> So bottom line, what do i do to recognize this drive under win98 so i can get the files we backed up on it? As an aside, I threw the drive on my system and MY computer isn't recognizing it either, so I'm guessing it's something regarding the drive itself. any advice?

Dave has some suggestions.

1. Just to start with the obvious, make sure you've actually partitioned the 1 Gig drive after formatting :-). Without partitioning, drives will not be displayed under FDisk, nor PartitionMagic, or anything else. In the FDisk menu, switch out of the primary drive selection and select the slave to be partitioned.

2. Check Western Digital's site to review if there are any problems with upgrading WDs from Win95 to 98.

3. If the 1 Gig is partitioned properly, the fastest way to check whether there is a physical hardware problem with a HD is to boot to DOS mode and see if it is being detected. (Either hold down the 'Ctrl' key during bootup and then select DOS mode from the menu; or just Restart under DOS mode).

4. Failing the above -- and assuming that the slave isn't just too old to be compatible with 98 anymore -- you may want to consider upgrading the Bus Mastering drivers (i.e. the Hard Drive Controllers), since the BM drivers between Win95 and 98 are not of the same format. There shouldn't be a problem of FAT16 vs. FAT32 indexing since Win98 can handle both (as well as FAT12).

Wolf "but where's Dracimas when you need him? :-)" spirit