[558] in winnt
Re: WNT 4.0: how to install on 4 Gbytes? (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stefan Stasik)
Thu Sep 28 14:11:56 2000
From: Stefan Stasik <stasik@ai.mit.edu>
Message-Id: <200009281812.OAA27097@visual-cortex.mit.edu>
To: dsw@mitlns.mit.edu (David S. Woodruff)
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:12:03 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: stasik@ai.mit.edu (Stefan Stasik), ntpartners@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0009281200360.11336-100000@pequod.mit.edu> from "David S. Woodruff" at Sep 28, 2000 12:00:51 PM
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Hi Dave,
I am familiar with the 'cannot format because partition to large'
error in the NT4 install. The Win NT4 install CD is based on either
SP0 (original release version) or SP1. At that time, the WinNT boot loader
did not support booting C: partitions that were larger than 4 GB
(3999 MB, to be exact.) SP3 fixed this problem, however, and so you
can work around the problem.
What I do is create one C: partition between 3 and 4 GB, and then a
2nd D: partition that is the rest of the drive. While you can install
the latest service pack and re-size the C: partition to the entire
drive using a tool like Partition Magic, if your system corrupts and
you need to restore from the CDROM, it will install the old SP1 boot
loader and your C: partition will no longer boot due to being over the
4 GB limit.
So that is the drive setup I use (ed) when I was setting up Nt4
workstations for users. Now, however I am rolling out Win2000 and it
does not have the low boot-loader partition size limit anymore. ( I
am not sure what the boot-loader limit is in Win2000, actually).
So you need to enter '3999' as the size of the partition to format,
and it will format right over that FAT32 partition no problem.
Hope this helps
- Stefan Stasik
Stefan Stasik - stasik@ai.mit.edu - (617) 253-2842 - E25-147G
System Manager - MIT Whitaker College Computing Facility
David S. Woodruff wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I had purchased a PC with Windows 98 installed and a 4 Gbyte disk.
>
> I am going to install MIT WNT 4.0 on it, and I'd like NT to use the whole
> 4 Gbytes for the C: drive. I formatted the drive using a Windows 98
> startup floppy since the vendor had used a small partition for diagnostic
> data, and I wanted to clear that out.
>
> But I am installing the WNT 4.0 now, and Setup is unable to deal with the
> 4 Gbyte partition. It claims it is 'Unformatted or Damaged' and gives me
> an opportunity to format it. But then it says the partition can't be
> formatted because it is too large.
>
> I guess I'm not surprised, since the W98 probably put FAT32 on the drive,
> and WNT 4.0 can't deal with it. Perhaps if I was able to format it with
> NTFS I wouldn't have the current problem.
>
> Do you know some way I can install WNT 4.0 on the 4G drive? Is it
> possible to format it in some way from a floppy? Is there some other
> workaround?
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Dave
>
>
> David S. Woodruff http://www.lns.mit.edu/~dsw
> MIT Lab for Nuclear Science Phone: (617)-253-6943
> 24-030g, MIT Email: dsw@mitlns.mit.edu
> 77 Massachusetts Avenue FAX: (617)-258-6591
> Cambridge, MA, 02139 Call me Ishmael.
>
>
