Hard Drive Formatting Problem

[olived01]

I am trying to put a larger hard drive into an older PC and am having a problem. I have installed in ok but get an error message when trying to install Windows 98 that last cluster cannot be read, it is either damaged or Logical Block Addressing may need to be enabled.
I have checked the BIOS and there is not an option for LBA. Do I need to update the BIOS or can I get around this by setting the CHS values myself, and if so what should they be. New HD is Fujutsu 6.4Gb
Thanks

[classicsoftware]

Please post what type of system you are using. I woul almost never use FDISK and format anymore. Use the software provided with the drive or download it from the dribve manufacturer's web site.

[Budfred]

Welcome to http://www.pcguide.com/ubb/pcgubb.gif

I would also use the manufacturer's software, but I would start with the diagnostic program to make sure that the drive is ok. It could be that the drive is actually bad and, if it is new, the diagnostic will need to be run to get an RMA anyway.

[olived01]

Thanks for the responses. The PC is a Packard Bell and originally had a 3.2gb fujitsu hard drive. I have purchased a second user one which I am assured has been formatted and has no bad sectors. The HD is recognised when I switch on and when I fdisk it shows up as formatted and primary drive is active with 6.4gb.
I am convinced the problem lies with the Logical Block Addressing but don't know if I need to upgrade the BIOS to fix this (LBA not available in current BIOS version) or whether I can set the various parameters manually.

[classicsoftware]

Your system probably cant handle partitions larger than 2GB with on overlay. This is why you SHOULD NOT FDISK, but use the software provided by the drive manufacturer. If use the software it will give you the option of installing the overlay software or splitting the drive into 3 partitions.....

Forget the Bios on a Packard Bell. They are out of business......

If you want to use the hard disk, do what we are telling you....


Also, have you done what Budfred suggested and tested the drive?????

[Paul Komski]

BTW, Packard Bell are still active in Europe/UK http://www.packardbell.co.uk/ though it is not the easiest site to use or get support from. Would support the suggestion to use drive overlay rather than flashing your bios.

[Sinch]

Hi Olive01,

I replaced the HD in my wife's Dell P3 from 6 to 60 Gig recently. Here's how I did it. I used a program called Partition Magic by Power Quest. In our area, at our local super computer store, it can be purchased for about 10 bucks with rebate. Otherwise, it costs about 40 bucks. The program comes with a pretty good printed manual which is getting to be unusual these days. There is also a full manual on the CD.

This assumes your original HD is operational. This also assumes your HDs are IDE, ie ATA. I could not get this to work if the original HD is SCSI and the new HD is IDE/ATA. You can install the program in your original HD or create startup diskettes from the CD which will run the program from DOS loaded from the diskettes. This is usually the safest way to run this program. Either way, the actual program runs non-resident so it can see everything on the HD. It would be safest if you had a backup for your original HD, although I have never experienced the program accidentally hanging up or destroying data. It probably would cause problems should you have a power outage while the program is running.

You install the new HD as a slave into your computer. If the new HD is logically formated, you need to delete its existing partition(s) with Partition Magic so it is not logically formated.

Partition Magic has a copy feature where it can copy and make an exact image of everything on the primary HD to the slave HD. It formats the new HD similarly as the old HD.

After the copy, you remove your original HD, jumper the replacement HD as master. The machine will then boot up if your original did. You do not have to copy individual files or reinstall your OS. You can then use Partition Magic to create new partitions or logical drives on an extended partition. The program will do all this without destroying your existing programs and data. FDISK will destroy everything when it formats and creates partitions. FDISK is also limited to FAT(16).

As you may know, you are limited to 2Gig partions with FAT(16) which your machine is probably set to. If your OS is Win98, you can convert the format to FAT32 after the copy and have almost unlimited partition sizes. This might be handier for you. Again, with Partition Magic, you can convert the format, without losing your programs or data. Once you convert to FAT32, you can increase your partition size to the full size of the HD if you wish.

(If your OS is Win95 or less you are limited to maximum partition sizes of 2 gig and FAT(16).)

The disk to disk copy is risk free. If you somehow mess up the format conversion or the creation of new partitions after the copy, you have your original HD as a back up. You can then reinstall your original as master, the new HD as slave. Delete all partitions on the new HD and try again.

Just a suggestion. If you decide to try this, I'll be watching your posts in case you have problems. I guess you can email me directly through pcguide.

Sinch:)

[Paul Komski]

FDISK will destroy everything when it formats and creates partitions. FDISK is also limited to FAT(16).

FDISK doesn't do any formatting it just creates or views the partitions. FORMAT does the formatting and the DOS version can create FAT32 if the option to format with large disk support is selected.

PM8 is a great utility but I wasn't aware that it could do a direct disk to disk copy - although it certainly can copy any individual partitions and can create a backup image. If there is only one partition then things are, of course, uncomplicated.