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Formating my 2 Gig SD Card to be bootable? DOS 6.22

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First post, by MCGA

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Hi I need some help.

Sorry if this has been asked, I've been searching around and it's just been a really long time since I've tinkered with this sort of stuff.

I bought an old 486 DX4 100 and ordered one of those IDE to SD card adapters. I got it up and running with a 2 GB SD card and it works. The BIOS properly detects the card and it shows up as the right size(1896 Mbytes). I can also see my new C drive and write and read from it when booting off a 6.22 floppy...

But if go into FDISK under Primary Partition info, it does say the correct size under partition status, but below that it say this;
"Total disk space is 504 Mbytes (1 Mbyte = 1048576 bytes )"

So if I format the drive with a /s to make it bootable, it makes my SD Card a 504 meg drive, which then causes the PC to hang on a reboot.

I thought DOS 6.22 could see 2 Gigs just fine? If yes, is there an additional command I need to add to my format line?

I do have EZ Drive if needed?

Thanks!
-Chris

Reply 1 of 5, by PhilsComputerLab

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If it's a factory new SD card, run

fdisk /mbr

from the boot floppy. This should make it boot.

If fdisk creates a ~ 500 MB drive, your computer has a capacity limitation.

Yes, you can use EZ-drive to get around this.

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Reply 2 of 5, by MCGA

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Thanks Phil! That worked. The SD card is showing the right size and it boots. 😀

Your YouTube videos have been really helpful btw, which is how I found this SD Card adapter and the Floppy Emulator -- which is slowly being shipped.

Reply 3 of 5, by Rhuwyn

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+1 on thanks for Phil's work. I also have floppy emulator in the mail. Ironically I also have an SD to IDE adapter and also had a problem getting it to boot. I'll try the fdisk /mbr and see if that fixes it.

Reply 4 of 5, by PhilsComputerLab

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😊

I had to do fdsisk /mbr for every new SD and CF card I got.

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Reply 5 of 5, by MCGA

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Good luck! 😀

I had to get my mind back in DOS-mode, so wasted more time than I care yesterday on this, because I hadn't realized there was a size difference after formatting.

I didn't have an eBay account when I ordered the Floppy Emulator, so bought it on Amazon... For more... And with a much slower shipping date... It won' be here until middle of June... If not for this SD card adapter I wouldn't be able to transfer over any files to this 486, since none of my modern computers have floppy-drives.

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