DOS don't recognize SATA hard disks, plus a little problem

I start with the little and less important problem. Time ago i made my own ms-dos bootable usb device, then i added to it some other commands like "edit.exe", "format.com", "keyb.com", "undelete.exe", "unformat.exe", "xcopy.exe". The standard commands works correctly, but to use the command i manually copyed in the usb device, when i'm in a folder different from "C:", they don't work.

ES:

C:\

i write: keyb it

it works

C:\games\pac_pc2

i write: keyb it

"unknown command"

C:\games\pac_pc2

i write: C:\keyb it

it works

So the first question is: how to make the added commands available even from other folders?

____________________________________________________________________

Now, let's go to the most important question:

My new computer has only SATA and USB devices. But when i boot my DOS device, it doesn't recognize SATA HardDisks (i've 2 HardDisks, both in FAT32).

How to let my USB-DOS recognize SATA HardDisks?

I really, really need that, it's really really important...

I don't want to let you hurry, but... i REALLY need my DOS to recognize SATA, it's nearly a matter of life or death...

For the first part, you will need an autoexec.bat file in the root of the USB drive with the following command.

SET PATH=C:\

Edit: you will have to substitute the drive letter of the USB drive for C:\ in the above command.

I am not sure you will be able to get DOS to recognize a SATA drive. What are you trying to accomplish with the DOS commands on the SATA drive?

Edited by JohnC_21, 09 February 2014 - 05:40 PM.

It's the mainboard or adapter drive controller that DOS has to interface with, so the simplest way should be to enter the BIOS and enable IDE emulation mode on the SATA controller. I've only heard of DOS drivers for accessing AHCI DVD drives - otherwise someone would have to develop a DOS driver for each brand (and possibly model) of SATA controller chip. Edit: or access through BIOS routines, which would be horrendously slow!

Edited by Platypus, 09 February 2014 - 06:11 PM.

I've tryed changing SATA settings, but nothing...

However i've found that:

http://www.hiren.info/downloads/dos-files

if you go down, you can find:

"gcdrom.sys - SATA Native IDE CD/DVD-ROM driver (Supports Intel ICH6/ICH7/ICH8, JMicron 361/363/368, NVidia CK804/MCP55/MCP51...(may not work with PATA)"

Maybe i should use this, but i don't understand how.

The website tells to add the lines in "Config.sys", however in my DOS device there isn't...

_____________________________________________________________________________

For the first part, you will need an autoexec.bat file in the root of the USB drive with the following command.

 

SET PATH=C:\

 

As there isn't Config.sys, i can't find any autoexec.bat...

EDIT:

I noticed i was using the Windows ME DOS, sorry...

I formatted the USB device, then i put in it FreeDos. Here there are both Config.sys and autoexec.bat

But i still don't understand how to instal the SATA drive written above

Edited by Barnack, 10 February 2014 - 01:49 PM.

You have to create the autoexec.bat file or simply enter the SET PATH=C:\ command in the dos windows. Then you will be able to use the command in any path.

If you are trying to access the SATA drives, simply download the iso file of Puppy linux version 5.2.8 (lupu-528.005.iso)Then use Rufus to create a bootable USB flash drive. Use the MBR partition scheme and FAT 32 for the file system. In the boxes select "Quick Format", "Create extended label and icon files", and in the drop down box select "Iso Image" and browse to the Puppy iso file you downloaded.  When finished boot the USB flash drive. Your SATA drives will be in the lower left of the desktop probably labeled sda1 and sdb1. If there is more than one partition on the drives you would see sda1,sda2 / sdb1, sdb2 etc. Clicking it once will automatically mount the drive and show the contents. Here is a good article about using Puppy to copy files. Do not do the disk check as shown on page 2 of the article.

Rufus also lets you create a bootable USB of FreeDos. As Platypus posted, if you change your BIOS to IDE mode from AHCI, it may see the hard drive, but I would try using Puppy linux. It should be able to do anything you were trying to do with DOS.

Edited by JohnC_21, 10 February 2014 - 03:13 PM.

DOS should see the SATA drives if these conditions are met

If the controller is set to Compatibility (IDE) mode, not RAID or AHCI.

at that point fdisk should see the drive(s)

Then if the drive is partitioned for FAT16 and formatted FAT16 then the contents will be seen.  DOS will not see NTFS or GPT (GUID Partition Table)

From Here

 

Microsoft MS-DOS versions 4.0 and later allow FDISK to partition hard disks up to 4 gigabytes (GB) in size. However, the MS-DOS file allocation table (FAT) file system can support only 2 GB per partition. Because of this fact, a hard disk between 2 and 4 GB in size must be broken down into multiple partitions, each of which does not exceed 2 GB.

NOTE: Windows 95 OEM Service Release version 2 and later support drives larger than 2 GB using the FAT32 file system. For more information about the FAT32 file system, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Good Luck

Roger

P.S. Dos 7.x can see FAT13 drives too, Still nothing newer, however.

I know that this is old but it still shows in Google searches.

The OP wrote:

"SATA HardDisks (i've 2 HardDisks, both in FAT32)."

DOS (MS-DOS 6.xx, PC-DOS ect) cannot see ANY drives that are formatted  FAT32.

IF there's a partition on the SATA drive that is formatted FAT16, AND the BIOS allows the SATA drive to emulate an IDE drive, DOS could read a FAT16 PARTITION that is on a SATA Drive.

Boot the computer from a MS-DOS boot floppy, MS-DOS boot CD, or MS-DOS boot USB and then try to access the SATA drive with a FAT16 partition to figure out what is the issue.

While MSDOS may not support FAT32 or SATA, FreeDOS still supports it. FreeDOS is open source and is still being developed to this day.

I ran a test on my Biostar socket 775 mobo with a P4 3.6GHz cpu.

It has four IDE devices, boots PC-DOS 7 Release 1 from the 1st IDE hard drive.

It has 2 SATA PORTS. I added a SATA hard drive with four 2GB primary FAT partitions. PC-DOS sees all 4 and gives them drive letters. SATA WORKS OK

Edited by Aoresteen, 02 September 2022 - 07:31 AM.