Hard Drive How Big

[jerryhillman]

With a Trios Hard Drive selector I am going
to install a 2nd hard drive on my 2.6 Mhz
Pentium computer because I want to run a
program that will not run on win XP. I have
a spare 4.1 GB hard drive. I am going to format
and install Dos 6.1 and Win 3.11 on it. I
am told Win 3.11 will not run on a larger
hard drive than 2.1 GB. During the format how
do I set up one partition so I will have just
2 GB on each partition which will allow me to
put Win 3.11 on it. Can you walk me through
formatting and putting one partition on my
4.1 GB Hard Drive.

Thanks, Jerry

[markp62]

You need to run Fdisk, then Format. If there is an existing partition you will need to delete it first, Option 3.
If you have two hard drives, Drive 1 is the C: Drive 2 is the D:, if the C: has only one partition or just a C: is all that is on it. Select the proper one, this is important. If unsure, just have the one hard drive in the computer when doing this.
Here is how to use fdisk and format to ready the HD, this is booting with a 98 floppy. While you are using a 98 floppy, it will not make a difference to Dos 6.1 if you follow these instructions properly. A 95 floppy [unless from 95b] will not have the question about enabling large disk support.

At A:\> type fdisk enter
press "N" enter for large disk support << Y=FAT32, N=FAT16
At this point, you want to enter N, this will give you what you want
at FDISK Option select "1" enter
at Create DOS Partition or logical DOS Drive select "1" enter
Verifying drive integrity, **%
press "Y" enter at do you wish to use the maximum available size for Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N)..?
You want Y at this point and allow to use the maximum, it will create a 2 gb partition
Verifying drive integrity, **%
you then get a message to RESTART your system for changes to take effect
To create a second partition, you must create a extended partition and then create the logical drive(s) or other partitions.
YOU MUST REBOOT and then format AFTER FDISK.

Press Esc and then Ctrl,Alt,Del, with bootdisk/Startup disk still in the floppy drive
At windows Startup Menu select without CD-Rom support
at A:\> type format c: (this will only format the HDD)
At WARNING, ALL DATA WILL BE LOST PRESS "Y"
Formatting and the size of your HDD (i.e. 19,09.84M for a 20Gig)
after format enter a name for the HDD or just press enter you can name it later.
Install Dos 6.1, you will not be able to put on Win 3.1 until you do.

[Nix]

markp62 your answer has confused me:

Originally posted by markp62

At A:\> type fdisk enter
press "N" enter for large disk support << Y=FAT32, N=FAT16
At this point, you want to enter N, this will give you what you want

Jerryhillman has stated that Win3.11 will not run on a drive larger than 2.1 Gb, why are you suggesting he use Fat16 ?

Originally posted by markp62
press "Y" enter at do you wish to use the maximum available size for Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N)..?
You want Y at this point and allow to use the maximum, it will create a 2 gb partition

Is the maximum 2Gb because you seleted N to large disk support and if so won't this mean the rest of the drive will be unavailable ?

Originally posted by markp62
To create a second partition, you must create a extended partition and then create the logical drive(s) or other partitions.

How, the rest of the drive won't be recognised because you chose N to large disk support.

Originally posted by markp62
(i.e. 19,09.84M for a 20Gig)

Where did you get 20Gb from, the only drive mentioned was 4.1Gb spare ?

I would have thought the logical steps to take would be:

Answer Y to large disk support so the full 4.1Gb is recognised.

When creating the primary partition, answer N to maximum partition question and then enter 2048Mb as the size to create a 2Gb partition.

Create and extended partition with either 1 logical drive of 2.1Gb or 2 logical drives of 2gb and 0.1Gb ?

Note: mine is a very high level summary.

[markp62]

Jerryhillman has stated that Win3.11 will not run on a drive larger than 2.1 Gb, why are you suggesting he use Fat16 ?
By using FAT16, it will be compatiable with Dos 6.1, and the Max size created will actually be 2.02 gb.
Is the maximum 2Gb because you seleted N to large disk support and if so won't this mean the rest of the drive will be unavailable ?
The rest of the drive can be made available by creating an extended partition, and then creating logical drives, selecting the Max size for each, and have two partitions on the drive. Or have a third partition created by adjusting the size of the first logical to leave room for the second logical, ending up with three partitions or drives on the same hard drive.
Where did you get 20Gb from, the only drive mentioned was 4.1Gb spare ?
This was copy and pasted from a text file I save just for this type of question and edited it. Some of what is on my previous post is what will be seen on the screen in process.
I just didn't think it was that important to change the 20 gb to 2 gb, remember the partition being formatted will not be 4.1 gb, but 2 gb. I did the important parts.

[Dexahol]

Hey Jerry; on a side note, could you post back here some time later and lets us, (me), know how you like the Trios Hard Drive Selector? I've been thinking of getting one and wonder how well it works.

Thanks, Dex

[jerryhillman]

Dex The trios hard drive selector works great.
Here is the Web site:

http://www.romtecusa.com/

This is my second one. The first one was put on
a Pentium 4 1.6 Mhz computer with Win XP. I
added Win 98 and Win 3.1 to the computer. You
just set the switch to the drive you want to
boot to and it boots to the drive. If you want
to get to a different hard drive you must shut
down, change the selector switch and reboot.

All this is on the web site. I got a second selector for a Pentium 4 2.6 Mhz computer an
I am now setting it up.

Good Luck, Jerry

[HaroldW]

Jerryhillman:

Just a side-note. You must have the slowest PCs in use today, slower even than the original IBM PC. "Pentium 4 1.6 Mhz, 2.6 Mhz Pentium". I know, just a typo, it should be "Ghz", but I couldn't resist.

[Robert M]

Windows 3.1 will install and run on any size drive large enough to hold the files. A FAT16 partition is needed.

The question about large disk support enables or disables the entire drive for the specified operation...FAT 16 or FAT 32

An MS-DOS diskette and the version of fdisk included with it is all that is needed to create FAT16 partitions. A Windows 95 or 98 diskette is not necessarily needed.

Selecting no to the question for creating a maximum size partition allows other partitions to be created. Up to four primary partitions may be created on any single drive. In other configurations, any combination of primary and extended partitons adding up to four may be used.