DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:10:

I have a bit of a situation. I have a DVD version of a game that's a CD image that, eventually, I want to get onto my 98 PC. I'm running low on space, so I will need to look at getting another HDD at some point. However, the image is over 4.5GB. I have a pendrive that's 14GB, but FAT32 only supports up to 4GB. And I know NTFS isn't going to work with 98. I'm guessing I wouldn't have any luck with exFAT either...?

My 98 setup doesn't have a DVD drive either, so there's no chance of burning the file to a DVD disc. That would be the ideal solution. So I'm not quite sure what I could do. Does anyone know of any possible workarounds? Or something I'm overlooking?

Thanks

Maybe the answer is to break up the image into smaller files that Windows 98 can handle. What kind of an image are you trying to transfer that you would be able to use in Windows 98 (since it's too big to fit on FAT32, it's hard to imagine a use case)?

A LAN HDD, maybe. Network drives don't have the file limit.
I remember there were external HDD enclosures with an ethernet port, in addition to an eSATA or USB 2 port.
(On MS-DOS, MSCDEX does do it's magic by using same technology as a network driver.)

Jo22 wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:50:

A LAN HDD, maybe. Network drives don't have the file limit.
I remember there were external HDD enclosures with an ethernet port, in addition to an eSATA or USB 2 port.
(On MS-DOS, MSCDEX does do it's magic by using same technology as a network driver.)

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of or used a LAN HDD. They sound like a great tool. Although my 98 PC isn’t connected to the internet.

leonardo wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:46:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:10:

I have a bit of a situation. I have a DVD version of a game that's a CD image that, eventually, I want to get onto my 98 PC. I'm running low on space, so I will need to look at getting another HDD at some point. However, the image is over 4.5GB. I have a pendrive that's 14GB, but FAT32 only supports up to 4GB. And I know NTFS isn't going to work with 98. I'm guessing I wouldn't have any luck with exFAT either...?

My 98 setup doesn't have a DVD drive either, so there's no chance of burning the file to a DVD disc. That would be the ideal solution. So I'm not quite sure what I could do. Does anyone know of any possible workarounds? Or something I'm overlooking?

Thanks

Maybe the answer is to break up the image into smaller files that Windows 98 can handle. What kind of an image are you trying to transfer that you would be able to use in Windows 98 (since it's too big to fit on FAT32, it's hard to imagine a use case)?

I did consider that just. It certainly takes a good while to transfer files on my 98 machine, so the bigger they are, the longer it will take.

The image format is ISO. I have other image files that are ISO that I’ve made as well.

You're looking at the wrong issue. You can easily split a file to move it, but how are you going to use it on your Windows 98 PC?

Your Win98 HDD is very likely FAT32, what tool are you going to use to mount the ISO? Does it support a split ISO? Does it need to be an ISO? Could you copy the actual files instead?

SScorpio wrote on 2025-02-08, 19:07:

You're looking at the wrong issue. You can easily split a file to move it, but how are you going to use it on your Windows 98 PC?

Your Win98 HDD is very likely FAT32, what tool are you going to use to mount the ISO? Does it support a split ISO? Does it need to be an ISO? Could you copy the actual files instead?

Hmm, good point. I mean, I have Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% for mounting images. Would it not mount this DVD image...? Pretty sure the virtual drive is recognised as a CD/DVD drive. But I should be able to extract it on my main PC and transfer files/folders in chunks. Then create an image on 98. Though I'd have to use ImgBurn for doing it from files as it doesn't look like Alcohol can. Only from a disc.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-02-08, 19:43:

Hmm, good point. I mean, I have Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% for mounting images. Would it not mount this DVD image...? Pretty sure the virtual drive is recognised as a CD/DVD drive. But I should be able to extract it on my main PC and transfer files/folders in chunks. Then create an image on 98. Though I'd have to use ImgBurn for doing it from files as it doesn't look like Alcohol can. Only from a disc.

If either of those tools can mount a split image, then you already have your answer. You can't copy the image as it is now on your Win98 HDD. The FAT32 4GB file limit on the USB drive isn't the only road block.

So confirm what split format is supported if there is one. Then recreate the image outside of Win98, and then just copy the split files over.

The question still stands: FAT32 has file limit of 4gb, are you going to create two iso of smaller size? Hardly this stuff will work. It's not that if you create the iso inside the drive instead of trasnfer it the limit disappears.

SScorpio wrote on 2025-02-08, 19:47:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-02-08, 19:43:

Hmm, good point. I mean, I have Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120% for mounting images. Would it not mount this DVD image...? Pretty sure the virtual drive is recognised as a CD/DVD drive. But I should be able to extract it on my main PC and transfer files/folders in chunks. Then create an image on 98. Though I'd have to use ImgBurn for doing it from files as it doesn't look like Alcohol can. Only from a disc.

If either of those tools can mount a split image, then you already have your answer. You can't copy the image as it is now on your Win98 HDD. The FAT32 4GB file limit on the USB drive isn't the only road block.

So confirm what split format is supported if there is one. Then recreate the image outside of Win98, and then just copy the split files over.

I’m not sure it can mount a split image; I’ve never tried. 😅 Once I get some more space, I’d probably have to combine all files and try and re-create an image from scratch.

Nemo1985 wrote on 2025-02-08, 19:50:

The question still stands: FAT32 has file limit of 4gb, are you going to create two iso of smaller size? Hardly this stuff will work. It's not that if you create the iso inside the drive instead of trasnfer it the limit disappears.

Oh, I see. So something like Alcohol 120% won’t be able to create an image over 4GB on 98? If the files are on a FAT32 HDD…?

The 4gb in a single file is a limit is of the fat32 file system, Alcohol 120% surely can't circumvent such limit.

What game is this?
You could extract the files and see if it has a full discless install option or a nocd crack.

feda wrote on 2025-02-08, 20:11:

What game is this?
You could extract the files and see if it has a full discless install option or a nocd crack.

Tex Murphy: Overseer. I was going to look into making my 5CD version to DVD, but then figured it'd be easier to get the DVD version instead. I couldn't find any guide that explains how to convert the video to MPEG. Everything seems to be about converting them so you can play without the discs.

Actually the opposite makes more sense. You can do the images of the 5 cd (700mb each), put them in the usb drive and mount them on the win98 pc.
Hopefully your pc has at least usb 2 otherwise good luck transfer 1.5mb\s, in such case you can put at least the one cd image on the pc to have faster loading.

Nemo1985 wrote on 2025-02-08, 20:36:

Actually the opposite makes more sense. You can do the images of the 5 cd (700mb each), put them in the usb drive and mount them on the win98 pc.
Hopefully your pc has at least usb 2 otherwise good luck transfer 1.5mb\s, in such case you can put at least the one cd image on the pc to have faster loading.

Oh no, that isn't a problem. I created CD images from each disc on the 98 PC. The draw of the DVD version though is the higher quality FMV videos.

Okay, I'm currently performing a test with ImgBurn and making a CD image using a load of installed game files/folders that total over 4.5GB. It seems to be putting it together without issue so far. So if that works, I should be able to transfer the image's contents across in chunks like was suggested. So thank you for that. 😀

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:54:

Jo22 wrote on 2025-02-08, 18:50:

A LAN HDD, maybe. Network drives don't have the file limit.
I remember there were external HDD enclosures with an ethernet port, in addition to an eSATA or USB 2 port.
(On MS-DOS, MSCDEX does do it's magic by using same technology as a network driver.)

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of or used a LAN HDD. They sound like a great tool. Although my 98 PC isn’t connected to the internet.

Hi, it's essentially a NAS drive (network attached storage).
Some of those NAS devices had/have the look of an normal external USB HDD.
They usually also have USB port, too, in addition.

Here's an link as a example, I hope that's okay. It's an enclosure (no HDD included).
It has wi-fi, too, which is new. My older enclosures had RJ45/USB-B ports only.

https://www.amazon.com/Multi-Functional-3-5in … e/dp/B0CLCJZXS8

I know that Vogons is no marketplace, I don’t mean to advertise this model either.
It's just that I can't find any website of the manufacturers.

PS: As far as I know these NAS don’t need an internet connection.
They also work in LAN (intranet). They may ask an DHCP server (DSL or cable router) for an IP address though, if an DHCP is available in the network.

To my knowledge it's possible to connect them to a PC's network card directly, as well.
But then the IP address must be entered manually, so Windows can add it to the network (mentioned in the manual or on enclosure).

exfat might work

https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/board_entry.php?id=7861

myne wrote on 2025-02-09, 04:56:

exfat might work

https://www.bttr-software.de/forum/board_entry.php?id=7861

exFAT is cool, I'm using it on Windows XP SP3 (also did use it on SP2 via update)! 😃
macOS supports it too for a few years already.

The problem I see with Windows 98 is that it seems to have a 4GB file limit of some kind in general (except for optical media and ethernet).
It has to do with certain system DLLs and the way it uses pointers (signed, unsigned etc).
Speaking under correction, though. 🙁

There's also an semi-popular NTFS driver made by Paragon (the folks with the Russian DOS).
It was called "Paragon NTFS for Win98" or something.
It still had the same 4GB file limit, though, if memory serves.

Here's a similar report from a forum post in 2009.

"The full version of Paragon NTFS for Win98 3.0.2.2 is currently available free of charge for read/write access."

"I was mainly interested in access to files over 4GiB in size.

Windows Explorer in 9x displays file sizes correctly when over 4GiB, but if you try to copy an over 4GiB file, it truncates the copy (remainder of file size divided by 4GiB).

From a command prompt, dir only lists a truncated file size, and the copy command only copies the truncated size.

xcopy fails with Warning: File too large to be copied

I have not yet devised a method of testing if an application can read the whole file, or whether it gets truncated, or wraps at the 4GiB point...

If anyone has any good ideas or some kind of testing tool to check access to over 4GiB files on an external file system on 9x, then please speak up! (or is that post up?)"

https://msfn.org/board/topic/110814-ntfs-supp … #comment-825786

Other companies had also made NTFS drivers like that, but their free versions were read-only.

Linux EXT drivers for Windows 9x had existed, too. But they were probably read-only, as well or had issues with large drives. 🙁

http://martin.hinner.info/fs/Filesystems-HOWT … ms-HOWTO-6.html