WinME doesn't display all partitions

[htnmate]

Trying to partition a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB hard drive as an EXTERNAL mass storage drive via USB2.0 I have run into a problem that I can't seem to resolve and I hope to find some advice in this forum.

My PC is a Dell* Dimension XPS H266, running at 300MHz and updated to the latest BIOS v1.00.09.DT0 from Intel*.
My motherboard is Intel* PX440FX (Portland). My operation system is Windows ME.
My INTERNAL drives are as follows:
PIIX3 Primary Master IBM-DHEA-36480 (6,4GB) - Drive Letters C: E: F: G:
PIIX3 Primary Slave IOMEGA ZIP 100 - Drive Letter D:
PIIX3 Secondary Master HL-DT-ST RW/DVD CCC-4480B - Drive Letter H:
PIIX3 Secondary Slave IOMEGA ZIP 250 - Drive Letter I:

Using fdisk I have succeded in partitioning this drive as one single 120GB partition and to format it. So far so good! However, I would like to split the 120GB drive into 4 equal partitions, each ca. 30GB! Again using fdisk, I am able to create 4 extended/logical partitions, K:, L:, M:, N: or to create 1 primary 30GB, 1 extended and 3 logical 30GB partitions K:, L:, M:, N:. But, after restarting my PC, in each case only the very first partition K: is visible and ready for formatting. I can't seem to find and access the remaining 3 partitions L:, M: and N: in the Windows Explorer, nor can I find a way to format those three missing partitions. So I deleted all those partitions.

Then, using MaxBlast 4 for Windows I created as additional storage device 4 new partitions, which get formated nicely and are listed in the "HD Information Tool" as:
DRV4_Vol1=30.0GB
DRV4_Vol2=30.0GB
DRV4_Vol3=30.0GB
DRV4_Vol4=32,9GB
I did also once install additional unallocated space after partition 4. However, again and in both cases, only DRV4_Vol1 is shown in the Windows Explorer and I can't seem to find any way to access the other 3 partitions!

After I had partitioned the drive into 4 equal partitions with MaxBlast 4 f.W. I took both enclosure and hard drive back to the reseller and connected both to his modern PC and within seconds the Disk Management listed the above 4 partitions. His PC runs Windows XP! So this shows, my PC can create the 4 partitions correctly, but is unable to display them all.

Questions:
1.Would anybody have an idea what else I ought to try for being able to access all 4 external partitions also on my PC?
2.Which component of my PC might be responsible for no displaying all 4 partitions?

p.s.: I tried also Partition Magic v8.0, but the USB-disk isn't shown at all?

[glc]

Try disconnecting one of your Zip drives temporarily and connecting the new drive in its place - see if this works. I know this is not a permanent solution but it will rule out or confirm the USB housing (or its compatibility with WinME) as the issue.

[htnmate]

Are you saying I ought to connect the 120GB HD as an internal disk?
I know that my motherboard has a 33GB limit for internal HDs, so I won't be seeing the full 120GB when connected internally..

[glc]

That's probably causing the issue in the housing. Instead of a housing, you need an internal PCI controller card and hook up the drive internally.

[htnmate]

Perhaps you are right, that a PCI ATA controller would be the solution, but it could also be that I run into yet another unresolvable issue with my rather old PC. However, I chose the USB2.0-HD-solution for the very same reason, to avoid my motherboard limitation and for some reason it does not work 100% as I want it and I hoped to find a solution without upgrading my PC forever. But that's my problem!
You suggested also that either the enclosure or WinME might be the cause for my problem. The enclosure I bought is supposed to support both maximum HD capacity of 200Gb and WinME! What more do I need? It wasn't cheap and I don't think the supplier is lying. And WinME on my PC detects the fully partitioned 120GB and can even partition into 4 smaller 30GB partitions! It kind of appears I am the very first person in the universe to observe such a strange problem. Also Maxtor, the HD experts, could not help me to resolve my issue, with what I've got i.e. without upgrading endlessly, without any guarantee for 100% success ...

[Tahertech]

Originally Posted by htnmate Trying to partition a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB hard drive as an EXTERNAL mass storage drive via USB2.0 I have run into a problem that I can't seem to resolve and I hope to find some advice in this forum. My PC is a Dell* Dimension XPS H266, running at 300MHz and updated to the latest BIOS v1.00.09.DT0 from Intel*. My motherboard is Intel* PX440FX (Portland). My operation system is Windows ME. My INTERNAL drives are as follows: PIIX3 Primary Master IBM-DHEA-36480 (6,4GB) - Drive Letters C: E: F: G: PIIX3 Primary Slave IOMEGA ZIP 100 - Drive Letter D: PIIX3 Secondary Master HL-DT-ST RW/DVD CCC-4480B - Drive Letter H: PIIX3 Secondary Slave IOMEGA ZIP 250 - Drive Letter I: Using fdisk I have succeded in partitioning this drive as one single 120GB partition and to format it. So far so good! However, I would like to split the 120GB drive into 4 equal partitions, each ca. 30GB! Again using fdisk, I am able to create 4 extended/logical partitions, K:, L:, M:, N: or to create 1 primary 30GB, 1 extended and 3 logical 30GB partitions K:, L:, M:, N:. But, after restarting my PC, in each case only the very first partition K: is visible and ready for formatting. I can't seem to find and access the remaining 3 partitions L:, M: and N: in the Windows Explorer, nor can I find a way to format those three missing partitions. So I deleted all those partitions. Then, using MaxBlast 4 for Windows I created as additional storage device 4 new partitions, which get formated nicely and are listed in the "HD Information Tool" as: DRV4_Vol1=30.0GB DRV4_Vol2=30.0GB DRV4_Vol3=30.0GB DRV4_Vol4=32,9GB I did also once install additional unallocated space after partition 4. However, again and in both cases, only DRV4_Vol1 is shown in the Windows Explorer and I can't seem to find any way to access the other 3 partitions! After I had partitioned the drive into 4 equal partitions with MaxBlast 4 f.W. I took both enclosure and hard drive back to the reseller and connected both to his modern PC and within seconds the Disk Management listed the above 4 partitions. His PC runs Windows XP! So this shows, my PC can create the 4 partitions correctly, but is unable to display them all. Questions: 1.Would anybody have an idea what else I ought to try for being able to access all 4 external partitions also on my PC? 2.Which component of my PC might be responsible for no displaying all 4 partitions? p.s.: I tried also Partition Magic v8.0, but the USB-disk isn't shown at all?

Windows Me uses the FAT32 file system which has a practical limit of
128 gb binary gb (137 billion bytes) per partition.

The reason for this is that drives with more than 4.1 million total
clusters cannot be maintained because Scandisk and Defrag will not
operate on them. The maximum usable cluster size with FAT32 is 32
kilobytes so that results in the 128 binary gb (137 billion byte)
maximum practical cluster size.

You can use WinXP for larger partitions but practically Win Me wont support this much big Partition Display.

[htnmate]

Not sure how relevant this last post is to my problem, since the external USB-hard drive I am trying to partition as described is only 120GB of size i.e. smaller than 128GB or am I missing something ...

[glc]

Have you dug around the registry and config files for a "lastdrive" statement? It almost sounds like you have a lastdrive=k somewhere.

[htnmate]

I have TweakUI v1.33 installed and have all drive letters enabled i.e. last drive is Z: as also confirmed in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

I just assigned temporarily drive letter Z: to my ZIP250 drive and after rebooting I could access the ZIP250 without any problems i.e. drive letter Z: appears to be valid and recognized ...

[htnmate]

After assigning drive letter Z: to my ZIP250 drive, K: is still assigned to the primary partition of my external hard drive, inspite of freeing up drive letter I:, while my extended, logical partition (called L: in fdsik!) on the external drive is still invisible in the Windows Explorer.

Why doesn't I: get assigned to the primary partition of my external drive and K: to the extended, logical partition of the external drive after reassigning ZIP250 from I: to Z:?

After reassinging the drive letters, fdisk suddenly displays a 3rd drive, 238MB of size, which is the Z:-assigned ZIP250 drive, before the external hard drive 4. With I: assigned to ZIP250 fdisk did not show this 238MB drive!

I can only assign a new drive letter to my ZIP250. The other drives appear to have fixed drive letters.

Would this give any hints to the experienced PC user?

[glc]

Are any of the drives or partitions compressed? If so, there will be hidden drive letters for the "host" drive. Remember the old Doublespace "H" drive? Do you have any CD burning or cloning software installed that mounts any virtual drives? Any mapped network drives?

[htnmate]

Neither any drives nor any partitions are compressed.
No software that mounts any virtual drive.
No mapped network drives.