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What is the maximum size hard drive for Win 98
- Thread starter charlie9
- Start date
From File Systems "The maximum volume size that Windows 98 can create is 127.53 GB).
joemck2004
Technical User
If you wankt to put in a really whoppin' big drive that Win98 can't deal with, just make multiple partitions.
Some BIOSes have limits at 512 MB (my old 486) or 2 GB (my old ex-Pentium). Others might have bigger limits.... All of these limits can be bypassed if you get a Western Digital hard disk and install the "EzBIOS" utility that comes on a floppy with it. It's a utility that installs in the boot sector and uses a custom, software-based way to access the whole drive, bypassing BIOS. You WILL still have to make partitions that are within the BIOS's limit.
(I've used EzBIOS to partition a 6.4 GB disk for the ex-Pentium and later to partition a 670 MB disk for the 486. It works perfectly!)
If you don't want to do either of those, you can still put in the huge disk, but you'll only be able to access the part of it inside the BIOS or Windows limit.
Some BIOSes have limits at 512 MB (my old 486) or 2 GB (my old ex-Pentium). Others might have bigger limits.... All of these limits can be bypassed if you get a Western Digital hard disk and install the "EzBIOS" utility that comes on a floppy with it. It's a utility that installs in the boot sector and uses a custom, software-based way to access the whole drive, bypassing BIOS. You WILL still have to make partitions that are within the BIOS's limit.
(I've used EzBIOS to partition a 6.4 GB disk for the ex-Pentium and later to partition a 670 MB disk for the 486. It works perfectly!)
If you don't want to do either of those, you can still put in the huge disk, but you'll only be able to access the part of it inside the BIOS or Windows limit.
Warning - overlay software like ezbios can cause you problems later on (if you need to retrieve data from the drive while slaved in another machine, because your mobo has blown, for example).
If you have a 6 & 20 now, your mobo/bios almost certainly supports at least 32GB drives (the next 'limit' above 20) - and if that's its current limit, there may be a bios upgrade on the manufacturer's site to increase this (to c. 128GB). You can always buy a extra PCI controller - which won't have these limits and will increase the number of IDE devices you can attach (with 3 hard drives, you might want a couple for CD/DVD ROM and CD/DVD writer).
If you have a 6 & 20 now, your mobo/bios almost certainly supports at least 32GB drives (the next 'limit' above 20) - and if that's its current limit, there may be a bios upgrade on the manufacturer's site to increase this (to c. 128GB). You can always buy a extra PCI controller - which won't have these limits and will increase the number of IDE devices you can attach (with 3 hard drives, you might want a couple for CD/DVD ROM and CD/DVD writer).
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