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I am trying to install a hard drive in a computer but everytime i use the 98 boot disk, it says the hard drive does not have a FAt32 partion, and fdisk says "no fixed disks present" how do i make the hard drive into FAT32 in DOS?
Sounds as if your problem is one of the following:
A.) You have a formatted partition, but it isn't a FAT32 partition and you need a FAT32 partition- or -
B.) You have no properly formatted partition at all and Windows 98 Setup is recommending FAT32.
I don't like to make assumptions, but I'm going to guess that this is a new hard drive and you haven't even partitioned it yet.*If* this is the case (and I made a lucky guess) and you are only installing Windows 98 (no other operating systems) and you aren't using any other boot loaders (like XOSL, GRUB, Boot Commander, Boot Magic, etc.) then you need to do the following:
1.) Figure out how you want to partition your hard disk and what file system(s) you want to use for the partitions.
I tend to use a large number of small partitions, many people use two or three, some people use a single partition for the whole disk. There's definite advantages and disadvantages in each of these scenarios.
Figure out what file system(s) you want to use. I use FAT16 for everything wherever possible, but I do hard disk recording and need the speed. (FAT16 is somewhat faster than FAT32.) Keep in mind that FAT16 will limit you to a maximum partition size of 2GB using "normal" block sizes and 4GB using large 4096K block sizes. Keep in mind that not all versions of DOS and Windows can handle the large block size that makes 4GB FAT16 partitions possible. NT 4.0, 2000, and XP support this, but I don't know if 95, 98, or Me support it.
Once you've figured out what you need...
2.) Create a primary DOS partition on the hard disk.
3.) Mark the primary DOS partition Active (Bootable)
4.) Format the partition with your chosen flavor of FAT.
5.) If you need additional partitions: Create an enxtended partition, create your additional partitions (these will be "logical partitions") within that extended partition, and format them.
6.) Install Windows 98
Search the 'net for information about partitions, FDISK, etc. There's a lot of good information out there, including step-by-step instructions for performing various procedures.
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If your drive is 2GB, I'd just use FAT16. Not only is it slightly faster than FAT32, it's also much more compatible with other versions of DOS, Windows, and other operating systems.
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i have 3 or 4 hard drives that have the same problem, all i need is a program or something like that to partion the drive
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Another big reason I use FAT16 is for compatibility. FAT16 is supported by almost every version of PC-DOS and MS-DOS (yes, there actually were versions that only supported FAT12), SunOS, MacOS, every version of MS-Windows, BeOS, Linux, BSD, Solaris, OS/2, etc. FAT32 isn't so widely supported.
If, for whatever reason, some catastrophe requires you to boot your computer from a floppy and access the hard disk and all you have is an MS-DOS 6.22 boot disk, you'll be glad you used FAT16. (A very unlikely scenario, but I’ve seen it happen--only they guy had used FAT32, couldn't get a bootable floppy or CD-ROM with anything that would support FAT32 and he was S.O.L.)
A lot of people are quick to make the point that FAT32 allows use of very small clusters, thus helping reduce slack space on hard disks, allowing you to use bits that would otherwise be waster. This is true. However, using such small clusters results in a huge allocation table, slows defragmentation, can make data recovery more difficult, and reduces performance slightly--all to recover a relatively small amount of disk space. With hard disk space being as cheap as it is (the dollar per megabyte ratio is getting pretty low these days!), the pros of using small clusters may or may not outweigh the cons. You gain some things and lose some things. It's a compromise. I 'spose it depends on your setup, what you need, and what's important to you.
P.S.--I don't mean to come off as pro-FAT16 and anti-FAT32. There are situations in which I'd whole-heartedly recommend FAT32.
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> i have 3 or 4 hard drives
> that have the same problem,
> all i need is a program or
> something like that to
> partion the drWell, it's not really a problem, you just need to partition your drives.
There are a variety of tools that let you do this, some free, some not, some good, and some simply awful and downright dangerous.
If you are only going to be using Windows 98, I strongly recommend using FDISK--specially, the FDISK.exe utility that came with your copy of Windows 98.
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When i use fdisk on the drive it takes a few seconds, and then it comes up and says
"no fixed disks present"so what do i do?
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Here's some excellent links to get ya started.
Here's a really good run-down on the whole partitioning thing, including instructions on how to do it:
http://oakroadsystems.com/tech/hd-partn.htm
Here's a few more:
Notes on DOS FDISKhttp://www.firmware.com/support/bios/fdisk.htm
FDISK (DOS 7 Command)http://www3.sympatico.ca/rhwatson/dos7/u-fdisk.html
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Does your computer system actually see your hard disks?
Does your motherboard BIOS detect your hard drives?
You may need to check or change BIOS settings using your CMOS setup utility.
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What sort of system is this?
How old is it?
When your computer runs its POST (Power On Self Test), does it detect and list your hard drives?
It sounds like the first thing you'll have to do is make sure your computer hardware is actually able to talk to your hard disks properly.
What kind of interface do these hard disks use? ATA (IDE) or SCSI?
Are they correctly connected/ terminated/ jumpered?
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Once you get your disk hardware working, you might want to check out the links I included in the earlier post and this one as well:
HardwareCentral - Tutorials
All About Partitioninghttp://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/42/1/
This is a very good article that explains the basics.
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CORRECTIONS:
I mentioned FAT16 allows a partition size up to 4GB using 4096K blocks. Obviously, this is a mistake! That should have been *64K* blocks. (I was thinking "64", mis-typed "4", and then automatically converted 4K to bytes in my head, but left the "K". I really should get more sleep!)
Also:
> FAT32 just gives you a Max
> file size if 32 gigFAT32 only allows file sizes up to 4GB, not 32GB.
If you're talking about *partitions*, FAT32 allows a maximum partition size of 2TB (two terabytes).
I bet that some people assume FAT32 only supports partitions up to 32GB 'cause Windows 2000's Disk Administrator won't let you create FAT32 larger than that.
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How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk (Q255867)
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If Fdisk reports no fixed disks present, either the drive isn't setup correctly in the BIOS, it's not physically connected correctly, or the drive is malfunctioning.
My guess is that it isn't connected correctly.
-Michael
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