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TmEE: To solve something similar to the OP's problem, or the simpler case of default sort? And does it stick long term?

Can the Paragon software act as readonly? Can it access >127GB partitions, or partitions that start >127GB? (Not sure if this is normally a problem, actually.)

I don't know the solution, but it's a bit similar to a long running problem I have where Explorer and standard file dialogs keep reverting to a default sort of Z-A by filename. I recall finding a suggestion to set the sort in an Explorer window to what you want, then close it by clicking the close button while holding Ctrl. Maybe it has to be the last open Explorer window, too. I don't think it'll help, it doesn't help me (at least not long term), but worth a shot.

Nothing like an authentic P3/Win98 machine for old 3D games. Still looking for a 1GHz Pentium 3...

Exact Audio Copy can do it (Tools\Split WAV by CUE Sheet). The latest version for Win9x has problems with WAVs, but v0.95b4 works.

I'm trying (well, hoping) to mount a 600GB NTFS partition that sits on a SATA drive, using NTFS for Windows 98. The partition doesn't show up. I assume it's because it's >137GB, but could it be something else? DiskInternals' NTFS Reader accesses it fine, but it reads very slowly.

Thanks for the info. What does KernelEx do that requires installation? I was hoping to avoid system-wide changes. I know what Haali Media Splitter does. But it doesn't seem to split AMR for me, nor is it mentioned as a feature. What version do you use that splits AMR? Do you need to enable it specifically? If it works then that's the solution, with the decoding handled by ffdshow.

Can KernelEx be used simply by dropping the DLL into the same directory as the DS filter? What does Haali's splitter do in this regard? It doesn't seem to split AMR, and surely it's not a decoder?

Does anyone know of a DS splitter for AMR, or a Winamp decoder plugin (without dependencies)? I only found the Monogram AMR splitter which doesn't run on 9x (though maybe would work if compiled w/o NT dependencies).

What makes this one better than others? (This links to my "which IDE chip" thread: )

What's FineSSE? (Well, I can assume what it does, but any pointers with more info about it?)

What does this change? Can you post screenshots showing before/after?

I thought the updated MSIMG32 from WinME would fix the shadow problems around certain UI elements. Is that not the case? Does everyone else get the dialogs seemingly unskinned? And actually, can anyone suggest a simple/clean skin? I prefer the v9.2 look, but all the "Classic" skins don't get everything aligned right, or add spacing in certain places.

I got a JM20330 based one from eBay for $5: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140619484951 Difficult getting the SATA and power connectors in, difficult getting them out, particularly when the PCB flexes since it isn't anchored, but it's workable. Even comes with extra bright red LEDs! I didn't get a good look at those LEDs, a difficult angle, but I assume they indicate connect drives or something. A 750GB Samsung looked fine with it, though I only checked it briefly with HDTune. Other than that so far I used it to copy data from a 500GB WDC. No problems noted. (Well, there were 2 1-bit read errors, but that's something my IDE controller's been known to do when running DMA modes, so I guess that was the cause... ) While it has a master/slave jumper, I couldn't get that part to work correctly. I tried both the 750GB Samsung and 500GB WDC SATA drives, with an IDE WDC being the other drive. The BIOS doesn't detect either drive in that case. In some cases I did manage to get the drive ID strings to show in the BIOS setup screens, but not in actual boot, and always after a long delay. I tried both as master/slave, two 80-wire cables, two positions on cable, WDC jumpered to force SATA 150, IDE drive jumpered in two master positions (single/master+slave), but no go. The IDE controller I tried it on is a SIS 5513 (part of the SIS630 chipset). Any idea if it might be a compatibility issue, or how to solve it?

Various. Naturally it's not going to be TB drives, I'm not sure you have many of those for IDE. WD 40, 80, 160, older ones, NEC 7200, etc. BTW, you asked about SATA speed, I'm not looking for a SATA controller but IDE. 1-2 SATA channels through the same controller could be a bonus, but not the main objective.

What's your opinion on the various PCI/IDE controller chips? What's good, what's bad? Some chips I'm aware of: PDC20376 SiI0680A (how's it different from 0680 non-A?) VT6410 VT6421A (single channel, but also SATA150) Are there any others I should consider?

There's usually no need to keep images. You can install and apply cracks if needed. For mounting I use Daemon Tools 3.47.

That can't be. Strange and conflicting results on Pentium 3 and 4 must be due to software.Anyway, other things to try in general: CrystalPlayer, for its ability to buffer ahead and for letting you configure the behavior when it can't keep up. It also has pretty nice contrast control, and decent subtitles rendering (though it can't be positioned arbitrarily). MPC is my secondary player when CrystalPlayer isn't sufficient (>2GB files mostly, but not only). For h264 decoding, old/beta CoreAVC versions might be the fastest decoder that works on 9x.

Xvid 1.3.2: http://www.xvidvideo.ru/xvid-video-codec/ xvid_encraw.exe doesn't work, VFW DLL does, haven't checked the DirectShow filter. Jawor's build doesn't seem to work. FF3 works on 9x?

That sounds more like a limitation of your motherboard IDE controller (is it very old?) or something wrong with drivers. Any HDD from maybe the last 10 years would be able to do more than that. Even if your controller is limited to 33MB/sec, I think you should expect more like 25MB/sec. Of course, all that assumes you're checking raw sequential speed (and at the beginning of the HDD if it's very old).If your onboard controller is 33MB/sec, a PCI SATA controller should be faster. How much faster would also depend on your specific mobo chipset, I guess newer in general would be better. PCI is 133MB/sec cumulatively. Even with overhead and other concurrent traffic, I'd expect a SATA controller to exceed 33MB/sec and in ideal conditions maybe even triple that. And read? Specs could lie. A PCI USB2 controller I have gets me about 16MB/sec. It could also be the limitation of the USB device, but I think it's the controller in this case. Either way it's far from saturating PCI.

What's wrong with >137GB disks if Win9x only accesses partitions below the limit?

Photoshop 7. Older versions of Painter. As for animation, it depends on the type. I don't know about 2D animation, but 3dsmax 5 works, as does Blender (not sure if current version, though).

At least judging from their site listing, that UK seller still has the item, though on a 2 month backorder. BTW, I didn't know scanners could take photos of 3D objects that well.

That's good news. So it seems quite possible that a properly aligned partition with the right reserved area size would work well. I don't remember now the exact structure of things, but wouldn't the cluster count need to to be set to specific values because the 2nd FAT copy would go right after the first, so may be unaligned?

dencorso, thanks. Really strange to find corruption with the Sunplus chip. Something else must contribute to that, they can't not have noticed that when developing the chip. rloew, would 48-bit support guarantee proper support for 2TB+ on both the SATA and IDE sides? A few adapter leads: Assuming that MM-PATA330 is the same as the Syba one, it can be had for 9.5$ including shipping, but not to all countries. An apparent JM20330 one on DealExtreme for less than 5$, with M/S/CS mode. But one review complains it failed within a few minutes taking the drive with it. (Also unclear why the jumper legend is on the inner side.) A manufacturer page for an adapter based on Marvell 88SA8052, with leds and M/S jumper, but without a "fence" around the IDE connector (I really hated those on old HDDs/mobos). The specs say 1.5Gbit, though the Marvell chip should support 3.0Gbit. And BTW, I did see at least one IDE to 2 SATA adapter card on eBay. But it just looks more awkward having this card stick out of the mobo, and less flexible in that you can't mix SATA/IDE on the same IDE channel.