Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / MS-OS Hard-Drive Detectible Upper Limits

Author
Message
Wandering Swordsman
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Jun 2006
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 02:19
Link
I’m digging around for a new HD for a Win98 machine and I’m trying to get the biggest Hard-Drive (IDE) possible.

If I remember correctly, MS-Dos can see a HD of about 2G but no higher.
Is there a limit on the other MS-OS?

Specifically, how high can Win98SE see? (In a single partition, no splitting.)
Is there a limit at all?

The MS-OS list… OF DOOM!


I’m guessing that Win 3.1 will have the same limitations of Dos.
And that ME and 2000 will also be the same in their limit.

Was there only an HD upper limit back in the days of Dos?

Anyway, my immediate concern is Win98, (Win98SE to be precise) but I’m curious about the other MS-OS as well.

When I dream,
I carry a sword in one hand,
a gun in the other...
Back to top
Profile PM
heartbone
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 02:39
Link
Windows 98SE can access 128 GB on any single hard drive with special software that came with my 160GB Seagate disk drive.

Without that drive software installed, Win98SE could write less to the drive.

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Wandering Swordsman
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 14th Jun 2006
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 04:13
Link
Found a nice deal on a 80G IDE.
Can Win98 see the full 80G without the aid of additional software?

When I dream,
I carry a sword in one hand,
a gun in the other...
Back to top
Profile PM
Crit
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th May 2006
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 07:03
Link
Any Windows version that uses the NTFS file system has an upper limit of 16 exabytes
Back to top
Profile PM
indi
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 3rd May 2007 07:14
Link
"free fdisk" will allevaite the win98se problems with smaller partitions and logical drive sizes.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 3rd May 2007 08:51
Link
What you need is the 48-bit LBA support patch.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
heartbone
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 9th Nov 2002
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 15:29 Edited at: 3rd May 2007 15:38
Link
Quote: "Can Win98 see the full 80G without the aid of additional software?"

My understanding is without a patched fdisk 64GB is the max addressable by Win98 OE.
However that limit can also be influenced by motherboard BIOS settings.
Win98 SE may have a higher max but it is still under 128 GB.

I'm unique, just like everybody else.
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Lost in Thought
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 4th Feb 2004
Location: U.S.A. : Douglas, Georgia
Posted: 3rd May 2007 15:37
Link
Also Dos can see hard drives larger than 2GB, you just can't have a partition larger than that. The largest size of the HD is limited only by the BIOS's ability to recognize it. You can use a number of programs to partition them down to the size the OS can use. Some older BIOS's even had the ability to manually set a HD's config and format it.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
GatorHex
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 3rd May 2007 15:57 Edited at: 3rd May 2007 16:16
Link
lol i still remmber the good old days when all my hard drives were split into 4gb partitions and the primary 2Gb used to drive me mad -.- that was FAT16

I think Win98SE is FAT32 so you shouldn't have any problem up to 2Terabytes except maybe this..

"NOTE: Although the FAT32 file system supports hard disks up to 2 terabytes in size, some hard disks may not be able to contain bootable partitions that are larger than 7.8 GB because of limitations in your computer's basic input/output system (BIOS) INT13 interface."
"NOTE: Microsoft Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions up to a size of 32 GB. "
Source: Microsoft

It's always good though to have 2 partitions.

one for the OS, the other for your data.

So if you ever need to reformat before installing a new OS you don't have to worry about finding and copiing all your files

http://www.KumKie.com http://bulldog.servegame.com
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 3rd May 2007 17:32
Link
Quote: "lol i still remmber the good old days when all my hard drives were split into 4gb partitions and the primary 2Gb used to drive me mad "


2gb partition the old days? I remember when my whole harddrive smaller than 1gb.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Crit
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th May 2006
Location:
Posted: 3rd May 2007 18:04
Link
I guess I'm getting old. My first hard drive was 80 Mb and the cpu ran at 16 Mhz.
Back to top
Profile PM
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 3rd May 2007 19:32
Link
beats my 7mhz motorola chip and no harddrive.


Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
GatorHex
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 5th Apr 2005
Location: Gunchester, UK
Posted: 3rd May 2007 19:48
Link
I didn't know it was a competition

I cut my gaming teeth on the Atari 2600 4K ROM and ZX Spectrum 48k RAM + half an hour wait for a tape to load!

http://www.KumKie.com http://bulldog.servegame.com
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Raven
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 23rd Mar 2005
Location: Hertfordshire, England
Posted: 3rd May 2007 21:15
Link
I still have my old 10MB hard disks, they were freaking huge. I'll have to get one from the attic and take a picture cause I'm damn sure most here will never believe how big HDDs used to be.
Or how loud they were. hehe

As for the HDD sizes, it all depends on the system you're using.
Good old Type-25, which held 120MB was amazing ^_^

Be cool to see them class the HDDs like that again.

Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-18 13:31:26
Your offset time is: 2024-11-18 13:31:26