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Installing NT Server 4.0

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by cvivek

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Hi everyone,
I am installing Win NT 4.0 Server on a 20GB IDE Single HDD.
When i am partioning the same it senses only 8GB instead of 20GB. I tried to boot throu CD , Win95 and Dos6.22, but still i am not able to get 20GB HDD while partioning.

Pl. help me in this regard.

regards,
vivek

12 replies

by basicit

You have run into one of the limitations of NT NTFS. There are many work arounds to this limitation, but you get much better performance and reliability if make one small partition for the OS (C: = 2GB) and a larger partition for APPs and DATA
(D:= 18GB)

by nbard

I would make the system drive to 4GB so you have more than enough room and I would only create the c drive partition during the install. Once the box is up and running, go into the Disk Administrator utility under start, programs, administrative tools(common) and set the other drive up there.

by curlergirl

During the initial install of NT 4.0, the largest partition size you can use is 4GB - this is a limitation of the NT installation procedure. Also, NT versions prior to SP4 do not correctly detect hard disks larger than 8GB, which is why you can only see 8GB of your 20GB drive during the install. So, don't worry about it - just create your initial boot/system partition at any size up to 4GB. I use 2GB as a minimum, more if I want to install additional software (other than NT) into that same partition. After installing NT and all your services, drivers, etc., for the basic operating system, run the latest service pack. THEN go to Disk Adminstration and configure and format the remainder of your hard drive. Hope this helps!

by gel

Most of the responses are correct about the limitation of NT. But it was been corrected before by many server manufacturers. In my case i have paritition my disk as follows.
disk 1 = 9gb c:\winnt
dis2 2 = 20gb d:\
disk 3 = 20gb e:\
disk 4 = 20 gb 10 gb f:\
10 gb g:\
since i have only 3 scsi slots.

I was been so grateful that i have the Server installation CD which guide me on how do it.

If you don't have the installation cd ask for your server manufacturer.

Hopes this help

by schitzoid

Microsoft Knowledge Base article deals with this exact issue. Its because the shipping version of the device driver for atapi drives has limitations. The download lets you install an atapi driver the same way you do any other third party scsi driver**. I like to replace the atapi.sys(sp4) with atapi.sys(sp5/sp6), but its not necesary.
** anyone new to NT installation finding this post, this means pressing (f6) during "setup is inspecting your computer", and later choosing "S" to install addition scsi devices.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q197/6/67.ASP
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-unsup-ed/fixes/nt40/atapi/ATAPI.EXE

by schitzoid

ps, because when you first fomat your disk during the install it uses fat16, and then converts it to NTFS after the first restart(if you chose format NTFS), you will still be limited to 4G for your install, if not 2G, but after you're up and runningyou should be able to partition the rest of the drive. I typically choose 2048MB ntfs for the OS, then use the rest of the drive for data. If you still can't get as big a partition as you want for your install, format the drive NTFS from another machine first, or install on another drive, use that to format the big disk, then install on the big one. Kind of a long way to go, but it should work. **remember, you need the atapi driver from sp4 of higher, but ntfs from sp4 or higher can't be read by the install!**
and as much as I hate to tell people to go buy software, if happen to have partion magic handy it can either format the drive for you before you start the install, or resize it after you're done. But you can get by without it if youhave to.

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