NTI - Computer Forensics Processing Tips

Windows 95/OSR2 and Windows 98 Large Partitions

You may find that after restoring a fairly large hard drive that Windows 95 and 98 will refuse to boot the restored image, giving a "Disk I/O Error" or other similar message. This may be due to the host computer system not being able to support hard disk BIOS extensions properly. Astute observers will note that SafeBack gives three partitions types requiring BIOS extensions:

Type 12 - FAT-32 using XBIOS

Type 14 - FAT-16 using XBIOS

Type 15 - Extended using XBIOS

So what to do if your system doesn't support hard disk BIOS extensions?

The first, and most obvious course of action is to try to find a BIOS upgrade for your computer. Unless you have a major name-brand system, however, this may be all but impossible.

Another approach that may meet with some success is to use a disk editor to change the partition type in the master boot record as follows:

Type 12 changes to type 11

Type 14 changes to type 6

Type 15 changes to type 5

This will usually allow your system to get booted. If that doesn't do the trick, call NTI for assistance to get the restored system to boot.

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