douglar wrote on 2026-04-02, 19:30:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-04-02, 19:03:

One question I have: what’s a recommended tool to use for 98 to partition a drive whilst still retaining its contents? Instead of getting another drive, I might just create a small partition for storing backups of Windows images. I was storing them on a pen drive, but GHOST doesn’t recognise them, and it’s a faff copying them from a HDD to it.

You could try PartitionMagic or if you like linux, GParted

Thanks. Okay, I'll see what I can find and give that a try. 😀

douglar wrote on 2026-04-02, 19:30:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-04-02, 19:03:

One question I have: what’s a recommended tool to use for 98 to partition a drive whilst still retaining its contents? Instead of getting another drive, I might just create a small partition for storing backups of Windows images. I was storing them on a pen drive, but GHOST doesn’t recognise them, and it’s a faff copying them from a HDD to it.

You could try PartitionMagic or if you like linux, GParted

Hmm. Tried Partition Magic 4.0, but that tells me it can't do it. Says I've already made 4 partitions already, which I haven't. I'm guessing it's because it's too old a version...?

Nope. Even the latest - Partition Magic 7.0 won't. Just keep getting an error. I run a check beforehand and it finds no errors. I've tried creating a partition and doing a split. Just keep getting an error. 🙁

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-04-03, 17:12:

Nope. Even the latest - Partition Magic 7.0 won't. Just keep getting an error. I run a check beforehand and it finds no errors. I've tried creating a partition and doing a split. Just keep getting an error. 🙁

Can you share the error message?

douglar wrote on 2026-04-03, 17:27:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-04-03, 17:12:

Nope. Even the latest - Partition Magic 7.0 won't. Just keep getting an error. I run a check beforehand and it finds no errors. I've tried creating a partition and doing a split. Just keep getting an error. 🙁

Can you share the error message?

Not at the moment, sadly. Currently trying to connect it to my main PC, via my IDE/SATA adapter, to see if I can partition it from there. But again, it has some serious issues even detecting it. It's like a lucky dip. On one rare occasion, it'll detect it, but often it just doesn't. But I have noticed, this 320GB HDD is another Deathstar. >_<

I think I should just get another one that isn't a Deathstar. Avoid it like the plague. I've never known a HDD make like it.

UUUUGGGHHH. I should've known something like this was going to happen... By taking that hard drive out to try sorting out on my main PC, the retro system is now acting weird. And taking forever to load. 🙁

douglar wrote on 2026-04-03, 17:27:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-04-03, 17:12:

Nope. Even the latest - Partition Magic 7.0 won't. Just keep getting an error. I run a check beforehand and it finds no errors. I've tried creating a partition and doing a split. Just keep getting an error. 🙁

Can you share the error message?

Okay, after a stressful situation, where it's taking forever to boot into Windows, which I suspect is caused by Partition Magic asking me to reboot despite no changes being made, I did manage to take some pics of the errors. There's nothing to go on though. Creating a partition flat out refuses and throws up this:

And trying to do it via Split gets so far, looks like it's going to work, and then gives up with this error:

At this point I'm done with it. So long as the drive works and I can store CD images, I'd prefer to just leave it alone.

I totally forgot that I still have my previous HDD before getting the 320GB one, which is 80GB. So I'll just use that for backups etc.

Something seems decidedly unhealthy with the storage subsystem on your computer and I don’t know that we are going to work it out in this thread. I suspect virus, remnants of an old drive overlay, or maybe just a really strange bios. Whatever the case, as long as it works, I guess it works, but I’d make sure to keep backups of your data on a more reliable computer.

douglar wrote on 2026-04-04, 03:15:

Something seems decidedly unhealthy with the storage subsystem on your computer and I don’t know that we are going to work it out in this thread. I suspect virus, remnants of an old drive overlay, or maybe just a really strange bios. Whatever the case, as long as it works, I guess it works, but I’d make sure to keep backups of your data on a more reliable computer.

For sure. I’ll have to see what happens after I reformat and do a fresh install in future. I suspect it’s the HDD itself. The fact it rarely appears on my main PC when I try connecting it says a lot. Other HDDs haven’t been an issue. And the fact it’s a Deathstar one.
But yeah, I have the contents backed up on my main PC. It’s just going to be a bugger updating the contents in future when the drive rarely gets detected. Eventually I’ll probably replace it for something more reliable.

Hmm. It's possible I could end up getting an alternative hard drive much sooner. It might have been a coincidence, but when trying to play Resident Evil 2, halfway through the opening cinematic, the game randomly crashed with a BSOD. Similar to the one I was getting before, I think. When trying to run ScanDisk. Maybe after a while of use it starts acting up...? I think this is the first time running a game properly without merely testing it. I'll see if it happens again a bit later.