[fa.info-mac] How to manage disks?

info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac) (07/26/84)

From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE@MIT-MC>
Suppose I have a systems disk with nothing on it but MacWrite
and MacPaint.  I have a second drive with a disk containing
correspondence and letterheads and varous other templates.  The
second disk has 300+K space available; the first doesn't have so
much.
	I now crate a five-page document (single spaced) with
MacWrite.  I enter MacWrite by double-clicking on a template
(letterhead) on the external disk (which has plenty space on
it).  When the document is finished I save it on the external
drive.
	I now try to print my document.
	After interminable trundling, I am told (The Disk Is
Full.  Please Try Again."
	Trying again produces the same message.
	The only thing I have been able to do is to have a
special systems disk that contains MacWrite and nothing else
(other than the systems folder); meaning that I cannot have
MacPaint available without swapping disks.
	Is there no way to make the Mac use the external disk
which is nearly empty as the place to store the document prior
to printing?  Why for that matter does it need to store the
whole damn document in the first place?  And why can it not
check for available space on the disk and INFORM ME INSTANTLY
that the disk is full, instead of trundling for MINUTES before
telling me "The Disk Is Full.  Please Try Again"
	Have I done something wrong or is this just typical of
what The Rest Of Us must endure?