maxtor 200 gig / missing files

[maxwell011]

i put a 200 gig hd in my comp recently. a couple of wks later it ate everything in my "program files" folder. i figured that was because i used the whole 200 gigs and am running win98 se. so, i repartitioned as 120 gigs for c: and 80 for d: but the same thing happened again but in addition to my "program files" folder, a couple of other folders had been completely emptied. i thought win98 se could handle any size hd as long as no partition was over 137 gigs and even then, the worst that would happen would be corrupt files.

if that's true, could the hd be bad. what else. (i'm reasonably sure its not a virus.) thx, maxwell

 

[garebo]

What does your bios say about the size of the hard drive?
Any issues in device manager or disk management?


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[cdogg]

You can find more information here as well:

http://www.48bitlba.com

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[garebo]

i was leading up to that, lol.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

Then again, how could you know,lol.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[micker377]

Are you using a UPS? A power change "spike" can cause Hard Drive corruption. With "write behind", when you make changes it's not done immediately. The hard drive waits until a "lull" in computer use, and writes everything then. This can be caused by improper shutdown (shutting down when computer is still writing to the Hard Drive).

 

[maxwell011]

when i first posted, i was hrs away from not being able to return the hd. when my files/folders disappeared, it was day 30 of the 30 days i had to return it and 3 hrs before they closed, so it was tight. so, i was hoping for some quick answers while the clock was ticking. i ended up bringing it back and ended up with a smaller (ATA100) hd - a seagate 160 gig. it was on sale for $59 US and with best buy's famous mail-in rebate, it came down to $19.00 so i can't bitch.

to reply to some, (garebo) yes my bios recognised it as 200 gigs. i have the a7v8x mobo flashed w/the latest upgrade. cdogg, i checked out that site, i'll be doing a lot of reading there.

also, one other question, does using an ata pci card resolve the 137 gig barrier in 98 se.

 

[garebo]

I think you would have to check and see as each variation of these pci cards have different capabilities.
For instance, the very first ata pci card was only for ide 33 and likely wouldnt resolve the 137 gig barrier. Whereas new ones that are ide 100\133 would likely resolve that issue. So it depends on which one you have in particular, and there were quite a few different ones made, all with different chipsets on them. There may be other factors as well, actually i see now that i should have left this for cdogg to answer, lol.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[cdogg]

Well, likely any ATA/100 or ATA/133 card you can buy today will get around it. Some advertise 48-bit LBA, so if it says that in the specs, look and see if it supports Win98SE. The driver for the ATA card is the #1 factor, so it's hard to say for sure. Be sure to check the FAQ and Specs section at the manufacturer's website before you buy.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[maxwell011]

ok very helpfull, thx. one more question - if your bios recognises drives bigger than 137 gigs, does that automatically mean it supports 48-bit lba.

 

[cdogg]

Yes. The BIOS is half the battle. The OS is the other half, which is why you might still need a card. That site I posted up above should help you determine whether or not you need one.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884