New HD is kicking my butt... UPDATE

[Mugzilla]

Built my new mame computer for my up and coming cabinet:

AMD xp 2200
512 pc 2700 ram
40 gig seagate HD
win 98 se

ALL windows applications (My computer, windows explorer) lists my HD as being 40 gig. When I try to unzip/install my B/U roms from multiple CD's, the installer tells me I need 10 gig of free disk space, AND THAT I ONLY HAVE 1.9 GIG FREE!!!

I realize this is some problem with 98 NOT being able to recignize/use large harddrives. I have downloaded all of the service packs and updated my bios.

HOW CAN I USE THIS HD TO IT's FULL CAPACITY, without having to buy a new copy of XP?

[pointdablame]

does your bios recognize it as a 40gig? Try to re-recognize it in the bios.

Have you fdisked/partitioned it correctly to make sure you've used the entire drive?

[Mugzilla]

I did NOTHING w/ fdisk.

Bios recignizes it as a 40 gig too...

does your bios recognize it as a 40gig? Try to re-recognize it in the bios.

Have you fdisked/partitioned it correctly to make sure you've used the entire drive?

[lhallmark]

When installing a new hard drive you have to Fdisk it to create the Primary and Secondary partitions.
Once they are created you will then have to run the format command to format the drives. Win98 and earlier you have to do this from DOS (using a boot disk). Win 2K you can do it under the Administrator tools I believe.

Lance
SF II MAME cabinet in progress
Safety Harbor, FL USA

[paigeoliver]

This might have nothing whatsoever to do with the size of the hard drive, it might have alot to do with the fact that many unzip programs/installers unzip everything into a temp directory, and THEN copy it over to where you wanted it, and THEN delete the temp files.

[JustMichael]

Considering the board uses a AMD XP processor, the problem isn't the bios.  Win98SE can EASILY recognize a 40GB HD (I have an 80, 120, 2-175's, 200 and 250 in this win98se machine).  I think you should try a different unzip program.  You may find the new program will work just fine.  Have you tried WinZip?  Or perhaps good old pkzip?

[Mugzilla]

Considering the board uses a AMD XP processor, the problem isn't the bios.  Win98SE can EASILY recognize a 40GB HD (I have an 80, 120, 2-175's, 200 and 250 in this win98se machine).  I think you should try a different unzip program.  You may find the new program will work just fine.  Have you tried WinZip?  Or perhaps good old pkzip?

Another online resource is leading me in this direction. The extraction tool is WINrar or something like that. Probably an old copy, or one that won't allow a temp file >2gig.

I will find a NEW extraction /decompresser tonight that can handle the ignorant RAR format.

Thank you one and all!

[ntjedi]

For my 2 cents, I use winrar all the time.  I even prefer it over winzip and have never seen the problem that you are describing!?!

[_Iz-]

Are you sure you just don't have too much stuff on the drive already? What is reported as the available free space?

[Mugzilla]

Are you sure you just don't have too much stuff on the drive already? What is reported as the available free space?

37+ gig free reported in My Computer and windows explorer, as well as defragmenter

[_Iz-]

Are you sure you just don't have too much stuff on the drive already? What is reported as the available free space?

37+ gig free reported in My Computer and windows explorer, as well as defragmenter

So you basically have nothing on the drive except windows? Are you sure you are pointing winrar at the harddrive to extract?

[Mugzilla]

Are you sure you just don't have too much stuff on the drive already? What is reported as the available free space?

37+ gig free reported in My Computer and windows explorer, as well as defragmenter

So you basically have nothing on the drive except windows? Are you sure you are pointing winrar at the harddrive to extract?

I am aiming it right at the HEART of a 37+ gig HD. A HD that has no partitions on it...

I really don't need to use the installer. I can copy all of the files to their respective folders. But, I'll need to use some RAR to unpack the lightgun games...

[grafixmonkey]

I have seen some zip programs break when a zip file contains many thousands of files.  I think the XP built-in zip program once refused to create a .zip file of a user's account, until I deleted all cookies / temp files / internet history / etc. from their directories.  It gave an error along the lines of too many files in one directory.  Try winrar.

Oh, and some programs are unable to register a drive over a certain size too.  I've seen programs that always read large drives off as 2 gigs, even if they're running on a copy of XP.  Some really old games do it with memory capacity too.  Maybe your OS can read the whole drive, but the zip program assumes a capacity over 2 gigs doesn't exist.

[Xiaou2]

 The problem is that you need to partition and format the disk with the "New" version of Fdisk.

 The old version only can understand/see  up to so many gig.

[Mugzilla]

 The problem is that you need to partition and format the disk with the "New" version of Fdisk.

 The old version only can understand/see  up to so many gig.

All I did when I built this machine was, build the computer, update the bios, format c:, and install the OS.

I was able to copy all of the ORMS to the hard drive. I just did it in windows explorer. The extraction tool was the thing giving me all the grief. I will need to get a copy of winrar if I want to extract all the light gun games....

[grafixmonkey]

well, go grab one.    it's free, depending how long you feel like ignoring the "please buy me" and "you're not buying me, you naughty boy" popup windows.  It will unzip almost every compression format there is, so it will work with your .zip files just fine without converting.

[JODY]

If you had a Win98SE update disk instead of the full install and installed Windows 3.1 first and then Windows 98SE; you would be limited to the disk size Windows 3.1 recognizes.  I've run into that issue before.  If that is the case, install from the Windows 98SE update disk and it will ask to validate that you have a previous version of windows.  Insert your Windows 3.1 disk to validate and continue with the full Windows 98SE install.  You'll be able to get larger partitions.  Also, be sure you install with all your existing disk partitions deleted with FDISK; otherwise, it may use your existing partitions.  If any of this is relevant, you'll want to delete partitions, repetition, and format before doing a reinstall.  Basically start from scratch.

Also, depending on the machine you're using you may be hitting BIOS limits.  Be sure you have upgraded to the latest BIOS.  It may help.  I've got an old P5-120 I tried putting a 40GB drive in but the bios would only recognize about 20GB.  It wasn't a Windows limitation.  I was installing Linux.