tom@stiatl.UUCP (Tom Wiencko) (10/02/89)
In article <[2058.16]comp.ibmpc;1@point.UUCP| wek@point.UUCP (Bill Kuykendall) writes: ||Double "Bull hockey".. DMDRVR.BIN is infinitely useful with DOS 3.3, as it ||allows DOS to access multiple partitions of a large hard drive (normally ||DOS 3.3 can only access the boot partition). It also allows these extended ||partitions to be of any size, no limited to 32MB. Very useful. DOS 4.xx ||comes with such support built-in around all of its bugs, so many folks have ||stuck with DM & 3.3. | |But 'Triple Bull Hockey!!!!' There. I've expressed myself. Get a copy of |'DOS 3.3. It works. Honest. Vanilla 3.3 restricts you to 32 mb in the |first partition, but you can have whatever you want in your second or third, |or...whatever. | |Compaq Dos 3.31 will let you have 512 MB in your C: drive if you like. |That's pretty limiting, I admit, but hey! These are toy computers, right? | |Have they updated DMDRVR.BIN or does it still have the limitations of 32 mb |in your primary partition and up to 255 mb in each 'write-read' partition? | |(-8 What I want to know is, if it's so damn good, how come they |*give* it away? 8-) Uh... guys, you are both missing the point.... I missed the beginning of this thread, but if the question is "why does the Miniscribe 3085 need Disk Manager" then the answer has *nothing* to do with DOS per se. The problem is that the 3085 has more than 1024 cylinders... and most computers' bios tables do not have a drive type for a drive with more than 1024 cylinders. Enter Disk Manager. It comes with a device driver which loads a software bios drive table which matches the actual drive. Miniscribe has made an arrangement with Ontrack (the Disk Manager people) to allow their software to be distributed with the drive. Far from being free, it is included in the price of the drive. The primary (DOS boot) partition is still limited to 32Mb, and the rest of the partitions are still unlimited (although I have seen some strange things happen with partitions greater than 32Mb, so I don't use them). Other than the hassle of having a device driver run the drive, and the fact that a couple of tracks went belly up a few weeks after I got the drive, I love mine. Tom -- Tom Wiencko (w) (404) 977-4515 gatech!stiatl!tom Wiencko & Associates, Inc.
battle@umbc3.UMBC.EDU (Rick) (03/08/90)
Does anyone have experience with the Miniscribe 3085 hard disk???? Thanks Rick