Part I, File Management



                               Barry Gordon

                     New York Personal Computer, Inc.



This  article is about organizing files on any hard disk attached to  a

member  of the IBM PC family,  including the  PC  with  an Expansion  Unit,

and  certainly,   the  PC  AT.  The  following suggestions have evolved

from several months of using the IBM  PC XT as a follow-on system to the

IBM PC.     I hope these thoughts prove  useful  to those who work with

hard disks on the  IBM  PC, particularly those who are new to it.



File Management



The  hard  disk is not merely an overgrown diskette.   It can  be used that

way,  but you would be inviting serious file management problems in doing

so.   The hard disk has other capabilities  you should utilize, and there

is no reason not to take full advantage of the hard disk's potential.



About the last thing you want to deal with is a ten megabyte hard disk

containing  all its files in one directory.   (There  is  a limit  of how

many files the root directory can contain,  so  the disk  may give you an

error message even though much of the  disk is  not  filled.)  With

intelligent organization,  the hard  disk retains its speed advantage over

the diskette, and you are better able  to keep track of your files as well.

The name of each file should  use filename and the three-letter extension.

Sooner  or later you will need all the help you can get in remembering

what each file contains.  Most importantly,  though, your files should be

organized among several directories.



The Root Directory



Each  DOS  volume (diskette or hard disk) has  a  root  directory which DOS

creates when it formats the disk. The root directory on your  hard disk

should contain a minimum of files,  reserving the space for sub-directory

names.



Nonetheless,  a  few files are essential in the  root  directory. When you

format the hard disk, use the /S parameter:  FORMAT C:/S which copies three

.COM files to your hard disk:



                               (IBMBIO.COM)

                               (IBMDOS.COM)

                                COMMAND.COM



Notice that the first two are hidden files.    You won't see them in  any

DIRectory listing,  but the CHKDSK command will tell  you they are there.



You  should store the various DOS external command files and  all data

files in other sub-directories.



Sub-directories for Executable Files



Now  let's  consider  locating your  various  executable  program

files--the .EXE,  .COM,  and .BAT files.  You'll want to separate related

programs into sub-directories of their own.  For example, you may want one

sub-directory containing all of the external DOS commands,  another

sub-directory with your word processing  .COM and .EXE files, another with

your accounting .COM and .EXE files, etc.   until you have stored all of

your executable programs into sub-directories. They are much easier to

remember this way.



The  root  directory  has no user-assigned  name,  but  all  sub-

directories  are  specifically created and named using the  MKDIR command,

MD for short:



                                MD anyname



You can create as many levels of sub-directories as you like, but

generally,  the fewer levels you have to create, the simpler your directory

structure will be.   There will be times when a second- or  third-level

sub-directory  is needed  (a  directory  created within another

sub-directory),  but multi-leveled sub-directories create a more complex

path structure for both you and DOS to sort through.



Directory Sizes



You can fill a sub-directory with as many bytes as the disk  will allow,

but it is often convenient to limit the size of those sub- directories

into which you regularly store data to the  capacity of a single diskette,

320-360 KB.   This allows you to back up a directory using the COPY

command:



                               COPY C:*.* A:



The  COPYable directory size offers an alternative to the  BACKUP and

RESTORE  commands,  an alternative that many find easier  to use.   It

offers portability as well as backup.  If you want  to verify  the  copy

with its original,  you can  follow  the  COPY command with this:



                                COMP C: A:



However,  if  you  feel confident using the  BACKUP  and  RESTORE commands,

the  contents of a single sub-directory can be as many bytes as you like.

The bigger it is, the more time consuming the backup process becomes.



Another  suggestion  is  to give each backup  diskette  a  volume label.

This is especially useful if you use the COPY command to back up your

sub-directories.  By using the /V parameter when you format  the diskette,

you can label your diskette with the  same name as the directory it backs

up.



It  is  rarely  necessary  to  back  up  the  entire  hard  disk.

Typically,  you  store  data changes in the files of a  few  sub-

directories, those few being the only sub-directories you need to back up

regularly.   Many sub-directories never change,  and need backing up only

once.









                         Part II, DOS BATch Files



                               Barry Gordon

                     New York Personal Computer, Inc.



DOS and BATch Files



Familiarity  with DOS is assumed.  However,  it is helpful to the new user

to include a paragraph or two on BATch files.   The  IBM PC  and DOS work

with three different kinds of program or command files:   .EXE, .COM, and

.BAT files.  (BASIC and BASICA work with their own .BAS files,  but those

are not relevant to the  present discussion.)  The .EXE and .COM files give

instructions to the PC itself.  They are produced by assemblers, compilers,

and linkers.  The .BAT or BATch files are instructions to DOS which you

create for  your own convenience.   I will discuss a couple of  commands

that  you  may  find convenient in working on your  PC:  the  DOS PROMPT

command and the PATH command.



The DOS PROMPT Command



Just  as DOS keeps track of a default disk drive,  it  will  also keep

track of each drive's current directory (the directory  you are working

in).  Most often,  this directory is the one you tell DOS to assume and use

when no other is specified.  The DOS prompt always  has  indicated  the

default disk drive  followed  by  the greater-than symbol:   A>  which

works well for diskette  drives.  With  a  hard disk,  you will want to

know the directory you  are working  in (the current directory) as well.

You can  customize the  prompt  to show the current directory using the

DOS  PROMPT command.   The command PROMPT $P$G tells DOS to display the

name of  the  current  directory whenever the prompt appears  on  your

screen.  Other,  more elaborate,  prompt variations are possible, but  $P$G

is  a useful  beginning.



The DOS PATH Command



The  actual program fetching is accomplished by means of the  DOS PATH

command.   This  command tells DOS where to look  for  your programs (the

executable files) when they are not in the  current directory.  The overall

scheme begins to take shape:  you work in the (current) directory

containing your data files, and DOS looks for  the programs you need (in

priority sequence) in  other  sub- directories.   Thus,  your PATH command

might look something like this:



                   PATH C:\anyname1;C:\anyname2;C:\any3



The  PATH  command should contain the full specification of  each

sub-directory,  including the drive designation.   This keeps the search

path valid even if you should decide to make,  say,  drive A:  the default

drive temporarily. Since the root directory is not named,  it is not

included in the PATH command.



Of  course,   having  to  enter  all  of  this  PROMPT  and  PATH

information each time you turn on your PC can become a  nuisance.  The

proper way to handle this is to create special BATch files in the root

directory that store and execute your commands.



Creating BATch Files



The  most  direct  way  to create .BAT files is to  use  the  DOS ability

to COPY a file directly from the PC keyboard into a  disk file:



                           COPY CON filename.BAT



where  CON  is  the DOS name for  the  keyboard,  and  "filename"

represents  the name you wish to give your new BATch  file.   You enter

your  file  contents,  line by line,  ending with  a  line containing ^Z

(Control-Z),  which can be entered by pressing  the Function Key 6 (F6).

As an alternative (though I don't recommend it)  you could learn to use

EDLIN,  a minimal file editor,  whose chief  virtue  is its automatic

inclusion with the  DOS  package.  For  serious  work of this kind,  a good

file editor is  a  great help.  The IBM Personal Editor is one of the very

best.



The AUTOEXEC and SETPATH BATch Files



The  AUTOEXEC.BAT  file is executed only at startup  (unless  you

specifically enter it),  and contains those commands you wish  to enter for

your convenience in operating your PC.



A simple version of an AUTOEXEC.BAT file might look like this:



DATE

TIME

PROMPT $P$G

PATH C:\anyname1;C:\anyname2;C:\any3



The  first  thing you may want to do is to move the PATH  command from  the

AUTOEXEC.BAT  file and put it in its  own  BATch  file called SETPATH.BAT.

The AUTOEXEC.BAT would have these four lines:



DATE

TIME

PROMPT $P$G

SETPATH



Your SETPATH.BAT file would look like this:



PATH C:\anyname1;C:\anyname2;C:\any3



Putting the PATH command in the SETPATH.BAT file lets you  modify your

program search path any time you wish,  and then restore it by  getting

into  the root directory and  entering  the  SETPATH command.







                 Taking Advantage of Your PC's Hard Disk:

                 Part III, CONFIG.SYS and the Virtual Disk



                               Barry Gordon

                     New York Personal Computer, Inc.



There   are  some  simple  things  you  can  do  to  enhance  the

performance of your hard drive.  Creating a CONFIG.SYS file and a virtual

disk  can give you added power and speed in  working  on your PC by

reconfiguring your operating system and Random  Access Memory (RAM).



The  CONFIG.SYS File



Another  file  that  is  useful  in the  root  directory  is  the

CONFIG.SYS file.   It's a collection of miscellany to modify  the way  the

PC system works.   You may want to try a CONFIG.SYS file consisting of


three lines:



BREAK=ON

FILES=16

BUFFERS=8



The BREAK command allows you to interrupt the system more  easily should

you wish to terminate the execution of a program.



The  FILES command allows DOS to juggle more than the default  of eight

active files simultaneously.   This is important,  because DOS  loads five

files of its own,  leaving you with  only  three.  Sixteen should give you

enough to handle most any situation.



The   BUFFERS  command  can  speed  up  certain  kinds  of   disk

operations.  You  may want to try as many as 16 or even 32 for  a 20MB hard

disk.



The Virtual Disk



A large internal RAM not only allows manipulation of larger files when

necessary,  but  gives  the  user access to  the  speed  of internal

memory  for processing data.   Just as  the  hard  disk increases

computing speed over the diskette drive,  so  internal memory,  if

utilized,  increases  computing speed over the  hard drive.  To  tap the

speed and power of the internal  memory,  you might consider setting up a

virtual disk.  However, to attempt to set up a virtual disk,  you should

have more than 256KB of memory in your PC, preferably, 512KB or larger.



The  virtual  disk is a portion of RAM set aside  to  simulate  a disk.

The  virtual disk is referred to by the drive designation letter following

that of the system's last hard disk.  Assuming a single hard disk C:,  our

virtual disk becomes D:.   The  virtual disk is created at startup by a

program such as the VDISK command that  comes  with DOS 3.0.,  working

together with a command  you save in your CONFIG.SYS file.



With 512KB of RAM, a reasonable virtual disk size to try is 64KB.  If you

have a 640KB system, you may want to set up a virtual disk of 192KB.  I

suggest leaving about 448KB of available, active RAM to have ample memory

for DOS to do its work.



A  virtual  disk of even 64KB can do wonders.   It  can  also  be

effectively  larger  by specifying the smallest  possible  sector size --

e.g., 128 bytes -- for the greatest possible data packing density.

Assuming VDISK.COM and 640KB of RAM,  the virtual disk specification in

your CONFIG.SYS might look like this:



           DEVICE=C:\VDISK



The entire CONFIG.SYS file would look like this:



BREAK=ON

FILES=16

BUFFERS=8

DEVICE=C:\VDISK.SYS 192 128 64



The SETPATH.BAT and AUTOEXEC.BAT Files Revised



What  do you do with this virtual disk D:  now that it is set up? First,

you  can  begin to take full advantage  of  your  virtual disk's  speed  by

adding a statement to AUTOEXEC.BAT to  transfer the sub-directory of your

most-used files to the virtual disk D:.



Your AUTOEXEC.BAT file now contains the following:



DATE

TIME

PROMPT $P$G

COPY \anyname1\*.* D:

D:SETPATH



Note  that  the SETPATH command must remain the last one  in  the file.

Next,  modify the PATH command (in SETPATH.BAT) to   PATH

D:\;C:\anyname2;C:\any3;C:\any4   replacing the  c:\anyname1  you formerly

had  in  SETPATH.BAT with the root  directory  of  your virtual drive D:\.

(Again, note that you specify complete paths, including  all  drive

designations,  to keep the command  totally independent of what the default

drive might happen to be.)



Finally,  move the SETPATH.BAT file out of the root directory and into the

\anyname1 directory for automatic transfer to D:.   This allows  you  to

execute the SETPATH command from  any  directory, entering it as simply

SETPATH or D:SETPATH if necessary.



The root directory on your hard drive now contains the  following files:



<IBMBIO.COM>

<IBMDOS.COM>

COMMAND.COM

AUTOEXEC.BAT

Sub-directory Names

CONFIG.SYS

VDISK.COM (or equivalent)



Tips Concerning The Virtual Drive



Now  that your PC has the virtual disk D:,  you will want to keep only your

most-used files in your C:\anyname1 directory.  I would suggest you put in

some DOS external command files, plus regulars like BASIC.COM, or perhaps a

few of your personal favorites, such as PE.EXE or your word processing

program.  Depending on the size of  your  virtual  disk,  you might even

wish to  add  some  non- executable, but nonetheless frequently used, files

that you would like to have accessible from any sub-directory.



All  of  these  would  presumably  reside  permanently  in   your

C:\anyname1  directory so that they transfer automatically to  D: at

system  startup.   The one thing you must not forget is  that your  virtual

disk D:  actually resides in RAM and not on a  real disk drive.   I suggest

you do not store anything in your virtual drive  that  is not stored in a

file on your hard disk  or  on  a diskette,  because  whenever you turn

your PC off or whenever the power fails, everything in your virtual disk is

cleared.



Summary



That's  it.   My  experience shows that a hard  disk  with  large internal

RAM,  set up more or less as recommended here,  can be a real  pleasure to

operate.   A brief summary of what the  various files might look like is

given below:



The Root Directory



     <IBMBIO.COM>

     <IBMDOS.COM>

     COMMAND.COM

     AUTOEXEC.BAT

     Sub-directory Names

     CONFIG.SYS

     VDISK.COM    (or equivalent)



CONFIG.SYS File



     BREAK=ON

     FILES=16

     BUFFERS=8

     DEVICE=C:\VDISK.SYS 192 128 64



The numercial values in the DEVICE command will vary depending on the size

you wish your virtual disk to be.



AUTOEXEC.BAT File



     DATE

     TIME

     COPY  C:\anyname 1\*.* D:

     PROMPT $P$G

     D:SETPATH



The  D:  shown  above presumes that you don't have a second  hard disk

attached to your PC.   With two hard disks, the virtual disk would be E:.



C:\anyname1 (Directory)



SETPATH.BAT

Most Frequently used Executable Files

High Usage Reference/Data Files



SETPATH.BAT File



PATH D:\;C:\any1;C:\any2\;C:any3;...



C:\anyname 2   et al  (Directories)



Other Executable Files by Frequency of Use

Other Data Files Grouped by Related Functions