max. hard drive size recognized by Win98 (first ed.)

[domino1879]

ok, i've been spoiled by the newer computers, but my comp. at work is an old win98 first edition machine, and it's come time to replace the hard drive. now in this day of 120 gig hard drives and such, i remembered something about win98 not being able to recognize a HD larger than 32 gig (i think?). now i don't need a monster hard drive, but i was thinking a 40 gig would be a good size. after partitioning i would think to have about 36 gigs free or so. will it recognize the remaining four gigs or will i just have to deal with it?

p.s. the pci adapter is not an option, unfortunately.

 

[mattjurado]

40gb drive should work fine. The space that you cannot access are really set aside for overhead of the file system. They aren't really lost. (at least that's what I've frequently read). Once you hit an 80gb hard drive, then you start to get weird problems, like space not being reported correctly.

http://tools.supportforyourpc.com/get_article.asp?aid=1035

(this article claims 64gb is the limit, then some of the 16bit variables ms uses freak out)

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[domino1879]

Great! thanks.

 

[micker377]

Many hard drive limits are the motherboards BIOS, and have nothing to do with the OS. Your BIOS may be limited to 32m without a BIOS upgrade.

 

[mpnut]

micker377 is correct. I had an abundant supply of motherboard BIOS that would recognize anything over an 8GB HD.