How to get Windows98 SE to work with Flash Drives larger than 1GB

[CurlySue]

I recognize that re-posting is taboo, but I wanted the whole SUBJECT (title)
to be visible and that's why . . .

In short, I cannot get Windows 98SE to work with any Flash Drive larger than
1GB. It will work with 1GB drives, but I prefer to use 4GB (and perhaps
larger drives).

First, I want to state that I understand that this is not a Windows 98
forum, but its forum . . . microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion . . .
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...spx?guid=2795731e-e69c-426a-aac8-5493495967b2
.. . . is EMPTY, and all of the Win98 Links, except Shell, associated with
Newsgroups deleted June 1, 2010 redirect to . . .
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/group/WindowsAnswers . . .
Windows Forums, where Windows 7, Vista and XP are shown.

So, since my primary PC is XP, I thought that I would try here and see where
it gets me.

Prior to posting here, I Googled and reviewed, tried and failed, for hours -
over 15 hours, to be exact.

The first thing I did was a thorough system scrubbing of the Registry and
Programs, eliminating temp files, and other crap.

Because I hadn't updated for the last 3 years, I found Windows98 SE Service
Pack 2.1 and installed it. Then I scrubbed the Registry (which, to my
surprise, remained perfectly clean) and my system.

Next, I researched, downloaded and installed various drivers - first using
the specific manufacturer's Windows 98SE drivers, and when they did not work,
I tried a couple of generic drivers. Both failed - again, Windows98 SE would
nothing work with any Flash Drive larger than 1GB.

With all of my Googling, one of the issues I had hoped to find was something
that simply stated that Window98 SE was incapable of reading any Flash Drive
larger than 1GB. But I did not, and I am having this problem with a desktop
PC - whereas my notebook PC, also running Windows98 SE, will read Flash
Drives larger than 1GB, and that is why I want to believe that I have either
forgot a setting or simply do not remember how I achieved this with my
notebook (something I did over 3 years ago).

Any suggestions, recommendations or guidance is sincerely appreciated.

With kindest regards,

CurlySue

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I recognize that re-posting is taboo, but I wanted the whole SUBJECT
(title)
to be visible and that's why . . .

In short, I cannot get Windows 98SE to work with any Flash Drive larger
than
1GB. It will work with 1GB drives, but I prefer to use 4GB (and perhaps
larger drives).

First, I want to state that I understand that this is not a Windows 98
forum, but its forum . . . microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion . . .
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...spx?guid=2795731e-e69c-426a-aac8-5493495967b2
. . . is EMPTY, and all of the Win98 Links, except Shell, associated with
Newsgroups deleted June 1, 2010 redirect to . . .
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/group/WindowsAnswers . .
.
Windows Forums, where Windows 7, Vista and XP are shown.

So, since my primary PC is XP, I thought that I would try here and see
where
it gets me.

Prior to posting here, I Googled and reviewed, tried and failed, for
hours -
over 15 hours, to be exact.

The first thing I did was a thorough system scrubbing of the Registry and
Programs, eliminating temp files, and other crap.

Because I hadn't updated for the last 3 years, I found Windows98 SE
Service
Pack 2.1 and installed it. Then I scrubbed the Registry (which, to my
surprise, remained perfectly clean) and my system.

Next, I researched, downloaded and installed various drivers - first using
the specific manufacturer's Windows 98SE drivers, and when they did not
work,
I tried a couple of generic drivers. Both failed - again, Windows98 SE
would
nothing work with any Flash Drive larger than 1GB.

With all of my Googling, one of the issues I had hoped to find was
something
that simply stated that Window98 SE was incapable of reading any Flash
Drive
larger than 1GB. But I did not, and I am having this problem with a
desktop
PC - whereas my notebook PC, also running Windows98 SE, will read Flash
Drives larger than 1GB, and that is why I want to believe that I have
either
forgot a setting or simply do not remember how I achieved this with my
notebook (something I did over 3 years ago).

Any suggestions, recommendations or guidance is sincerely appreciated.

With kindest regards,

CurlySue

AFAIR, Win98 will read disks of up to 32 GBytes, which tends to be confirmed
by your notebook having no problem reading the disk. This suggests that the
problem does not lie with Windows but with the driver you use. Try to use a
the same flash disk driver as on your notebook.

Note also that Win98 has a file size limit of 4 GBytes.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

.. . . and have a look at the replies you received to your first and
identical post.

 

[Mark Adams]

I recognize that re-posting is taboo, but I wanted the whole SUBJECT (title)
to be visible and that's why . . .

In short, I cannot get Windows 98SE to work with any Flash Drive larger than
1GB. It will work with 1GB drives, but I prefer to use 4GB (and perhaps
larger drives).

First, I want to state that I understand that this is not a Windows 98
forum, but its forum . . . microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion . . .
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...spx?guid=2795731e-e69c-426a-aac8-5493495967b2
. . . is EMPTY, and all of the Win98 Links, except Shell, associated with
Newsgroups deleted June 1, 2010 redirect to . . .
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/group/WindowsAnswers . . .
Windows Forums, where Windows 7, Vista and XP are shown.

So, since my primary PC is XP, I thought that I would try here and see where
it gets me.

Prior to posting here, I Googled and reviewed, tried and failed, for hours -
over 15 hours, to be exact.

The first thing I did was a thorough system scrubbing of the Registry and
Programs, eliminating temp files, and other crap.

Because I hadn't updated for the last 3 years, I found Windows98 SE Service
Pack 2.1 and installed it.

Since there are no Service Packs for Windows 98, who knows what it was you
installed.


Then I scrubbed the Registry (which, to my

surprise, remained perfectly clean) and my system.

I'm surprised your system still works. NEVER use registry cleaners. They
don't do anything to improve performance, and they do have the potential to
totally hose your OS.

Next, I researched, downloaded and installed various drivers - first using
the specific manufacturer's Windows 98SE drivers, and when they did not work,
I tried a couple of generic drivers. Both failed - again, Windows98 SE would
nothing work with any Flash Drive larger than 1GB.

Windows 98 was never designed to handle USB devices the way XP was. Your
best bet is to get a Win 98 specific driver from the manufacturer of the USB
device. If the manufacturer doesn't have one, all bets are off. I had Win 98
fry two flash drives when i tried to use them with a generic driver (I forget
which one). If the manufacturer does provide a driver and it doesn't work,
contact the manufacturer. If the driver comes as a zip file, you have to
manually unzip it to a file and manually point the Windows driver installer
to that file or Windows will never find it by itself. (another BIG
improvement with XP)

With all of my Googling, one of the issues I had hoped to find was something
that simply stated that Window98 SE was incapable of reading any Flash Drive
larger than 1GB. But I did not, and I am having this problem with a desktop
PC - whereas my notebook PC, also running Windows98 SE, will read Flash
Drives larger than 1GB, and that is why I want to believe that I have either
forgot a setting or simply do not remember how I achieved this with my
notebook (something I did over 3 years ago).

Make sure the flash drive is formatted FAT or FAT32, Win 98 cannot see or
use the NTFS file system that most XP systems use. This includes external
hard drives. They will need a driver and must be FAT or FAT32 or they will be
unusable. Also, IIRC FAT file systems are limited to 32GB partitions. You can
format the drive on an XP system, just make sure you select the proper format
(not NTFS)

 

[glee]

replies inline.....

snip
In short, I cannot get Windows 98SE to work with any Flash Drive
larger than
1GB. It will work with 1GB drives, but I prefer to use 4GB (and
perhaps
larger drives).
snip

The first thing I did was a thorough system scrubbing of the Registry
and
Programs, eliminating temp files, and other crap.

Thereby most likely damaging numerous needed registry entries....

Because I hadn't updated for the last 3 years, I found Windows98 SE
Service
Pack 2.1 and installed it.

No such thing as Win98SE SP2.1 (or 2.0 for that matter). What did you
actually install and from where?

Then I scrubbed the Registry (which, to my
surprise, remained perfectly clean) and my system.

Again, likely removing Registry entries that should not have been
removed....Registry "cleaners" and "optimizers" are junk.

Next, I researched, downloaded and installed various drivers - first
using
the specific manufacturer's Windows 98SE drivers, and when they did
not work,
I tried a couple of generic drivers. Both failed - again, Windows98
SE would
nothing work with any Flash Drive larger than 1GB.

What drivers are you using now? What drivers did you try, specifically?
Did you completely uninstall one set before installing another? What
brand and model is the flash drive?

With all of my Googling, one of the issues I had hoped to find was
something
that simply stated that Window98 SE was incapable of reading any Flash
Drive
larger than 1GB. But I did not, and I am having this problem with a
desktop
PC - whereas my notebook PC, also running Windows98 SE, will read
Flash
Drives larger than 1GB, and that is why I want to believe that I have
either
forgot a setting or simply do not remember how I achieved this with my
notebook (something I did over 3 years ago).

Win98SE will work with flash drives larger than 1GB...the problem is
with your system or the driver. My bet is on damage to your system from
using Registry "cleaners" and installing some third-party so-called
service pack. Also, did you update the system at Windows Update? You
stated you had not updated it in years, and then installed this bogus
SP.

 

[Eddie]

hi....

http://www.wintricks.it/faq/usbpen98.html

this site is in Italian, but once you get to page two you will see self
explanatory dialogue boxes etc. (you can also copy/paste into a language
changer if you wish to read it in english.)

this driver was written specifically for users of win98 and 98se, and i
have been using it for ages no matter what Flash Drive i throw at it.

hth.

Ed

 

[Paul]

I recognize that re-posting is taboo, but I wanted the whole SUBJECT (title)
to be visible and that's why . . .

In short, I cannot get Windows 98SE to work with any Flash Drive larger than
1GB. It will work with 1GB drives, but I prefer to use 4GB (and perhaps
larger drives).

First, I want to state that I understand that this is not a Windows 98
forum, but its forum . . . microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion . . .
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...spx?guid=2795731e-e69c-426a-aac8-5493495967b2
. . . is EMPTY, and all of the Win98 Links, except Shell, associated with
Newsgroups deleted June 1, 2010 redirect to . . .
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/group/WindowsAnswers . . .
Windows Forums, where Windows 7, Vista and XP are shown.

So, since my primary PC is XP, I thought that I would try here and see where
it gets me.

Prior to posting here, I Googled and reviewed, tried and failed, for hours -
over 15 hours, to be exact.

The first thing I did was a thorough system scrubbing of the Registry and
Programs, eliminating temp files, and other crap.

Because I hadn't updated for the last 3 years, I found Windows98 SE Service
Pack 2.1 and installed it. Then I scrubbed the Registry (which, to my
surprise, remained perfectly clean) and my system.

Next, I researched, downloaded and installed various drivers - first using
the specific manufacturer's Windows 98SE drivers, and when they did not work,
I tried a couple of generic drivers. Both failed - again, Windows98 SE would
nothing work with any Flash Drive larger than 1GB.

With all of my Googling, one of the issues I had hoped to find was something
that simply stated that Window98 SE was incapable of reading any Flash Drive
larger than 1GB. But I did not, and I am having this problem with a desktop
PC - whereas my notebook PC, also running Windows98 SE, will read Flash
Drives larger than 1GB, and that is why I want to believe that I have either
forgot a setting or simply do not remember how I achieved this with my
notebook (something I did over 3 years ago).

Any suggestions, recommendations or guidance is sincerely appreciated.

With kindest regards,

CurlySue

The limits of the various flavors of FAT (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32) are listed here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table

http://web.archive.org/web/20060307...et/prodtechnol/winxppro/reskit/c13621675.mspx

"FAT16 volumes larger than 2 GB are not accessible from computers running
MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, and many other operating
systems. This limitation occurs because these operating systems do not
support cluster sizes larger than 32 KB, which results in the 2 GB limit."

Maybe it's the way you're formatting the flash drive ?

I have only two USB flash sticks here.

If I insert my Kingston 1GB stick, then select "format" for the thing,
the choices are:

FAT (FAT12 or FAT16, as appropriate ?)
FAT32
exFAT

If I insert my OCZ 8GB stick, then select "format", I'm offered:

FAT32
exFAT
NTFS

You could try FAT32 and see if things improve or not.

There is some other detail I'm trying to remember, for flash sticks.
At one time, I was looking for the "HP Formatter", but I can't remember
exactly why. (Reviewing the options, it looks like it doesn't do much
more than offer an option to put a bootable copy of DOS on the USB
flash stick. The file system formatting options, look to be the same
as the WinXP "format" option. If your operating system won't give you
all the file formats you were expecting, you could download SP33221 and
set up the C:\DriveKey thing and use HPUSBFW.exe .) It's something
else to play with, if you run out of things to do.

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt/msg/b147713d885acf68?dmode=source

Paul

 

[Paul]

FAT12 is offered? I thought FAT12 was only used by floppy disks, or
perhaps the older floppy disk formats like 5" (can't recall now). (My
guess is for all PC floppy disks, though).

If the storage device you attempted to "format" was smaller than 32MB,
it might try FAT12 for you. I'm guessing that is what you'll find on
a floppy ? If the storage device is larger than 32MB, then I think
it'll do FAT16. It leaves a generic "FAT" in the menu, to surprise you.
It would have made more sense, if they just named the specific option
they planned to use.

I used a utility that can identify file systems, and it said my floppy
has FAT12 on it. So I can verify that one. If I was to plug the
Kingston 1GB flash into the computer, and select "FAT" as the
formatting option, I think it would use FAT16 for that.

The "FAT" option is missing, when I plug in the 8GB flash, because
even FAT16 isn't going to work for that. Only FAT32 could handle it,
in the FAT family.

Paul

 

[John John - MVP]

If the storage device you attempted to "format" was smaller than 32MB,
it might try FAT12 for you. I'm guessing that is what you'll find on
a floppy ?

The maximum volume size supported by FAT12 is about 16MB (32,680 sectors
x 512 bytes/sector), on Windows XP FAT16 supports volumes of 8MB to 4GB.
NT operating systems cannot (will not) format hard disk volumes
smaller than 8MB and FAT12 is pretty well reserved for floppy disks.

John

 

[Paul]

I would expect so.
I just don't think there are any 32 MB (or less) external plug-in storage
devices, are there?

Back in 2000, there were ones as small as 8MB. And for the sum of $49.95.
Now, there is some cost effective storage for you.

http://www.cyberwalker.com/reviews/trek-2000-thumbdrive.shtml

It's pretty ordinary looking.

http://mesh.caltech.edu/gadgetslab/img/thumbdrive.jpg

Paul

 

[CurlySue]

Thanks for your reply, Mark. )

Since there are no Service Packs for Windows 98, who knows what it was you
installed.

True. It was definitely a leap of faith. However, both appear to be
exceedingly well documented and supported, noted as follows...

UNOFFICIAL Windows98 SE Service Pack 2.1a
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4131.html

Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se (English) - MSFN Forums
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/80800-auto-patcher-for-windows-98se-english/

I'm surprised your system still works. NEVER use registry cleaners. They
don't do anything to improve performance, and they do have the potential to
totally hose your OS.

FUNNY!!! TOO FUNNY!!! WAY TOO FUNNY!!!

I have successfully used several Registry Cleaning programs since 1991 and
have NEVER experienced any problem that your response or its link(s) imply.
I suppose learning to read what they may be deleting prior to authorizing
deletions is one KEY, and then NOT permitting some of the default deletions.

And then there's always the experience where something has not worked, and
so I have utilized the current backup and then everything returned to normal
- and I read the entries and determined what to add to IGNORE lists, etc.

In short, I do not believe what you say and do believe my Registry performs
better without SHIT IN IT that I no longer use or was part of the promotion
bullshit that came with the PC (as in AOL, EarthLink, Norton, and other crap).

Windows 98 was never designed to handle USB devices the way XP was. Your
best bet is to get a Win 98 specific driver from the manufacturer of the USB
device. If the manufacturer doesn't have one, all bets are off. I had Win 98
fry two flash drives when i tried to use them with a generic driver (I forget
which one). If the manufacturer does provide a driver and it doesn't work,
contact the manufacturer. If the driver comes as a zip file, you have to
manually unzip it to a file and manually point the Windows driver installer
to that file or Windows will never find it by itself. (another BIG
improvement with XP)

I realize 98 and 98SE are not XP, Mark. Tried the drivers from two
manufacturers and neither worked. However, shortly after my initial post(s),
due to an updated USBSTOR.SYS driver that was installed via one of the
UNOFFICIAL Service Packs for Windows 98 (noted hereinabove), I managed to
resolve the problem via the C:\WINDOWS\INF directory.

Make sure the flash drive is formatted FAT or FAT32, Win 98 cannot see or
use the NTFS file system that most XP systems use. This includes external
hard drives. They will need a driver and must be FAT or FAT32 or they will be
unusable. Also, IIRC FAT file systems are limited to 32GB partitions. You can
format the drive on an XP system, just make sure you select the proper format
(not NTFS)

Good points for novice users and pro's alike, Mark. I was aware of 98SE's
limits prior to posting and have known of them since 1998. Prior to my
initial posts, I even experimented with various block or cluster sizes. I do
not use external HDD's, but I do appreciate dual HDD's (in RAID or non-RAID
configurations).

Thanks again for your support and edification, Mark.

With kindest regards,

CurlySue

 

[CurlySue]

AFAIR, Win98 will read disks of up to 32 GBytes, which tends to be confirmed
by your notebook having no problem reading the disk. This suggests that the
problem does not lie with Windows but with the driver you use. Try to use a
the same flash disk driver as on your notebook.

Note also that Win98 has a file size limit of 4 GBytes.

Thanks for your reply, Pegasus.

Prior to posting, tried what you suggested - and failed. However, shortly
after my initial post(s), courtesy of one of the following...

UNOFFICIAL Windows98 SE Service Pack 2.1a Download
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4131.html

Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se (English) - MSFN Forums
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/80800-auto-patcher-for-windows-98se-english/

....my USBSTOR.SYS file was updated and, via the C:\WINDOWS\INF directory,
this driver worked and all is well again.

Thanks for your support!

CS

 

[CurlySue]

.. . . and have a look at the replies you received to your first and
identical post.

Did. Thanks! )

 

[CurlySue]

Hi there, Eddie! Thanks for your reply.

I am VERY happy to hear that driver works for you. Shortly after my initial
post(s), I managed to secure an updated USBSTOR.SYS driver courtesy of one of
the following updating programs...

|MG| UNOFFICIAL Windows98 SE Service Pack 2.1a Download
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4131.html

Auto-Patcher For Windows 98se (English) - MSFN Forums
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/80800-auto-patcher-for-windows-98se-english/

....and via the C:\WINDOWS\INF directory, I managed to get the Flash Drive to
work and all is well now.

Thanks again!

CS