Re: DOS and Harddrive Capacity

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You created a boot disk from Windows 98, so the boot disk itself contains a
bootable copy of that very same operating system. Of course, it is a
rudmentary subset lacking all of the fancy GUI stuff, so it looks much like
earlier versions of DOS. But it is still actually Windows 98.

Were you expecting it to tell you you were running windows XP because that
is what has been installed on your hard drive? Assuming that your XP system
drive is formatted NTFS, there is no way that a 9X or DOS boot disk would be
able to make such a connection, as these older o/s's know nothing of NTFS.

/Al

"Jim Richards" <jimrichards@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uZf2FALoHHA.3968@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Al, for your comments and suggestions. You wrote: "You should be
able to find out which version of "DOS" by typing the "VER" command after
booting from floppy to a command prompt." Al, I did this and was
surprised to see
"Windows 98 [Version 4.10.2222]" I do not understand just what it means.
Would you please explain it to me. TIA, Jim

"Al Dunbar" <AlanDrub@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OCzhw9HoHHA.4120@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I think we are getting a little tied up with terminology, and perhaps
taking the comments of others a bit too personally.

Stefan was not saying that you do not indeed have XP installed on your
machine. But having it installed so that it will boot from the hard
drive, does not mean that you are "using" XP when you boot from a floppy
created by Windows 98. At that point, what you are actually using is a
somewhat limited version of Windows 98. No, this is not DOS 6.22, but
perhaps something like DOS 7.0. You should be able to find out which
version of "DOS" by typing the "VER" command after booting from floppy to
a command prompt.

But, whatever it is and whatever the VER command says, when you boot this
way you are not actually running XP.

And as for your request to "set you straight", that is the only reason
that Stefan and I are making the comments we are making.


/Al

"Jim Richards" <jimrichards@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uz1ohqFoHHA.4032@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thank you Stefan, for your comments BUT I must take exception to your
statement "No, you ain't using XP anything if you boot DOS from a
floppy." Sir, this is my sixth PC which I built from scratch, piece by
piece. The only OS installed is XP Pro and I do boot to DOS using my
System Floppy Disk from Win 98SE. Maybe I am using incorrect
terminology when I say I boot to DOS. What I actually do is boot to A:\
where I run the FDISK program. Maybe this isn't DOS. It certainly is not
DOS 6.22 and I thought it was DOS 7.0 but maybe I am wrong. Anyhow, if
you can set me straight on this I would appreciate it very much. I used
DOS (Versions thru 6.22) for many years before I embraced Windows. Have
a good day, Jim

"Stefan Kanthak" <postmaster@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
news:O%23swyW%23nHHA.4772@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jim Richards" <jimrichards@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Using XP Pro w/SP2. When I Boot to A:\ and go into FDISK, it shows the
maximum capacity of the harddrive as 48935 GB BUT it is a WD 120 GB HD
formatted NTFS. Is there anyway to get DOS to read the correct
capacity of
the HD? Thanks in advance, Jim.

No, you ain't using XP anything if you boot DOS from a floppy.
BTW: which DOS? Which version, and which FDISK?

Forget about DOS and FDISK, use Mikhail Ranish's Partition Manager
instead. This one comes as it's own OS and runs just using BIOS calls.
Executing PART.EXE from Windows and will create the boot floppy.

If you don't want to fiddle with your BIOS' settings (disable booting
from floppy and/or CD-ROM, both are a security risk!) enhance the
XP boot manager to start any floppy disk using my BOOTSECT.ANY from
http://home.nexgo.de/skanthak/bootsect.html

Stefan










.

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