What is FAT32?
File Allocation Tables (FAT) are like a table of contents to your data. Prior to Windows 98, 16-bit FATs limited partitions to 2.1 Gbytes. The new 32-bit FAT is capable of huge partitions up to two Tbytes (terabytes).
Is my data at risk if I convert to FAT32?
Yes. There is always the possibility for data loss when upgrading your operating system. At a minimum, you should always backup your data before you make any significant change to your system.
Do I need Windows 98 to get past the 8.4-Gbyte barrier?
No, but it helps. Windows 98 has FAT32, which conveniently allows the full capacity of your hard disc drive to be accessed using one drive letter - a single C:\ prompt. Otherwise with Windows 95 original FAT16, you are limited to partitioning your hard disc drive into multiple 2.1-Gbyte logical drive letters.
Can I install Windows 98 on a drive smaller than 512 Mbytes?
Yes. If the drive is smaller than 500 Mbytes, Windows 98 uses original FAT16 instead of FAT32. The Windows 98 setup will advise you of the free space requirements, which are slightly greater than the requirements of Windows 95.
When I boot from a diskette, I cannot get to my hard disc drive.
Your existing boot diskettes (of any version of a Microsoft operating system) will not be able to recognize a FAT32 disc partition. You will not be able to start Windows 98 if you boot your system with a Windows 95a Startup diskette. You must use a new emergency startup disc (ESD) with the Windows 98 release if you want to be able to get to your data when booting from a diskette. It is therefore a good idea to have several spare bootable diskettes with the new FAT32 aware system files on them.
What is the minimum amount of disc space I need to install Windows 98?
The amount of disc space you need depends on the type of installation your choose (typical, portable, compact, or custom). If you choose to set up a custom installation, you can determine how much disc space you need by adding up the space each of the components you want to install uses.
200 Mbytes of free hard disc space is required for a local installation. A custom installation can require up to 250 Mbytes. A compact installation requires 21 Mbytes of hard disc space. You also need a certain amount of free hard disc space for a swap file, depending on how much RAM the computer has.
An additional 50 Mbytes is required if you choose to back up your Windows 95 system files during Setup (Save System Files Option). We recommend that you perform a complete system backup before upgrading your operating system to Windows 98. Seagate offers a wide variety of tape backup solutions.
Discrepancy Between Reported Capacity and Actual Capacity
Many customers are confused when their operating system reports, for example, that their new ST310240A 10.24-Gbyte hard drive is reporting only 9.85 Gbytes in usable capacity.
Several factors may come into play when you see the reported capacity of a disc drive. Unfortunately there are two different number systems which are used to express units of storage capacity; binary, which says that a kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes, and decimal, which says that a kilobyte is equal to 1000 bytes. The storage industry standard is to display capacity in decimal. Even though in binary you have more bytes, the decimal representation of a Gbyte shows greater capacity. In order to accurately understand the true capacity of your disc drive, you need to know which base unit of measure (binary or decimal) is being used to represent capacity. Another factor that can cause misrepresentation of the size of a disc drive is BIOS limitations.
How Operating Systems Report Drive Capacity
Windows 95/98
From Windows Explorer, right click on a drive letter, then click on Properties. This shows bytes, Mbytes, and Gbytes.
DOS/Windows 3.x
What is Jumper Basic ?
Jumpers are small metallic pins that protrude from the end of a hard disc drive or from its circuit board, as shown below. Jumpers are used to configure the hard disc drive's options, such as defining master and slave or cable select.
What is Microsoft's FAT32 File System?
Windows 95 OSR2 provides an updated version of the File Allocation Table file system called FAT32. This updated file system allows for a default cluster size as small as 4K, as well as support for EIDE hard disc sizes in excess of 2 Gbytes. FAT32 provides many enhancements over previous implementations of the FAT file system.
What is Cluster & Partition Sizes?
FAT32 supports drives up to 2 terabytes in size. FAT32 uses smaller clusters (that is, 4K clusters for drives up to 8 Gbytes in size), resulting in 10 to 15 percent more efficient use of disc space relative to large FAT16 partitions. FAT32 will only work on 512 Mbytes and larger drives. Microsoft's bundled disc tools (Format, FDISK, Defrag, and MS-DOS based ScanDisk) have been revised to work with FAT32.
How often should I clean the tape drive?
Basically about once every one to three months.
How do I clean the tape drive?
Simply insert a cleaning tape. Follow the instructions on the cleaning tape and the entire process takes about 15 seconds.
Where can I buy a cleaning tape?
INMAC seems to be a good, quick source.
Why can't I write to the tape?
Make sure the tape is write enabled. On 8mm drives the tape is write enabled when the tab is not covering the hole on the side of the cartridge. On 4mm drives it's reversed; the tape is write enabled when the tab is covering the hole. Typically on 8mm tapes the tab is red. Typically on 4mm tapes the tab is white or gray.
What does it mean when the LED's on the tape drive blink?
Basically the green LED continuously on indicates a tape is present. Beyond that, it really depends on whether you have an 8mm or a 4mm drive.
I've got a tape that just won't eject; what do I do?
Shutdown your system. After it's shut down, turn the power off to your tape drive. Press and hold the eject button on the tape drive and thepower the tape drive on. Finally, release the eject button. If you are able to eject the tape, the tape is probably bad and should be discarded.
Can I share the controller between my hard disk and tape drive?
You can share between the two, but your performance will be better if the tape drive is on its own controller. The SCSI bus has a limited amount of data that can be transferred. For high-speed devices, the SCSI bus can usually be kept at its transfer capacity. If you do connect the tape device to the same bus, the data transfer rate from the disk is essentially cut in half as well as the tape transfer rate. This is due to the fact that data must be read from the disk into memory, formatted and written back out to the bus to the tape device. For low speed devices, such as DDS-1 DAT, lower capacity QIC, and Travan, this will not cause a problem. Also, the high-speed tape drives mentioned above should be connected to Ultra fast, wide SCSI controller. Controllers like the Adaptec 1542 cannot transfer data fast enough to keep the tape device streaming.
