W98 is much easier. If you can put the drive in another computer.
Format it to FAT32, then make a Windows directory and copy all files from W98 cd to that directory.
Then copy files from W98 boot disks to root of drive.
SysChat - Downloads (Freeware Utilities) - Boot Disks

Install it back in the original machine, and it should boot and allow you to run setup from the Windows directory you created earlier.

With Windows 98 you can even install on one computer, then move it to another and it will find the new hardware (you may have to install specific drivers after boot for things like network, sound etc.) so you will want to copy drivers for the machine to a directory too.
If you use this method, copy the W98 disk to a directory as before, so when you install a new device you can point it to the files when prompted.