20GB hard drive doesn't auto-detect

[mailbox]

I tried to hook up a 20GB hard drive as the
master in my old PC, a 200MHZ Pentium home-built
job that I bought used and that served me well
through a succession of hard drives up to 4GB
running Windows 98 and Linux. The auto-detect
in the BIOS wouldn't detect the 20GB HD properly,
showing a size of something like 7-something GB.
What's going on? I would like to give this computer
to my stepdaughter.

 

[pen]

I tried to hook up a 20GB hard drive as the
master in my old PC, a 200MHZ Pentium home-built
job that I bought used and that served me well
through a succession of hard drives up to 4GB
running Windows 98 and Linux. The auto-detect
in the BIOS wouldn't detect the 20GB HD properly,
showing a size of something like 7-something GB.
What's going on? I would like to give this computer
to my stepdaughter.

Sounds like you've run into a BIOS limitation problem.
Some older BIOS will not deal with drives larger than 8GB.
Your choices are to either upgrade the BIOS, if possible
or buy a plug-in PCI IDE controller card.

 

[Eric P.]

I tried to hook up a 20GB hard drive as the
master in my old PC, a 200MHZ Pentium home-built
job that I bought used and that served me well
through a succession of hard drives up to 4GB
running Windows 98 and Linux. The auto-detect
in the BIOS wouldn't detect the 20GB HD properly,
showing a size of something like 7-something GB.
What's going on? I would like to give this computer
to my stepdaughter.

Look for a BIOS update on the motherboard manufacturer website to
overcome a possible 8GB limitation or on the website of the
diskmanufacturer for an overlay program to do the same.
If not succesful and you like to use the low capacity, some drives have
a capacity limiting jumper to enable usage.

 

[Sjouke Burry]

Sounds like you've run into a BIOS limitation problem.
Some older BIOS will not deal with drives larger than 8GB.
Your choices are to either upgrade the BIOS, if possible
or buy a plug-in PCI IDE controller card.

You can also just use the available 8 GB
Done that with both of my old computers,
(4 disks)in an upgrade, just let fdisk decide
how big they are. Its the cheapest solution
for p200 and slower comps.

 

[km]

I tried to hook up a 20GB hard drive as the
master in my old PC, a 200MHZ Pentium home-built
job that I bought used and that served me well
through a succession of hard drives up to 4GB
running Windows 98 and Linux. The auto-detect
in the BIOS wouldn't detect the 20GB HD properly,
showing a size of something like 7-something GB.
What's going on? I would like to give this computer
to my stepdaughter.

Its a few years since I had to overcome such problems.

At that time I used a utility called EZDrive. This is run from a
floppy disk to install the programme which overcomes the BIOS
limitation.

There are utilities provided by Hard Drive manufacturers for just this
purpose eg Western Digital has "Data Lifeguard Tools". See

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_cv=1.184;2.u0&p_prods=0&p_cats=184

for a help index. Item 5.

The result is that although the BIOS doesn't appear to hold the full
size the utility allows the correct size to be used when running the
Operating System.

No doubt others manufacturers will have similar. As far as EZDrive is
concerned there appears to be newer versions or another programme with
the same name whem Googling. Unsure whether these are exactly what I
used in the past.

KM

 

[mailbox]

You can also just use the available 8 GB
Done that with both of my old computers,
(4 disks)in an upgrade, just let fdisk decide
how big they are. Its the cheapest solution
for p200 and slower comps.

I guess I'll try this...it's definitely the easiest solution, too!
Thanks...and thanks to the rest of the followups for a load
of useful information.

 

[meow2222]

I tried to hook up a 20GB hard drive as the
master in my old PC, a 200MHZ Pentium home-built
job that I bought used and that served me well
through a succession of hard drives up to 4GB
running Windows 98 and Linux. The auto-detect
in the BIOS wouldn't detect the 20GB HD properly,
showing a size of something like 7-something GB.
What's going on? I would like to give this computer
to my stepdaughter.

Finally one other option: nt based windows dont suffer from this
problem in the first place. 200MHz 128RAM is enough to run W2k - though
frankly I'd sooner have 98 on a 200. I dont know what HW NT4 needs, but
have seen it runing fine on 200MHz and not sure but I think 32M.


NT

 

[paulmd]

Finally one other option: nt based windows dont suffer from this
problem in the first place. 200MHz 128RAM is enough to run W2k - though
frankly I'd sooner have 98 on a 200. I dont know what HW NT4 needs, but
have seen it runing fine on 200MHz and not sure but I think 32M.

THe 8GB size limit is purely a bios issue. You need bios upgrade, or a
pci hard drive controller.

NT4 is a great option for the old system. BUT there are about 5 pains
in the posterior to overcome.

1) 2GB system partition limit. Can be overcome by making extra
partitions, or by third party programs like partition magic.

2, 3) downloading and installing SP6a, this does not sound like an
issue, but navigating though microsoft's website is impossible with the
browser nt4 ships with, and you can't install ie6 without it. You have
to download an athernate browser like firefox to get there.

4) obtaining drivers

5) Everything is ackward, and you're stuck with the aincint version of
directx it ships with.

Once it's set up, it's a rock. But getting there is a pain.

 

[meow2222]

NT4 is a great option for the old system. BUT there are about 5 pains
in the posterior to overcome.

1) 2GB system partition limit. Can be overcome by making extra
partitions, or by third party programs like partition magic.

2, 3) downloading and installing SP6a, this does not sound like an
issue, but navigating though microsoft's website is impossible with the
browser nt4 ships with, and you can't install ie6 without it. You have
to download an athernate browser like firefox to get there.

4) obtaining drivers

I've not done much with NT4, but until I know better I'd try W2k
drivers. On the Windos line many later OS version drivers will run on
earlier versions of the windos line.

5) Everything is ackward, and you're stuck with the aincint version of
directx it ships with.

Once it's set up, it's a rock. But getting there is a pain.

does it support fat32 as well as ntfs btw? And how well, if at all,
does it do with WinDOS apps? I hadnt thought of NT4 before but it might
just be a useful candidate for some old machines.


NT

 

[paulmd]

I've not done much with NT4, but until I know better I'd try W2k
drivers. On the Windos line many later OS version drivers will run on
earlier versions of the windos line.

I'm telling you better right now. Don't, NT4 was earlier, and 2000 is
way different. I've been down that road to report the hazards. You CAN
find drivers for most hardware that was in use 1994-2001. And almost
ANY variety of network card. Your hunt will be longer, is all. If you
stick to ATI video cards, you'll be OK.

does it support fat32 as well as ntfs btw?

Yes. With help.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Fat32.html

And it might not like ntfs partitions created with win2k or XP. It uses
an earlier version of NTFS. It can read anything over the network,
Better than win2k, XP and 98, if you believe that.

And how well, if at all,

does it do with WinDOS apps?

Not especially great. No compatibility mode. Things like Lotus 123 and
DBASE are usually OK. But games are almost out of the question, I know
the old Doom works fine, sans sound. It's Possible to manually replace
the directx3 files with directx5. Or so I've heard. Things requiring
DOS drivers are not happy, generally.

I hadnt thought of NT4 before but it might

just be a useful candidate for some old machines.

Sure. Office and Internet, Business type apps are just great. Ie6,
acrobat 7, Word (I think you can still use the latest). OpenOffice,
Firefox. DotNet framework 1.1 (NOT 2.0).

Nt4 is STRICTLY business and networking. It does it very well.

 

[Mike Walsh]

NT4 is a great option for the old system. BUT there are about 5 pains
in the posterior to overcome.

1) 2GB system partition limit. Can be overcome by making extra
partitions, or by third party programs like partition magic.

There is no 2 GB limit with WinNT. System files must be in the first 8 GB.

2, 3) downloading and installing SP6a, this does not sound like an
issue, but navigating though microsoft's website is impossible with the
browser nt4 ships with, and you can't install ie6 without it. You have
to download an athernate browser like firefox to get there.

This will get you SP6a. Forget I.E. I use Mozilla and Opera on my WinNT PC.

http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/n...w+to+Write+an+Export+DLL+1&Page=1&redirect=no

4) obtaining drivers

My rather old video and SCSI adapters work fine with WinNT on a modern motherboard.

 

[Mike Walsh]

Clarification:

WinNT can created a partition up to 4 GB during installation. The OS does not have to be on the first partition but does have to be within the first 8 GB unless you back in Win2k or WinXP boot files.

My video card is AGP. It is not likely that you will find WinNT drivers for a PCI-E card.

 

[meow2222]

I'm telling you better right now. Don't, NT4 was earlier, and 2000 is
way different. I've been down that road to report the hazards. You CAN
find drivers for most hardware that was in use 1994-2001. And almost
ANY variety of network card. Your hunt will be longer, is all. If you
stick to ATI video cards, you'll be OK.


Yes. With help.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Fat32.html

And it might not like ntfs partitions created with win2k or XP. It uses
an earlier version of NTFS. It can read anything over the network,
Better than win2k, XP and 98, if you believe that.

And how well, if at all,

Not especially great. No compatibility mode. Things like Lotus 123 and
DBASE are usually OK. But games are almost out of the question, I know
the old Doom works fine, sans sound. It's Possible to manually replace
the directx3 files with directx5. Or so I've heard. Things requiring
DOS drivers are not happy, generally.

I hadnt thought of NT4 before but it might

Sure. Office and Internet, Business type apps are just great. Ie6,
acrobat 7, Word (I think you can still use the latest). OpenOffice,
Firefox. DotNet framework 1.1 (NOT 2.0).

Nt4 is STRICTLY business and networking. It does it very well.

DX3/5 is pretty good, many of these candidates for NT4 either dont have
DX or have DX1. But poor compatibility is liable to be a downer. I'll
pass on the info, thanks.


NT