What are the Operating System Partition Limitations above 8.4 GB?
Operating System Partition Limitations
  1. DOS 6.22 or LESS: DOS 6.22 or less does not support drives greater than 8.4. There are no solutions at this time.
  2. Windows 95: Windows 95 version A (standard version) does support extended interrupt 13 so it can support drives with capacities greater than 8.4 GB. Because of the limitation of the FAT16 file system, a minimum of five partitions will need to be created on the hard drive. This is caused by the 2.048 GB partition limitation of a FAT 16 Operating System. Partition quantities will increase as the hard drive's capacity increases (e.g., an 11 GB hard drive WILL require a minimum of six partitions). Microsoft has identified that Windows 95 does NOT support drive capacities greater than 32 GB. They recommend that users either upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 4 (or newer). Reference Microsoft Article Q246818 for more information.
    NOTE:  Windows 95 Upgrade is NOT considered a standard version. It requires that MS-DOS or Windows 3.1x be installed. This means that a Windows Upgrade will NOT support drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB.
  3. Windows 95B / OSR2, Windows 95C and Windows 98:  Windows 95B (OSR2), Windows 95C and Windows 98 does support extended interrupt 13 which allows the operating system to support drives larger than 8.4 GB. These operating systems also support FAT 32. This file system lets the user create partitions larger than 2.048 GB. FAT 32 can only be used on hard drives whose capacity exceeds 512 megabytes. Microsoft has identified that Windows 95 does NOT support drive capacities greater than 32 GB. They recommend that users either upgrade to Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 4 (or newer). Reference Microsoft Article Q246818 for more information.
    Microsoft has also identified occasions when the operating system may misreport cluster sizes (and/or disk capacities) on drives whose capacities exceed 32 GB. Reference Microsoft Article Q243450 for the fix to this issue.
  4. Windows NT 3.5: Windows NT 3.5 does not support drives greater than 8.4 GB.
  5. Windows NT 4.0: Windows NT 4.0 WILL support drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB provided:
    • NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 is used along with the ATAPI.SYS file linked to in article Q183654 on the Microsoft Website.
    • The system is upgraded to NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.
      NOTE:  Reference Microsoft Article #Q197667 "Installing Windows NT Server on a Large IDE Hard Disk " for proper installation/upgrade procedures.
  6. OS/2 Warp 3 and 4: Some versions are limited to a boot partition size of 3.1 GB or 4.3 GB. This issue can be resolved by obtaining the latest Device Driver Pack from IBM.
  7. Novell NetWare: Currently, Novell NetWare versions 5 and 4.11 will support drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB. This is accomplished with the following drivers:
    • IDEATA.HAM (Host Adapter Module) dated 8-25-98
    • IDEHD.CDM (Custom Device Module) dated 8-5-98
      NOTE:  It is not known if Novell intends to develop driver updates for earlier versions of NetWare. Customers will need to contact either a Novell Authorized Reseller or Novell directly for further information on driver updates and support for older NetWare versions. Users can also obtain more in-depth information on Novell NetWare at: http://www.novell.com/
  8. Red Hat Linux 5.2: Red Hat Linux will support hard drive capacities greater than 8.4 GB provided:
    • Linux Kernel version 2.0.35 is used
    • LILO resides in the first 1023 cylinders of the primary master hard drive.
    • The /root partition must reside in the first 8.4 GB of the primary master hard drive. The /root partition CANNOT exceed 8.4 GB.
      NOTE: Users can obtain more in-depth information on Linux at: http://www.redhat.com/

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