problem with clean install of Windows 2000 pro

[system1]

I have two questions in this post. first I don't know how to install it with a fat 32 format,
the second is my 80 GB drive show (when using w98 boot disk in fdisk) as a 10 GB maximum capacity drive........
I don't know what's wrong fdisk won't let me to increase the size of the primary partition.......
My machine originally have 2disk drives,
a WD 40 GB drive where I have wxp installed,
and the 80 GB slave as a Ghost images back up files........
I've decided to install Win 2k pro in the 80GB drive,
so I first used the WD floppy utility that came with the drive when I bought it,
and did a format with it, and then I disconnected my master 40GB drive from the cable and connected the 80 GB drive at the end of the cable,
and un-jumped it I also disconnected one optical disk (slave) drive,
and two PCI cards,
and now this is what I'm working with: one optical (mastered) drive and the 80GB un-jumped disk drive and of course the graphic card , I need serious guidance on this problem what am I doing wrong ! I've been trying to solve this problem for the last 3 days and I must confess I'm going a little bit CRAZZZZZY, hey! hey!! no shouting please, and no talking to your self ether.....
my hardware set up as it stand now
Asus A7N8X De LuXE
AMD ATHLON XP 2600+ 208 FSB 333
PAIR OF KINGSTON DDR 256MB PC2700-333 MHZ
PSU- THERMALTAKE WOOO9R 420WATTS DUAL FAN
VGA ATI RADEON 9500 128 MB -128DDR
HDD-1 WESTERN DIGITAL 80 GB 8MB CASHE
SONY DDU1621 DVD READER
Thx need help as soon as possible

Nirvana is here and now, it's the mind that's elsewhere

 

[HammerBot]

Forget about w98 bootdisks and fdisk (why in the h%#¤% are you using that in the first place? You are not trying to install w98!). Simply boot from the W2k/wxp installation CD. It allows you to partition the drive as you see fit and format it with FAT32 or NTFS.


<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>

 

[system1]

As I understand it this so far if one try to install w2k on a drive larger that a 32 gb which is the max for w2k, w2k will indeed format and install, but for some reason to ntfs only, now on the other end.....If one partition a 80 gb disk to no more then let's say 30gb and 50 gb (in my case) then one can set the partition to fat 32 and w2k will have no problem with, and that's why I've been trying to use fdisk and without knowing then, that there is a limitation with fdisk to 64 gb max and it will not see much more, and causes fdisk to report only 10 gb, unless one apply a M$ fix to correct that.....

Nirvana is here and now, it's the mind that's elsewhere

 

[HammerBot]

The 32GB limitation of FAT32 is a software limitation M$ introduced. FAT32 really isnt limited to that small amount, and any partition can be increased using various tools after the OS is installed. The reason for M$ introducing the limitation in the first place is that FAT32 becomes incresingly ineffective at larger capacities. So if you have partitions larger than 32GB, I recommend NTFS. Actually I recommend NTFS for all partitions regardless of size. Forget about FAT32.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>

 

[system1]

Hi thx for the help. I was able to install win 2k but I took a different approach, I discarded the fdisk and WD utility ideas totally, I first, deleted a problematic 2gb ntfs partition...( that in a early attempt I created with w2k pro).. I did this with a little free utility called kill disk,
then hooked up the disk in question as a slave,
and using my master disk to boot up, then I just formatted the disk with PM and partitioned the 80 gb to 30 + with fat 32 in one part, and the a second part to about 45+ gb,
then disconnected the master and hoocked up the 80gb (this time unjumped) and booted with w2k pro CD in the bay,
and bingo, all I had to do was to choose where to install, and setup started and w2k pro installed perfectly and, fast too! After installing some hardware and drivers etc etc, I started installing wxp pro and that's it, I'm writing this from my w2k pro Rig as a dual boot machine.
I think wxp is good , but w2k pro is a gem of a OS and when it's tweaked properly, which I haven't done yet, the boot up time is really only a few seconds slower than wxp pro, thx again

Nirvana is here and now, it's the mind that's elsewhere