formatting probs fat32 - hd > 40GB

[MrOiseau]

Just started working in an IT company,and already I encountered qutie the problem...

While formatting drives larger then 40 GB (in this case Maxtor 80 Gb & Seagate 60 Gb) in FAT32 (with Win 98 SE cd), I get errors with 4/10 of the HD's.
The formatting just stops when at just 60% or so, or it completes but never shows the "LABEL, leave blank for none" line, instead it gives an error.

I thought the FAT32 allocation table could handle drives up to 2 Terabyte?

The systems this problem occures in vary from barebone systems (mostly shuttle barebones with MSI mainboard) to regular desktop systems, with varying mainboards.

This really puts a damper on our production rate, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

(we already contacted manufacturer & ran some drive analyzing tools, the drives are new, no errors in hardware)

 

[Crashman]

I've been doing this a while, and never seen that problem, so it must be something locallised to you.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[svol]

All I can think of is an outdated fdisk.exe and/or format.com version... but I though that problem was fixed in Win98.

I love my Delta 60HP 7000 RPM fan that puts out more dB then CFM

 

[Flinx]

Since ur having problems, u might want to try these suggestions:
Either download a utility from the manufacturer or get Partioning software like "Partition Magic".
<A HREF="http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products" target="_new">http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/products</A>
And see if it buys you any improvement in your production rate.

The loving are the daring!

 

[MrOiseau]

The drives were already checked with a tool from the manufacturer.
Have to be 2 drives : c: containing OS and a software player, and an encrypted D: . Otherwise the software won't work. (limitations made by SABAM, not the software).

(we work with mp3 files, company sells pc's with music)

 

[Flinx]

Those tools can be used for formatting

The loving are the daring!

 

[Flinx]

Using Fdisk? Related?
<A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/fdisk_80g_10g.html" target="_new">http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/faq/fdisk_80g_10g.html</A>
<A HREF="http://support.wdc.com/tips/index.asp?tip=69&static=y" target="_new">http://support.wdc.com/tips/index.asp?tip=69&static=y</A>
<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q263044" target="_new">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q263044</A>

The loving are the daring!


The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 07/29/03 02:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[marneus]

use the version of fdisk that cam with Win ME or partition with partition magic...

or your board will not support HDDs bigger than 32-40gig, what boards have you got ???

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...

 

[MrOiseau]

After research it seems that
-win 98 & tools can handle drives up to 2 Terabyte, FDISK and FORMAT just are capable of showing HD's up to 32GB. Larger media will be adequately handled, it just displays wrong info.
Systems at our company also seemed to have been wrongly assembled (HD & CD-ROM connected with a normal IDE cable, both with jumpers on 'cable select' - which caused the IDE controller to fail; eg.) .
Also using rounded cables in the barebone systems has solved many problems.

Thanks for the many replies!

 

[4Ryan6]

<A HREF="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q263/0/44.asp&NoWebContent=1" target="_new">http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q263/0/44.asp&NoWebContent=1</A>

You may find help here MrOiseau.

Ryan

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[MrOiseau]

Yes I already found that one too, could have sworn I posted some details about it too here... Weird...

 

[4Ryan6]

Maybe you were just thinking real loud and I picked up on it, EH! Have a good Day MrOiseau.

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>

 

[4Ryan6]

It may be simpler to just use a WinME bootdisk to do the formatting it has the fixed Fdisk already on it, you can download it from<A HREF="http://www.bootdisk.com" target="_new">http://www.bootdisk.com</A> if you don't have one.

<b><font color=purple>Details, Details, Its all in the Details, If you need help, Don't leave out the Details.</font color=purple></b>