====================================================================== Microsoft(R) Product Support Services Application Note (Text File) PD0745: DOUBLESPACE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ====================================================================== Revision Date: 5/93 No Disk The following information applies to Microsoft MS-DOS , version 6.0 Upgrade Copyright 1993. --------------------------------------------------------------------- | INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT AND ANY SOFTWARE THAT MAY | | ACCOMPANY THIS DOCUMENT (collectively referred to as an Application | | Note) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER | | EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED | | WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR | | PURPOSE. The user assumes the entire risk as to the accuracy and | | the use of this Application Note. This Application Note may be | | copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 1) All | | text must be copied without modification and all pages must be | | included; 2) If software is included, all files on the disk(s) | | must be copied without modification (the MS-DOS utility diskcopy is | | appropriate for this purpose); 3) All components of this | | Application Note must be distributed together; and 4) This | | Application Note may not be distributed for profit. | | | | Copyright (C) 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. | | Microsoft and MS-DOS are registered trademarks and Windows is a | | trademark of Microsoft Corporation. | | Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. | | Stacker is a registered trademark of STAC Electronics. | | This document was created using Microsoft Word for Windows(TM). | --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Q. How can I receive the Stacker(R) Conversion Disk? A. You can order the "Conversion Disk for Users of Stacker" by sending in $10 and the Conversion Disk Offer coupon from your "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide." Unfortunately, we cannot make this conversion tool available electronically. For more information on the MS-DOS 6 Stacker Conversion tool, call Microsoft Sales and Service at (800) 228-7007. 2. Q. Why does DoubleSpace create a drive identified by the letter H when I have drives A, B, and C only? A. To avoid conflicts with existing drives, DoubleSpace examines the existing drive assignments during installation to find the highest drive letter currently in use. It then skips the next four letters and assigns the fifth letter to the new DoubleSpace drive. For example, if your computer has two floppy disk drives (A and B) and a hard disk drive (C), DoubleSpace locates the highest letter (C); skips drive letters D, E, F, and G; and then assigns drive letter H for its own use. For more information, refer to the "Freeing Disk Space" chapter in the "Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide." 3. Q. I am currently using a third-party disk-compression software package and now want to convert to DoubleSpace. How can I do this? A. To convert to a DoubleSpace drive, use the following steps: 1. Install the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade if you haven't already done so. 2. Back up your program and data files on all drives using Microsoft Backup or a third-party utility. 3. Create a bootable MS-DOS floppy disk. To do this, insert the original MS-DOS 6 Setup Disk 1 in either drive A or drive B, type the following command, and then press ENTER :setup /f where< drive> is the floppy disk drive containing Setup Disk 1. Important: After you type the above command and Setup prompts you to insert a disk to create the startup floppy disk, you MUST create that disk in drive A. Also, be sure that you choose to install on drive A. 4. Verify that the disk you have just created is bootable by inserting the disk in drive A and pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL. If your system starts up, continue with the next step. If it does not, reboot from your hard disk and repeat step 3 until you have created a bootable floppy disk. 5. Format the drive with the compressed volume file (CVF). To do this, type the following command at the A: prompt and then press ENTER format : where is the floppy disk drive containing the CVF. NOTE: If you are formatting drive C, use the /s switch with the format command to make the hard disk bootable. 6. If you formatted a drive other than C, skip to step 7. If you formatted drive C, you must reinstall the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade. To do this, insert Setup Disk 1 in drive A or drive B, type the following command, and then press ENTER :setup where is the floppy disk drive containing Setup Disk 1. Follow the steps on the screen to install the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade. NOTE: If you used Microsoft Backup for MS-DOS to back up your compressed drive, be sure to reinstall Backup for MS- DOS when Setup prompts you to do so. (You need this program to restore your backup disks.) 7. Install DoubleSpace. To do this, type DBLSPACE at the MS-DOS command prompt, press ENTER, and then follow the steps on the screen. NOTE: For more information on DoubleSpace, refer to the "Freeing Disk Space" chapter in the Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide or type HELP DBLSPACE at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER. For more information on Microsoft Backup, refer to the "Managing Your System" chapter in the Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide. 8. Restore the files from your backup disks by using Microsoft Backup or your third-party backup utility. If you are using a third-party backup utility, you must install the software onto the hard disk. Refer to the manufacturer's documentation for the procedure to do this. 4. Q. I installed DoubleSpace and now each time I enter Microsoft Windows I receive the error "Corrupt Swapfile Warning." I have set up my permanent swap file many times, but I continue to receive this error. How can I correct this problem? A. In this case, the error "Corrupt Swapfile Warning" probably means your permanent swap file is being created on a DoubleSpace compressed volume. Windows cannot create a permanent swap file on a compressed volume. To correct this problem, set the permanent swap file to a noncompressed drive. Windows contains code to detect and avoid compressed volumes created with third-party software. However, Windows cannot detect compressed volumes created with DoubleSpace because Windows' release predates the release of DoubleSpace. For more information, refer to the "Freeing Disk Space" chapter in the" Microsoft MS-DOS 6 User's Guide", or type HELP DBLSPACE at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER. 5. Q. I am trying to run Windows 3.0 in real mode so that I can change my permanent swap file with SWAPFILE.EXE. Every time I try, I receive the error message "Unsupported DOS version; upgrade to DOS version 3.1 or higher." What causes this error? A. This is an incorrect message. To correct this problem, run the SPATCH.BAT file, which is located on your original MS-DOS 6 Upgrade disks. 6. Q. I am running the Defragmenter (defrag) to reorganize the files on my disk drive, but it appears that the program has stopped. How should I proceed? A. If you are running the Defragmenter on a DoubleSpace-compressed drive, the system may appear to stop when the Defragmenter calls DoubleSpace to defragment the compressed volume file (CVF). If this occurs, do not turn off your computer or press the reset button. If you want to quit DEFRAG or DBLSPACE /DEFRAG, press the ESC key to interrupt the program. If you think DEFRAG or DBLSPACE /DEFRAG has stopped responding, press the ESC key. If this does not work, you must restart your computer. To do so, it is preferable to press the CTRL+ALT+DEL key combination; however, if that does not work, press the reset button or turn off your computer. 7. Q. Because DoubleSpace has assigned drive F for its own use, my Novell(R) NetWare(R) logon scripts no longer work. How can I correct this problem? A. After you install Microsoft DoubleSpace, the drive letter F (which is normally used by Novell NetWare) may be used by DoubleSpace. To work around this situation, you can either use a different drive letter for your login drive or adjust DoubleSpace so that it uses a different drive letter for its host drive. You can usually avoid this problem by making sure your NetWare software is loaded before you run DoubleSpace to compress your drives. If your usual NetWare drive letter is unavailable, use one of the following methods to change the DoubleSpace host drive letter: - If your CONFIG.SYS file has a DEVICEHIGH=C:\DOS\DBLSPACE.SYS command, make sure it is placed before any RAMDrive statements. Changing the order of the RAMDrive and DBLSPACE.SYS lines in the CONFIG.SYS file changes the LastDrive setting in the DBLSPACE.INI file, freeing up an additional drive letter. -or- - Edit the DBLSPACE.INI file and change the host drive letter. For specific instructions, order the article titled "Novell Login Drive Not Available After Installing DoubleSpace" from the Technical Library.