[pengyou]

Is it possible to install win 98 on a SATA drive that is mounted in an external usb enclosure? I know that 98 does not support SATA controllers...but not sure who the SATA drive in the USB enclosure would be treated. I have some older hardware that I still like to use but it only runs in 98 or 2000, some only in 98.

 

[OldGrayGary]

Hi pengyou


I would expect that you might be able to get Windows 98 installed to an external drive - if you installed it into a virtual environment (VMWare, Virtual PC, etc.) - from a host computer running Windows XP / Vista / 7, or Linux.

I'm not sure if it would perform all that well on a SATA drive attached via a USB 2.0 adapter. It might see better performance on an internal drive. An eSATA solution should be fast enough.

Attempting to install Windows 98 onto an external drive natively is nearly impossible to get working properly. Some of those who are able to make it through Setup find that the system halts on subsequent restarts -- it seems to be linked to how USB was handled back then).

Some of the lighter old win98-era games play OK in virtual environment, with a little tweaking.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

 

[pengyou]

Thanks! So if I install a standard ide drive in the computer and designate it as the master drive I will be able to install 98 on that? How will the computer see an ide drive and a sata drive? which will have presidence?

 

[OldGrayGary]

Hi again


If the computer you want to use for Windows 98 is an older model (2004 or before), you might be able to install Windows 98 "natively". To run Windows 98/98se natively, you of course need to be able to find Win98/98se drivers for all the hardware in the system. It is true that it's easiest if Windows 98 has it's own drive (or at least it's own partition), and it's easiest if that drive is the older IDE (or "PATA" = parallel ATA) type of hard drive. Windows 98se Setup can format it as FAT32 as part of Setup (you answer "Yes" to the prompt "Enable Large Hard Drive Support?").

If you want to dual-boot or multi-boot with other operating systems, you will likely have to re-install a multiboot-capable bootloader after you've installed Windows 98/98se. Windows 2000 & XP, and most versions of Linux are fairly easy to multiboot with Windows 98/98se.

Caveats for trying Win98/98se natively on newer hardware:
-- Win98/98se needs a MaxFileCache setting added to the [VCACHE] section of the system.ini file if more than 512mb of system memory is present. http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=35&threadID=163230&messageID=1674780 Microsoft advises not using more than 1gb, and points to the use of a MaxPhysPage setting for the [386ehn] section of the System.ini file. http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/Q304/9/43.ASP&NoWebContent=1
--- Win98/98se has trouble on some systems with processors faster than 2.1ghz.

The caveats do not apply to installing Windows 98 in a virtual environment.
_______________

Regarding your question about SATA drives & Windows 98: the multi-boot capable bootloader (from Windows XP or LInux) would take care of boot choices. Important note: Windows 98 cannot "see" (cannot read or write to) partitions that are formatted in NTFS or in Linux filesystems [that is, without the use of a third-party program like "NTFS for DOS"]. Windows XP and Linux, however, have no trouble at all in reading Windows 98 FAT32 partitions.

Best of luck
. . . Gary