HPFS - Used to Remote an old NT Partition?

[the5thQ]

REMEMBER A DAY...PINK FLOYD...I HAVE A ATA DRIVE WITH A BAD IBM WARP3 INSTALL. After installation the machine rebooted and I then get 2 os/2 messages blinking at the top left hand corner with a blinking underbar on the line below...hit a key would be probably the obvious, yet nothing happens. Is this because it was installed w/o changing something in the PreBootX or BIOS? Is there a partition program on a CD I can use to ID an old HDD and remove any traces of formatted WinDoZe installs? Hmmm...I do remember a day but there were no hassles, at least not like this dilemma using OS/2 straight out of a new box...arrrrg

[Spartan2381]

I have success with using GParted in the past.

http://gparted.org/index.php

[ivan]

DFSee  http://www.dfsee.com/is available as a bootable iso or USB and will clean up your old hard disk and also create partitions.

[Doug Bissett]

After installation the machine rebooted and I then get 2 os/2 messages blinking at the top left hand corner with a blinking underbar on the line below

Hmmm. Just a WAG, but did you install Warp3 starting with diskettes? Did you remove the last diskette before it tried to boot? You didn't say what the two messages were, but it is likely telling you that the diskette is not bootable. Remove the diskette, and it will boot from the hard  disk.

[Dave Yeo]

I have success with using GParted in the past.

http://gparted.org/index.php

Don't use gparted. OS/2 needs partitions on cylinder boundaries unlike most modern operating systems.
Always use OS/2 aware partitioning software, fdisk for Warp v3-v4, LVM for v4.5+ or DFSee.

[the5thQ]

YES, I did start this Intall using diskettes straight - out - of the box and I did not update same...many thanks FELLOW eCS users & WarpHEADs for ALL of your help here....it has been a REAL struggle from the ground up but I do really need to get a new Xitami WEBSERVER going on a fresh build; I.E. a 'new' box W/O TwindoZe looming in the background!  Can you say "SMART_BROWSER"
Just a behind the scenes note...I finally got the mobo going and now this?  arrrrg?

[Dave Yeo]

@JON, you never did say how big the install disk/partitions are. Older versions of OS/2 had various limits on partition size that need an updated ibms506.add (or dani506.add) to access larger drives. Warp v4 for example was limited to 4.3GBs disk size IIRC for example.

[the5thQ]

HI, so sorry 'bout that...wprking v. hard here- it finally mounted and on Sep. 1, 2016 I got the full install, I think the blinking was from the last install disk, I took that out and the computer rebooted on the VTG. Caviar 32500 HDD...2559.8MB Western Digital. I have given up on DUAL BOOT as it messes up the MBR/Pre Boot Environment. Not bad on a small hard disk in concession, I now have Warp 4 but it asks for DISK 7 ?. I thought that these 3 disks were all I WOULD NEED? I guess not, any ideas? Weird how in '96 they still did not change the readme Tedit file from the Warp 3 ver. OS, OH WELL, many thanks for ALL your support guys!
Remember A Day...

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBC86e5cT5U >

[the5thQ]

...Still stuck with DISK Sevev Load request onscreen...it will not go away! So looks like I sorta have an install of WARP4 on a small partition...ALSO, I did visit the 'dfsee.com' download website, all .iso/zip file downloads require registered copies that were previously purchased from FSYS but since I'm retired I can't afford to purchase these disk tools so now I WILL RETRY using the other products suggested which are pdr7free & gparted-live-0.26.1-5-i686.iso.z8n8qep which I'll try on reformatted ATA Drives...many thanks & KUDOS Ya'll_

[Pete]

Hi Jon

The dfsee files are all free to download, install and use - for a short period of time. If you need help sorting out a disk problem then you will need to Register as Support is not free. I can say that dfsee support is very good as he (Jan) recently helped me rescue a disk that others thought was dead.

I would not bother using Windows/linux based disk tools as most, if not all, simply do not work with OS/2 systems.


Regards

Pete

[ivan]

JON, the latest DFSee is available from hobbes http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/incoming/dfsee134.zip 

It is the full version and includes how to make a bootable floppy and/or USB stick.  The floppy boots to the DOS version but should enable you to do all you need on your hard disk - even down to giving it a new MBR and wiping all the partition tables.

You will need to read some of the documents and possibly switch to 'expert' mode.

[the5thQ]

Ooooops! So very sorry, the disk went NITE NITE! ...the event that led up to this had something to do with Disk 7-a prompt on the screen that would not go away once I thought the install was complete...BUT NO NO NO...NOT SO FAST... some where along the "Line" - received ON SCREEN an INSTALLATION FAILED message and now the Drive is DEAD...I would like to analyse the drive anyway using one of the products recommended here...Acronis® True Image™ 2016 had been one of my choices in all of this but this product is of little use for me on this project as I am trying to analyse this olde HPFS system disks...thank you again for all the great suggestions and I will keep you all updated once I figure out how to get around the install failure...once again, I have no 'disk 7'...here is the PF lynk of the day: "https://www.pf-roio.de/voio/TV.html"

[ivan]

Because you have the install asking for disk 7 check the CD you are installing from, it might be faulty.  Disk_7 is found in <CD>\os2image\ and has several packed files in it.

Now, is the disk actually dead or just not seen by the bios at start up or nor seen by the boot disks?  Old disks do die at some time.

You would be better off getting a newer 20 to 80 GB hard disk (assuming the bios sees that size) and using updated install disks.  It would be a very good idea to use DFSee to create the partitions on that disk first and if you want to dual boot also use it to install BootManager.

[the5thQ]

Thank you for that...WILL DO! I DOWNLOADED the .zip file for DFSee 13x.. My short term goals changed a 'bit' because of similar installation problems posted and resolved somewhat here on OS2World FORUM...I AM THINKING AHEAD and since the Version 3 was new out of the box, it may have been the system itself that made it impossible to use Tedit and asking for "disk 7" when I only had 3 floppies in the box...perhaps I will move on to eBusiness Server eddition and run Xitami for HPFS in some sub node under OS/2 Warp 4? But who knows, I may just ponder why Pink Floyd never made it to the TOP 40 with "SeeSaw"
 -I feel the earth move under my feet and the sky comes tumbling down thanks to the Politicos...ARRRGH"