a523@mindlink.UUCP (Frank Murray) (05/28/90)
> kperson@plains.UUCP writes: > > Msg-ID: <4910@plains.UUCP> > Posted: 27 May 90 20:07:51 GMT > > Org. : North Dakota State University, Fargo > Person: Kerry Person > > > Sorry for the long history on my machine, but it may all be pertinent. > > I have a Packard Bell PB286 AT clone computer with 640K RAM, running 10MHz. > It came with a MiniScribe 3650 MFM drive formatted to 42 Meg with a Western > Digital WD1003-something or other controller. Under MS-DOS 3.3, I had to > partition the drive so the boot partition was under 32 Meg, so I set it up > as 31 (C:), and 11 (D:). I got tired of this after a while, so I bought and > installed MS-DOS 4.01. I reformatted and partitioned the entire 42 Meg as > drive C:. This worked fine, but as is not uncommon, I then started to run > short of room on the drive. I found out that the 3650 can be safely > formatted > as an RLL drive, so I got myself the Adaptec 2732B 16-bit RLL controller and > reformatted the drive to 67 Meg at 1:1 interleave, and tried to install 4.01. > It wouldn't recognize the Install floppy as a system disk. I reinstalled 3.3 > and all ran fine. Turns out my ROM BIOS, the new controller, and 4.01 didn't > get along together. I replaced my BIOS with Phoenix chips, and 4.01 > installed > fine. Here's where it gets weird. > PCTools and Gazelle Systems' Optune now can't recognize the media type. The > 2372 controller uses sector translation to fool applications into thinking > that > the drive still has 17 sectors per track instead of the 26 it really has. > This > wasn't a problem under 3.3, why now? Who knows? Well, I reformatted the > drive > AGAIN - this time disabling the 26-to-17 sector translation. Norton > previously > was fooled into thinking there were 17 sectors per track, and now indicates > that there are 26 - so the translation IS disabled. But PCTools (R3.24) and > Optune STILL don't recognize the media type. > > If you've read this far, any ideas? Can PCTools R3.24 run with 4.01? > Or how about Optune? Neato program, the optimization works fine, but it > can't do any of its analysis tricks. > > Thanks for any and all input. > > Kerry Person > (kperson@plains.NoDak.edu) I believe that you will need PCTools Version 5.5 or higher to work properly with DOS 4.01. I think that PCTools Version 5.0 even had problems with DOS 4.01. The difference with DOS 4.01 seems to be in the File Allocation Table (FAT). My older office version of VOPT (Disk optimiser and de-fragmenter) wouldn't even load with DOS 4.01! Frank Murray # 523 @MindLink! +---------------------------------------------+ | I like my Honda Accord better than the | | Meech Lake Accord !!! | +---------------------------------------------+
kperson@plains.UUCP (Kerry Person) (05/28/90)
Sorry for the long history on my machine, but it may all be pertinent. I have a Packard Bell PB286 AT clone computer with 640K RAM, running 10MHz. It came with a MiniScribe 3650 MFM drive formatted to 42 Meg with a Western Digital WD1003-something or other controller. Under MS-DOS 3.3, I had to partition the drive so the boot partition was under 32 Meg, so I set it up as 31 (C:), and 11 (D:). I got tired of this after a while, so I bought and installed MS-DOS 4.01. I reformatted and partitioned the entire 42 Meg as drive C:. This worked fine, but as is not uncommon, I then started to run short of room on the drive. I found out that the 3650 can be safely formatted as an RLL drive, so I got myself the Adaptec 2732B 16-bit RLL controller and reformatted the drive to 67 Meg at 1:1 interleave, and tried to install 4.01. It wouldn't recognize the Install floppy as a system disk. I reinstalled 3.3 and all ran fine. Turns out my ROM BIOS, the new controller, and 4.01 didn't get along together. I replaced my BIOS with Phoenix chips, and 4.01 installed fine. Here's where it gets weird. PCTools and Gazelle Systems' Optune now can't recognize the media type. The 2372 controller uses sector translation to fool applications into thinking that the drive still has 17 sectors per track instead of the 26 it really has. This wasn't a problem under 3.3, why now? Who knows? Well, I reformatted the drive AGAIN - this time disabling the 26-to-17 sector translation. Norton previously was fooled into thinking there were 17 sectors per track, and now indicates that there are 26 - so the translation IS disabled. But PCTools (R3.24) and Optune STILL don't recognize the media type. If you've read this far, any ideas? Can PCTools R3.24 run with 4.01? Or how about Optune? Neato program, the optimization works fine, but it can't do any of its analysis tricks. Thanks for any and all input. Kerry Person (kperson@plains.NoDak.edu)
kmcvay@onebdos.UUCP (Ken McVay) (06/01/90)
> (FAT). My older office version of VOPT (Disk optimiser and de- > fragmenter) > wouldn't even load with DOS 4.01! I have a version of Vopt that works with 4.01 - but it won't recognize my SCSI drive (110 meg) at all.....Speed Disk (NU 4.5) won't work on the drive either, once it hits >48 megs....so I have this 110-meg partition that hasn't been optimized since January....sure will be nice when the utility authors catch up with DOS 4.01.... I really enjoy the large partition, but being unable to optimize it every day is a _real_ drag..... BTW - I have a virgin (sealed) copy of Vopt which works with 4.01 - contact me netmail if you're interested....(kmcvay@oneb.uucp) --- * Origin: 1B Systems Management Ltd. - Canada's FD Distributor (89:681/1) -- Ken McVay - via IMEx node 89:681/1 uunet!van-bc!oneb!onebdos!!kmcvay kmcvay@onebdos.UUCP
geiser@apollo.HP.COM (Wayne Geiser) (06/01/90)
In article <1095.26660666@onebdos.UUCP>, kmcvay@onebdos.UUCP (Ken McVay) writes: |> |> > (FAT). My older office version of VOPT (Disk optimiser and de- |> > fragmenter) |> > wouldn't even load with DOS 4.01! |> |> I have a version of Vopt that works with 4.01 - but it won't recognize my |> SCSI drive (110 meg) at all.....Speed Disk (NU 4.5) won't work on the |> drive either, once it hits >48 megs....so I have this 110-meg partition |> that hasn't been optimized since January....sure will be nice when the |> utility authors catch up with DOS 4.01.... It's not really fair to be blaming this on DOS 4.01. I have Norton Utilities (v 4.5) and SPEED DISK works just fine (so far as I can tell :-)) with my 150 MB ESDI disk. I suspect it is the type of drive you have and not the version of the OS. I had all the problems with programs not being able to work correctly with 4.01. All of them turned out to be problems with the new disk format. Upgrades solved them all. |> I really enjoy the large partition, but being unable to optimize it every |> day is a _real_ drag..... |> |> BTW - I have a virgin (sealed) copy of Vopt which works with 4.01 - |> contact me netmail if you're interested....(kmcvay@oneb.uucp) |> |> --- |> * Origin: 1B Systems Management Ltd. - Canada's FD Distributor (89:681/1) |> |> -- |> Ken McVay - via IMEx node 89:681/1 |> uunet!van-bc!oneb!onebdos!!kmcvay |> kmcvay@onebdos.UUCP Wayne Geiser Apollo Computer, Inc. - A subsidiary of Hewlett Packard geiser@apollo.hp.com