How to make an old 486 accept hard drives over 8.4GB (7.8GB)
Step 1: Download Ontrack(r) Disk Manager 10.4.6
Step 2: Have 2 Blank Floppy Diskettes at hand & 2 Floppy Diskette Drives (one on your useable PC, the other connected to your 486 PC)
Step 3: Extract the file Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS.rar onto your desktop
Step 4: Open the program called Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS.exe under C:\Users\UserName\Desktop\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS or C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Desktop\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS where UserName = your computer User Name.
Step 5: Insert the first blank Diskette into your Floppy Drive, and click Continue and Next.
Step 6: It'll ask you to format the blank Diskette, click Yes.
Step 7: After the first diskette is done, label the diskette as Disk Manager 10.4.6 Boot Disk 1 of 2
Step 8: Repeat Steps 5 through 7, thus, label the 2nd diskette Disk Manager 10.4.6 Disk 2 of 2
Step 9: Restart your old 486 computer; insert Disk 1 into the Floppy Drive
Step 10: you must set your computer BIOS to boot from the diskette drive first. Go to Boot Settings under your computer BIOS, under Boot Devices, press Enter or Page +/- to make the computer boot drive A (floppy first); Drive C (hard drive second).
Step 11: After the computer loads the appropriate files from Disk 1, the program will ask you nicely to insert Disk 2 of 2; press C to continue.
Step 12: Click on Hard Drive Setup, Next, I agree, Continue, Advanced Setup, Clear the Partition Table and make a new one (recommended that you use the entire Hard Drive)
Step 13: select the OS you would like to install (Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista/7). Note: you cannot run Windows 95 on a hard drive partition that is bigger than 32GB (32,768MB). Windows 98SE is highly recommended since the 486 computers can only handle DOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows for Workgroups 3.1x Windows NT 3.5x, Windows 95 (not recommended for hard drives bigger than 32GB), Windows NT 4.0 (only allows 7.8GB before installing SP3 or higher), and Windows 98/98SE. For linux, it can handle Feather Linux, Damn Small Linux, even IPCop. For Linux, do not use this program because the Linux OSes have built-in Drive Overlay.
Step 14: Insert your bootable Windows 98/98SE Floppy Diskette so that the files can get copied onto your hard drive, if you have the diskette handy, then click OK, or click cancel to skip.
Step 15: press Done; click Exit; reboot your computer by using Ctrl-Alt-Del
Step 16: Insert either the bootable Diskette for Windows 98/98SE, or the Windows 98SE installation CD (if it's bootable). Press either C to boot the CD or press the spacebar to boot the diskette.
Step 17: follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 98SE on your computer.
Step 18: after the installation is done, install the appropriate drivers for your printers, scanners, modems, etc. Some pereffiral cards don't need drivers, like Sound Blaster Vibra16x PnP (SB16 ISA), some ISA Ethernet Cards, printers even, modems, etc.
Ontrack Disk Manager allows the hard drive to use Dynamic Disk Overlay so that the system can see the hard drive with the LBA flag enabled.
Step 2: Have 2 Blank Floppy Diskettes at hand & 2 Floppy Diskette Drives (one on your useable PC, the other connected to your 486 PC)
Step 3: Extract the file Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS.rar onto your desktop
Step 4: Open the program called Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS.exe under C:\Users\UserName\Desktop\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS or C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Desktop\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS\Ontrack.DiskManager.v10.4.6.DOS where UserName = your computer User Name.
Step 5: Insert the first blank Diskette into your Floppy Drive, and click Continue and Next.
Step 6: It'll ask you to format the blank Diskette, click Yes.
Step 7: After the first diskette is done, label the diskette as Disk Manager 10.4.6 Boot Disk 1 of 2
Step 8: Repeat Steps 5 through 7, thus, label the 2nd diskette Disk Manager 10.4.6 Disk 2 of 2
Step 9: Restart your old 486 computer; insert Disk 1 into the Floppy Drive
Step 10: you must set your computer BIOS to boot from the diskette drive first. Go to Boot Settings under your computer BIOS, under Boot Devices, press Enter or Page +/- to make the computer boot drive A (floppy first); Drive C (hard drive second).
Step 11: After the computer loads the appropriate files from Disk 1, the program will ask you nicely to insert Disk 2 of 2; press C to continue.
Step 12: Click on Hard Drive Setup, Next, I agree, Continue, Advanced Setup, Clear the Partition Table and make a new one (recommended that you use the entire Hard Drive)
Step 13: select the OS you would like to install (Windows 98SE, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista/7). Note: you cannot run Windows 95 on a hard drive partition that is bigger than 32GB (32,768MB). Windows 98SE is highly recommended since the 486 computers can only handle DOS, Windows 3.1x, Windows for Workgroups 3.1x Windows NT 3.5x, Windows 95 (not recommended for hard drives bigger than 32GB), Windows NT 4.0 (only allows 7.8GB before installing SP3 or higher), and Windows 98/98SE. For linux, it can handle Feather Linux, Damn Small Linux, even IPCop. For Linux, do not use this program because the Linux OSes have built-in Drive Overlay.
Step 14: Insert your bootable Windows 98/98SE Floppy Diskette so that the files can get copied onto your hard drive, if you have the diskette handy, then click OK, or click cancel to skip.
Step 15: press Done; click Exit; reboot your computer by using Ctrl-Alt-Del
Step 16: Insert either the bootable Diskette for Windows 98/98SE, or the Windows 98SE installation CD (if it's bootable). Press either C to boot the CD or press the spacebar to boot the diskette.
Step 17: follow the on-screen instructions to install Windows 98SE on your computer.
Step 18: after the installation is done, install the appropriate drivers for your printers, scanners, modems, etc. Some pereffiral cards don't need drivers, like Sound Blaster Vibra16x PnP (SB16 ISA), some ISA Ethernet Cards, printers even, modems, etc.
Ontrack Disk Manager allows the hard drive to use Dynamic Disk Overlay so that the system can see the hard drive with the LBA flag enabled.