Re: NT and disk hardware configuration problem

In news:1151985804.331782.29380@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dan-the K typed:
Hi Dan, why did You use DOS for partitioning and not NT?
I installed DOS first and I'm very familiar with DOS Fdisk. But I
might use NT on the next round.

Hi Dan, You should concentrate on the final OS requirements.
If this is going to be NT4 or XP then NTFS is the filesystem to be used.
Otherwise You'll block out Yourself by the disk FS overhead.

What version? What filesystem? What exact partitions layout?
PC-DOS 7/2000; FAT16. On the first disk (DHEA), I started with a
small primary DOS partition and the rest was an extended partition.

Ok, but this is not optimal for a NT4 system!
FAT16 limits You to a 512 MB partition by cluster size of 8kB,
and on preferred clustersize of 4kB only to 255MB.
Max is 2GB at cluster size of 32kB (should never be used).

FAT32 limit is 8GB partition at a clustersize of 4kB and
more than 32GB at a clustersize of 32kB (should never be used)
up to a 2TB partition.

NTFS will ever use a clustersize of 4kB for a total of xxx GB.

NTFS is less sensitive against fragmentation than a FAT FS.
On a FATxx FS the max. clustersize should be limited to 4kB.

There are two advantages to using drives instead of directories.
First, FAT wastes a lot of space with its minimum fiile size. A 2
line text file can take up a lot of space in a 4GB drive. It takes

Yes, but this only depends on the used *cluster size*!
Therefore I tend to use a max. of only 4kB per cluster.

Second, using a directory structure can quickly lead to
exceeding the DOS path limit. As you see, I'm oriented towards using
DOS with all the drives.

Yes the DOS limit is about 64 characters but not a NT or XP Limit
of 255 characters. The actual limit of the directory level was
around 5 on an 8+3 file naming system = 55 plus 9 delimiters (5+4)
= 64 characters.
There's a statement about the really accepted size but I can't remember
the source of it. It's around 64 characters. This is also stated in some
CD ISO 96xx statements as usable CD directory entries.
I might be able to refind that links.

I then installed Windows NT 4.0 Workstation. It did fine on the
first round. It then rebooted, resumed set up, announced "checking
hardware" and immediately, ...
Sorry by know I lost the next info. Need to reread the thread.

How did You prepare the *booting device* (maximum of 4 primary
partitons or 3 primary and 1 extended partition).
ONE of the primary partitions requires the "bootable flag"!
C: is the primary and active partition. It has code (Boot.ini for
example) to go to either DOS or Windows NT.

OS Loader v4.00
Boot record signature AA55 not found (0000 found).
As said later this looks like You tried to boot from a logical drive
WITHOUT using a boot manager!
The signature AA55 is part of a bootable partition and if not found
then the MBR looks like to be defect or be treated as not found.

Can you recommend any routines for looking at the partitions and, if
necessary, modifying their content?
There're several Partition Managers with included disk editors or
at least an editor to modify the partition table.

Any HD on these port needs "boot flag" in a primary partition!
You know, I didn't check that! Will do.

I think Your problem was caused from booting an unusable partition
like a logical drive that had no bootable code installed.
Otherwise a logical drive being able to be booted needs the use
of a bootmanager which will provide the boot code.
But this is a complex theme not to be discussed in any few words.

My suggestion: If You later want to use NT as OS then use that
Install functions to partition Your HD for a NTFS filesystem.

But if You also want data xfer with an older DOS system then keep
space for a commonly used partition for data exchange (any FAT).
Depending on that DOS version it might only understand FAT16
but not FAT32.
NT is able to read any FATxx setups. Horst
.

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