Installing Windows NT on a Large IDE Hard Disk

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
• Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server versions 4.0, 4.0a

SYMPTOMS

During the installation of 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 FAT and designated to be converted to 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 8 GB. 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 8 GB on these IDE drives.

The system parition (boot partition) is still limited to 7.8 GB 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:

Q114841 Windows NT Boot Process and Hard Disk Constraints

1. Download the updated Atapi.sys from Microsoft's FTP server
   
   ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-unsup-ed/fixes/nt40/atapi/ATAPI.EXE
   
   and copy the file to a blank floppy disk. Run Atapi.exe on the diskette and the new Atapi.sys file will be extracted to the diskette. Label the disk "Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver."



2. Boot from the three setup disks supplied with Windows NT Server.



3. When asked if you would like setup to detect your mass storage devices, press S so that detection is skipped and you specify a mass storage device.



4. When setup list devices found, which should list <none>, press S again and insert the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver disk and press ENTER twice.



5. After setup reads the disk and list the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE driver, press ENTER to accept the driver.



6. Setup will now list Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver as an installed driver. If you have additional drivers for other mass storage devices, press S; if not, press ENTER to continue through setup.



7. Setup should continue through normally but, it will prompt you to insert the disk labeled "Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver Support Disk" at the copy phase after you have chosen or formatted a partition on a hard drive.

1. Download the updated ATAPI.SYS from Microsoft's FTP server
   
   ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-unsup-ed/fixes/nt40/atapi/ATAPI.EXE
   
   and copy the file to a blank floppy disk. Run Atapi.exe on the disk and the new Atapi.sys file will be extracted to the disk. Label the diskette "Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver."



2. Copy an updated file to Small Business Server (SBS) disk 2. To do this, rename the file Winnt.sif to Winnt.bak on disk 2. Then copy the Winnt.sif from the I386 folder on SBS CD 1 to SBS disk 2.



3. Boot from the modified SBS setup disks. When the computer is booting off of disk 1 and the message "Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration..." is displayed, press F6 on the keyboard.
   
   NOTE: This is at a black screen and no visible indicators occur when you press F6.



4. When prompted, insert the modified disk 2 into the computer.



5. The next screen that appears will prompt you to specify a mass storage drivers. To do that, press the S key and then arrow down to the listing of OTHER. Insert the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver disk and press ENTER twice.



6. After setup reads the disk and list the Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE driver, press ENTER to accept the driver.



7. Setup will now list "Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver" as a installed driver. If you have any more drivers for other mass storage devices, press S; if not, press ENTER to continue through setup.
   
   NOTE: Because we are using a modified version of Winnt.sif, you will be prompted to insert disks 2 and 3 several times. Make sure you format or convert the partition to NTFS as SBS requires it.



8. Setup should continue through normally but it will prompt you to insert the disk labeled "Microsoft ATAPI Service Pack 4 IDE Driver Support Disk" at the copy phase after you have chosen or formatted a partition on a hard drive.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem 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:

Q177257 STOP 0x0000000A or Difficulty Recognizing IDE CD-ROM Drives

Q183654 IBM DTTA-351010 10.1 GB Drive Capacity Is Inaccurate

Additional query words: sbsfaqtop 8gb 10gb dell poweredge

Keywords : sbsfaqtop
Version : winnt:4.0,4.0a
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug