Hd Problem

[Benno]

I have a little problem with my HD.


A while ago Norton Disk Doctor showed me this error message you can see on the screenshot,

http://server5.uploadit.org/files/bundi33-partitiontable.jpg

as it said i backed up all my data and clicked ok.

http://server5.uploadit.org/files/bundi33-partitiontable2.jpg

After Norton finished it had deleted 2 of 3 partitions I have on that drive. I used Partition Magic 8.0 to recreate them and everything worked fine.
But when I restarted Disk Doctor after I recreated the partitions, it showed me the same error again. After I did it twice and the error kept returning I ignored it because I couldn't notice a problem when using the drive.

But yesterday while downloading a movie with Bittorrent I got a blue screen with a message "Can not write on drive G" and when I try to copy the partially movie to another drive it copies almost to the end then gives me an error message "Movie could not be copied. Device does not recognize the command"

Is there a way to solve this problem without having to backup all data on the disc as I have over 100GB on it.
And how can I avoid this problem in the future?
Could it be because I have a 160GB HD on Win98?

Thanks Benno :ph34r:

[Mad Cat]

This is software problem methinks.

What file system do you use?

[lynx]

What size of partitions are you creating?

Win98 only supports partitions up to 32GB, but I suspect that Partition Magic may allow you to create bigger partitions.

In theory, 32GB is the maximum size for any Fat32 partition, but Win2k and XP somehow manage to deal with partitions bigger than this which is probably why PM allows bigger partitions.

In any case, there may be a problem in Win98 with disks over 137GB, but this is only a guess.

Edit: btw, there are add-on drivers which allow you to create NTFS volumes in Win98, that may be a solution to your problem. It is something like NTFSDOS or DOSNTFS. I know both of these exist, but only one of them is what you would need.

[Benno]

ok thats the problem. Two partitions are 48GB and one is 51GB, though the first time I created it I used Seagate DiscWizard :(

But its strange that it worked fine for quite some time. However if I creat all partitions smaller than 32GB I shouldnt get this anymore?

And then is there a ways to correct this without removing all the data?

Edit: missed your edit :D I'm off to google it

[lynx]

Forget it, I've just done a little investigation.

There is a NTFSDOS freeware version which is read only, and a NTFS for Win98 freeware version, also read only. There is an NTFSDOS Pro (not freeware) which is read/write, but at this moment there is no read/write version of NTFS for Win98 .

[lynx]

Originally posted by Benno@21 January 2004 - 16:48
However if I creat all partitions smaller than 32GB I shouldnt get this anymore?

And then is there a ways to correct this without removing all the data?
Partitions less than 32GB should solve your problem. And I believe Partition Magic 8 should be able to resize your partitions and move them around for you without losing your data. But I would make sure you have a copy first, just to be on the safe side.

[Benno]

Thanks a lot I'm gonna try it with Partition Magic :)

[Lite]

I have used a 57.2gb partition with win 98 in the past :blink: , i think theres a newer version of FDISK that allows this ;)

[Livy]

may i suggest a move to win 2000, and convert to ntfs? alot more stable than 98, and drive is more secure

[cwctv]

In theory, 32GB is the maximum size for any Fat32 partition, but Win2k and XP somehow manage to deal with partitions bigger than this which is probably why PM allows bigger partitions.

Lets sort this once and for all 32GB IS not the largest only if you have 2000 on, its all to do with the size of the clusters per sector BUT I agree its not the best NTFS is for many reasons.

From :- http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;EN-US;154997 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;154997)



FAT32 Features
FAT32 provides the following enhancements over previous implementations of the FAT file system:
FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size.

NOTE:Windows 2000 only supports FAT32 partitions up to a size of 32 GB.

FAT32 uses space more efficiently. FAT32 uses smaller clusters (that is, 4-KB clusters for drives up to 8 GB in size), resulting in 10 to 15 percent more efficient use of disk space relative to large FAT or FAT16 drives.

FAT32 is more robust. FAT32 can relocate the root folder and use the backup copy of the file allocation table instead of the default copy. In addition, the boot record on FAT32 drives is expanded to include a backup copy of critical data structures. Therefore, FAT32 drives are less susceptible to a single point of failure than existing FAT16 drives.

FAT32 is more flexible. The root folder on a FAT32 drive is an ordinary cluster chain, so it can be located anywhere on the drive. The previous limitations on the number of root folder entries no longer exist. In addition, file allocation table mirroring can be disabled, allowing a copy of the file allocation table other than the first one to be active. These features allow for dynamic resizing of FAT32 partitions. Note, however, that although the FAT32 design allows for this capability, it will not be implemented by Microsoft in the initial release.

[Benno]

cwctv if appereantly this is not the problem you know what else it could be?


@Livy
I dont know Im always scared of the unknown :ph34r:

[cwctv]

All I can find is this at Norton's site have you had or done what it say's before using disk doctor.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nunt....src=bar_sch_nam (http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nunt.nsf/b7d67ea5e00135c9852564570050c18d/5818c31dc8b559e58825639c0074115c?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam)

As for this I don't know I never use secondery programs like Partition Magic etc as a matter of fact in norton I only use the anti-virus which is 2000 with updates and Norton Utilities Integrator to keep the registry clean once a month.
Sorry and I am still using ME. :rolleyes:

[lynx]

The File Allocation Table for a 32GB partition could be as much as 256MB in size depending on cluster size, and would be 4MB in size with the maximum cluster size. Because of the way the drivers for Win98 are written, this was adopted as the maximum partition size for Win98, which is why the version of fdisk supplied with Win98 only permits partitions up to 32GB.

WinME provides a version of fdisk which can create partitions greater than 32GB. However, these are NOT guaranteed to work with Win98. For this reason, Win2k and later will only create Fat32 partitions up to 32GB, although they are capable of handling partitions up to 2TB.

Win98 uses 4KB clusters for partitions up to 8GB. This gives a FAT size of 8MB. It is not really suited to handling a FAT which is larger than this. In order to keep the size of the FAT down, it is necessary to increase the cluster size. If the cluster size were increased to the maximum 32KB, this would allow a partition size of 64GB if you were to keep the FAT size below 8MB.

However, an upgrade to Win2k at least is recommended if you want to handle disks of that size.

[_John_Lennon_]

Or even XP, If you have the Ram for it. Processor should be fine no matter what you have, hell, a 486 SX will run Win98.