Hi, I have Win98SE & XP Pro installed on a HPT370 software-striped RAID array. I created a FAT32 partition using Partition Magic 7 and installed Win98SE, then installed XP Pro afterwards on an NTFS partition using the partitioning capabilities of XP. Both OSes work fine, but Drive C in 98SE is in MS-DOS compatibility mode and I can't find how to get it out. Any ideas please?

Thanks,

Roger.

I have run into the same problem you have. I'll take it that your running your HPT370 as a mirror pair.

In my case, it was in Win98 that one of my drive letters was coming up in MS-DOS compatibility mode (you didn't state which OS the message comes up in). The particular drive letter was a NTFS drive, 2nd primary partition.

I know Win98 cannot read NTFS and doesn't support more than 1 primary partition. But some how, Win98 does sometimes recognize that something is there and makes the drive MS-DOS compatible. If you search MS KB, you'll see that there isn't a way, per se, to change it. Its more of an error and putting the drive in MS-DOS mode is the solution Win98 has chosen.

This occured on my 3 HDD/6 OS system (Win98 was the 1st OS installed on the 1st primary FAT partition). Rearranging the partitions got rid of the MS-DOS mode drive.

To make matters worse, I upgraded the 1st HDD to a larger HDD (the one with Win98 on it). When I did a fresh install of Win98 on to it, the problem came back on two different drive letters. Fortunely, and I don't know why, when I replace the installed version of Win98 with a disk copy of the originally installed Win98, they disappeared.

Bottom line is you may have to re do you HDD. It could have happen because you used PM for the first partitioning and format. I don't know as I don't use it. It could have something to do with your partition sizes. What size are your partitions, and is the XP partition a 2nd primary partition or a logical drive in an Extended partition?

>I have run into the same problem you have. >I'll take it that your running your HPT370 >as a mirror pair.

Um, no, a striped array (see the top of my original post).

>In my case, it was in Win98 that one of my >drive letters was coming up in MS-DOS >compatibility mode (you didn't state which >OS the message comes up in).

Yes I did, see my original post again.

>Rearranging the partitions got rid of the >MS-DOS mode drive.

Might give that a try...

>Bottom line is you may have to re do you >HDD. It could have happen because you used >PM for the first partitioning and format. >I don't know as I don't use it.

I wondered this too...

>It could have something to do with your >partition sizes. What size are your >partitions,

2GB WIn98SE, 10GB XP drive (NTFS)

>and is the XP partition a 2nd primary >partition or a logical drive in an >Extended partition?

It's a second Primary.

Cheers,

Roger.

Thank you for pointing out my obviously deficient reading skills.

I did see the stripe array, but didn't realize that it would work for a system drive. Its not what my training indicated (though mirroring works fine) and I never thought to risk my OS installations with 2 (or more) points of failure (two or more HDDs) by using a stripe set without parity.

Wasn't sure from your wording that it was in Win98 that you were seeing the problem.

Glad to have these points clarified.

Now with more info, IMHO, it is either the second primary partition or the stripe set causing Win98 to go DOS mode on its system an boot drive. I've not the experience with PM to hazard a guess.

Re-partition that 2nd primary into a logical drive in an extended partition would be my first (and possibly easiest) choice.

Michael, it wasn't my intention to point out any supposed deficiencies - I'm grateful for the help. I don't mind risking data loss, for the reason that anything that I can't recreate is backed up frequently onto CD.

I suspect that the problem is either because I created the Win98SE C: drive with PM7 or (more likely I think) as you suggest, that Win98SE objects to sitting on a striped array. If that's the case, I'll have to stick it on a spare hard drive I have.

Thanks for the help - I'll let you know what happens.

Roger.