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Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 9th 08, 01:00 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
MIG
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 4
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

My scenario is as follows.

Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.

Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.

Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.

For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.

So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.

It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.

But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.

Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?

Thanks.
  #2  
Old January 9th 08, 08:06 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run box, say
Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there an option
5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to change to
Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll have to reboot,
at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to use the FORMAT
command to format it:
FORMAT D:

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

"MIG" wrote in message
...
My scenario is as follows.

Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.

Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.

Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.

For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.

So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.

It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.

But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.

Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?

Thanks.


  #3  
Old January 9th 08, 09:09 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

P.S. -- I recommend that you switch the CD burner to be Master and the
read-only drive to Slave.

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

"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in message
...
Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run box,
say Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there an
option 5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to
change to Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll have
to reboot, at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to use
the FORMAT command to format it:
FORMAT D:

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

"MIG" wrote in message
...
My scenario is as follows.

Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.

Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.

Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.

For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.

So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.

It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.

But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.

Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?

Thanks.



  #4  
Old January 9th 08, 11:29 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
MIG
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 4
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Thanks for the replies. I was a bit wary of running fdisk in case it
tried to format something I didn't want it to, but perhaps it is a
formatting issue.

I couldn't remember what options pop up when you run fdisk, but I
guess there must be lots of warnings.


On 9 Jan, 20:09, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:
P.S. -- I recommend that you switch the CD burner to be Master and the
read-only drive to Slave.

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com

"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in . ..



Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run box,
say Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there an
option 5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to
change to Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll have
to reboot, at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to use
the FORMAT command to format it:
FORMAT D:


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


"MIG" wrote in message
...
My scenario is as follows.


Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.


Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.


Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.


For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. *I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.


So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.


It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.


But Windows can't see it. *It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.


Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?


Thanks.- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


  #5  
Old January 10th 08, 12:21 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Yeah, there are warnings, but I can't be specific without destroying a
currently needed partition and doing it myself. Options 4 and 5 are
harmless. 1 can be dangerous if odd structures already exist. I doubt you
have those problems. 2 can leave you unbootable and 3 is obviously
dangerous. But yes, you have to be very careful with this tool. Easy to
screw up big time.

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

"MIG" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the replies. I was a bit wary of running fdisk in case it
tried to format something I didn't want it to, but perhaps it is a
formatting issue.

I couldn't remember what options pop up when you run fdisk, but I
guess there must be lots of warnings.


On 9 Jan, 20:09, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:
P.S. -- I recommend that you switch the CD burner to be Master and the
read-only drive to Slave.

Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com

"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in
. ..



Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run box,
say Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there
an
option 5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to
change to Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll
have
to reboot, at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to use
the FORMAT command to format it:
FORMAT D:


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


"MIG" wrote in message
...
My scenario is as follows.


Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.


Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.


Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.


For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.


So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.


It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.


But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.


Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?


Thanks.- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


  #6  
Old January 10th 08, 01:34 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
MIG
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 4
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Well, I've done all that and it seems to work. I chose to create a
primary DOS partition in the maximum space available and it's come up
drive D: with about 80,000,000,000 B, ie about 74.5 GB. Interesting
that the manufacturers describe this as 80 GB, but it does the job.

Thank you for all your advice.


On 9 Jan, 23:21, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:
Yeah, there are warnings, but I can't be specific without destroying a
currently needed partition and doing it myself. Options 4 and 5 are
harmless. 1 can be dangerous if odd structures already exist. I doubt you
have those problems. 2 can leave you unbootable and 3 is obviously
dangerous. But yes, you have to be very careful with this tool. Easy to
screw up big time.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com

"MIG" wrote in message

...
Thanks for the replies. *I was a bit wary of running fdisk in case it
tried to format something I didn't want it to, but perhaps it is a
formatting issue.

I couldn't remember what options pop up when you run fdisk, but I
guess there must be lots of warnings.

On 9 Jan, 20:09, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:



P.S. -- I recommend that you switch the CD burner to be Master and the
read-only drive to Slave.


Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com


"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in
. ..


Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run box,
say Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there
an
option 5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to
change to Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll
have
to reboot, at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to use
the FORMAT command to format it:
FORMAT D:


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


"MIG" wrote in message
....
My scenario is as follows.


Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.


Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.


Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.


For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.


So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.


It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.


But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.


Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to ignore
it?


Thanks.- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


  #7  
Old January 10th 08, 05:07 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
Gary S. Terhune[_2_]
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 2,158
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Hard drives manufacturers use a strictly decimal system for counting disk
space. 1000 bytes = 1KB, 1000KB = 1MB, etc. Software folks count
differently. 1024 bytes = 1KB, 1024KB = 1MB, 1024MB = 1GB.

Figure it out. 74.5GB * 1024 = 76288MB * 1024 = 78118912KB * 1024 =
79993765888 bytes

Rounded off, that's 80,000,000,000 bytes, or 80GB in "decimal" counting.

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


wrote in message
...
Well, I've done all that and it seems to work. I chose to create a
primary DOS partition in the maximum space available and it's come up
drive D: with about 80,000,000,000 B, ie about 74.5 GB. Interesting
that the manufacturers describe this as 80 GB, but it does the job.

Thank you for all your advice.


On 9 Jan, 23:21, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:
Yeah, there are warnings, but I can't be specific without destroying a
currently needed partition and doing it myself. Options 4 and 5 are
harmless. 1 can be dangerous if odd structures already exist. I doubt you
have those problems. 2 can leave you unbootable and 3 is obviously
dangerous. But yes, you have to be very careful with this tool. Easy to
screw up big time.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com

"MIG" wrote in message

...
Thanks for the replies. I was a bit wary of running fdisk in case it
tried to format something I didn't want it to, but perhaps it is a
formatting issue.

I couldn't remember what options pop up when you run fdisk, but I
guess there must be lots of warnings.

On 9 Jan, 20:09, "Gary S. Terhune" none wrote:



P.S. -- I recommend that you switch the CD burner to be Master and the
read-only drive to Slave.


Gary S. Terhune
MS-MVP Shell/Userwww.grystmill.com


"Gary S. Terhune" none wrote in
. ..


Have you partitioned and formatted the disk? Run FDISK from the Run
box,
say Yes to the Large Disk Support question. In the main menu, is there
an
option 5? "Change current fixed disk drive"? If so, use that option to
change to Disk 2, then use option 1 to create a new partition. You'll
have
to reboot, at which time it will be seen as D:\. You'll then have to
use
the FORMAT command to format it:
FORMAT D:


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


"MIG" wrote in message
...
My scenario is as follows.


Pentium III with Windows 98 that I want to use for backup storage.


Secondary IDE has CD/DVD player as master and CD writer as slave.


Primary IDE has 18 GB hard disk as master, which it boots from but is
too small for storage.


For an experiment, I stuck a 2 GB hard disk from an old PC on the
cable with the primary IDE, and it pops up as drive D:, reads and
writes perfectly happily. I can remove it and put it back any number
of times and it disappears and reappears.


So I got a brand new 80 GB hard disk and plugged it in exactly the
same place.


It's visible to BIOS as a slave on the primary IDE.


But Windows can't see it. It doesn't pop up with a drive letter.


Can anyone think of something that could be wrong (other than the
disk
being broken) that would allow BIOS to see it but Windows 98 to
ignore
it?


Thanks.- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -


- Show quoted text -


  #8  
Old January 13th 08, 07:54 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
James
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 28
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
Hard drives manufacturers use a strictly decimal system for counting
disk space. 1000 bytes = 1KB, 1000KB = 1MB, etc. Software folks count
differently. 1024 bytes = 1KB, 1024KB = 1MB, 1024MB = 1GB.

Figure it out. 74.5GB * 1024 = 76288MB * 1024 = 78118912KB * 1024 =
79993765888 bytes

Rounded off, that's 80,000,000,000 bytes, or 80GB in "decimal" counting.

One thing you may want to note for the future. If the 2nd physical
drive has a primary partition it will be drive D even if the primary
drive has multiple partitions. IE one primary and and extended with 1,
or more, data partitions. If you have apps installed on any of the
secondary partitions on the first physical drive adding another drive
with a primary partition will mess that up by moving the drive letters
up from D, E, etc. to E, F, etc. Unless you want the second drive to be
bootable in the future you might be better off making it all a, or
several, data drive(s). Partition Magic will also show a graphical
picture of your disks so you can see which disk you are working with and
which partition you are changing or creating unlike Fdisk where you are
pretty much flying blind. I have used PM since version 1 with no
problems. It is now version 8 and I am still with it. Terabytes
bootitng can also be used for partitioning with many more options than
Fdisk provides.

James
  #9  
Old January 13th 08, 01:33 PM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
MIG
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 4
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

On 13 Jan, 06:54, James wrote:
Gary S. Terhune wrote:
Hard drives manufacturers use a strictly decimal system for counting
disk space. 1000 bytes = 1KB, 1000KB = 1MB, etc. Software folks count
differently. 1024 bytes = 1KB, 1024KB = 1MB, 1024MB = 1GB.


Figure it out. 74.5GB * 1024 = 76288MB * 1024 = 78118912KB * 1024 =
79993765888 bytes


Rounded off, that's 80,000,000,000 bytes, or 80GB in "decimal" counting.


One thing you may want to note for the future. *If the 2nd physical
drive has a primary partition it will be drive D even if the primary
drive has multiple partitions. *IE one primary and and extended with 1,
or more, data partitions. *If you have apps installed on any of the
secondary partitions on the first physical drive adding another drive
with a primary partition will mess that up by moving the drive letters
up from D, E, etc. to E, F, etc. *Unless you want the second drive to be
bootable in the future you might be better off making it all a, or
several, data drive(s). *Partition Magic will also show a graphical
picture of your disks so you can see which disk you are working with and
which partition you are changing or creating unlike Fdisk where you are
pretty much flying blind. *I have used PM since version 1 with no
problems. *It is now version 8 and I am still with it. *Terabytes
bootitng can also be used for partitioning with many more options than
Fdisk provides.

James


That's useful to note for the future, although in this case I have no
other partitions on the first disk nor any shortcuts referring to D:.

A lot of things are possible now that I don't need them so much, eg I
wasn't really in a position to install new software like partition
magic, due to lack of space on the first disk, now resolved by adding
the second disk ...
  #10  
Old January 27th 08, 08:50 AM posted to microsoft.public.win98.disks.general
James
External Usenet User
 
Posts: 28
Default Slave Hard Disk Visible to BIOS but not Windows

MIG wrote:
On 13 Jan, 06:54, James wrote:
Gary S. Terhune wrote:
Hard drives manufacturers use a strictly decimal system for counting
disk space. 1000 bytes = 1KB, 1000KB = 1MB, etc. Software folks count
differently. 1024 bytes = 1KB, 1024KB = 1MB, 1024MB = 1GB.
Figure it out. 74.5GB * 1024 = 76288MB * 1024 = 78118912KB * 1024 =
79993765888 bytes
Rounded off, that's 80,000,000,000 bytes, or 80GB in "decimal" counting.

One thing you may want to note for the future. If the 2nd physical
drive has a primary partition it will be drive D even if the primary
drive has multiple partitions. IE one primary and and extended with 1,
or more, data partitions. If you have apps installed on any of the
secondary partitions on the first physical drive adding another drive
with a primary partition will mess that up by moving the drive letters
up from D, E, etc. to E, F, etc. Unless you want the second drive to be
bootable in the future you might be better off making it all a, or
several, data drive(s). Partition Magic will also show a graphical
picture of your disks so you can see which disk you are working with and
which partition you are changing or creating unlike Fdisk where you are
pretty much flying blind. I have used PM since version 1 with no
problems. It is now version 8 and I am still with it. Terabytes
bootitng can also be used for partitioning with many more options than
Fdisk provides.

James


That's useful to note for the future, although in this case I have no
other partitions on the first disk nor any shortcuts referring to D:.

A lot of things are possible now that I don't need them so much, eg I
wasn't really in a position to install new software like partition
magic, due to lack of space on the first disk, now resolved by adding
the second disk ...

PM does not need to be installed on a specific machine to be used all
that is needed is the pair of rescue disks. Disk 1 is bootable and asks
for disk 2 after booting. When PM is finished loading from the disks it
is usable in the same way it would be used if installed.

James
 




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