Foo - Windows 98 question for major COMPUTER GEEKS!!!

Ok, I just got a new hard drive for my daughters computer. I upgraded it to an 80GB drive. (it's an old 1.7Mhz Dell)

When I used the Win 98 startup disk to setup a DOS partition, I enabled the large drive capability when doing so. However, when I go to create a Primary partition, it says it recognizes only 10757 Mbyte, and not the full 76,000 Mbyte that I know for a fact it is.

So, I went ahead and started loading up my Windows XP, to format in NTSF just to see how big of a partition it would make, and sure enough I was right. It is a 76,000 MB, or 76GB drive.

Anyway, as I go back to repartition it for loading Windows 98, the Fdisk on the startup floppy still comes up showing it is only 10,757 Mbyte, but indicates it is using 100% of the disk for the primary partition C:. It does recognize the differant format as NTFS, but not the total size.

Why does it not recognize the total 76GB?

And, will it recognize it when/if I decide to delete the NTSF partition and set it up as a DOS format then load Win 98?

If I do load up Win 98, and it says it only sees 10,757 Mbyte, how do I then get it to recognize the full hard drive?

here (http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6618_102-0.html?forumID=6&threadID=102695&messageID=1177591)

NTFS is only recognized by Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. The FAT32 file system needed for Win98 is limited in its disk size, when installing XP on a HD larger than 30GB it will only allow you to format to NTFS.

A FAT32 partition can be converted to NTFS to use with 2K, XP and Vista, but NTFS cannot be converted back to FAT32. You can, however, create two partitions - for example, a 10GB partition in FAT32 to load Win98, and the remainder in NTFS to load XP, assuming the PC in question has enough RAM to run XP.

The formatting utility used by DOS and earlier versions of Windows can only format up to 32GB. FAT32 can handle a lot more than that (I believe it can handle up to 2 TB), but for some reason, the people at Microsoft capped it there. (Technical) I think clustering becomes a problem after that 32GB ceiling, but I've never had a problem with larger drives.

Now, the reason why it may have only picked up 11 GB of your hard disk space is because the rest was probably formatted NTFS. Windows 98 will not recognize that file system; NTFS is only used by Windows NT 3.5, 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. You need to format the entire drive as FAT32. In order to do that, you will need some kind of third-party utility for the reason I stated above.

Make sure you backup your stuff.

Good luck!

BTW: Generalizing and calling all of us that are proficient in computing and technology "computer geeks" normally doesn't go over well. We'll forgive you this time, but next time I'm getting my pitchforks hot :)

On some days, I do look like this guy though:

http://www.kewanshunn.com/images/news/computer_geek.jpg

BTW: Generalizing and calling all of us that are proficient in computing and technology "computer geeks" normally doesn't go over well. We'll forgive you this time, but next time I'm getting my pitchforks hot :)

Seriously - what do you call yourself then?

Seriously - what do you call yourself then?

Someone who knows a thing or two about PCs.

Weak. Chicks dig geeks :D

Do the same thing you did last time with starting the XP install. But format it with FAT32 for the entire drive. Then quit the installation and reboot with the Win98 floppy. The disk should already be ready so don't format it again.

You also can use a gpart liveCD and use the diskpart utility to format and partition the entire drive with FAT32.

Seriously - what do you call yourself then?

"Hack" will do:p

Weak. Chicks dig geeks :D

The ones you know, perhaps.

As soon as they find out I know what I know, I become their consultant. THAT's weak.

Although I consider myself a mere minor geek, I have one word for that Windows 98 disc.


PULL!

http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2006/12/bustin_a_skeet.jpg

The ones you know, perhaps.

As soon as they find out I know what I know, I become their consultant. THAT's weak.

Yes it is - 'no' is a powerful word ;) Instills confidence too - 'this guy is so confident he's not bending over backwards to do all these things for me like all the other ones, why is that?'

UPDATE:

Ok, so I figured I'd go ahead this morning and run the Fdisk, and just partition the thing to 10GB as it says when creating it.

So, I created my partition, did format c:, and began installing Win98.


Well, after installing.....

I looked into the My Computer, checked the C: properties, and the bloody thing says 76,000 MBytes available.


WEIRD!!!

Ok, so now I have 76GB available....

The real problem now, is I can't get it to restore the SVGA 1048x720 or 256 color, nor the sound, because the computer is an old Dell that is no longer supported, and no drivers available.

The video card is also and updated Nvidia 128MB I installed for playing my daughters games, but the driver was lost with its existing Win2000 O/S when the old hard drive died. No internet connection available for this old machine, and no software CD's.

Somehow, I can see a WinXP CD on its way in the mail soon. :(

You might want to check on driversguide.com. You have to sign up to search the drivers but I've found that they typically have some very old drivers.

UPDATE:The real problem now, is I can't get it to restore the SVGA 1048x720 or 256 color, nor the sound, because the computer is an old Dell that is no longer supported, and no drivers available.

The video card is also and updated Nvidia 128MB I installed for playing my daughters games, but the driver was lost with its existing Win2000 O/S when the old hard drive died. No internet connection available for this old machine, and no software CD's.(On another machine, download this: Aida32 (http://www.sofotex.com/AIDA32-download_L9326.html)

It'll tell you all about the hardware you have in the computer. Then go to http://www.driverguide.com and download the specific drivers you need.

Then burn everything to CD and bring to Win98 machine.

UPDATE:

Ok, so I figured I'd go ahead this morning and run the Fdisk, and just partition the thing to 10GB as it says when creating it.

So, I created my partition, did format c:, and began installing Win98.


Well, after installing.....

I looked into the My Computer, checked the C: properties, and the bloody thing says 76,000 MBytes available.


WEIRD!!!

Ok, so now I have 76GB available....

The real problem now, is I can't get it to restore the SVGA 1048x720 or 256 color, nor the sound, because the computer is an old Dell that is no longer supported, and no drivers available.

The video card is also and updated Nvidia 128MB I installed for playing my daughters games, but the driver was lost with its existing Win2000 O/S when the old hard drive died. No internet connection available for this old machine, and no software CD's.

Somehow, I can see a WinXP CD on its way in the mail soon. :(

If it has a service tag, you can find the model easily on Dell's support site. If not, you can get the model information and find it that way. If you haven't changed your components, all of the drivers that you need will be there.

You can also use Dan's advice and download Aida and get your components.

Yup, I figured I could use the Aida driver scan. However, I decided that I want to set her computer up now with a wireless network, so I might as well go ahead and update the O/S to XP, to allow her the best she can get from all her games and internet. Microsoft just doesn't support Win98 very well anymore. MS says they'll support XP 'til 2014, so I've got a good 6 years left. Picked one up for $84 (OEM).

I'll use the Win98 on my other daughers really old computer, and hopefully it will still work on the wireless network. So says the Router I bought. That way, they'll both get the network and internet.

Yup, I figured I could use the Aida driver scan. However, I decided that I want to set her computer up now with a wireless network, so I might as well go ahead and update the O/S to XP, to allow her the best she can get from all her games and internet. Microsoft just doesn't support Win98 very well anymore. MS says they'll support XP 'til 2014, so I've got a good 6 years left. Picked one up for $84 (OEM).

I'll use the Win98 on my other daughers really old computer, and hopefully it will still work on the wireless network. So says the Router I bought. That way, they'll both get the network and internet.

You made the right choice. Windows 98 does work, but has long since hit EOL, and nobody is keeping antivirus, firewall, and other intrusion protection stuff up for it. With XP, its end of life is not for a number of years, so people will keep slinging updates to ensure a secure machine. App makers also will keep writing apps with XP in mind.