-=PCTechTalk=- Re: pctechtalk harddrive new question

thanks tom,
if there is no easier way, then what i will do is to purchase
the means to backup both my drives, then put the 10gig in
drive0, and use the partition magic floppies to partition it,
which will obviate the bios 8gig limit problem.
btw, what is a 'promise board' and i've not come across 'iow'
before.
many thanks
ted

TOM SAID
Date: Sat, 29 Nov 2003 20:34:26 -0500
Ted-
IF EZ BIOS was installed on the drive prior to loading the OS
and any data,
I belive the only way to recover the data is to move the data
off the drive
while EZ BIOS is still functioning.  Removing EZ BIOS removes
the
translation mechanism that allows communication between the
motherboard
chipset and the harddrive.  IOW, EZ BIOS fools the motherboard
into
thinking it is dealing with one set of parameters when a totally
different
set actually exist on the harddrive.  Once EZ BIOS is gone, the
motherboard
has no way of knowing where any data is because the road map is
gone.

If you can, do this:  Re-enable the EZBIOS and see if the
harddrive can be
accessed.  The way to do this is to hold down the Ctrl key when
the EZ BIOS
screen comes up and then choosing to boot from a floppy or the
harddrive.  If you have a boot floppy that works, insert it and
select boot
from floppy.  If you can do that, borrow another harddrive and
move the
data to it.  Then remove EZ BIOS, repartition and reformat the
original
drive.  Now you can install an OS and restore your data.

Sounds like one problem you need to resolve is the harddrive
limit in the
BIOS.  Either that or get a Promise card that will recognize the
entire
drive and bypass the BIOS limit.

Tom

At 12:21 AM 12/1/2003 +0000, you wrote:

>hi tom
>i was hoping there was something i could do that would not put
>the rest of the contents at risk.
>the situation is this -
>my bios is a hongkong oem and an attempt to upgrade went very
>wrong but is now recovered with an 8gig limit.
>ez bios is installed in c:[drive 0 master] and was used to
>install and partition a western digital 10gig[drive 1 master]
>a second attempt to upgrade bios has left me with a non
>functioning ez bios that is preventing me from using partition
>magic in DOS.
>my w98 will only recognise the wd 10gig as an '8gig
removeable'.
>attempts so far have lost all the work i had in the 10gig which
>i am now
>using as backup for c: plus other work; i have no other means
of
>backup.
>any further suggestions or from anyone, [pleasant ones i hope,
>i've lost a lot
>of my mobility] will be gladly received and given a go.
>cheers ted
>
>TOM SAID
>Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2003 09:54:11 -0500
>From: "T. Hunt" <ilrover@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Partitioning new hard drive
>Ted-
>Boot from the WD floppy and follow the prompts to where you
>installed
>EZ-BIOS and then disable it instead. Once that is done, you
will
>have to go
>into the BIOS and RE detect the harddrive as its parameters
have
>changed.
>Usually, you will have to fdisk and format new partitions and
>any data that
>was stored on the drive will be gone.  You should copy anything
>valuable to
>another drive or CD's before doing any of this.
>The ONLY time you should ever use a drive overlay is if the
>motherboard
>will not recognize the size of the drive correctly, such as an
8
>or 37GB
>limit.  And there is no reason to use Partition Magic with a
new
>drive
>either.  If you are installing Win2K or XP, just use the
>built-in tools on
>the CD to create partitions when you install the OS and then
use
>Disk
>Management to handle the creation and formatting of the rest of
>the drive
>after the OS is installed.  If you are installing Win98, you
can
>use the
>tools on the CD or you can make a boot floppy and fdisk and
>format from
>that prior to installing the OS. (It is common with Win98 to
>fdisk, format
>and then copy the CAB files to the harddrive and then start the
>install
>from there.)
>The only time you need to use PM is if you have a harddrive
with
>existing
>partitions and data and you wish to change the partition sizes
>without
>losing the data. (and even then you should back up everything,
>just in case).
>Tom
>

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