

True but there is an fdisk hot fix that can be downloaded that is good up to
137 gb. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044

Whether or not fdisk works or works consistently on a drive larger than 137
gb is a crap shoot; however, if one were to use a partitioning program, then
there should be no problem with the larger drives.


  #8  
Old August 4th 04, 12:46 AM
CJT
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

Lil' Dave wrote:

The fdisk provided with Win98/Win98SE won't do beyond a 64GB partition etc.

Define "no problem", and your current partition size(s).

I've worked with 2 80GB hard disks with no problems with 98SE. But the
reasons are in the details.


I did download the fixed fdisk, but I don't recall using it. I think I
used Ghost to copy the old disk across, and that took care of things.
But I may have created a partition with fdisk first -- if that's a
"problem" then ok.

I've got the whole disk in one partition. I haven't seen a problem
with scandisk or defrag.


Midstream reply was original.
"CJT" wrote in message
...

Lil' Dave wrote:


Natively, no. Win98SE does not support anything beyond 64GB partition


for

partitioning, diskchecking, and defragmenting. Newer fdisk will do


twice

that size for one partition, but the other two things are out the door.


I

would investigate aftermarket applications for this at the outset before
even installing such a drive.


I've had no problem with an 80 GB disk. I think the problems start at
128/137 (depending on how you define a GB).


"jerryko" wrote in message
.. .


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





--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .






--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .
  #9  
Old August 4th 04, 12:48 AM
CJT
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

Ron Badour wrote:

"Lil' Dave" wrote in message
...

The fdisk provided with Win98/Win98SE won't do beyond a 64GB partition


etc.

True but there is an fdisk hot fix that can be downloaded that is good up to
137 gb. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044

Whether or not fdisk works or works consistently on a drive larger than 137
gb is a crap shoot; however, if one were to use a partitioning program, then
there should be no problem with the larger drives.



I sidestepped the whole issue. When I moved to disks over 120 GB, I
also switched to using a Unix file server.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .
  #10  
Old August 4th 04, 02:00 AM
TR
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 137 Gb Limit?

"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


 




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