54 gb's out of 120 gb Harddrive

[diablo1]

i helped a buddy put in a 120 gb HD and install windows 98 on it, in the bios it reads about 54 gbytes but when i double click on my computer and pick properties of the c drive it says it read 111gb...

the machine is an ibm the bios date say 2000. cant update the bios.


it also only has 16 bits of color qualityin the displayt properties settings, it ask POPup to cahnge to 256 but it cant change to 256 bit.

also its very slow moving

someone said if it running slow i have to partition the size of the hard drive? split up up does this sound right? or is there another way to get it running, except he doesnt want to use a controller card..

if partiotion is the answer how do i do that in windows 98, do i have to reinstall windows again

[laurieA]

I believe there's a 98+ update patch to recognise larger hd's (but maybe you don't need it if it shows 111 in m c). The only way you can save having to reinstall 98 is using Partition magic. otherwise you'll have to fdisk with 98 bootup floppy and partition http://fdisk.radified.com/

[diablo1]

if the bios is reading 54gb and the c -drive is saying 111gb . can i partition it to 111 gb? why is one saying 54gb and the other saying 111 gb?

if i repartition with partition magic to 111gb will i lose an information already on my hard drive?

since the bios is reading 54 gb should i just make two partitions of 54 gb's?

[BertImmenschuh]

The size of a hard drive displayed in the BIOS is a limit of the BIOS. If it sees less than the actual size, you will need either a BIOS update [from the maker of the computer or motherboard] or use a drive overlay software from the drive maker. It essentially 'lies' to the BIOS about what it is. Works with an empty drive only, install the OS after applying the overlay.

There is an fdisk update for larger than 64GB drives and Win98 from <a target="_blank" href=http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q263044>http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q263044</a>.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue>

[diablo1]

there isnt a bios update from the manufacturer..i dont want to do an fdisk and erase my hard drive and lose all my info amd file, so what are my options just partition the hard drive to 54 gb with partition magic?

[BertImmenschuh]

Since you already have data on the drive, it is partitioned. All drives have to have at least one partition to be useful.

You may indeed be limited to what you have. Again, if the BIOS can't see the full size of the drive, the Operating System usually won't either.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue>

[diablo1]

can i resize the partition with partition magic to the 54 gb's thats the bios is seeing

thanks

[BertImmenschuh]

PartitionMagic can resize partitions, usually without losing data, but no guarantees it will work correctly every time.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue>