Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Purp

HDD problems with Win98SE

Recommended Posts

I bought a 60 GB hard disk today, and I want to split it into two 30 GB partitions, but both FDisk and PartitionMagic can only find 30 GB of it. This means I can only use half of my HDD at the moment. Any idea why this is? I thought of several possible reasons - anyone know if any of them is right?:
- Win98SE can only handle 30 GB drives
- I need to use a different partition manager
- My hard disk is actually only a 30 GB one and was labelled incorrectly in Logiplex

Please help, I'm not keeping the drive if I can't use it all.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, I'll have to change to XP if there's no way of getting it to work in 98, but I'll make sure I try everything possible first.

Share this post


Link to post

when you bought the drive, didn't it come with instructions?
all windows versions (incl XP) have partition size limits. (not disk size limits)
You need to adjust your BIOS so it can see a disk of that size.
there should have been a DOS install disk(or some such) included in the hdd box that you purchased that will do this for you.
also, remember to format your drives after fdisk, or the OS can't use it.

Share this post


Link to post

My 120GB drive worked just fine with Win98se. (Too bad the gig of RAM didn't.) Remember to RTFM on your new drive, and use the software that should have come with it.

Share this post


Link to post

Before this one, I had a HD which was 40 gigs, and it ran just fine with Win98SE. That is, until it went kaput. :P

Share this post


Link to post

:(

Didn't come with any instructions or disks because I bought it from Logiplex at the industrial estate in my town, but I've just realised I haven't looked through my BIOS yet, except to tell it I had the drive in the first place.

Edit: Damn, looks like my BIOS won't accept more than 30 gigs. Anyone know where I can get an update? I know my computer was made by Tiny and has a P2 350 MHz processor (which explains why the BIOS is so old), but that's all I know since it was given to me by my aunt.

Edit 2: OK, I'm not gonna bother trying to update it. I'm gonna do what my dad suggests and just use what it's letting me use for now, but save up and get a new motherboard, cos let's face it, I need one. Anyway, 30 gigs is plenty for now, especially considering the one I replaced was only 20 GB.

Share this post


Link to post

A wise decision. I waited a whole year to use a 60 Gig drive I bought last spring, my motherboard refused to accept the thing so it had to wait until I upgraded. I have a feeling if yours is recognizing the drive as 30 gigs that you look up the website of the company that made it, see is they have software and manuals for the thing.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, good idea, thanks.

The problem with leaving it as a 30 gig until I get a new motherboard is that the hard disk I had to replace (a 20 gig one) is completely fucked and my dad bought it less than two years ago, from the same place, Logiplex. Not sure if the disk was actually made by the same company, but if so I hope it doesn't die before I get a chance to use it properly.

Share this post


Link to post

hell might as well buy a new processor along with a new motherboard, 350 mhz aint gettin u nowhere nowadays. but of course, prolly will have to buy new ram too. thats what sucks about computers, u buy something, you gotta replace other shit too for it to work properly

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, and I still only get £21 a week :( but hopefully not for long.

Share this post


Link to post

We had a an old 300MHz box once with Win98SE. When we bought a 40GB Maxtor drive we had to use some crazy software that came with it to trick the BIOS into liking it. It was a pain. Eventually we had problems with the drive though because those Maxtor things aren't too reliable. :(

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, the 20 GB one that broke was Maxtor, but I don't know what this one is. I'll look in a minute, and then search for its website.

Heh, looks like my computer is getting a complete make-over. It recently had a new mouse, then a new keyboard, and then a new monitor (cos I punched the old one too many times). Now it has a new hard disk and hopefully soon a new motherboard, processor and memory. And I should have broadband in about two weeks too.

My other computer (only 180 Mhz at the moment) is getting all the old parts (well, the ones that still work). The fucked hard disk still works as a secondary one (I just can't boot on it), so that's gone in the other computer, to replace the 0.8 GB one that was in there, heh.

Share this post


Link to post

MaTT [TiK] said:
The fucked hard disk still works as a secondary one (I just can't boot on it), so that's gone in the other computer, to replace the 0.8 GB one that was in there, heh.

I would check it's just that you lost command.com and system files, rather than the HD being broken, if it can be used as secondary I doubt if it's the drive, more likely you lost some system files. Try the command sys c:, should restore those files.

Share this post


Link to post
BBG said:

My HDs (40 and 160) show up as 37 and 149. Why?


Something to do with rounding and such. My 160gb shows up as 152 IIRC.

Share this post


Link to post

Unformatted (Capacity) is also known as drive byte capacity before formatting. The Maximum capacity of a disk drive before formatting equals (# Cylinders) X (# Heads) X (# Sectors) X (# Bytes per Track)
Unformatted Capacity: 64,225,280 bytes
Formatted Capacity: 63,934,464 bytes (User Data)
Cause: Disk Drive Companies such as SanDisk define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,000,000 BYTES. Operating Systems define 1 MEGABYTE as 1,048,576 BYTES (1024K X 1024K or 2 to the 20th power).
Total Formatted Capacity of 63,934,464 BYTES equates to 60,972,656 BYTES (60.9MB) displayed by OS.

Share this post


Link to post
fodders said:

I would check it's just that you lost command.com and system files, rather than the HD being broken, if it can be used as secondary I doubt if it's the drive, more likely you lost some system files. Try the command sys c:, should restore those files.

No, trust me, it's not that. About six months ago Scandisk's surface scan picked up quite a few bad sectors, and then there seemed to be more every time I scanned it. Eventually, Scandisk started crashing in the surface scan because the disk was so corrupted (I guess it was physical damage - probably from me punching the computer - I've blown up two monitors by punching them so it's very likely). Then I started getting a message saying that there was an error on the HDD and had to press F1 to continue every time I turned on the computer, before it even got to DOS. Gradually it got worse and worse, and several different programs started crashing, particularly ones that involved a lot of writing to the disk, e.g. Nero when I was copying CDs (I don't have a second CD-ROM drive so it makes an image on the hard drive). Then, in the end, I couldn't log into Windows without the computer crashing, so the only way to access my files was through my LAN.

Also, there's a virus (W32.opaserv.worm or something) that was hanging around on the drive for months. Every time I reformatted (which I have to do a lot) I had to install Norton first or the virus would come back, so it was obviously hiding somewhere in my back-ups. That's probably what caused all the errors in the first place, if it wasn't me punching it, but, luckily, I think I've finally gotten rid of it - I downloaded the Norton utility specifically for removing that series of virii and, although it told me it couldn't find the virus, the virus never came back again, and about five minutes ago I deleted the partition of the old drive that contained my backed up install files, so I don't think I'll be seeing that little bastard again.

Sorry for writing an essay :)

Share this post


Link to post

MaTT [TiK] said:

No, trust me, it's not that. About six months ago Scandisk's surface scan picked up quite a few bad sectors, and then there seemed to be more every time I scanned it. Eventually, Scandisk started crashing in the surface scan because the disk was so corrupted (I guess it was physical damage - probably from me punching the computer - I've blown up two monitors by punching them so it's very likely). Then I started getting a message saying that there was an error on the HDD and had to press F1 to continue every time I turned on the computer, before it even got to DOS. Gradually it got worse and worse, and several different programs started crashing, particularly ones that involved a lot of writing to the disk, e.g. Nero when I was copying CDs (I don't have a second CD-ROM drive so it makes an image on the hard drive). Then, in the end, I couldn't log into Windows without the computer crashing, so the only way to access my files was through my LAN.

Also, there's a virus (W32.opaserv.worm or something) that was hanging around on the drive for months. Every time I reformatted (which I have to do a lot) I had to install Norton first or the virus would come back, so it was obviously hiding somewhere in my back-ups. That's probably what caused all the errors in the first place, if it wasn't me punching it, but, luckily, I think I've finally gotten rid of it - I downloaded the Norton utility specifically for removing that series of virii and, although it told me it couldn't find the virus, the virus never came back again, and about five minutes ago I deleted the partition of the old drive that contained my backed up install files, so I don't think I'll be seeing that little bastard again.

Sorry for writing an essay :)


I too have had my run ins with nasty viruses. W32.nimda.enc. That's the bastard's name. Apparently, it infected some e-mails, which got saved to my HD. After 3 removal tools by NORTON FUCKING ANTI-DO-ANYTHING, I used housecall and fucking A if it didn't remove them all.

Share this post


Link to post

Hmmm, housecall eh? Might try that. You're right, Norton "AntiVirus" does fuck all. On its own, all it does is tell you you have a virus and pretend to remove it, but next time you turn the computer on, it's back! I hate big companies who pretend to be the best at everything but can't actually do anything right *cough*Microsoft*cough*

Share this post


Link to post

MaTT [TiK] said:
I hate big companies who pretend to be the best at everything but can't actually do anything right *cough*Microsoft*cough*

Why are you using Windows then? There's plenty of other alternatives.

Share this post


Link to post

I know, but everything I have is for Windows. I might make a Linux partition sometime, but I doubt I'd use it much, except for servers when I have broadband (hurry up, Tiscali!).

Aliotroph?: Could you please tell me what the crazy BIOS-tricking software was called, so that I can search for it?

Share this post


Link to post

YES, I HAVE BROADBAND!!

Took me all day to install - I really should pay more attention to my BIOS from now on.

Share this post


Link to post

MaTT [TiK] said:
Hmmm, housecall eh? Might try that. You're right, Norton "AntiVirus" does fuck all. On its own, all it does is tell you you have a virus and pretend to remove it, but next time you turn the computer on, it's back!


That's probably because of System Restore, an option in XP. Viruses have been known to be saved in the restore files. It is recommended that you turn off System Restore when you wipe a virus, then reboot, then turn on system restore, then reboot again.

Share this post


Link to post
BBG said:

That's probably because of System Restore, an option in XP. Viruses have been known to be saved in the restore files. It is recommended that you turn off System Restore when you wipe a virus, then reboot, then turn on system restore, then reboot again.

Aha, thanks, I'll try that next time.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×