Installing Win2K to a 160GB disk?

[ECM]

I have a question for the Win2K gurus.....

I tried to research this on google, but I got a confused morass of
info, that I'm having trouble digesting....

I'm trying to install Win2K onto a fresh 160GB drive in my new
homebuilt computer. Of course, Win2K has trouble with anything over
137GB, so I'm loosing 20-some GB of the drive when I partition/format
with the install CD; I'm not happy - it's expensive to buy 160GB
rather than 120GB. The MB is a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 (Rev 2.0;
Nforce2 Ultra 400 chipset) that does recognise the drive properly as a
160GB drive.

Is there a quick fix for this? If I format the drive first as 160 GB,
will I be able to then install Win2K on it without it
re-partitioning/reformatting? Not such a quick fix, because I have to
install Win2K on another drive, patch it to SP4, then format the 160GB
drive, then switch the new drive into the right IDE position again,
and then RE-re-install..... I'm thinking another 4-6 hours of work.
Can I use something like the freeware Partition Resizer to just resize
the 137GB partition I have to 160GB? Will this program do NTFS drives?
Any other suggestions?

Any help or info would be much appreciated!
Peace!
ECM

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ECM.

Somewhat-experienced non-guru speaking...and I haven't run Win2K since the
day WinXP was released, so my comments are subject to correction. And my
biggest HD is 120 GB, smaller than 137 GB, where 48-bit addressing is
required.

Of course, Win2K has trouble with anything over
137GB

No, it doesn't.

It ain't Win2K that has problems with >137 GB HDs. Win2K, using NTFS, can
handle Terabytes in a single volume, and there can be multiple volumes
(primary partitions and logical drives) on a single HD. You ARE using NTFS,
right? (FAT32 has its own size limits; Win98's limit on formatting volumes
as FAT32 is about 127 GB, according to the Resource Kits, which you can read
online at:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp
(for WinXP)
or
http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...techinfo/reskit/en-us/prork/prdf_fls_pxjh.asp
(for Win2K).

The usual bottleneck is the mobo/BIOS, but it sounds like yours is
up-to-date enough to recognize 48-bit addressing to give you the full 160
GB.

HOW are you formatting the drive? Can't you simply boot from the Win2K
CD-ROM and tell it to delete all existing partitions and create one new one
using the entire HD?

so I'm loosing 20-some GB of the drive when I partition/format
with the install CD;

By "the install CD", do you mean the Win2K CD-ROM? Or a CD that came with
the HD? I don't recall, but you might need the latest Win2K Service Pack
(SP4?) to properly handle this large drive. Perhaps you need a newer CD
that includes SP4; your CD may be over 4 years old. :>(

RC

 

[Joep]

See http://www.48bitlba.com/

 

[ECM]

Hi, ECM.

Somewhat-experienced non-guru speaking...and I haven't run Win2K since the
day WinXP was released, so my comments are subject to correction. And my
biggest HD is 120 GB, smaller than 137 GB, where 48-bit addressing is
required.


No, it doesn't.

It ain't Win2K that has problems with >137 GB HDs. Win2K, using NTFS, can
handle Terabytes in a single volume, and there can be multiple volumes
(primary partitions and logical drives) on a single HD. You ARE using NTFS,
right? (FAT32 has its own size limits; Win98's limit on formatting volumes
as FAT32 is about 127 GB, according to the Resource Kits, which you can read
online at:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prkc_fil_tdrn.asp
(for WinXP)
or
http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...techinfo/reskit/en-us/prork/prdf_fls_pxjh.asp
(for Win2K).

The usual bottleneck is the mobo/BIOS, but it sounds like yours is
up-to-date enough to recognize 48-bit addressing to give you the full 160
GB.

HOW are you formatting the drive? Can't you simply boot from the Win2K
CD-ROM and tell it to delete all existing partitions and create one new one
using the entire HD?


By "the install CD", do you mean the Win2K CD-ROM? Or a CD that came with
the HD? I don't recall, but you might need the latest Win2K Service Pack
(SP4?) to properly handle this large drive. Perhaps you need a newer CD
that includes SP4; your CD may be over 4 years old. :>(

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP

***SNIP***

Thanks for the replies!

Actually, Win2K before SP3 DOES have trouble - and that's the
issue....

My Win2K OEM install disk is pre-SP1, so, when I try to do a fresh
full install with the Win2K OEM install disk it won't format the drive
to the full 160GB, but rather to 137GB, and I couldn't get the rest
back. I couldn't even partition the disk to recognise all of it's
capacity.

However, I CAN (and did) put the disk into another (SP4) computer,
format it properly to 160GB (actually, 152 GB), and then put it back
into the new machine. I then installed Win2K without a format; it
complained - "recognized 137GB actual capacity 152GB" (or something
like that - it WAS 2 a.m....) and went on. I patched the new install
to SP4; the full capacity is now available. Only 4 hours of screwing
around.... what a pain.

Anyways, thanks for the help; I was hoping someone had come across an
EASY way around the issue.... I guess that would be "upgrade to
WinXP"!

Peace!
ECM

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ECM.

EASY way around the issue.... I guess that would be "upgrade to
WinXP"!

That would be MY recommendation. ;<)

I'm glad you got it solved, and thanks for the feedback. The pre-SP3
limitation had slipped mind. I considered suggested you create a
"slipstream" CD with SP4 included, but I don't know if you could even do
that on an OEM Win2K.

RC