I recently installed DOS 6.22 on my 20 gig HDD, and it ran fine for a while. Suddenly files started disappearing and everything crashed. I can't even store things on it from my Windows XP machine with it set as a slave drive. I noticed that my XP machine now registers it as just 2 gigs instead of 20; is this because FAT16 can't handle anything above 2 gigs, or is the drive dead?

Also, I tried formatting the drive with Windows XP and it won't let me. Have I killed my disk with DOS 6.22 and FAT16, or is there still a way to save it?

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

Did you partition and format with 6.22?

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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

I just went through with the install disks for 6.22 and it did whatever was done automatically. Originally the disk was FAT32, as I had Win98 running on it. Then, the install disk for 6.22 formatted it, but it slipped my mind that it would format with FAT16 and that FAT16 has disk size limitations.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

XP can read FAT12/FAT16/FAT32/NTFS/NTFS3.x.

MS-DOS 6.22 needs to be installed on FAT16 max 2GB or FAT12.

MS-DOS 6.22 has a hard drive cylinder limit therefore it is wise to install it on the first hard drive on the C: partition.

Last but not least GOOGLE will give more insight on above, personally would wipe the drive and start afresh http://www.killdisk.com

Yeah, you didn't have 6.22 running on a 20 gig fat32 partition. You say it previously was fat32 as you had 98 on it. 98 will run just fine on fat16 and I suspect that was the case. Either that or you unknowingly ran fdisk and removed the fat32 partition. You can't change a fat32 partition back to fat16 by just formatting it.

And no, you haven't hurt the disk by having a fat16 partition.

I know that XP can read FAT16 because it was able to read the files on the drive; it just started having writing errors when putting new files on it, and the files already there started corrupting after I installed a sound card driver.

The only reason I thought it was formatted to FAT16 from FAT32 was because XP now shows it as a 2 gig drive instead of a 20, and I know that FAT16 has a 2 gig limit.

If the FAT16 partition itself isn't the problem, perhaps the way DOS wrote the files to the disk was? The disk probably exceeded 6.22's drive cylinder limit.

As for the formatting, I just assumed that it was formatted with FAT16 with the DOS installation disks because 6.22 supposedly can't run on anything higher. I know during the installation process the drive was formatted, but I never ran fdisk. Could this be the problem? Is 6.22 attempting to run on FAT32? Should I try running fdisk? If I can format it at all and get any file system working on it at this point it would be great.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

Guessing and assuming won't help.
You need to partition and format with 6.22.

=====================================
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

If you do not require any information on the hdd:-

a) download the low level formatter from the hdd makers website and run

b) then fdisk and format, but use up to date versions from W2000 or whatever.

If format shows no or a few bad sectors, then the hdd is probably fine.

Advise howw you get on.

Good Luck -Keep us posted.

Here we go again with the widely heralded but seldom seen LLF of IDE HD.

There is no fdisk in w2k.

=====================================
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

http://www.killdisk.com

....this is DOS Software, no NT O/S etcetc. this will wipe the drive....

I guess I'd have to attempt a 6.22 installation on fat32 to see exactly what happens. I know it won't install as it is but I don't know what it'll do about it.

I mentioned above that maybe you were running 98 on a 2 gig fat16 partition and didn't realize it. It's also possible the drive wasn't fully partitioned in the first place and the 6.22 installation carved out 2 gig of the remaining unpartitioned space.

Yeah, be careful of low level formatting drives that size. Most IDE LLF utilities were for drives up to maybe 4 gig. It's not likely you'll find one on a manufacturer's site for a drive that large. First try a zero fill as dosser mentioned.

If you do want to low level format it try using Disk Manager. I uploaded it here:

http://members.driverguide.com/driv...

Hi DAVEINCAPS,

My take on LLF is that it won't work on a HD that uses 'sector translation' which would seem to limit it to much less; maybe 120MB.

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If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

Maxtor had 2 or 3 LLF's for their smaller drives. I remember they were pretty specific on which drive model needed which LLF. The last one they made (as far as I know) was MAXLLF and it was for their drives up to a few hundred meg. I've used that utility successfully on drives up to 4 gig and probably larger. As far as I know it never messed up the drive translation.

There doesn't seem to be a universal definition for 'low level format'. You have the zero fill, which is sometimes spoken of as a low level format. And you have the initial format done at the factory. I think the ones like maxllf are somewhere between those. Even the ones in that group don't always do the same thing. With maxllf you can specify C/H/S or LBA. I've used that feature on some 1-2 gig drives where an old P-1 bios was only seeing them as 500 meg drives. Formatting them as LBA would fix that.

Most of the time a LLF is a last-ditch effort before tossing a drive. So if it doesn't work you really haven't lost anything. But with a 20 gig drive that may not be bad I think I'd be a little more careful.

"I guess I'd have to attempt a 6.22 installation on fat32 to see exactly what happens. I know it won't install as it is but I don't know what it'll do about it."

'It will state that it is unable to install, as it will not recognise FAT32 as a valid File Allocation Table'

If one wants up to a 4GB FAT16 C: Partition then that is available with PTS-DOS.

Yeah, but the poster indicated it went from an apparent 20 gig fat32 to a 2 gig fat16 with no extra steps on a 6.22 installation. I was curious if it did more than just stop at an error message, perhaps prodding him to run fdisk, etc.

As I recall, if setup doesn't find a valid partition it gives a brief explanation and then exits. But, given the poster's explanation, I thought maybe I missed something.

I'll try to walk everyone through the situation.

Okay, at first the drive was FAT32 with a Windows 98 SE installation, and I know this for fact. Then I booted up the computer with the DOS 6.22 installation disk and began the installation process. It proceeded to ask where to install DOS, and I chose the C drive. Next screen it proceeds to format successfully with no problems, then asks to reboot. I did this, the installation of the OS itself continued, and everything worked fine. Later on after I installed my sound card driver, suddenly all the files began corrupting. The drivers themselves were the first to corrupt, then it had boot errors, and now everything I plug it into claims there was an error writing to the drive.

We are Microsoft; resistance is futile.

Dear Goron - I would suggest you either go with my suggestion of running a LLF which should reset the hdd back to a known good state.

Alternatively, only run fdisk and then format. This you can do by creating a boot disk containing these programs with W98.

However watch the size of the hdd in the bios at each stage.

If you find a much smaller capacity is showing. Download the drive manager program from the hdd makers website, which should overcome the problem.

It sounds as if your problem stems from attempting to install dos 6.2x (fat 16) on a hdd already set to fat32, which may have corrupted the hdd indexing or whatever.

This is a common fault when trying to do the same with NTFS back to FAT32.

Let us know how you get on.

Good Luck - Keep us posted.