NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT TITLE: Stacker Conversion Issues DOCUMENT ID: 014946 DOCUMENT REVISION: A DATE: 05MAY94 ALERT STATUS: Yellow README FOR: NA NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION: Novell DOS 7 ABSTRACT: This documents covers the steps and issues involved with converting to Stacker from Doublespace, Superstor, and retail versions of Superstor and Stacker. ------------------------------------------------------------------ DISCLAIMER THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL. NOVELL MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY. NOVELL MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ISSUE Stacker Conversion Issues: ================================================ DOUBLESPACE and SUPERSTOR Drives Drives that have been compressed using Doublespace or SuperStor are supported by Novell DOS 7. However, to gain the full benefit of reduced memory consumption and more robust disk compression, Novell recommends converting your Doublespace or SuperStor drives to Stacker. You can use the conversion option in the Novell DOS 7 SETUP program. Run SETUP after you install Novell DOS 7. For performance reasons, this conversion operates initially on the container file format only. Conversion of actual data to Stacker format is performed subsequently whenever any existing SuperStor or Doublespace compressed data is written back to the disk. If you run the DISKOPT program on a drive that is partially converted, the disk optimizer automatically performs a complete Stacker conversion by compressing all remaining data. Refer to the Novell DOS 7 User Guide or DOSBook for information about DISKOPT and its options. Before Stacking any fixed disk, be sure to have a backup and disable all TSRs, such as disk cache and virus detection software. ------------------------------------------------------- INSTALLING ON A MS DOS 6.0 MACHINE THAT IS DOUBLESPACED 1. Boot the machine, then insert the installation disk. Do not boot from the installation disks. 2. Be sure to have a complete backup and run CHKDSK before proceeding. 3. Place the Novell Dos 7 INSTALLATION disk in the diskette drive. (For this example, we will use drive letter A:. If your install disks are in the B: drive, then substitute B for that drive letter in these instructions) 4. Type A: INSTALL 5. Then continue with a normal install. Follow the instructions on the screen. 6. If your boot drive (C Drive) is DoubleSpaced, System files will be copied to your startup drive. Example: A machine with one hard drive that is completely DoubleSpaced may have H: as a startup drive. 7. When install is complete, you can reboot your machine. Be advised that your machine is still using DoubleSpace. To convert DoubleSpace to Stacker, see instructions in this file. ------------------------------------------------ CONVERTING DOUBLESPACED DRIVES TO STACKER DRIVES 1. Novell DOS 7 must be installed on your machine. Be sure to have a complete backup of your drive before proceeding. 2. Disable all TSRs, such as disk cache and virus detection utilities. 3. Boot your machine. 4. At the C: prompt, type: SETUP 5. Select DISK COMPRESSION and press . 6. When given the option to reboot the machine to disable TSRs, Novell strongly recommends that you choose this option. After reboot you will see the message: SETUP HAS DETECTED ONE OR MORE DOUBLESPACE DRIVES ON YOUR SYSTEM. IF YOU WISH, THESE CAN BE CONVERTED TO STACKER DRIVES. THIS IS A REASONABLY FAST PROCEDURE WHICH SHOULDN'T TAKE MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES. 7. Select the CONVERT COMPRESSED DRIVE(S) TO STACKER option. Then you will see the message: SETUP WILL NOW START THE STACKER CONVERSION PROCESS 8. Select OK. When conversion is completed, your computer will reboot. You will then see the message: CHKDSK WILL NOW BE RUN TO VERIFY THE INTEGRITY OF THE DOUBLESPACE DRIVE(S). 9. At this point, select CONTINUE. After CHKDSK has completed, you will see the following prompt: PERFORM A SAFETY CHECK OF THE DOUBLESPACE DRIVE(S)? 10. Select YES. After completion of the safety check, you will see the following prompt: STACKER IS READY TO CONVERT YOUR DOUBLESPACE DRIVE(S). 11. Choose CONTINUE. The next message displayed will be: CONVERSION TIME WAS " " STACKER WILL NOW RESTART YOUR COMPUTER. 12. Choose CONTINUE. Your machine is now converted; however, it is not necessarily fully RESTACKED. Full RESTACKING can take place as you access data (on the fly) or by running DISKOPT on your machine's STACKED drive(s). If you wish to perform an immediate RESTACK, then disable all TSRs, reboot your machine, and run DISKOPT. ----------------------------------------------------- INSTALLING ON A DR DOS 6.0 MACHINE THAT IS SuperStored 1. You must boot the machine, then insert the installation disk. Do not boot from the installation disks. 2. Be sure to have a complete backup and run CHKDSK before proceeding. 3. Place the Novell DOS 7 INSTALLATION disk in the diskette drive. (For this example we will use drive letter A:. If your install disks are in drive B:, then substitute B for the drive letter referenced in these instructions.) 4. Type A: INSTALL 5. Then continue with a normal install. Follow the instructions on the screen. If your boot drive (C Drive) is compressed, system files will be copied to your startup drive. Example: A machine with one hard drive that is completely SuperStored may have D: as a startup drive. When install is complete you can reboot your machine. Be advised that your machine is still SuperStored. To convert SuperStor to Stacker see instructions in this file. ---------------------------------------------------- CONVERTING DR DOS SuperStor DRIVES TO STACKER DRIVES The following section is for DR DOS-specific SuperStor only: 1. Novell DOS 7 must be installed on your machine. Be sure to have a complete backup of your drive before proceeding. 2. Disable all TSRs, such as disk cache and virus detection utilities. 3. Boot your machine. 3. At the C: prompt, type: SETUP 4. Select DISK COMPRESSION and press the key. 5. When given the option to reboot the machine to disable TSRs, Novell strongly recommends that you choose this option. After reboot you will see the message: SETUP HAS DETECTED ONE OR MORE SuperStor DRIVES ON YOUR SYSTEM. IF YOU WISH, THESE CAN BE CONVERTED TO STACKER DRIVES. THIS IS A REASONABLY FAST PROCEDURE WHICH SHOULDN'T TAKE MORE THAN A FEW MINUTES. 6. Select the CONVERT COMPRESSED DRIVE(S) TO STACKER option. You will then see the message: SETUP WILL NOW START THE STACKER CONVERSION PROCESS 7. Select OK. When conversion is completed your computer will reboot. You will then see the message: CHKDSK WILL NOW BE RUN TO VERIFY THE INTEGRITY OF THE SuperStor DRIVE(S). 8. Select CONTINUE. After CHKDSK has completed, you will see the following prompt: PERFORM A SAFETY CHECK OF THE SuperStor DRIVE(S)? 9. Select YES. After the completion of the safety check, you will see the following prompt: STACKER IS READY TO CONVERT YOUR SuperStor DRIVE(S). 10. Choose CONTINUE. The next message displayed will read: CONVERSION TIME WAS " " STACKER WILL NOW RESTART YOUR COMPUTER. 11. Choose CONTINUE. Your machine is now converted; however, it is not necessarily fully RESTACKED. Full RESTACKING can take place as you access data (on the fly) or by running DISKOPT on your STACKED drive(s). If you wish to perform an immediate RESTACK, then disable all TSRs, reboot your machine, and run DISKOPT. ---------------------------------------------------- RETAIL SuperStor Pro and SuperStor 2.0 COMPATIBILITY There is no conversion from retail versions of SuperStor Pro or SuperStor 2.0 to Novell DOS 7 Stacker 3.12. To upgrade to Novell DOS 7 Stacker 3.12 from the retail versions of SuperStor, you do the following: 1. Backup your hard drive. 2. Delete the SuperStor volume. 3. Then through the Novell DOS 7 setup utility, Stac the drive. Data then can be restored to the Stacker volume. *** WARNING *** The retail SuperStor disk compression and diskfix utilities should be used on the SuperStor volume(s) only. DO NOT USE the Novell DOS 7 Diskopt on the SuperStor Pro or SuperStor 2.0 volume(s). ================================================ STACKER DRIVES -------------------------------------------- RETAIL Stacker 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 COMPATIBILITY Novell DOS 7 provides no utility for converting Stacker 2.0, 3.0 or 3.1 to Novell DOS 7 Stacker 3.12. Stac Electronics compression technology includes both CONFIG.SYS loading drivers and drivers that load from the DOS kernel. Stacker 2.0 and Stacker 3.0 uses config.sys drivers; Device=C:\Stacker\Stacker.com and Device=C:\Stacker\Sswap.com. Stacker 3.1 utilizes both the config.sys drivers and kernel loading drivers. Depending on when Stacker 3.1 was purchased and in what box it was purchased, version 3.1 refers only to the kernel loading drivers or it can refer to both the CONFIG.SYS supported drivers and the kernel loading drivers. ___________________________________________ The following section is for Stacker 2.0, 3.0 and 3.1 using the config.sys drivers: You have the following three options: Option 1: Leave on the Stacker 2.0, 3.0 or 3.1. *** WARNING *** The retail Stacker disk compression and diskfix utilities should be used on the Stacker volume(s) only. DO NOT USE the Novell DOS 7 Diskopt on the Stacker 2.0,3.0 or Stacker 3.1 volume(s). Option 2: 1. Backup your data. 2. Remove the existing Stacker 2.0 or Stacker 3.0 volumes. 3. Consult you Stacker Manual for the best method of removing and unstacking the existing Stacker volumes. Then Stac the drive through Novell DOS 7 setup under the Disk Compression option. 4. Restore your data. Option 3: Do a manual conversion to Novell DOS 7 Stacker 3.12. While this is not "Officially supported" a manual conversion is possible. It has worked successfully in in-house tests. Stacker has also said that it "should" work. To do a manual conversion, use the following steps: IMPORTANT! While the in-house tests showed no loss of data, data loss is possible with any compression conversion. 1. Backup your data. 2. Create a STACKER.BIN by issuing the following commands while in the NWDOS directory. (The STACLOAD.BIN and STACKER.COM are located in the NWDOS subdirectory.) COPY /B STACLOAD.BIN+STACKER.COM C:\STACKER.BIN ATTRIB +RHS C:\STACKER.BIN 3. Using a text editor, create the C:\STACKER.INI file. The following example shows only one STAC'd volume. /I- /P=9 /F=32 /DIR=C:\NWDOS C:\STACVOL.DSK,SW The C:\STACVOL.DSK is the location of and file name of the compressed Stacker volume(s). This can be found by looking at the CONFIG.SYS. The line will read as follows: DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK The following STACKER.INI example shows multiple Stacker Volumes: /I- /P=9 /F=32 /DIR=C:\NWDOS C:\STACVOL.DSK,SW E:\STACVOL.DSK,SW The CONFIG.SYS Stacker driver line was as follows: DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK E:\STACVOL.DSK 4. Rem-out Stacker drivers from CONFIG.SYS. An example of the Stacker drivers are: DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC+ 5. Reboot. During the reboot, the STACKER 3.12 driver should be shown as loading. ___________________________________________ The following section is for Stacker 3.1 using the kernel loading drivers: You have the following two options: Option 1: 1. Backup your data. 2. Remove the existing Stacker 2.0 or Stacker 3.0 volumes. 3. Consult your Stacker Manual for the best method in removing and unstacking the existing Stacker volumes. Then Stac the drive through Novell DOS 7 setup under the Disk Compression option. 4. Restore your data. Option 2: Do a manual conversion to Novell DOS 7 Stacker 3.12. While this is not "Officially supported" a manual conversion is possible. It has worked successfully in in-house tests. Stacker has also said that it "should" work. To do a manual conversion, use the following steps: IMPORTANT! While the in-house tests showed no loss of data, data loss is possible with any compression conversion. 1. Backup your data. 2. Create a STACKER.BIN by issuing the following commands while in the NWDOS directory. (The STACLOAD.BIN and STACKER.COM are located in NWDOS subdirectory.) COPY /B STACLOAD.BIN+STACKER.COM D:\STACKER.BIN (D: being the boot drive.) ATTRIB +RHS D:\STACKER.BIN (D: being the boot drive.) 3. Delete the DBLSPACE.BIN. This file has system, hidden, and read only attributes. To delete the file, type the following command: Attrib DBLSPACE.BIN -rsh 4. Modify the Stacker.ini. The stacker.ini is located on the boot drive. Change to the boot drive and type the following: ATTRIB STACKER.INI -RSH ATTRIB STACKER.BAK -RSH ERASE STACKER.BAK 5. Using a text editor, modify the STACKER.INI. Change the /DIR=C:\STACKER line to /DIR=C:\NWDOS. ------------------------------------------------ STACKER 4.0 COMPATIBILITY If Novell DOS 7 is installed on a MS DOS 6.0 or MS DOS 6.2 with Stacker 4.0 installed, there are no known compatibility issues. Stacker 4.0 will continue to work without further conversion. If Novell DOS 7 is installed on DR DOS 6.0 or MS DOS 5.0 with Stacker 4.0 installed, you will get EMM386 Protection errors when accessing the Stacker volume(s). Others users can access the Stacker volume(s); however, they cannot run any applications. If EMM386.EXE isn't loaded, you can access the Stacker volume(s) without problem. Do not run the Stacker 4.0 Config.sys drivers, STACKER.COM and SSWAP.COM with Novell DOS 7. To update the system with the appropriate Stacker 4.0 drivers, do the following: 1. Bootup from the hard drive. 2. When the STARTING DOS... message starts to display, press the F5 function key. This will allow you to bypass the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 3. Run the Stacker 4.0 install from the floppy diskette. This will modify the CONFIG.SYS by removing the following command lines: DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM The install will also create a C:\DBLSPACE.BIN file and copy the STACKER2.BIN file to the C:\ directory. A C:\NWDOS\_STACKER.OLD subdirectory is created. The following files are moved from the C:\NWDOS to the C:\NWDOS\_STACKER.OLD directory: CREATE.COM DCONVERT.COM DCONVRT2.COM PASSWORD.EXE PREVIEW.EXE SCREXEC.EXE SDEFRAG.COM SDEFRAG2.EXE STACKER.COM UNSTACK.COM UNSTACK2.COM 4. Reboot the system. Now, you should be able to access the Stacker volume(s) with out problem. ____________________________________ MANUAL INSTALL and UPDATE: Though reinstalling Stacker 4.0 is the preferred method to update the drivers, you can do a manual update. The DBLSPACE.BIN and STACKER2.BIN files can be manually created and installed by doing the following: 1. Copy STACKER2.BIN from the Stacker 4.0 install disk #1 to C:\. 2. Copy STACLOAD.BIN from the Stacker 4.0 install disk #1 to C:\STACKER. 3. From the C:\STACKER subdirectory, type the following command: COPY /B STACLOAD.BIN+STACKER.COM C:\DBLSPACE.BIN 4. Edit the CONFIG.SYS and remove the following lines: DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM 5. Create the C:\NWDOS\_STACKER.OLD subdirectory. 6. Move the following files from C:\NWDOS to C:\NWDOS\_STACKER.OLD. CREATE.COM DCONVERT.COM DCONVRT2.COM PASSWORD.EXE PREVIEW.EXE SCREXEC.EXE SDEFRAG.COM SDEFRAG2.EXE STACKER.COM UNSTACK.COM UNSTACK2.COM 7. Reboot the system. Now, you will have access to the Stacker volume(s). ---------------------------------------------------------------- Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information. ----------------------------------------------------------------