[olly_k]

Hi, I have an aging KT7A Raid mobo and today purchased a 160Gb 133ATA maxtor (only £20 mor than the 80Gb I intended to get ) now when I put fdisk to work it only sees a 25Mb drive.
Can't beleive I just assumed it would work I feel like a right plonker anyway I am desperately hoping someone knows somthing I don't....
Help much appreciated!

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Well before xp sp1 windows can only see 130 GB in a drive. An upgrade to your os will be needed 98 is pretty useless though so it would be no bad thing even of nothing were wrong.
I took a look at the specs and the list i saw said it had support for ata 100 and below only so an ultra ata like that wont work im afraid, try sending it back and getting a ata100 drive, if its any conselation if it was ata133 as well the 80GB wouldnt have worked either. ABIT right http://www.one2surf....itkt7a/spec.asp thats where i got it correct me of it is the wrong board.

Maybe some of the uber techs know some kind of magic fix to get it work though not really a big HD techie.

[warriorscot]

Well before xp sp1 windows can only see 130 GB in a drive. An upgrade to your os will be needed 98 is pretty useless though so it would be no bad thing even of nothing were wrong.
I took a look at the specs and the list i saw said it had support for ata 100 and below only so an ultra ata like that wont work im afraid, try sending it back and getting a ata100 drive, if its any conselation if it was ata133 as well the 80GB wouldnt have worked either. ABIT right http://www.one2surf....itkt7a/spec.asp thats where i got it correct me of it is the wrong board.

Maybe some of the uber techs know some kind of magic fix to get it work though not really a big HD techie.

[Hemal]

What was the other harddrive your computer has seen before it?- what type of computer do you have as well

[olly_k]

Soxrok click on my 'name' my details are amongst the info there just promise not to laugh please
warriorscot thanks for that it has been a while since I last upgraded and was suprised when I got xp2100 working on this mobo I guess didn't think and pushed things too far this time I would have thought that by partitioning I could get past the 'size' problem but then if `98 sees the whole disk then thats that.
I will give others a chance to come up with more info but your advice has been noted!

Also I assume the reason the bios correctly? detects the drive is due more to a sort of label the drive hands out and not anything more technical?

Edited by olly_k, 16 July 2005 - 01:07 PM.

[warriorscot]

Yeah your motherboard is designed to handle communications with the hard drive at ATA100 speed by having a faster hard drive they will be out of sync. There may be a way to slow the drive down.

[olly_k]

ok I think this is a mobo issue caus according to microsoft fdisk can handle to 2 TB also maxtors own 'maxblast' is compatable with '98 and is also able to pass the 137 barrier so I will try this just for the sake of it...

Just an idea, but could I get a ata133 controller card for this drive? could that solve my problems?

[RogueComGeek]

Windows 98

Windows 98 does not natively support 137GB drives. However, there are some 3rd party utilities that will allow you to see the full capacity of the drive once the operating system has been installed (no support for installing to a full size partition).

Below you will find solutions for overcoming this capacity limitation with the advantages and disadvantages for each method.

3rd Party Controller Cards

Using a 3rd party controller card will allow you to overcome the 137 GB limit by providing 48-bit support at the BIOS level and by providing drivers with 48-bit support. This is arguably the safest method for utilizing your drives full capacity:

Advantages:

* Card provides 48-bit support at the BIOS level
* Card comes with 48-bit support drivers
* Card is plug-and-play compatible

Disadvantages:

* Card must be purchased
* An additional PCI slot is required
* must run thought pci bus

Notes concerning the Windows 98 version of Scandisk and FDISK

Scandisk

The version of Scandisk that comes with Windows 98 does not support partitions larger than 137GB. If you try to run Scandisk on one of these drives you will receive the following error.

“ScanDisk could not continue because your computer does not have enough available memory. If any other programs are running, quit one or more of them, and then try running Scandisk again.“

FDISK

If you choose to use FDISK instead of DiscWizard you will need to partition the 137GB that can be seen, or partition using the "percentage" method. In FDISK, a 137GB limited drive will show up as 65,533MB. For more information, please see our FDISK FAQ.
source:seagate

Edited by RogueComGeek, 16 July 2005 - 02:34 PM.

[olly_k]

Hi RogueComGeek, that's quite a bit there and has left me a little confused.... You are suggesting it is software (win98) that is letting me down where I thought it was hardware - and hence why I mentioned getting the controller - never thought such device could overcome software issues - if I even have any?!?!?
by the way I tried % in fdisk this still only left me with a 25Mb drive after format LOL!
If I could get the drive partitioned into chunks less than 32Mb or whatever would this not overcome win98 limitations....? thats where I thought maxblaster would come into its own.
I have one final option here - I have next to no money but if I keep things secret from the misses I guess I could sneak down to Micro-Direct in morning and whip in a recon mobo and a stick of ram - seen a MSI KT4AV for £20 ($38 or so dollers???) so this could be the best available option to me???? I am just wandering if there is a trick or somthing I am really hanging by the skin of my teath now!

suppose if I get a new mobo with DDR I might see a speed increase with Half Life2

Oh and yes if I have to move across to XP then that is the next thing I will worry about!

Edited by olly_k, 16 July 2005 - 02:55 PM.

[warriorscot]

Well a controller card should fix it assuming the hard drive itself is ok, and is cheaper than a a new mobo. Isnt micro-direct an internet shop.

[olly_k]

Well a controller card should fix it assuming the hard drive itself is ok, and is cheaper than a a new mobo. Isnt micro-direct an internet shop.

Just down the road from me - they have a show room which is where I bought the drive today!
I will see what they have to offer tomorrow....

Thanks for all the help

[Tyger]

What you need to do, assuming that your old drive still works. If it doesn't you will need to borrow another computer for this phase. Install the Maxtor software on the old drive. Use it, and not fdisk, to partition and format the new drive, installed as slave. It is specially designed to see the whole drive, that's why you need it. I beleive you need the jumper for masking on at this point. Be sure that you choose the drive overlay option when you format.

If you want to clone your old drive, now use the drive to drive copy. If you want to reinstall Windows fresh, then just put the new drive as master and run the installation. Make sure you get the Windows update for 98 for seeing larger drives. There may also be a chipset update at the Windows site, and your MoBo or chipset mfr. may have one also.

If you don't have the Maxtor software, bought an oem drive, then just go to www.maxtor.com and download it.

Oh yes, and read the instructions.

Edited by Tyger, 16 July 2005 - 04:02 PM.

[olly_k]

What you need to do, assuming that your old drive still works. If it doesn't you will need to borrow another computer for this phase. Install the Maxtor software on the old drive. Use it, and not fdisk, to partition and format the new drive, installed as slave. It is specially designed to see the whole drive, that's why you need it. I beleive you need the jumper for masking on at this point. Be sure that you choose the drive overlay option when you format.

If you want to clone your old drive, now use the drive to drive copy. If you want to reinstall Windows fresh, then just put the new drive as master and run the installation. Make sure you get the Windows update for 98 for seeing larger drives. There may also be a chipset update at the Windows site, and your MoBo or chipset mfr. may have one also.

If you don't have the Maxtor software, bought an oem drive, then just go to www.maxtor.com and download it.

Oh yes, and read the instructions.

Hey Tyger that sounds great, now can I ask what you mean by 'you need a jumper for masking on at this point'? I will try to look this up in mean time....
Yes I have my original drive using right now infact so if above works I will bbe well chuffed

[olly_k]

Just want to thank everybody you have all helped me work out what needed doing (actually very little! - fdisk was the problem) I am now looking at 28Gb free on c: 30 odd on d and 100Gb on e (for the tunes and stuff) just have to wait another 6 months now for my next upgrade

Thanks again.

[warriorscot]

There is also the small problem that the drive is incompatible with his motherboard.

[olly_k]

There is also the small problem that the drive is incompatible with his motherboard.

Well so is the processor I have running on it but it still runs Hard drive is working spot on bud no problems (touch wood)