Well, it's possibly just some garbled output because of number formatting/rounding errors.
But, I have to admit that I do such tasks like partition and format using an operating system (e.g Linux/FreeBSD), so I know what actually happens instead of guessing/hoping.

That's a good idea. Maybe I'll run a Linux live CD and partition/format the remainder. What's also strange is I can't even create an extended DOS partition using the remaining "100%" of the drive space left because when I enter 100% as the partition size, it says there's not enough disk space. So there's not enough disk space to use 100% of what's left?

So, since this machine only has 64 MB of RAM, what's my best option for a bootable image or OS which will allow me to access a third party disk partitioning utility? I am fine with using gparted but I'm not aware of any Linux live distro which can run in such a small RAM space.

For Win98, I use Super Fdisk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ivV5tyfRs

FDISK from Windows 98 has a soft 64 GB limit and shows a wraparound just on the screen.
However, in most cases it creates the partition without an issue when you allocate the (rest of) entire disk.

Just create your small partitions and make the big partition as your last step in FDISK.
Verify the partitions by formatting them.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2021-10-09, 01:26:

For Win98, I use Super Fdisk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ivV5tyfRs

Thanks for that link, I'll check it out.

On another note, I found this website which explains the limitations of FDISK, which explains why my 80 GB disk is only showing about 10 GB capacity, due to the "actual size minus 64 GB" issue, which is just about right.

https://www.exe-error-fixes.com/fdisk-exe-com … es-limitations/

Disruptor wrote on 2021-10-09, 01:36:

FDISK from Windows 98 has a soft 64 GB limit and shows a wraparound just on the screen. However, in most cases it creates the pa […]
Show full quote

FDISK from Windows 98 has a soft 64 GB limit and shows a wraparound just on the screen.
However, in most cases it creates the partition without an issue when you allocate the (rest of) entire disk.

Just create your small partitions and make the big partition as your last step in FDISK.
Verify the partitions by formatting them.

Yeah I found the article above just before seeing your post. I didn't know such a limitation existed with FDISK, but being such an old utility I suppose it is what it is. I used to use Partition Magic back in the day, and I was able to find a copy of version 8 of the software, so I'll install that in Windows and try it.

What else do you all use to partition IDE hard drives for old systems?

A partition for MS-DOS (FAT16)
A partition for data exchange (FAT16 2 GB logical)
A partition for Windows 2000 or XP (NTFS, with boot manager)
Another partition for Windows 9x (FAT32, starting sector on CHS 1022/1/1, size to the end of the disk)

However, after creating the 4 partitions the partition entry of the FAT32 partition must be placed before the MS-DOS partition to avoid problems with C drive letter.

My achieved goals are that Win9x can access the DOS partition too and I can use the boot manager from Win2K/XP to boot the DOS or Win9x partition too.
It works for any HDD between 9 GB and 128 GB.

Did you install the fdisk hotfix for Win98/98SE ?? About Win98 and 98SE and Fdisk fix from Microsoft: https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/263044
===========
NOTE: This hotfix is not designed for 48-bit logical block addressing (LBA) hard disks, and it is not supported on
hard disks larger than 137 GB.

The English version (263044USA8.EXE) of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
Date - Time - Size - File name - Operating System - Internal File
---------------------------------------------------------------
05/19/00 - 10:30am - 64,428 - Fdisk.exe - Windows 98 - fdisk.98g
05/18/00 - 8:35am - 64,460 - Fdisk.exe - Windows 98 Second Edition - fdisk.98s
============