P100 computer running Win3.1 won't see HDD

[MrRoboto67]

Hi,
Hoping someone here might remember old school enough to help me out a little.
I have a generic 586/P100 PC running Windows 3.1
The computer must remain this way for various reasons.
I am attempting to make back-ups of these computer HDD's. In the past, 10GB and 20GB Seagate drives would work if partitioned to the required 2.1GB. However, these hard drives are now impossible to get new, so the smallest I could purchase were 40GB Western Digital. I partitioned these to 2.1GB. For some reason unknown, the computer BIOS's can't see these drives, no matter what jumper settings I use. It won't auto-detect. With the Seagates, when starting up, it would even show the model number (i.e. ST310211A or ST320410A). I can see these Western Digital drives while using a DIFFERENT brand PC, but still a P100 - I just can't use this different brand PC for the application at hand. I am using it to create my back-ups though.
Any pointers on this one would be appreciated. Please - keep in mind, I can not add any software/hardware cards which would alter BIOS recognition. I just need a HDD recommendation to fix this problem. Thanks much.

 

[vacunita]

There's not much you can do. Its down to the BIOS, but being so old they are limited to what they recognize. A 40GB drive is simply to large for that BIOS to handle. You'll need to find a smaller drive.





----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[edfair]

What is the problem with adding an additional IDE controller with a BIOS that can recognize the drives? That won't affect the current BIOS and the recognition of the current drives. The underlying DOS is capable of seeing the extra controller. there are issues this way but you'll be able to resolve them.

Or buy the drives you need thru ebay.

Or do something like networking through serial or parallel ports.

There has to be a half dozen or more solutions to your issues. If not, you have created a situation that is one step away from disaster.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[acewarlock]

Have you tried Cloning the drive that might work?




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