Trying to setup MSDOS (only, no Windows) on a system with a >2.2 GB hard drive. FDISK was done, SETUP launches FORMAT which then returns (after 30 minutes of formatting) to say "disk improperly formatted" and asks whether I want to format again!! Obviously, there is some trick to getting MSDOS 6.22 onto a big hard drive, but I don't know it, and Bill Gates isn't talking! Any help welcome..

If you've ever had Win98 on that hard drive, it may be partitioned as FAT32 which DOS6.22 will not work with. DOS 6.22 and earlier versions require FAT16 partitions. Run fdisk and choose 4 for the partition info. make sure it is a FAT16 partition. I say this because you mention ">2.2 GB" which is larger than FAT16 drives can use. 2.048mb is the maximum partition size you can have with FAT16 unless you use Windows NT, which uses larger cluster sizes. If your drive is larger than 2.048mb, you'll need to create 2 partitions to use all the drive space. DDO software (disk drive overlay) will allow you to have large drives over 2gb under FAT16. There are 3 ddo software packages at my web site if you're interested. MaxBlast for Maxtor drives, EZ-Drive for Western Digital drives, and a generic one that might work on your particular drive.

It isn't very hard. Run FDISK and remove the partition. Create a new partition that's one gigabyte big, and another one with the rest. You will then have two hard drives (C: and D:). Format c: (FORMAT c: /S) and format d: (FORMAT d:) and your system will be working unless something's weird somewhere else.

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