Copying Win98 SE Upgrade onto new 80G 8MB Cache!

Hi,
I am looking at buying one of those new Western Digital 80G 8MB Cache hard drives and would like to know about copying Win98 SE Upgrade to it first.
Is it possible to plug this 80G into my pc as a 2nd hard drive and then copy Win98 SE Upgrade from the CD direct to that hard drive, then after I do that take my 40G out and set the 80G as the main hard drive and put my boot disk in and go through the usual things then execute the copied win98se upgrade that I first copied to that 80G hard drive?
Would Windows work if I done something like that?
Or would I have to copy the full version windows to the 80G for it to work?
By getting the 80G, I am trying to have windows setup on the hard drive so I don't have to ever worry about inserting the cd everytime I add a new piece of hardware.
I know it can be done by copying the cd to the hard drive after installing the 80G as my main drive, but I would like to copy it before I make it my main hard drive.
Hope you understand what I mean.
I also suppose I have to buy a good motherboard that would support this type of hard drive to get the best benefits out of it.
Are these new hard drives much faster then a 7200rpm? I suppose it would depend on what MB you also have!
Thanks in advance.
Regards
Rod

1. RE: Copying Win98 SE Upgrade onto new 80G 8MB Cache!
Twinhead Aug-16-02 05:15 AM
In response to message 0

LAST EDITED ON Aug-16-02 AT 05:29 AM (EDT)

Yes, it can, with a few things in mind.
You should create (a) FAT-32 partition(s) on the drive.
For your upgrade, YOU need to setup win95 first on that drive.
The upgrade will look for the presence of Win95.
If not present, it refuses to install.
It meight be cheatable if you have a win95 startdisk, and point the installer to A: when it asks for win95 systemfiles.
Please obtain Win98SE full version if you do not have win95 on it.
Copying the Win98SE from C: to the new drive would NOT work!
Windows retains open files who cannot be copied from within Windows.
Copying the Systemfiles from C:\ to the new drive does NOT make it bootable!
A Ghost-image or a new install is needed for that!
It will work on ANY ATX mainboard with ATA-33, but see if you can buy one with at least ATA-100 to get the full advantage of the 8MB ondrive cache. (YOU need also a special cable for that mainboard!)
Verify on buy if the BIOS of your new Mainboard can support a 80 Gig drive!
Victor.
** GeoAlloc: 52.518884(N) / 6.110530(E) @ www.mapblast.com **

2. RE: Copying Win98 SE Upgrade onto new 80G 8MB Cache!
lbyard Aug-19-02 02:48 PM
In response to message 1

I have done it several times with that WD drive by copying an image of the C: drive. Here are some references you may find useful:
Ways to Copy the Contents of One Hard Disk to Another
http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/hd/cpyhd/index.html
HOW TO INSTALL THE WINDOWS 98 UPGRADE ON A NEW HARD DISK DRIVE
http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/software/windows/upgrade/intro.htm
How to Copy the Windows Cab Files to a Hard Disk
http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/software/windows/cabs/movecabs.htm
I plan to publish benchmarks for that drive shortly. It is very fast.
Larry

3. RE: Copying Win98 SE Upgrade onto new 80G 8MB Cache!
Rod Aug-21-02 05:42 AM
In response to message 2

Larry could you please let me know when you have the benchmarks done?
I won't be changing it for a while yet, and would love to review your article first.
So the hard drive is very fast with the correct motherboard?
Thanks
Rod