Question Windows 98 and XP maximum hard drive size

[berserker0]

Hi! What is the maximum size of the hard drive that Windows 98 will support? And Windows XP?

 

[fzabkar]

Windows 98 is limited to 28-bit LBA, which corresponds to 128GiB.

Windows XP is limited to 2TiB (32-bit LBA and MBR partitions).

If you use an external USB enclosure configured with a sector size of 4KiB, then Win XP will support a 16TiB external drive.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi! What is the maximum size of the hard drive that Windows 98 will support? And Windows XP?

Win 98, 128GB
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/windows-98-maximum-hard-drive-capacity.html

Win XP, 2TB
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...dows-xp-hard-drive-size-limit?forum=itproxpsp

(this is due to the MBR formatting, which cannot see a partition or drive larger than 2.2TB)

 

[TerryLaze]

But in reality it will depend on what your bios supports.
Up to win 95/98 era a bios that would only support up to 2Gb wasn't a rare thing to see.

 

[berserker0]

Thank you! Did I understand correctly that this is a limitation for only one drive? Or for the whole volume? So, I can't connect multiple 128 disks to Win 98? Or a few 2 TB for XP, right?

 

[TerryLaze]

It's a partition limit.
You can connect as many drives as you want as long as each one is its own partition/drive letter.

 

[berserker0]

It's a partition limit.
You can connect as many drives as you want as long as each one is its own partition/drive letter.

For example, I can connect a 512 Gb drive to a Win 98 computer, but I need to create 4 partitions of 128 Gb each?

 

[fzabkar]

For example, I can connect a 512 Gb drive to a Win 98 computer, but I need to create 4 partitions of 128 Gb each?

No, it's a drive limit, not a partition limit.