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10GB drive problem

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by jim_rau 1 view

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I just bought a new 10GB Maxtor drive for an older Compaq Deskpro 2000 PC. I upgraded the BIOS on the PC and installed the drive. At this point during an NT4 Workstation install I only see a bit less than 8000MB.

So I try to use the MaxBlast software to resolve this and when I do I get prompted for either a DOS boot disk or a Win9.x Startup Disk!?

I want to install NT4 Workstation. It seems like a Win9.x disk will put FAT32 on the drive? I can't use either the NT4 CD (which the computer will boot from and start an NT4 install) or the NT4 install disks. All I get is a prompt for the DOS or Win9.x disks.

Any clues as to how I can get all 10GB of this drive in NT4 Workstation???

13 replies

by ahttech

Go to the microsoft support site and search for document Q197667. Should take care of your issue.

by jim_rau

You would think this information would have solved the problem but no. It did show me more of the drive but I still can't get it to see all 10GB. Beyond that I can't get NT4W to install and get to the GUI setup. I passed my threshold of never spending more time than money do things of little value so I am going to buy a 6GB drive like I had intended and save this one for a newer PC that can handle it. Thanks for the info, I learned something anyway.

by dmiles

Insert the WINNT workstation in the A drive,upon start hit Shift+F4,at command prompt type FDISK,choose Yes to enable large disk support and follow the on screen instructions to set up and format the hard drive.This may work,if not use the Win95 boot disk and follow above instructions.

by jim_rau

There isn't a Shift+F4 or FDISK option on an NT install. A Win95 disk makes a fat32 partition that NT hates. Thanks for thinking about this though ...

by dmiles

Insert the WINNT workstation in the A and cd rom in drive,upon start hit Shift+F4,at command prompt type FDISK,choose Yes to enable large disk support and follow the on screen instructions to set up and format the hard drive.This may work,if not usethe Win95 boot disk and follow above instructions.

by Former member

NT Setup only allows for 8GB max system drive. You can then expand this using a third party utility such as partition magic.

If I were you, I would make the C drive 3GB and use the 7GB as a D drive...

by jim_rau

It matters little how a partition a drive that will not install but thanks for the observation ...

by larkspur

the win 98 boot disk has drivers for cd rom
insert win 98 boot disk, start computer, when it goes to the a:\ type in the cd rom drive and you should be grovin' right along.
i would go with what Q said and split the drive up.

hope this helps

by jim_rau

I can put the NT CD in the drive and boot from it directly ... but that isn't the issue anyway. Your ideas were welcome though ...

by ec364

Windows NT's system (boot) partition is limited to 4GB (8GB with SP4). Set your C: drive (the system/boot partition) to max of 4GB. You can allocate the rest of the space as drive D:. You just can't use the whole 10GB as one partition.

Do not useMaxBlast overlay driver if your system can recognize large partition (which your system does). Just boot from the NT install disks and start from there. I don't recommend running Windows NT Workstation on top of hard drive overlay. You'll invite trouble.

When you used MaxBlast to partition your disk, it asked for Window 95 startup disk or DOS boot disk simply to format the partition and make it bootable. If you told it to use large partition, larger than 2GB, it needed Windows 95B/98. It's just that.

by jim_rau

This was helpful information as well ... I only wish it (and the first response) had brought me success. I have officially given up, thanks for the useful info though!

by m42

You won't get 10 Gb in one partition, nor is advisable to do so.

Also, trash MaxBlaster and the sort. If your BIOS sees 10 Gb then you won't need that kind of software.

Split the disk in two (or more) partitions, like a 4Gb (for WinNT and Applications) one and a 6Gb one for your files. That will allow you to reformat C: drive (if needed) with minor trouble to your data, plus you have a somewhat faster filesystem in use.

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