Have a look at

http://www.mdgx.com/add.htm#BHD

I just tried it and still no change. I am using Win98 SP3.59 I mean I don't mind it but I wonder 😒

maw wrote:

I just tried it and still no change. I am using Win98 SP3.59 I mean I don't mind it but I wonder 😒

Partition Magic 4 is far too old. Try something newer: Acronis Partition Manager, or linux Gparted (from live CD). I don't remember if last Partition Magic - 8 will deal with this.
However even on Windows XP, FAT32 partition over 32GB is problematic. http://techcosupport.com/press/maximum-size-o … t-32-partition/
But there we can use NTFS.

Try Partition Magic 8.x

If it was me I would avoid the hassle and make a smaller partition for Windows and a second larger partition for games
I usually go with 4GB for Win98 but don't bother with service packs and loads of software, You would still be safe with 10GB

It is actually not even 32gb. Fdisk shows me only 23604MB without any partition on the drive. I thought the bios from the controller manage in this case the size (which is correct shown on boot). The mainboard should not limit the drive here or?

@chinny22 the boot DOM has 16GB, 2GB FAT16 for DOS and Win98 boot rest is FAT32. But I might run out of space.

I have tested now via Win2000 setup and loaded the controller driver via floppy and the setup sees the correct size of the drive. So that seems to work.

ok, I have created now a single partition via Win2000 setup and can format it FAT32 inside Win98 with full 152626 MB 😀 wonderful. Now I am willed to order a 120GB SSD for my Win98 box 😀

maw wrote:

ok, I have created now a single partition via Win2000 setup and can format it FAT32 inside Win98 with full 152626 MB 😀 wonderful. Now I am willed to order a 120GB SSD for my Win98 box 😀

I would be careful here. The issues sound to me like a problem with 48bit LBA. Windows 98 does not out of the box support 48bit LBA and is limited to about 127-128GB drive size. normally the behavior is that it seems to work, but once you surpass the 128GB writes roll over to the start of the disk fucking up partition table and fat. However, in some rare instances I have seen disks only show the difference between 128GB and actual capacity as available with varying degrees of them working.

Solution to that is to get drivers or I believe one of the unofficial service packs to get functioning LBA48 support in win98.

I just want to use a 120GB SSD but is there generally a way to test it just out of curiosity. Like a program to write the drive full?

Koltoroc wrote:

The issues sound to me like a problem with 48bit LBA. Windows 98 does not out of the box support 48bit LBA and is limited to about 127-128GB drive size. normally the behavior is that it seems to work, but once you surpass the 128GB writes roll over to the start of the disk fucking up partition table and fat. However, in some rare instances I have seen disks only show the difference between 128GB and actual capacity as available with varying degrees of them working.

Hmmm. This sounds like an issue I was having with my Dell laptop running Windows XP SP3. The BIOS only reports the hard drive size of 137GB (BIOS limitation) after I swapped out a 80GB HDD for a 240GB one. A 320GB HDD at the time simply wouldn't be seen (BIOS reported NO HDD installed for that one).

Windows XP would work for a couple of months, but invariably, I'd download and install some kind of patch or update and then XP would just refuse to boot at all, giving me nothing but a blinking cursor. "Repairing" XP wouldn't fix it at all. Same cursor. No boot.

The permanent fix was to divide the hard drive into TWO partitions, one 40GB one at the front for Windows XP to live inside and be locked into and then a second 200GB partition for games and the like. Windows XP has never had an issue since, though you make me wonder if the underlying issue is still there and XP is hiding it now because it boots fine.

maw wrote:

I just want to use a 120GB SSD but is there generally a way to test it just out of curiosity. Like a program to write the drive full?

120GB is fine, that will not run into LBA 48 issues. HOWEVER, fdisk and format that come standard with win 98 are bugged and have problems above 64GB. Fdisk is the more critical one as it has problems creating partitions on drives above 64GB, either find a patched fdisk, or partition it with another OS. Format only has a display bug and shows a capacity of at max 64GB regardless, but works fine.

FFXIhealer wrote:

Hmmm. This sounds like an issue I was having with my Dell laptop running Windows XP SP3. The BIOS only reports the hard drive size of 137GB (BIOS limitation) after I swapped out a 80GB HDD for a 240GB one. A 320GB HDD at the time simply wouldn't be seen (BIOS reported NO HDD installed for that one).

Your Bios does not support 48bit LBA, this behavior is typical for that. However, as long as the drive is recognized at all it is not an issue unless it tries to access areas above the reported size during the boot process.

Windows XP should be a non issue in this case as it supports 48bit LBA since service pack one.

FFXIhealer wrote:

Windows XP would work for a couple of months, but invariably, I'd download and install some kind of patch or update and then XP would just refuse to boot at all, giving me nothing but a blinking cursor. "Repairing" XP wouldn't fix it at all. Same cursor. No boot.

I suppose updates might move file necessary to boot to areas not accessible by the bios but I can't say I have ever seen that happen myself. the files would be anything that windows loads before and up to the driver for the controller, as once the driver for the controller is loaded the bios has no relevance to operating anymore.

FFXIhealer wrote:

The permanent fix was to divide the hard drive into TWO partitions, one 40GB one at the front for Windows XP to live inside and be locked into and then a second 200GB partition for games and the like. Windows XP has never had an issue since, though you make me wonder if the underlying issue is still there and XP is hiding it now because it boots fine.

The underlying issue would still be there, but since the OS drive is wholly within the 137GB boundary the bios will have no reason to access any space above it during boot and during operation, the windows drivers will bypass the bios anyway.

Koltoroc wrote:

HOWEVER, fdisk and format that come standard with win 98 are bugged and have problems above 64GB. Fdisk is the more critical one as it has problems creating partitions on drives above 64GB, either find a patched fdisk, or partition it with another OS. Format only has a display bug and shows a capacity of at max 64GB regardless, but works fine.

So if I create the 120GB drive with Win2k and format it also with it Fat32 all should be fine?

maw wrote:

Koltoroc wrote:

HOWEVER, fdisk and format that come standard with win 98 are bugged and have problems above 64GB. Fdisk is the more critical one as it has problems creating partitions on drives above 64GB, either find a patched fdisk, or partition it with another OS. Format only has a display bug and shows a capacity of at max 64GB regardless, but works fine.

So if I create the 120GB drive with Win2k and format it also with it Fat32 all should be fine?

yes. If you want to be able boot from it, remember to make it a primary partion and set it to active.

Just wanted to mention that I do love that even inside dos fdisk the sata drive is available without any driver. Also I have now PM7 in use and what a change 😀 thx for all the help.

You need to locate the following QFE for Windows 98SE for large HDD support.
a00307_LargeIDEUpdate - - - - 243450usa8.exe
a00523_FdiskDrivesOver64G - - - 263044USA8.EXE

Unfortunately, those are no longer available directly from Microsoft website. You will have to search for them. Google is your friend.
I am pretty sure that I had seen FDISK showing the entire 80GB capacity once the update was applied.