I bought a new hard drive today (the one I asked about in my first post). I used FDisk and then formatted the new hard disk. After I formatted it, I could access it and put files on it while running Win98SE on my old hard disk, but it said it could only hold 127GB even though the box said 160GB. First, I tried copying all the files from my old hard disk to the new one. I thought I should be able to boot the computer from the new hard disk then, but when I tried, it said "Operating system not found". Then, I took the original hard drive out of the computer and used the system recovery CD-ROM. There did not seem to be any problem with the system recovery while I was doing that, but then after the system recovery was finished and I tried again to boot from the new hard disk, it again said "Operating system not found". How can I get it so I can run Win98SE from the new hard disk?

Can you boot to dos with your recovery CD? In that case, try typing

sys C:<enter>

from the command prompt. But first check in the BIOS setup if there is an option 'virus protection' or something like that, and disable it. This option protects the first sector on the disk from beeing written. This sector has to be written to make the disk bootable.

You should fix this problem first. If your BIOS supports 48-bit LBA, apply the Enable48BitLBA Windows 98 update to access the whole disk. If 48-bit LBA is not supported, partition your new disk with logical disk(s) of total length less than 127 GB and forget about the extra space. Search the forum, this problem is common.

The most easy way to SYS C: would be using a Win98 startup diskette, which can be created on a working Win98 system.

How do I get that update?

There is a thread named "Install w98 on Large Drives (Above the 137Gb Barrier)", it seems to be exactly your issue.

I put the old hard drive back in the computer and made a Win98 startup diskette. Then, I took the old hard drive back out and started the computer from the floppy disk. I typed SYS C: and then pushed enter. Also, I typed FDISK /MBR and then pushed enter, as the hard drive manufacturer's website says to do if there is a "NO OS FOUND" error message. That didn't seem to do any good; when I tried to restart the computer without the Win98 startup diskette, again I got the "Operating system not found" error message. After that, I started the computer from the Win98 startup diskette again and typed C:\WINDOWS\win.com and pressed enter. When I did that, I got an error message that said:

Invalid VxD dynamic link call from CDUDF + 00000190 to device "048B", service I.
Your Windows configuration is invalid. Run the Windows setup program again to correct this problem.
To continue running Windows press Y or ENTER. To quit the current program press N. If you continue running Windows, your system may become unstable. Do you want to continue?
Press Y for Yes or N for No: Y

When I pushed Y, I got an error message that said:

VFAT Device Initialization Failed
A device or resource required by VFAT is not present or is unavailable. VFAT cannot continue loading.
System halted.

Do any of you know why that would happen and what could be done about it?


Do you mean that causes it to say "Operating system not found"? I thought that was about problems with storing more than 137GB on the hard drive. My hard drive only has about 16GB on it, so I wouldn't think there'd be anything beyond that limit.


How do I find out if my BIOS supports 48-bit LBA? My computer is an HP Pavillion 6633C. If it doesn't support 48-bit LBA, do you mean I will have to reformat the hard drive?

Those two problems are not connected. If you have 160 GB hard disk, you should attempt to use it all. This is proabaly not it, but didn't the new drive have letter D: at the time you tried to use SYS? Also, is the primary partition on new harddisk set Active?


I'd use a boot CD with Norton Partition Magic, but that's darned illegal.

You can't move Windows from an HD to another by simply copying the files. You either have to copy the partition with a software used for that very special task or reinstall Windows from the CD.
A fresh install is always recommanded.

This is incorrect. I have copied WinXP, Win2k and Win98 on several occasions.

Win98 bootsector can be rewritten with commands mentioned above. WinNT bootsector can be written by 2k/XP installer. After the sector has been written, just delete the newly installed files and proceed with the copying.

I found out what the problem was, and I have solved it. The partition on the new hard drive was non-bootable. The new hard drive came with a Data Lifeguard Tools CD-ROM. I installed the program that came on that CD-ROM and when I opened that program, I saw that it said "Bootable: no" for the partition on the new hard drive. Another part of the program is for copying from one disk or partition to another, and using that makes the destination partition bootable. However, the WAV files in the WINDOWS\MEDIA folder weren't all copied correctly -- when I restored a minimized window, I heard the sound it's supposed to make when Windows is shutting down, and there were several files with no extension in that folder. I haven't found any other problems with the files on the new hard disk.


Since it was the only hard drive in the computer at the time, I think it had the drive letter C:.

To be exact I must say that of course it is obvious that you can't copy Windows files while Windows itself is running. A boot disk with another operating system is necessary.


This is the same as "Active" in FDisk, right?


Did the program copy Long File Names?

Even that is not true Not with the standard windows copy function off course, but with for instance with a tool like HD copy you can copy everthing on your c: to another partition while running windows. No other OS or bootfloppy needed.

You have different means of achieving the same thing. I never said there weren't special tools for this purpose.

What I meant was that you need a special tool for this purpose.