VOGONS


First post, by n1mr0d

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As using FDISK on big disks takes ages i wonder if there's a version which skips the disk integrity checks. I'm running W95/DOS 7.1
with the IO.SYS patch from MS and BHDD 3.1 big HD patch from MDGx.

My old 486 only supported up to 500MB drives, but with the XTIDE universal bios the limit is decided by the file system. I've connected
my HD this way:

W83757F controller --> Marvell IDE-SATA bridge --> Seagate ST3500820AS 500GB SATA HD.

I've created one 32GB FAT32 partition, with a 32KB cluster size. Using a large cluster size is wasteful, but keeps the 486 from
choking. Even including the bridge, it is running quite snappy, no lag and such. Speedsys reports a max/avg seek time of 9.50/6.48ms and
a track-track seek time of 1.53 ms.

Creating a 32GB primary partition took a long time, i'm not even attempting creating the extended partition. Some sites falsely report that
using the/ACTOK switch skips the integrity check. I want to create the partitions in situ, with the XTIDE bios present, so i'm desperately looking
for a hacked FDISK version.

NOTE: the W83757F or XTIDE bios has problems with bridge chips from JMicron, so get the Marvell one

VooDoo Power Asus CUBX-E 440BX PIII 1.4GHz GF4 Ti 4600 Voodoo2 SLI 12MB SBLive!+Drive SB16 CT2230 + NEC XR385
Nostalgia pc Vtech Laser Slimline DX4-100 16MB Acumos AVGA1 AWE32 CT3980 Roland MPU 401 MT32 SC88

Reply 1 of 7, by AlphaWing

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Use the Fdisk and format from freedos.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/fre … les/dos/format/
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/fre … iles/dos/fdisk/

Really need to for large disks, on PCI controllers, Win9x's\dos7.xx fdisk won't read them correctly, and its format will display the wrong size but will format them, assuming you get them partitioned correctly with say freedos's fdisk.

Otherwise you'll have to use a light linux distro (like puppy linux) that has gparted on it, and partition\format them there.

I'm not sure... Are your using an IDE to SATA adapter?? + an Overlay to see the whole drive? or a PCI SATA controller?
Either way try using the freedos utility's.

Reply 2 of 7, by Mau1wurf1977

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It's a Seagate? You can use SeaTools (a boot CD) to limit the capacity to 32 GB. Basically turning it into a 32 GB SATA drive. I use this for ALL my retro systems 😀

SeaTools doesn't work in very old machines, so be aware of that.

I do remember trying fdisk from FreeDOS and had some issues, but I believe that was related to a FAT16 project. Can't remember. Just burn the 1.1 disc and select the option to install FreeDOS. It then asks you if you want to partition your drive...

There is also SuperFdisk on a bootable CD. It can handle large partitions and drives.

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Reply 3 of 7, by AlphaWing

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limit the drive to 32gb? why would you want to do that?
Kinda defeats the purpose of a large drive?
9x doesn't have a problem with large drives if they are on a 3rd party PCI controller using their own drivers.

Reply 4 of 7, by Mau1wurf1977

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AlphaWing wrote:

limit the drive to 32gb? why would you want to do that?

Because then you can use all the standard tools and don't have to use a third party storage controllers. And avoid issues with certain MS utilities and got to use alternatives. It's a solution that just works and as close as you can get to buying a modern 32 GB harddrive. I use a modern 2 TB SATA drive and it's the fastest 32 GB HDD I have 😀

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Reply 5 of 7, by AlphaWing

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But its a waist of a large drive that could be serving\storing files....
But I guess thats ok if you really have nothing else to use.

Reply 6 of 7, by Mau1wurf1977

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Sure, but it is what it is, you simply can't be small drives anymore. Best you can do is a 500GB Seagate for A$59.00. Now decent CF cards and SSD cards go for similar amounts. And old drives are quite slow. I benchmarked a 20 GB IDE drive and it's a real dog. A lot has changed with hard drives. But I understand that some want that authentic sound and all...

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Reply 7 of 7, by NJRoadfan

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The 32GB limit on FAT32 partitions is also completely arbitrary. The file system supports partitions up to 2TB (the MBR limit) without a problem.