What is the largest physical size HDD Win95 can take. I don't mean
partition, but that actual whole hard drive?

"DL" <DL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

Umm..I think it's 32GB, but I'm having a hard time finding a reference
to back that up.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
Slattery_T@bls.gov

"Tim Slattery" <Slattery_T@bls.gov> wrote in message
news:supj81lv7khh5edldkcokj49qmo7iojm3t@4ax.com...
<snip>

The other source of drive size limits has to do with the operating system.
Windows 95-A or the first version of Win95 could support an 8.4GB hard
drive. However, because of the size limitations of the FAT16, you had to
partition the drive in 2GB partitions. That meant five partitions on an
8.4GB drive. Microsoft does say that this version of Win95 will support
drives of up to 32GB, providing the partition size is no greater than 2GB!
The limit of the FAT16 system is due to the maximum number of clusters that
can be addressed is 65,525 (2 raised to the 16th power or 216). Multiplying
this number times the maximum cluster size (32,768 bytes) gives the
partition size limit of 2GB.

Windows 95B introduced the FAT32 system. In theory, this new file allocation
table system can address a hard drive that is 2 terabytes
(2,199,023,255,552) in size. The FAT32 table does not scale well in that as
its size increases, it takes more time for Windows to find information in
it. It also takes more time to calculate free space at boot-up. The maximum
size of the FAT32 table is about 128 megabytes. The maximum size of any one
file on a FAT32 drive is 4 gigabytes. Win98, WinME and Win2000 all support
the FAT32 file system.

"Haggis" <bingsnapREMOVE@THIShotmail.com> wrote in message
news:emFA8AuWFHA.3320@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
here is the link for the whole article if you want it Tim :>

http://www.spcug.org/reviews/bl0107.htm

"Haggis" <bingsnapREMOVE@THIShotmail.com> wrote:


That article has factual errors in it and should be disregarded.


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm

"Ron Martell" <ron.martell@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:cs6k81hgqimamvfot2n4hie4is0iv7316j@4ax.com...
Hi Ron,

although I didn't read very closely <g>, it looked pretty good to me...

what jumped out at you as being wrong ?

Dave

"DL" <DL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:385662E5-B5B9-4376-88E6-49FDC8216733@microsoft.com...
In addition to the limits of Win95, if you are refurbishing an old system
you may need to consider the limits of your BIOS.

The maximum physical disk size is going to be dictated by the hardware you
are using. This is a combination of the controller and the BIOS. AFAIK
Windows 95 will not work with a 48-bit controller, but I assume this is
because the manufacturers do not provide W95 drivers for their devices.

Within this constraint, any other limitation is actually in the file system,
not the operating system. Windows 95 uses the FAT file system, but version
B and later can also use the FAT32 file system, so it depends on the version
you are running.

What Windows can use within a large disk depends on how you define it. For
instance, the original FDISK can't cope with a disk larger than 64Gb, but
it's easy to get third party partitioning tools with no such limitations.

The maximum partition size and the maximum number of partitions is the
ultimate limit, so start here and follow the links for a description of
where the various limitations come from:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=118335
Maximum Partition Size Using FAT16 File System
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"DL" <DL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:385662E5-B5B9-4376-88E6-49FDC8216733@microsoft.com...

For instance: "IDE drives larger than 504MB must have more than 1024
cylinders" Some simple math indicates that it is easy to get more than 504Mb
out of a disk with less than 1024 cylinders. What he was trying to say was
that, to get around the 504Mb limit, something (such as number of cylinders)
had to increase. The limit actually arises because IDE was initially
restricted to 16 heads. The combined limits of BIOS and IDE meant that the
biggest accessible disk was 1024 cylinders x 16 heads x 63 sectors per
track.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Haggis" <bingsnapREMOVE@THIShotmail.com> wrote in message
news:euUbKlwWFHA.3324@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

ahhh...I was not reading the indepth parts too much ...just looking at the
end results..

thks :>

"Jeff Richards" <JRichards@msn.com.au> wrote in message
news:Oeq1Hu2WFHA.1508@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

As a general summary, covering a big topic in just a few paragraphs, it's
not too bad. In fact, if he'd left out some of the more technical aspects
(which is where the errors occur) it would be a reasonable summary.

It's also worth noting that it's quite old.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Haggis" <bingsnapREMOVE@THIShotmail.com> wrote in message
news:ejlhgiHXFHA.1404@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

"Jeff Richards" <JRichards@msn.com.au> wrote in message
news:ODk1lOMXFHA.580@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...

yes , and so is the OP's system....It just happened to be where i landed and
the drive sizes looked right to me..but yes , a shortened version would have
been more concise :>

The information doesn't age, but the time since last update suggests he's no
longer correcting the errors.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Haggis" <bingsnapREMOVE@THIShotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23XQTT2SXFHA.2768@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Depending of version, it would be the FAT16 theoretical limit, or the FAT32
theoretical limit...


"DL" <DL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:385662E5-B5B9-4376-88E6-49FDC8216733@microsoft.com...

DL wrote:
On my Win95a system, I added a secondary WD 13gb hard drive by plugging
it into a Promise Controller card. No hassle at all, except that you
have to partition the drive into 2 GB partitions. Works great.

Scott

It basiccally depends on what size your mainboard can handle, and even if it
can't you can use overlay drivers, to get the full capacity
I've hooked up an 80 Gb Hard Drive running Windows 95B, with one partition,
although you have to use a Windows Me or an updated 98SE startup disk to
partition this big of a size. I don't think you can go any bigger with this,
but I haven't really tried, so I don't really know.
Windows 95a and older can only support FAT format which maximizes at 2Gb.
Windows 95B and C can use FAT32 and will support the bigger drives

"Scott" wrote: