Windows 98 4GB Limitation - Implication for DVD writing

Newbie Forum
#1

Hi everyone,

I couldn’t find an article about this in my searching of the website/forum… so…

Recently I’ve been deciding which DVD writer to buy, and through looking at the various reviews I came to a conclusion. I was ready to purchase the item and then a thought crossed my mind regarding the 4Gb file limitation for Windows 98SE…

When writing CD’s I used to have to make image files before I burned these to the CD (to maximise space, amongst other things) - do you have to do the same thing for DVD’s, i.e. create 4.7gb iso images and then burn them, or is there a way to get around this limit by either:

a) Multi-session - two images of about 2.3gb each
b) Writing the discs file by file (and if so, does this have high overheads like the CD writing)

Or will my only options be:

c) Updating my OS past Win98/ME
d) Using Linux/FreeBSD rather than a silly microsoft operating system :wink:

I’m just trying to work out all of these factors in my head - I don’t really want to have to spend money upgrading to Windows XP/2000 as I am happy using my archaic Windows 98 system… I know that I can dual boot to Linux/FreeBSD to resolve the issue - but I still might want to use Windows to create images… will I simply be limited to nothing over 4gig? (ick)

Many thanks to all who respond…

#2

When you use DVDDecrypter you can decide if you want to split the output file into several parts (1GB or so). The created files are named I00, I01… You can load that files into DVDDecrypter and they are handled like one huge file and burning them should be the same as when you have one big file. I know that because my HDs are FAT32 aswell.

#3

Thanks for the Reply Martin…

I’m not as concerned about recording DVD-video as the concept of using it as mass storage. I was just wondering whether it’s possible to create 2 images smaller than 4GB and then write them to the DVD in one session… i.e. concatenating the two as if they are one, without causing any disadvantages in the process.

Any ideas? :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Darren

#4

Just in case anyone was curious I have since upgraded to XP - but it is quite an easy matter to use a DVD writer with Windows 98 (with the relevant software)

By default, XP does not support DVD writing, as that’s meant to be a new feature of the new version of Windows (due out by the end of the decade, possibly) - so either way you’re going to need another piece of software to write the DVD’s (burnatonce is good, cdburnerxp may work, Nero is fantastic etc)

Writing Multi-session DVD’s isn’t an issue so there’s no reason that you can’t get around the 4gig limit by using two sessions - it’s just that some drives may not necessarily like Multi-session (but most do)