disk partation

Because the initial installation of NT is FAT16, you are effectively limited to installing to a 2 gig partition for the operating system. Create a 2 gig partition, install NT, and go from there.

First, I would assume that the 30 GB drive is an IDE type. If so, then the Microsoft supplied generic IDE driver (Atapi.sys) may not be fully compatible with drives larger that 8 GB. This issue only affects IDE-based drives 8 GB and larger. As long as your BIOS supports EXT INT-13 BIOS calls, then it should recognize drives up to 30GB.

Here's what you do:
1. Download the updated Atapi.sys from Microsoft's FTP server, ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-unsup-ed/fixes/nt40/atapi/ATAPI.EXE and copy the file to a blank floppy disk.
2. Run Atapi.exe on the diskette and the new Atapi.sys file will be extracted to the diskette. Label the disk "ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver."
3. Boot from the three setup disks supplied with Windows NT Server as per normal.
When asked if you would like setup to detect your mass storage devices, press S so that detection is skipped and you specify a mass storage device.
4. When setup list devices found, which should list none, press S again and insert the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver disk and press ENTER twice. After setup reads the disk and list the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE driver, press ENTER to accept the driver.
5. Setup will now list Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver as an installed driver. If you have additional drivers for other mass storage devices, press S, if not, press ENTER to continue through setup.
Setup should continue as per normal but it may prompt you to insert the disk labeled"Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver Support Disk" at the copy phase after you have chosen or formatted a partition on a hard drive.

Good luck!!!

As answer2 states the atapi.sys driver packed with NT4 is able to read upto 1024cld (8GB) during installation. Downloading the NT4 driver does allow you to see the entire drive size during installation, but you will still be limited to a maximum ofa 4G installation partition. Even when choosing NTFS for a file system NT formats the partition in FAT16, then converts it during the first reboot. Because of FAT16 (it uses 64k clusters to reach 4G) you are still limited. You can use a disk utility (like partition magic) to extend it after installation. If you extend it past 8G, make sure you have done SP4 or higher.

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