Microsoft KB Archive/197667

= Installing Windows NT on a Large IDE Hard Disk =

Article ID: 197667

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.0
 * Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.0a

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This article was previously published under Q197667



SYMPTOMS
During the installation of Microsoft Windows NT to an 8 gigabyte (GB) or larger IDE hard drive, the computer may stop responding (hang) during the format portion of setup. If the drive was previously formatted as file allocation table (FAT) and designated to be converted to NTFS file system (NTFS), the computer may hang during the conversion process. Other symptoms include the drive taking an extremely long time to format or Windows NT not recognizing the entire size of the drive.



CAUSE
The Microsoft supplied generic IDE driver (Atapi.sys) may not be fully compatible with drives larger that 8GB. This issue only affects IDE-based drives 8 GB and larger.



RESOLUTION
Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 (SP4) has a new Atapi.sys file that allows the drive to be formatted during setup of Windows NT. SP4's Atapi.sys can also access space beyond 8GB on these IDE drives.

The system partition (boot partition) is still limited to 7.8GB whether an updated version of the Atapi.sys file is installed or not.

For more information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

114841 Windows NT Boot Process and Hard Disk Constraints

NOTE: The system board basic input/output system (BIOS) must support and recognize drives larger than 8GB before Windows NT can access the entire drive. You can verify this ability by entering into the BIOS or contacting your system board manufacturer.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be an issue in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.



MORE INFORMATION
For related issues that this article addresses, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

177257 STOP 0x0000000A or Difficulty Recognizing IDE CD-ROM Drives

183654 IBM DTTA-351010 10.1 GB Drive Capacity Is Inaccurate

Additional query words: sbsfaqtop 8gb 10gb dell poweredge SBS45 sbsfaq large hdisk hard drive disk winnt atapi atapi.sys ide 0x0000007b INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE 0x7B

Keywords: kbbug kbpending KB197667

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