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Best Dos Version/Type and HDD Storage Help for Dual Boot

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First post, by GabrielKnight123

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I have built a Dos/Win 98se gaming PC and now I want to install a setup which for now I dont know how its going to be but with everyone's help I will, let me explain, I have at the moment windows 98se on a 500MHz slot 1 (P2?) using an AWE64 Value that is connected to a SC55 for Midi music I would like to make a dedicated dos 6.22 drive using a 10 or 20 GB IDE hard drive using the full 8GB Fat16 4x 2GB partitions for Dos, this would be one option or I could use Dos 7.1 which I have no experience with that uses Fat32 to use the whole HDD but I read 7.1 is a memory hog, or, there is FreeDos which again I have no experience with. So from the 3 OS’s which is best to use that will also be either working alongside another hard drive for windows 98se using a dual boot or on the same but bigger HDD alongside windows 98se with a dual boot and some kind of boot loader? So what I need is Dos and windows 98se on the same PC.

Going from Phils Computer Lab I could use a compact flash card with an IDE to CF adapter to run dos but he said its not that good with win 98 and they are expensive 32GB and up this would be a good setup if I used a hard drive caddie in the 5.25 drive bay the type that are still around for IDE HDD’s that way I can swap between dos and Windows

Or is it doable to use one HDD and have 4x 2GB partitions for dos at Fat16 and the rest of the drive eg: 120GB at Fat32 for win98se and have a dual boot?

Reply 2 of 5, by chinny22

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Im not sure where you got dos7 is a memory hog, its actually a bit better then 6
If you read http://www.mdgx.com/mem6.htm he actually grabs some of Dos7's files.
http://www.mdgx.com/mem7.htm
If it was me I would create a shortcut on Won9x desktop to command.com, configure config.sys/autoexec.bat within the shortcut and away you go.

If you really want Dos6.22 though install that on a Fat16 C:\ and then install windows on D:\ (or whatever) Windows install will look after the boot menu.
Dos6 will just ignore any fat32 drives,

Reply 3 of 5, by GabrielKnight123

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Chinny22 so if I install Dos first like you said on a Fat16 2GB partition and I make a partition for windows 98 on a Fat32 partition and then install windows it will make a menu to select which OS i want to load or is it different? As long as there is a menu to select from the two I would do this first instead of the removable caddies I got for this build

Reply 4 of 5, by dr_st

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GabrielKnight123 wrote:

Chinny22 so if I install Dos first like you said on a Fat16 2GB partition and I make a partition for windows 98 on a Fat32 partition and then install windows it will make a menu to select which OS i want to load or is it different?

Yes, this is exactly what it will do (as I also told you in the other thread). All this messing with caddies and third-party boot managers is a complete waste of time for the problem you are trying to solve.

Then again (and I repeat), you likely don't actually need DOS 6, so the problem you are trying to solve is in itself a waste of time.

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