Microsoft KB Archive/280737

= Fdisk.exe Unable to Partition Drives Larger Than 512 Gigabytes =

Article ID: 280737

Article Last Modified on 1/29/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
 * Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition

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This article was previously published under Q280737



If this article does not describe your hardware-related issue, please see the following Microsoft Web site to view more articles about hardware:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/w98?sid=460



SYMPTOMS
When you attempt to partition your hard disk by using the Fdisk utility, you may be unable to create a partition that is larger than 512 gigabytes (GB).



CAUSE
This issue occurs because the Fdisk utility is limited to creating partitions with a maximum size of 512 GB.



RESOLUTION
To work around this issue and create partitions that are larger than 512 GB, do not use Fdisk to partition your hard disk.

You can use the Windows Millennium Edition (Me) Setup boot disk that is provided with the full version of Windows Me to partition new drives before you install Windows.

Some third-party programs also contain programs that can partition drives that are larger than 512 GB. For example, Ghost from Symantec Corporation contains a program called Gdisk that partitions drives that are larger than 512 GB.



STATUS
This behavior is by design.



MORE INFORMATION
When you use the Fdisk utility to partition a drive that is larger than 512 GB, you might not receive any error messages that state that the drive was not partitioned correctly; however, the drive might not be partitioned correctly. For this reason, use alternative programs when you partition drives that are larger than 512 GB.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: HWDDRV FAT32 primary extended Terabyte Terabytes 2TB TB

Keywords: kbprb KB280737

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