First of all, my apologies to the group for posting this problem here, but I've had no luck with the local MS Win95 'experts' Actually, this does involve SuSE/Linux because the problem is on one of my dual boot platforms and resulted in my having to figure out a work around in order to install v7.2, but that's a story for another submission. The platform had a HD pack up last week and I siezed upon that as an excuse to increase my HD space on that platform. I got a 45GB Maxtor - I've had good luck with Maxtor DH's in the past and their software makes installation very easy. I accepted the Maxtor default FAT16 partitioning and created 23 2GB partitions with a smaller 24th partition on the end. Subsequent to this step is where I generate the problem for which I'm seeking a solution. Because of the new drive there are more than 26 partitions on the machine, which exceeds the limit that the Win95 File Manager, actually it's power desk - which is based on the Win95. So the Win95 File Manager ran out of assignable drive letters before it assigned a letter to the CD drive. BIOS still finds the CD during boot and Linux certainly does but Win95 doesn't. The file manager sees drives A through U, with the exception of B. One of the 'experts' I consulted said duhhhhhh and the other said that he thought that there was a number restriction that MS imposes on Win, but he wasn't sure. I dimly remember something about a lastdrive specification in MS OSs, but no details. Help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Hi Stephen, Posting to the list, since my suggestions actually include one that requires Linux. :-)
The platform had a HD pack up last week and I siezed upon that as an excuse to increase my HD space on that platform. I got a 45GB Maxtor - I've had good luck with Maxtor DH's in the past and their software makes installation very easy. I accepted the Maxtor default FAT16 partitioning and created 23 2GB partitions with a smaller 24th partition on the end. Subsequent to this step is where I generate the problem for which I'm seeking a solution. Because of the new drive there are more than 26 partitions on the machine, which exceeds the limit that the Win95 File Manager, actually it's power desk - which is based on the Win95. So the Win95 File Manager ran out of assignable drive letters before it assigned a letter to the CD drive. BIOS still finds the CD during boot and Linux certainly does but Win95 doesn't. The file manager sees drives A through U, with the exception of B.
My first suggestion would be to switch to a more managable amount of FAT32 partitions (infact, you could just have 1 FAT32 + 2 Linux parititions). This would be a good excuse to upgrade to a newer Windows release such as Windows 98 SE or Windows 2000 (avoid WinME) that support FAT32.
One of the 'experts' I consulted said duhhhhhh and the other said that he thought that there was a number restriction that MS imposes on Win, but he wasn't sure. I dimly remember something about a lastdrive specification in MS OSs, but no details.
I'd recommend going and getting a copy of TweakUI from Microsoft (it's free). You can find it in their download section. I'm pretty sure you can set the "lastdrive" setting via that tool, although I'm so sure that U might not be the limit no matter what. Another suggestion: Since you surely don't need all of those drives right now, use Linux's fdisk to change the partition ID of a few of them to something besides FAT (i.e. HPFS or even ext2). This would hide the extra drives, making room for the CD-ROM drive to be displayed. Best, Tim -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy R. Butler Universal Networks Information Tech. Consultant Christian Web Services Since 1996 ICQ #12495932 AIM: Uninettm An Authorized IPSwitch Reseller tbutler@uninetsolutions.com http://www.uninetsolutions.com ============== "Information Powered by Innovation" ==============
On Sun, Apr 01, 2001 at 02:50:03PM -0400, smolnar@jadeinc.com wrote:
One of the 'experts' I consulted said duhhhhhh and the other said that he thought that there was a number restriction that MS imposes on Win, but he wasn't sure. I dimly remember something about a lastdrive specification in MS OSs, but no details.
A google search on 'lastdrive' turns up lots of copies of the definition, including: http://www.easydos.com/lastdrive.html -- David Smith Tel: +44 (0)1454 462380 (direct) STMicroelectronics Fax: +44 (0)1454 617910 1000 Aztec West TINA (ST only): (065) 2380 Almondsbury Home: 01454 616963 BRISTOL Mobile: 07932 642724 BS32 4SQ Work Email: Dave.Smith@st.com Home Email: David.Smith@ds-electronics.co.uk
"Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D." wrote:
First of all, my apologies to the group for posting this problem here, but I've had no luck with the local MS Win95 'experts' Actually, this does involve SuSE/Linux because the problem is on one of my dual boot platforms and resulted in my having to figure out a work around in order to install v7.2, but that's a story for another submission.
The platform had a HD pack up last week and I siezed upon that as an excuse to increase my HD space on that platform. I got a 45GB Maxtor - I've had good luck with Maxtor DH's in the past and their software makes installation very easy. I accepted the Maxtor default FAT16 partitioning and created 23 2GB partitions with a smaller 24th partition on the end. Subsequent to this step is where I generate the problem for which I'm seeking a solution. Because of the new drive there are more than 26 partitions on the machine, which exceeds the limit that the Win95 File Manager, actually it's power desk - which is based on the Win95. So the Win95 File Manager ran out of assignable drive letters before it assigned a letter to the CD drive. BIOS still finds the CD during boot and Linux certainly does but Win95 doesn't. The file manager sees drives A through U, with the exception of B.
Well, I know for a fact that you can have all 26 letters of the alphabet used... when I boot my computer into (the very much downsized installation of) NT every 6 months or so I have all the drive letters taken. However, these aren't all partitions on my hard disk - most of them are network mapped drives. I certainly haven't come across a limitation of 'U:'. This may be cause by some other hidden M$ restriction. I do have to question *why* you'ld want to create 24 FAT16 partitions... if it was me I'd reduce that to three or four (actually, I would reduce it to zero ;-> ). If you must have Windows on there, give it 10 gig at most at the start of the drive, split into a few FAT partitions, and then use the rest for linux. Even if it was a Windows only machine, I would still say keep the number of partitions right down. One possible workaround might be to specify what drive letter the CD drive should get (e.g. D:) in Control Panel->System->CD, etc. although this will mean that you loose one of the FAT partitions off the end. Hope that helps, Chris -- __ _ -o)/ / (_)__ __ ____ __ Chris Reeves /\\ /__/ / _ \/ // /\ \/ / ICQ# 22219005 _\_v __/_/_//_/\_,_/ /_/\_\
Sorry.. but I missed or deleted the original question here... It sound possibly like you used partition magic or similiar which splits out all the partitions evenly. But... if youre installing 95/8 you definetly *dont* want fat 16!! thats defeting the entire purpose of efficient disk management iow using fat 16 a 4 k file takes up 16 k! an 8k file = 16k using fat32 (4k clusters or the 4096 in Linux) a 4k file takes 4k of disk space. 8k=8k 9k=12k and so on If your bios supports large drives (windows fdisk can report the entire drive) then simply use fdisk to delete all partitions and recreate into more managemable 10G If the BIOS dosnt then you need the proprietery disk management tool which in Maxtors case is Maxbast. Linux can easily be installed ontop of a maxblasted/windoized version of a drive. (Just do sensible partitions) fme windows can *really* only handle 10 gig of small files anyway... when it comes to defragging and scandisking trust me ;-) Ive got a 40G drive split into 8 &10 G and I had to get a 3rd party software to defrag. This is on a 1G processor with 512ram!! once you repartition to a sensible size I have the setups for a the multiboot using DOS. In fact using Cris Reeves suggestions I passed (tricked) Linux into seeing my CDR)!! If Im in left feild I apologise but if I can help feel free to post back or mail me personally (sorry I jumped in late) rob Chris Reeves wrote:
"Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D." wrote:
First of all, my apologies to the group for posting this problem here, but I've had no luck with the local MS Win95 'experts' Actually, this does involve SuSE/Linux because the problem is on one of my dual boot platforms and resulted in my having to figure out a work around in order to install v7.2, but that's a story for another submission.
The platform had a HD pack up last week and I siezed upon that as an excuse to increase my HD space on that platform. I got a 45GB Maxtor - I've had good luck with Maxtor DH's in the past and their software makes installation very easy. I accepted the Maxtor default FAT16 partitioning and created 23 2GB partitions with a smaller 24th partition on the end. Subsequent to this step is where I generate the problem for which I'm seeking a solution. Because of the new drive there are more than 26 partitions on the machine, which exceeds the limit that the Win95 File Manager, actually it's power desk - which is based on the Win95. So the Win95 File Manager ran out of assignable drive letters before it assigned a letter to the CD drive. BIOS still finds the CD during boot and Linux certainly does but Win95 doesn't. The file manager sees drives A through U, with the exception of B.
Also, upon further reflection It dawned on me you can use Linux to do all your partitioning. Linux can and will write partitions for virtually all Os's Boot with the suse book disk, go along as for a new install select partitioning. *delete* all partitions then create new. Keep in mind you can only have 4 primary partitions , one of which must be extended. then within the extended you may have as many other partitions as needed. This will save the need of using p magic (abut $50) once the partitions are created choose continue and Linux will "write the partition table" Then just pull the boot disk and reboot with a dos disk, select enable large disk, then set active partition. From then on.. windows will only *see* partitions of windows type e.g. fat16 fat32. Your problem is fat 16 is limited to 2G. Also within maxtor (if you go that route...) can be told to use fat32 and partition accordingly. I'm at my work email, if you respond to this please cc dizzy73 so I get it at home have fun rob
participants (6)
-
Chris Reeves -
Dave Smith -
dizzy73 -
rob -
Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. -
Timothy R.Butler