Brenda asks:
How do I partition a harddrive in windows 98


The basic steps required to create a Primary DOS partition and format hard disk drives with the FDISK/FORMAT (Microsoft Windows 95B or Microsoft Windows 98) utility.

MAKE SURE THAT THE HARD DRIVE IS PROPERLY INSTALLED INTO THE COMPUTER.
REFERENCE THE INSTALLATION GUIDE/SHEET FOR PROPER PROCEDURES BEFORE CONTINUING.

Procedure:  The following is the step by step procedures to create a Primary DOS partition a hard drive with Microsoft Windows 95B or Microsoft Windows 98: It is broken in 2 parts, 
Part A : Partitioning a hard disk drive as a master:
Part B: Partitioning a hard disk drive as a slave:

Part A : Partitioning a hard disk drive as a master:
#1..Clean Boot the system using a Windows 95B or Windows 98 Startup Diskette. Upon successful boot-up, the following    will appear on the screen:
A:\>
#2..At the A:\ prompt, type in "FDISK" and press [Enter]. If the hard drive is greater than 512 MB, the following will be displayed: 
Your computer has a disk larger than 512 MB. This version of Windows includes improved support for large disks, resulting in more efficient use of disk space on large drives, and allowing disks over 2 GB to be formatted as a single drive. IMPORTANT: If you enable large disk support and create any new drives on this disk, you will not be able to access the new drive(s) using other operating systems, including some versions of Windows 95 and Windows NT, as well as earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. In addition, disk utilities that were not designed explicitly for the FAT32 file system will not be able to work with this disk. If you need to access this disk with other operating systems or older disk utilities, do not enable large drive support. (But large drive support is the best way to utilize all you hard drive using win95b or win98.) Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)...........? [Y] NOTE: Proceed to Step 3 if the hard drive is less than 512 MB: 
#3.Press "Y" and press [Enter] if you wish that a partition be created for the full size of the drive. Press "N" and press [Enter] if you want multiple partitions on the hard drive. Drive Management is easier with a single partition. After making your choice, the following will appear on the screen: 
Microsoft Windows 98 Fixed Disk Setup Program (C)Copyright Microsoft Corp.
1983-1998 FDISK Options
Current fixed disk drives: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition or logical DOS Drive
4. Display partition information
Enter choice: [1]
Press Esc to exit FDISK
NOTE: The following appears at the top of the Windows 95B Menu (all other Options are the same as for Windows 98):
Microsoft Windows 95
Fixed Disk Setup Program
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1983-1995
#4.Select Option 4 "Display partition information" and press [Enter]. You ALWAYS need to check for existing partitions… even if the drive is right out of the box. The following screen appears if no partitions are on the hard drive:
Display Partition Information
Current fixed disk drives: 1
No partitions defined
Press Esc to exit FDISK
#5.After viewing the partition information screen, press [Esc]. This will return the user back to the FDISK Options menu.
#6.Select "1" for Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive and press [Enter]. This sub menu will appear:
Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
Current fixed disk drives: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create Primary DOS Partition
2. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the
3. Extended DOS Partition
Enter choice: [1]
Press Esc to exit FDISK
#7.Select option "1" to create a Primary DOS partition and press [Enter]. The user will be prompted will this confirmation:
Create Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drives: 1
Do you wish to use the maximum available size for the Primary DOS Partition and make the partition active
(Y/N)..........................?[Y]
Press Esc to exit FDISK
#8.If you enabled Large Disk Support (See Step 3), select "y" for yes and press[Enter]. If you did not enable Large Disk Support (See Step 3), select "n" for no and press [Enter]. Drive integrity will be verified and once complete, the following will be displayed:
Primary DOS partition created, press any key to continue.
#9.Press [Esc] until the following will appears:
System will now restart
Insert DOS system diskette in drive A:
Press any key when ready. . .
#10.Ensure that system boot diskette is in drive A: and press "any key". The PC will re-boot to the A: prompt.
#11.At the A:\ prompt type "FORMAT C:/S" and press [Enter]. The following message will appear on the screen:
WARNING: ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)?
#12. Select "Y" for yes and press [Enter]. Win 95B/98 will then perform a high-level format, prepare the drive to
work with the Operating System, and transfer system files to the drive as well.

Part B: Partitioning a hard disk drive as a slave:
#1.Pretty much, follow steps 1-12. EXCEPT that when FDISK is typed, the following menu appears:
Microsoft Windows 98 Fixed Disk Setup
Program (C)Copyright Microsoft Corp.
1983-1998 FDISK Options
Current fixed disk drives: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition or logical DOS Drive
4. Display partition information
5. Change current fixed disk drive
Enter choice: [1]
Press Esc to exit FDISK
NOTE: The following appears at the top of the Windows 95A Menu (all other Options are the same as for Windows 95B):
Microsoft Windows 95
Fixed Disk Setup Program
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1983-1995
Then Select Option "5" for Change current fixed disk drive and press the [Enter] key. The following screen will appear:
Change Current Fixed Disk Drive
DISK Drv Mbytes Free Usage
1 xxxx xxxx xxx%
2 xxxx xxxx xxx%
Mbytes = 1048576 bytes
Enter Fixed Disk Drive Number
(1-2).........[2]
Press Esc to exit FDISK Mbytes = 1048576 bytes
#2.Select "the appropriate drive number" (it could be the 2nd.3rd or 4th
drive) and press the [Enter] key.At this point, the same, 5 option, FDISK menu will appear. The only difference is that the options correspond to the second or other drive in the system.
#3.Repeat steps 6-10
#4.At the A:\ prompt type "FORMAT D:" and press the [Enter] key. The following message will appear on the screen:
WARNING: ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with Format (Y/N)?
#5.Select "Y" for yes and press the [Enter] key. DOS will then perform a high-level format and prepare the drive to work
with the Operating System.

The end

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