thanks for the info. i'm running Windows 98 on it at the moment. out of curiosity, where would i find something like Partition Magic or something that would help me merge the two? i'd prefer to not have to backup and repartition or reformat everything. but if it's easier, i just might.

let me know any info on that Partition Magic utility, if you don't mind.

thanks again for your help.

--Brian

Not using Windows, no - you will either have to back up, repartition and reformat, or use a utility like Partition Magic to merge the systems.

To go over 2GBytes, you must be using Windows95OSR2 or later - the original 95 did not support FAT32, which is required.

 

yes, partition magic can non-destructively combine the 2 partitions on the same drive; as w/ any harddrive partition utility there is a risk, and they advise you to backup the data before using their software, but that is more of a legal "covering themselves from lawsuits" than anything. i have been using partition magic since version 2.0 (currently 7.x / 7.01) and have only had 2-3 minor problems normally due to corruption of partitions that required that i move all the data to another hd and wipe clean.

im a little rusty on the limits of win9x and fat32
though i dont remember any problems w/ an 8gb harddrive having 1 partition when i ran win98/98se

Spike, Go to an MS-DOS Prompt under Windows, and type and enter Fdisk. Answer the question Y and then select 4 from FDisk Options. Check the format on both drives designated. If they say FAT16, Esc out and then close the DOS shell. Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/ FAT32 Converter and convert the 2 drives to FAT32. Then use Partition Magic to merge the two drives into one. You cannot merge 2 FAT16 drives if the total will be more than 2.047gb, which is your case.  The company for the Partition Magic is Power Quest, but they are always available on Ebay. The reason for the 2 partitions was indeed a result of W95A being the original OS on your Laptop, as it required the 2gb Partitions with FAT16-also required. W98 will install either way-FAT16 or FAT32- and folks that wanted the easy way out just left them that way, To change to FAT32 using FDisk, you have to delete everything-Files, partitions, format , boot sector etc. and start over with a bare drive, answer the question Y and create one Active Primary DOS Partition for the whole drive. MS took a bit of pity here and included the aforementioned FAT32 Converter which does not wipe out your files  made under W95, FAT16 etc. when it converts the format and partitions

Message Edited by leduke30 on 04-23-2004 09:46 PM