scholes@boulder.Colorado.EDU (SCHOLES MARTIN LEE) (03/20/90)
Dreary-eyed, I just resolved my mega-baked boot drive. I have a 386 with QEMM, and I load a BUNCH of drivers into high memory. I recently loaded the DMDRVR.BIN driver into high memory, and many, many problems came from it. It took me forever to reconstruct my data (English Paper and Programming Assignment kinda disappeared), and even longer to diagnose the problem. The moral of the story is to NEVER, under any circumstances load DMDRVR.BIN into high ram, leave it in conventional. I think I have properly diagnosed the problem, if anyone disagrees, please let me know. If anyone is unsure, play it safe on this device driver and DO NOT load it high. You will save yourself a large headache. Good Luck, scholes@snoopy.colorado.edu
dhinds@portia.Stanford.EDU (David Hinds) (03/20/90)
In article <18605@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, scholes@boulder.Colorado.EDU (SCHOLES MARTIN LEE) writes: > > Dreary-eyed, I just resolved my mega-baked boot drive. I have a 386 with > QEMM, and I load a BUNCH of drivers into high memory. I recently loaded > the DMDRVR.BIN driver into high memory, and many, many problems came from > it. It took me forever to reconstruct my data (English Paper and Programming > Assignment kinda disappeared), and even longer to diagnose the problem. The > moral of the story is to NEVER, under any circumstances load DMDRVR.BIN into > high ram, leave it in conventional. I think I have properly diagnosed the > problem, if anyone disagrees, please let me know. That's strange. I have always loaded DMDRVR.BIN high, and have never had a problem. Did you have any other disk-related things loaded up there, like a cache or FASTOPEN, or some DOS buffers? Maybe one of your other drivers randomly trashed some other stuff that was also loaded high. -David Hinds dhinds@popserver.stanford.edu
liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) (03/22/90)
dhinds@portia.Stanford.EDU (David Hinds) writes: >In article <18605@boulder.Colorado.EDU>, scholes@boulder.Colorado.EDU (SCHOLES MARTIN LEE) writes: >> ... >> The moral of the story is to NEVER, under any circumstances load DMDRVR.BIN into >> high ram, leave it in conventional. I think I have properly diagnosed the >> problem, if anyone disagrees, please let me know. > That's strange. I have always loaded DMDRVR.BIN high, and have never >had a problem.... Not exactly related to the problem at hand, but what is the advantage of using DMDRVR.BIN if, let's say, I DIDN'T need to have patitions > 32 meg? I know the low-level format features of Disk Manager are nice so I might want to use it for that but then why would I not just use FDISK for the partitioning which doesn't need a driver (DMDRVR.BIN) like Disk Manager does?
scholes@boulder.Colorado.EDU (SCHOLES MARTIN LEE) (03/22/90)
In article <G0KGPZ@drivax.UUCP> liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >dhinds@portia.Stanford.EDU (David Hinds) writes: >Not exactly related to the problem at hand, but what is the advantage of >using DMDRVR.BIN if, let's say, I DIDN'T need to have patitions > 32 meg? >I know the low-level format features of Disk Manager are nice so I might >want to use it for that but then why would I not just use FDISK for the >partitioning which doesn't need a driver (DMDRVR.BIN) like Disk Manager does? I personally prefer not using device drivers for hard drives, because then when something goes wrong, that's just one more thing you need on the backup DOS boot disk to get happening. The answer to your question, at least in my case, is that I'm running a miniscribe 3085, which has 1170 cylinders. The way I understand things, the BIOS allows for a max of 1024 cylinders, so the driver steps in and does some translations to make it all work out.
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (03/23/90)
In article <G0KGPZ@drivax.UUCP> liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >Not exactly related to the problem at hand, but what is the advantage of >using DMDRVR.BIN if, let's say, I DIDN'T need to have patitions > 32 meg? >I know the low-level format features of Disk Manager are nice so I might >want to use it for that but then why would I not just use FDISK for the >partitioning which doesn't need a driver (DMDRVR.BIN) like Disk Manager does? A very good point. Slightly mistated, possibly. I use disk manager ALL THE TIME. No matter what when where or why. HOWEVER, when I have a disk that will not be partitioned, When disk manager finished, I delete the config.sys that it created & all the rest of the disk manager files. (like dmdrvr.bin). There is no good reason to keep these or use these if the disk isn;t to be partitioned. Anyone that says that these files are essential if disk manager is used, is mistaken. If they are required then there exists a error or incompatability in the hardware or hardware setups. No matter what it is better to correct these problems first. Rarely is any new parts required, just a little time with the Documentation. al
clear@actrix.co.nz (Charlie Lear) (03/24/90)
In article <G0KGPZ@drivax.UUCP> liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) writes: >Not exactly related to the problem at hand, but what is the advantage of >using DMDRVR.BIN if, let's say, I DIDN'T need to have patitions > 32 meg? BIOS limits you to hard disks with <1024 cylinders. DMDRVR.BIN bypasses the BIOS and allows you to use drives to their full rating. -- Charlie "The Bear" Lear: Call The Cave BBS, 64(4)643429 157MB Online! Home of the World Famous KiwiBoard BBS Software! Snail: P.O. Box 12-175, Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand All mail and flames to clear@actrix.co.nz
geoff@usafa.af.mil (Capt Geoff Mulligan) (04/06/90)
So then what is dmdrvr.bin for? What does diskmanager do different from fdisk when you partition a drive? I have used diskmanager to low-level format a 320 Meg drive into a single 120 Meg dos partition and a 200 Meg Unix partition and everything works just great. Can someone explain why i need dmdrvr.bin? Also where are the partition names stored? geoff
eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) (04/11/90)
>>>>> On 5 Apr 90 21:47:48 GMT, geoff@usafa.af.mil (Capt Geoff Mulligan) said: > So then what is dmdrvr.bin for? What does diskmanager do different > from fdisk when you partition a drive? I have used diskmanager to > low-level format a 320 Meg drive into a single 120 Meg dos partition > and a 200 Meg Unix partition and everything works just great. Can > someone explain why i need dmdrvr.bin? > Also where are the partition names stored? DMDRVR.BIN contains the partition information for your hard disk. Try removing it from your CONFIG.SYS file. If you try to access anything except the C: drive, DOS gives you the `Invalid drive specification' error. The only advantage that I can see from using Disk Manager is that you can create partitions greater than 32MB for DOS 3.3 and lower, except on the boot drive, and you can low-level format your hard disk without going through DEBUG. If you can live without this, FDISK is fine. FDISK stores the partition information on the disk, while DM does it in the driver, but then the driver only takes up 2-4K anyway. I think the partition names are stored in DMDRVR.BIN but I'm not sure. Eugene Wang eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu
srg@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu (Steven R Gerber) (04/12/90)
In article <EGGBERT.90Apr10150321@bucsf.bu.edu> eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) writes: >>>>>> On 5 Apr 90 21:47:48 GMT, geoff@usafa.af.mil (Capt Geoff Mulligan) said: > > >> So then what is dmdrvr.bin for? What does diskmanager do different >> from fdisk when you partition a drive? I have used diskmanager to >> low-level format a 320 Meg drive into a single 120 Meg dos partition >> and a 200 Meg Unix partition and everything works just great. Can >> someone explain why i need dmdrvr.bin? > >> Also where are the partition names stored? > >DMDRVR.BIN contains the partition information for your hard disk. Try See below... >removing it from your CONFIG.SYS file. If you try to access anything except >the C: drive, DOS gives you the `Invalid drive specification' error. > > The only advantage that I can see from using Disk Manager is that you >can create partitions greater than 32MB for DOS 3.3 and lower, except on >the boot drive, and you can low-level format your hard disk without >going through DEBUG. If you can live without this, FDISK is fine. > >FDISK stores the partition information on the disk, while DM does it in >the driver, but then the driver only takes up 2-4K anyway. > >I think the partition names are stored in DMDRVR.BIN but I'm not sure. > >Eugene Wang >eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu Eugene, close but no cigar. The partition table is always stored on the disk. The driver (dmdrvr.bin) handles the translation? from native disk requests in DOS to extended requests and executes them for large (>32M) partitions. **************************************************************** * Steven R. Gerber - PAL (Programmer At Large) * srg@cunixd.cc.columbia.edu * Tel: 212-794-8721 * UUCP: ...rutgers!columbia!cunixd!srg * FAX: 212-794-8722 ****************************************************************
gil@jtsv16.UUCP (gil) (04/12/90)
In article <EGGBERT.90Apr10150321@bucsf.bu.edu>, eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) writes: > > FDISK stores the partition information on the disk, while DM does it in > the driver, but then the driver only takes up 2-4K anyway. > > Eugene Wang > eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu I tried a little experiment; using chkdsk and booting without and with the driver. I saw a difference of about 60K, no 2-4K. Could somebody explain the difference? As it sits on the disk, the driver IS about 10K. Gil +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------+ | Gil Hauer | | | Tech Noir Inc. | gil@jtsv16.jts.com | | Toronto +1 416 653-8276 | or: uunet!jtsv16!gil | +-----------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) (04/14/90)
>>>> On 12 Apr 90 16:58:09 GMT, gil@jtsv16.UUCP (gil) said: > > FDISK stores the partition information on the disk, while DM does it in > the driver, but then the driver only takes up 2-4K anyway. > >> I tried a little experiment; using chkdsk and booting without and with >> the driver. I saw a difference of about 60K, no 2-4K. Could somebody >> explain the difference? >> As it sits on the disk, the driver IS about 10K. HMMM...Well, when I used QEMM and LOADHI to place the DM driver into high memory, the LOADHI screen said it was only was using a little over 2K in high memory. It might have something to do with the size of the partition. I only have two 22MB partitions on a 44MB hard disk, but a 30 time increase?? -- Eugene Wang eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu
liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) (04/14/90)
eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) writes: >>>>>> On 5 Apr 90 21:47:48 GMT, geoff@usafa.af.mil (Capt Geoff Mulligan) said: >> So then what is dmdrvr.bin for? What does diskmanager do different >> from fdisk when you partition a drive?... >> >> Also where are the partition names stored? >DMDRVR.BIN contains the partition information for your hard disk. Try >removing it from your CONFIG.SYS file. If you try to access anything except >the C: drive, DOS gives you the `Invalid drive specification' error. >[...] >FDISK stores the partition information on the disk, while DM does it in >the driver, but then the driver only takes up 2-4K anyway. > >I think the partition names are stored in DMDRVR.BIN but I'm not sure. Can anyone comment on this? It is not readily apparent to me that the partition information is stored in DMDRVR.BIN. On the one occaision in which I temporarily moved the directory which contained all my drivers to an extended partition (clever!) I was able to rescue myself by borrowing another DMDRVR.BIN from a completely foreign and differently configured system. I was able to access the extended partitions with no difficulty. The two files were of different size, however. But either worked. The responses to my original question have revealed several reasons for Disk Manager/DMDRVR.BIN being used: 1) To allow extended partitions under pre-DOS 3.3 2) To allow partitions greater than 32 Meg under pre-DOS 4.0 3) To allow full utilization of drives with greater than 1024 cylinders. 4) Its automated installation procedure is easy and convenient for dealers and system integrators, hence its prevalence even on systems that might not actually REQUIRE it. If none of the above are important considerations then it is preferable to use FDISK for the partitioning (Disk Manager can still be used for the low level format via its manual mode). -- Jimmy Liberato ...!amdahl!drivax!liberato
eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu (Eugene Wang) (04/15/90)
>>>> On 14 Apr 90 03:14:52 GMT, liberato@drivax.UUCP (Jimmy Liberato) said: (stuff about DMDRVR.BIN and partition information in driver) > Can anyone comment on this? It is not readily apparent to me that the > partition information is stored in DMDRVR.BIN. On the one occaision in > which I temporarily moved the directory which contained all my drivers to > an extended partition (clever!) I was able to rescue myself by borrowing > another DMDRVR.BIN from a completely foreign and differently configured > system. I was able to access the extended partitions with no difficulty. > The two files were of different size, however. But either worked. As having been corrected in my answer by another poster, the actual partition information is stored in the hard disk. DMDRVR.BIN just contains the translation information for DOS to find and use the partition information on the hard disk therefore there is no need for a specific driver for each hard disk. -- Eugene Wang eggbert@bucsf.bu.edu