AC, thanks for pointing out my error, I do recall that now , been a long time since had anything to do with98, and back then if anyone had a drive over 32gb they were *********** very lucky and seriously rich:) oh how times have changed!!
the limit is weird but I seem to recall some book or something saying it was limited in later NT based windows systems to encourage people to use NTFS
by jogging my memory you have helped me out with a problem of formatting a 500gb usb drive so it is easily readable on all windows and linux machine, so ta again
Mark