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Big HDD & 48-bit LBA Thread Index On using HDDs larger than 137 GB (128 GiB) with Win 9x/ME Rate Topic:

#1 dencorso

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Posted 23 January 2009 - 10:38 PM

MSFN Threads:
==========

Other Useful Links
============
Maximus-Decim's BHDD31 (a. k. a. BHDD31e)
MSKB Q311561
MSKB Q280737
MSKB Q263044
48bitLBA.com
Via's SerialATA_V220E.zip (direct download)
RLoew's Software Homepage
The Ranish Partition Manager
Free FDISK v. 1.2.1 (direct download)

This post has been edited by dencorso: 12 August 2011 - 04:38 PM

#2 dencorso

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Posted 23 January 2009 - 10:39 PM

Micro How-To
===========

Case One: One already has Win 9x working, out of a <137GB disk, and simply wants to add another >137GB IDE HDD, as a second disk, not as system disk:
1) Grab and install BHDD31.ZIP.
2) Reboot. Win 9x now has 48-bit LBA support.
3) Add new (Big) HDD. Partition and format it with The Ranish Partition Manager.
4) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!

Case Two: One already has Win 9x working, out of a <137GB disk, and simply wants to substitute it for a >137GB IDE HDD, as system disk:
1) Grab and install BHDD31.ZIP.
2) Reboot. Win 9x now has 48-bit LBA support.
3) Clone the boot partition of the old disk to the boot partition of the new one.
3) Swap the disks.
4) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!

Case Three: One wishes to do a fresh install on a >137GB IDE HDD, using the original Windows Install CD.
1) Partition and format the HDD with The Ranish Partition Manager.
2) Start windows install and *turn off* the machine at the point when it starts to reboot into Win 9x.
3) Boot to DOS from a diskette and substitute the file ESDI_506.PDR found at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS by the updated one, grabbed from inside BHDD31.ZIP. Win 9x now has 48-bit LBA support.
4) Resume windows install.
5) After it finishes install BHDD31.ZIP, to update the other programs.
6) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!

Case Four: One wishes to do a fresh install on a >137GB IDE HDD, using a modified Windows Install CD.
1) Copy the contents of your Windows 98 install CD to a folder in your HDD.
(Let's use D:\98CD\ as an example.)
2) Extract the contents of BHDD31.ZIP to D:\98CD\Win98.
(Extracting !read.me, _bighdd.inf, _install.bat and xxFiles.txt isn't necessary.)
3) Extract the boot sector from the original install CD using IsoBuster or UltraISO.
4) Burn the contents of D:\98CD\ to CD or CD-R with your favorite CD burning program.
(Don't forget to make your CD bootable with the boot sector you just extracted!)
5) Partition and format the HDD with The Ranish Partition Manager.
6) Install Windows 98 from CD like you would normally do.
7) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!
[thanks to TooMuchFreeTime, original version in post #7]

Some relevant Q&A:
===============

rloew, on 05 September 2011 - 11:23 AM, said:

I41Mar, on 05 September 2011 - 07:26 AM, said:

Hello dear Win9x forum, I have some (perhaps old?) questions:

1) If I understand correctly, I can safely use a PATA HD larger of 137GB with my PC board - that doesnt supports 48-bit LBA - only if I not partition and not format the HD part exceeding that limit, right? For example I can partition and format a 160GB PATA HD only for the first 0-136GB part, and the rest of the HD is in unused state (unalloctated)?
2) If I use a BHDD31 package (and then have an updated ESDI_506.PDR driver) I am under the same limitations because of the my PC BIOS limitations (not support for 48-bit LBA, then DDO required), right?
3) For SATA HD the only limitations are those of the my PC BIOS limitations (not support for 48-bit LBA, DDO required), right?

Thank you in advance and for your great patience.
I41Mar

1. Correct
2. Correct
3. If you connect the SATA Drive to the Motherboard with a SATA - PATA adapter then the same issue applies.
If you use an add-on PCI Card then the Card BIOS determines support.

*** This Section is still Under Construction ***

This post has been edited by dencorso: 05 September 2011 - 12:11 PM

#3 seskanda

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Posted 24 January 2009 - 05:28 PM

Thanks a lot for this reference.

#4 TooMuchFreeTime

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 01:47 AM

Quote

Case Three: One wishes to do a fresh install on a >137GB IDE HDD.
1) Partition and format the HDD with The Ranish Partition Manager.
2) Start windows install and *turn off* the machine at the point when it starts to reboot into Win 9x.
3) Boot to DOS from a diskette and substitute the file ESDI_506.PDR found at C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS by the updated one, grabbed from inside BHDD31.ZIP. Win 9x now has 48-bit LBA support.
4) Resume windows install.
5) After it finishes install BHDD31.ZIP, to update the other programs.
6) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!

Why would you go through all that when you can just put the extracted ESDI_506.PDR file to the folder where you are going to install Windows 98 from?
I just did this and the updated ESDI_506.PDR file was copied to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\IOSUBSYS during normal Windows install without any unnecessary reboots or DOS diskettes...

#5 Winn98er

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 09:07 PM

TooMuchFreeTime, on Jan 30 2009, 01:47 AM, said:

The instructions are for installing Windows 98 using the original CD.

Perhaps Case Four will instruct how to extract ESDI_506.PDR into the contents of the win98 folder copied from the CD to another partition on the harddrive.

#6 dencorso

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Posted 30 January 2009 - 09:54 PM

Winn98er, on Jan 31 2009, 01:07 AM, said:

TooMuchFreeTime, on Jan 30 2009, 01:47 AM, said:

Yes, Winn98er is right! I was thinking about installing Windows 98 using the original CD.
What I wrote are, IMHO, the easiest procedures for one not much familiar with the details of installation to be able to perform with success. Cases One and Two are in fact very simple. Case Three, on the other hand, requires ability to use pure DOS, so it's somewhat more complicated. But the Mini How-To is a work in progress, intended to be enlarged as time permits. If TooMuchFreeTime or you, Winn98er, would be so kind as to describe the procedure in a step-by-step way, just as I did for the three first cases and PM it to me, I'll be glad to add Case Four to the Mini How-To with due credit, of course. While I intend to keep this thread up-to-date, contribuitions from all members are much welcome. :thumbup

#7 TooMuchFreeTime

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Posted 31 January 2009 - 10:38 AM

Case Three seems to make sense if you absolutely have to use completely unmodified Windows 98 install CD... however making a slightly modified install CD isn't too complicated and gives much nicer end result as you don't have to do anything you wouldn’t normally do during windows installation. Here is a rough step-by-step guide:

1) Copy the contents of your Windows 98 install CD to a folder in your HDD.
(Let's use D:\98CD\ as an example.)

2) Extract the contents of BHDD31.ZIP to D:\98CD\Win98.
(Extracting !read.me, _bighdd.inf, _install.bat and xxFiles.txt isn't necessary.)

3) Extract the boot sector from the original install CD using IsoBuster or UltraISO.

4) Burn the contents of D:\98CD\ to CD or CD-R with your favorite CD burning program.
(Don't forget to make your CD bootable with the boot sector you just extracted!)

5) Partition and format the HDD with The Ranish Partition Manager.

6) Install Windows 98 from CD like you would normally do.

7) Get back to Win 9x and enjoy it!

I installed Windows 98 on a computer that has 300GB HDD with a modified install CD-R earlier today and updated versions of ADVPACK.DLL, CVTAPLOG.EXE, DEFRAG.EXE, DSKMAINT.DLL, ESDI_506.PDR, FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, SCANDISK.EXE, SCANDSKW.EXE, W95INF16.DLL and W95INF32.DLL were installed automatically during Windows installation and I didn't have to reboot to DOS prompt in middle of Windows installation.

This post has been edited by TooMuchFreeTime: 31 January 2009 - 10:39 AM

#8 submix8c

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Posted 31 January 2009 - 10:59 AM

FYI - certain VIA chipsets (just as with certain Intel) have drivers that pretty much do the same thing.

The patches above would be for IF you don't want the "certain chipset" drivers OR if you have "other than". Also note that the provided patches (above) appear to work fine (within specified conditions)...

...AND that the VIA drivers (Mini Port Driver) kind of works like XP.

In other words, before the VIA driver (using MSFN fix), I had booted to HDD-2/PART-1 (SecCtlr) with HDD-0and1 (PriCtlr) set as "none" and they weren't seen, and after the VIA they were picked up regardless (via the VIA controller, ignoring the BIOS setting). For fun, I disabled the Primary Controller (PriCtlr) and they "disappeared" again. Useful info for "ignoring" certain HDD's?

Oh, and discovered that older Compaq/HP POS Phoenix BIOS does some kind of wierd "bit-shift" for larger HDD's, so a "clone" of an HDD in PC-A and the "cloned" put in another may not work. You have to literally define/format the partitions in the POS then "copy" the contents of the original. Maybe just cloning the partition will work; dunno. Went nutz helping my brother on this problem - 80GB moved from POS Compaq to older HP POS (both recognized, but HP would not boot - black screen+cursor). Gave up and re-installed on the HP (w/80GB). May have been the diff between chipsets (VIA vs. Intel)? Fair warning...

Ennyhoo, my $.02. (Went nutz on this for a while after installing "new" 250GB.) Happy camper now!

edit - and don't forget to "patch" for GT-1gb RAM...

This post has been edited by submix8c: 31 January 2009 - 11:47 AM