Windows NT 4 large drive support

[lukeofearl]

Hello everyone,

I just installed windows NT 4.0 workstation on an old machine I had laying around. The computer has a 40 gig HD. One obstacle with NT 4 is that it won't allow you to format a partition larger than 4 gigs during setup. To get around this I initially created a 4 gig partition (NTFS), updated the system with all updates + SP6, then used partition magic to resize the NTFS partition to the full 40 gigs. Currently the system runs fine -- it appears to correctly recognize the entire drive, there have been no problems booting up, etc. After doing some reading though I realized that if any system files cross the 4 gig barrier the computer may become unbootable. With SP6 installed is this still the case? Or has microsoft corrected the limitation? Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to request any info I didn't include. Thanks!

Luke

 

[talldude123]

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?threadid=79821&highlight=137GB

 

[lukeofearl]

http://www.techist.com/showthread.php?threadid=79821&highlight=137GB

Thanks for the reply but the 137gb barrier has absolutely nothing to do with this question.

 

[EricB]

if you have the PM boot disc or an xp disc use it to format the drive as ntfs, then use the nt disc to install. if that nt 4.0 isn't windows 2000, then it probably doesn't recognize ntfs (all previous windows only recognize fat32, which have the 4 gig limit)

 

[lukeofearl]

if that nt 4.0 isn't windows 2000, then it probably doesn't recognize ntfs (all previous windows only recognize fat32, which have the 4 gig limit)

???

There are so many things wrong with your post I don't even know where to start. You're right, NT 4 is not Windows 2000. Thank you for pointing that out. And about NT 4.0 not reading an NTFS partition... where do you think the name NTFS came from? NT file system perhaps? And last time I checked FAT32 did not have a 4 gig limit.

For your benifit here are some good wikipedia articles that you may want to read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT_4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000

 

[EricB]

???

There are so many things wrong with your post I don't even know where to start. You're right, NT 4 is not Windows 2000. Thank you for pointing that out. And about NT 4.0 not reading an NTFS partition... where do you think the name NTFS came from? NT file system perhaps? And last time I checked FAT32 did not have a 4 gig limit.

For your benifit here are some good wikipedia articles that you may want to read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT_4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_2000

first off, you are an ungrateful something.

I was just trying to help you, not debate you

secondly, I read your question wrong. I thought that you said that you had a problem with file over 4 gig, because fat 32 has a 4 gig file size limit.

I also didn't know if nt 4 was windows 2000 or not. I didn't mess with computers back then. either way it's way outdated.

you don't have to worry about my help anymore.

P.S. while you are using wikipedia to correct somebody, use it to find your answer. I don't have a problem with computers (I fix them for a living now).

 

[EricB]

And about NT 4.0 not reading an NTFS partition... where do you think the name NTFS came from? NT file system perhaps?

while we are correcting people, ntfs 1.1 (nt 4) can't read all the file that ntfs 5.0 (2000 and xp) makes

 

[lukeofearl]

first off, you are an ungrateful something.

I was just trying to help you, not debate you

secondly, I read your question wrong. I thought that you said that you had a problem with file over 4 gig, because fat 32 has a 4 gig file size limit.

I also didn't know if nt 4 was windows 2000 or not. I didn't mess with computers back then. either way it's way outdated.

you don't have to worry about my help anymore.

P.S. while you are using wikipedia to correct somebody, use it to find your answer. I don't have a problem with computers (I fix them for a living now).

Eric, I apologize. I was a complete jerk in the post above. I posted it at work just as I got off the phone with an incompetent and lazy co-worker, which I shouldn't have taken out on you. I realize you were just trying to help. For the record I actually did get the issue sorted out using this workaround method. Once again, I apologize.

 

[lukeofearl]

while we are correctly people, ntfs 1.1 (nt 4) can't read all the file that ntfs 5.0 (2000 and xp) makes

Not to be an *** again, but the version numbers go like this:

Windows NT 4.0 = NTFS 1.2
Windows 2000 = NTFS 3.0
Windows XP/Server 2003 = NTFS 3.1