Jump to content

137GB limit - ESDI_506.PDR and other limits


Recommended Posts

Oh, and the ESDI_506.PDR is an active driver on my IDE channel's. However the only stuff on those channels are my DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives.

So the ESDI_506.PDR doesn't seem to be involved in managing my hard drive.

Right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Oh, and the ESDI_506.PDR is an active driver on my IDE channel's. However the only stuff on those channels are my DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives.

So the ESDI_506.PDR doesn't seem to be involved in managing my hard drive.

Right?

You're using a SATA driver which probably supports 48bit LBA. To see its filename, find the property of the hard disk controller in the Device Manager, and under Driver File Details button in Driver tab.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, thanks. That's what I thought. Just wanted to be sure.

Earlier I had posted that I saw no sign of the ESDI driver, but I just noticed it there in the IDE Primary so I thought I'd mention it. Since it's not managing any hard drive, it's not going to be causing any problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So where do we stand on this?

For someone using Win98SE with a drive greater than 125 GB (or so) REGARDLESS of partition sizes, on a NON-Intel chipset mainboard?

For example, how about a MSI 661FM2-LSR mainboard with an Intel socket 478 P4, and a SIS 964 Dual IDE ATA 66/100/133 controller and a Maxtor 200GB PATA 133 HDD?

It has already "wrapped around" and had to have it all reinstalled, and is stable (for now) - and no it's not THIS machine... :)

Just wonderin'....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I was testing a bit with the DOS Device Drivers, especially the ones used by MDGX in his ultimate search for free system resources: http://www.mdgx.com/mem7.htm

I noticed the new released QDMA driver which finally seems to work properly in combination with UMBPCI.sys and Windows 98SE :)

Also QCDROM is optimized:

V1.1 08-Mar-06 QCDROM now "shares" V1.4+ QDMA's XMS buffers, to avoid "PIO mode" and gain more speed! Added support for up to 3 CD/DVD drives.

config.sys

; Load DOS HIGH + enable DOS UMA (Upper Memory Area):
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
; UMBPCI.SYS v3.65 Upper MEMory Extender [enables UMA]:
DEVICE=C:\MAX\UMBPCI.SYS
QDMA DOS UltraDMA Disk Driver
DEVICEHIGH=C:\MAX\QDMA.SYS /O /D /F
; QCDROM.SYS universal MS-DOS mode IDE/ATAPI CD/DVD driver:
DEVICEHIGH=C:\MAX\QCDROM.SYS /D:CDRW /D:DVDROM /UF

To avoid MS-DOS compatibility mode warnings in Windows you need to add the following lines to the [safeList] section in

Windows\Ios.ini

qdma.sys; QDMA DOS UltraDMA Disk Driver

Have fun :hello:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tested some more. My motherboard: VIA KT333 supports UDMA properly in Dos 7.1 (Windows 98) without any extra drivers. When I disable UDMA in BIOS for my HDD, I'm back to PIO-mode.

MDGX, on what hardware do you use the QDMA driver?

Edited by hp38guser
Link to comment
Share on other sites

MDGX, on what hardware do you use the QDMA driver?
I can't use QDMA.SYS/XDMA.SYS/similar drivers on the PC I use now, because the BIOS already has support for UATA/UDMA built-in, and those drivers abort when they detect BIOS support.

But if you are referring to the CD/DVD driver:

I'm using QCDROM.SYS with both my Plextor CD-RW PX-W1610A 16/10/40A EIDE/ATAPI and with my Pioneer DVD-115 EIDE/ATAPI 16x DVD 40x CD drives. Works great.

Hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
check out this article by Fred Langa that talks about Drive Size Limits:

http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-10.htm#4

Yet more misinformation...
That segues into software, which can have exactly the same kind of mathematic limitations. The old DOS FAT12 system, with a 12-bit addressing scheme, could only handle drives to 16.7MB in size; DOS3 brought this to 33.6MB; DOS4 to 134MB; Fat16 has a 2.15GB maximum; FAT32 a 32GB max; and so on.
I clearly remembering using DOS 4.01 with a 300Mb hard disk... the actual maximum limit is 2Gb.
You also can run into problems with non-OS software: The Win98 Format tool, for instance, maxes out at 64GB due to its own, separate internal limits.
Isn't it 128Gb? :blink:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unless he's changed, he doesn't mind being corrected when he's wrong. I've called him on things a couple of times & he corrected them. He's only human, and doesn't know/remember everything, although sometimes thinks he does! What I didn't appreciate was the demeaning way he talked about 98se and all the terrific work you people are doing here!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 98SE startup diskette is fine for large hard drives as long as you overwrite fdisk.exe with the newer one fixed by Microsoft. Format works fine as well. It just doesn't report the correct size while it's working. When it's done it does report the full size it formatted.

I've done 250GB single partition and multi-partition hard drives with these tools with no problems. It's just that Windows 9x doesn't run them properly unless they are on a SATA controller with its own driver or a seperate PCI ATA card with its own driver.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 98SE startup diskette is fine for large hard drives as long as you overwrite fdisk.exe with the newer one fixed by Microsoft. Format works fine as well. It just doesn't report the correct size while it's working. When it's done it does report the full size it formatted.

I've done 250GB single partition and multi-partition hard drives with these tools with no problems. It's just that Windows 9x doesn't run them properly unless they are on a SATA controller with its own driver or a seperate PCI ATA card with its own driver.

Eck, i think you mean the newer fdisk.exe file from Q263044.

Unless he's changed, he doesn't mind being corrected when he's wrong. I've called him on things a couple of times & he corrected them. He's only human, and doesn't know/remember everything, although sometimes thinks he does! What I didn't appreciate was the demeaning way he talked about 98se and all the terrific work you people are doing here!

yes some of the things Fred said might be inaccurate. i just hope some of you guys arent dissing my guy Fred.

Edited by erpdude8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

-lol, yeah, I've liked the ol' "Langalist" from waaaaay back.... :thumbup

...

-but it does appear he's a bit lost on this HD stuff... I mean, he said FAT32 limits to 32GB? hmm, guess my win98se OS, for the past several years, has just been IMAGINING that it's really accessing all the files on BOTH of my filled-up 120GB HD's... (and no corruption/errors, of course) B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...