Reformatted HD

jagster1254 · 03-12-2006, 07:18 PM

Dear Tech suport,
I recently reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98 SE on an older computer. After the format, Windows seems to only recognize 1.99GB of the 15GB HD. Also, the video card won't show more than 16 colors, but I suppose once I can connect to the internet, I can solve that problem. Thanks.

**linderman** · 03-12-2006, 07:45 PM

your video card drivers need to be installed to get past the 16 colors setting

and sounds to me like you formatted your hard drive with fat16 instead of fat32 ????????? you can check my hunch by going into the device manager and right clicking on your hard drive found in the disk storage section

there should be a fat conversion tool in win98se

check out this link >>> and FAT drive conversion

http://www.informationweek.com/share...cleID=14700253

dont hesitate to ask more questions

***** and by the way if you want to know which wrong turn you took ????? it was at the FDISK level when you first run FDISK and and it asks you if you want to use the maximum allowable size ALWAYS select YES

this does not necissarily mean you cant have multiple partitions >>> but you need to answer YES to have your drive set-up for FAT32 otherwise when you select NO you get the FAT16 file system which limts you to 2gig partitions

**linderman** · 03-12-2006, 07:54 PM

here is some damn good reading

http://fdisk.radified.com/

and another tid bit for ya >>>> if you ever want to fdisk a drive larger than 64gig

you can do it by using a Windows ME bootdisk the mellinum version has an improved version of fdisk which supports drives larger than 64gig >>>> but never format a drive larger than 120 gig with fdisk and fat32 !!!!! thats disaster

you can get free bootdisks at www.bootdisk.com

there is some information overload for ya !! Tylenol moments LOL

jagster1254 · 03-14-2006, 03:10 PM

I immediately thought about that once I reformatted, and I converted to FAT32. The drive was still thought to be 1.99GB. I dont have to re-reformat, do I?

**linderman** · 03-14-2006, 06:05 PM

the situation you are encountering is the drive was set-up with fat16 limitations, so therefore it only made one partition on the drive and it made the one partition its limted size of 1.99 gig

then by using the drive converter to convert to fat32 does not undo the partition size it made; you basically have two options

A) reformat the drive and choose the proper format selection at the start

B) you could use Boot It NG (free for 30 days) and resize your partition to include the whole drive >>>>> easiest and fastest fix: as it wont mess with your windows OS or data & programs

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/

if you choose to use boot it ng >>>> print out the manual before you begin using >>>> its very easy to understand & well written

blacklightining · 03-20-2006, 12:35 AM

would that work on a hard drive that will not let me partiton it?

**linderman** · 03-20-2006, 04:47 AM

yes it will work on your drive

03-12-2006, 07:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
jagster1254 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2 OS: Win98	Reformatted HD Dear Tech suport, I recently reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98 SE on an older computer. After the format, Windows seems to only recognize 1.99GB of the 15GB HD. Also, the video card won't show more than 16 colors, but I suppose once I can connect to the internet, I can solve that problem. Thanks.

03-12-2006, 07:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	your video card drivers need to be installed to get past the 16 colors setting and sounds to me like you formatted your hard drive with fat16 instead of fat32 ????????? you can check my hunch by going into the device manager and right clicking on your hard drive found in the disk storage section there should be a fat conversion tool in win98se check out this link >>> and FAT drive conversion http://www.informationweek.com/share...cleID=14700253 dont hesitate to ask more questions *** and by the way if you want to know which wrong turn you took ????? it was at the FDISK level when you first run FDISK and and it asks you if you want to use the maximum allowable size ALWAYS select YES this does not necissarily mean you cant have multiple partitions >>> but you need to answer YES to have your drive set-up for FAT32 otherwise when you select NO you get the FAT16 file system which limts you to 2gig partitions __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be!** Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial Last edited by linderman; 03-12-2006 at 07:49 PM.

03-12-2006, 07:54 PM	#3 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	here is some damn good reading http://fdisk.radified.com/ and another tid bit for ya >>>> if you ever want to fdisk a drive larger than 64gig you can do it by using a Windows ME bootdisk the mellinum version has an improved version of fdisk which supports drives larger than 64gig >>>> but never format a drive larger than 120 gig with fdisk and fat32 !!!!! thats disaster you can get free bootdisks at www.bootdisk.com there is some information overload for ya !! Tylenol moments LOL __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

03-14-2006, 06:05 PM	#5 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	the situation you are encountering is the drive was set-up with fat16 limitations, so therefore it only made one partition on the drive and it made the one partition its limted size of 1.99 gig then by using the drive converter to convert to fat32 does not undo the partition size it made; you basically have two options A) reformat the drive and choose the proper format selection at the start B) you could use Boot It NG (free for 30 days) and resize your partition to include the whole drive >>>>> easiest and fastest fix: as it wont mess with your windows OS or data & programs http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ if you choose to use boot it ng >>>> print out the manual before you begin using >>>> its very easy to understand & well written __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial Last edited by linderman; 03-14-2006 at 06:07 PM.

03-20-2006, 04:47 AM	#7 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,437 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	yes it will work on your drive __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

03-14-2006, 03:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
jagster1254 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2 OS: Win98	I immediately thought about that once I reformatted, and I converted to FAT32. The drive was still thought to be 1.99GB. I dont have to re-reformat, do I?

03-20-2006, 12:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
blacklightining Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2 OS: xp	would that work on a hard drive that will not let me partiton it?