HPFS to FAT Keywords: FastBack; FORMAT; Stacker; HPFS; FAT. By: Keith McLeod. CompuServe: 73624,3057. INet: 73624.3057@compuserve.com I needed and bought Stacker for OS/2 and DOS (V1.1). It only supports FAT, so I had to first convert my large, primary OS/2 boot partition from HPFS to FAT. It was an adventure. Enough tricks and bugs involving utilities and OS/2 came up I felt I should document the process for others. There is plenty of information on converting from FAT to HPFS. No one, not even MLTMAINT, has thought of going, or accommodating going, the other way. Some of the utilities involved: OS/2's FORMAT command (on 2.1): FORMAT.COM, copied by itself to a recovery floppy, does not recognize the parameter /FS:HPFS. It always formats to the existing file system or to FAT. I do not know the fix; when I had to return to HPFS to recover other things I had to format from the install disks, aborting the install process right after its FORMAT. MLTMAINT, et al: Even its portable backup of the INI files and DESKTOP is *not* portable between file systems. (True for 3.1; 3.2 is now on CompuServe but Carry Associates said it does not address this -- they, too, never thought of HPFS-to-FAT.) It will not restore directories (folders) under DESKTOP having long filenames. [NO utility I have does: OS/2's BACKUP command (the one IBM recommends we use to backup the Desktop), FastBack Plus for OS/2 V1.01, etc. IBM Tech Support suggested looking at the several Desktop maintenance utilities on their BBS (ROBOSV.ZIP, WPSBK204.ZIP WPSBAK.ZIP, MLPMT30P.ZIP), but did not know if any handled long names from HPFS to FAT. For me, it was less time to just restore to HPFS and change the folder names to 8 characters. Only an OS/2 drag-and-drop to floppy resolves long names, which, of course, cannot be done on directory Desktop as it is in use to be able to use drag-and-drop. It is not like this would be a hard thing to do. I didn t think of this at the time (doink) but maybe you could XCOPY Desktop to under a TEMP directory, then drag-and-drop it. But a previous experience trying something similar and having some IBM magic disappear it leaves me leary. I wouldn t count on this alone. FastBack Plus for OS/2 1.01 Clobbers the FAT boot sector. At least when you do their Crash Recovery of a tape created from HPFS onto a FAT system. This may not be entirely Symantec s fault but is certainly a bug. [Solution: execute SYSINSTX C: off the OS/2 Installation Disk. All other files restored by FastBack are fine.] [FastBack does, tho, have an excellent Crash Recovery set-up, though you d never know it by their documentation. I had to trip over it in their UTILITIES menu. (Why would they hide something so critical and valuable?) This is a serious shortcoming of Stacker which does not directly address recovery. Recovering a compressed drive requires a whole new strategy.] Stacker: Just the fact it s still stuck in the old FAT world is an obvious deficiency. But I have heard no word whether they intend to correct this, much less when it will be available. If you need to Stacker now, and need the versatility of its compressing a drive shared between an Boot-Managed DOS and OS/2 drive, as I do, you will face the same problems herein documented. OS/2 Documentation: Pg 433 (Appendix C) of the Using ... Guide features a Rebuilding the Desktop section, distinct from Reverting to the Original Desktop , which makes it sound like you can re- build YOUR (customized) Desktop from the OS2*.INI files. You cannot. It does not. The 2 sections are 2 different ways of Reverting to the Original. And if you have spent the days I have setting it up the way you like, and loaded applications (like WordPerfect 6.0a) which added templates you do not want to loose, this is ... disappointing. [What is really disappointing is the consistant IBM policy -- adopted by MicroSoft; or was it the other way round? -- of only tell em what ya have ta about what we hide where . God forbid users should have an idea of how a system really works.] A couple of notes on Stacker before I get to the step-by-step process. This applies to 1.1, at the time of writing their latest upgrade. 1. Yes, you install the same stuff from the same diskettes on both your DOS and OS/2 (FAT only) partition. 2. If you are using DBLSPACE on your DOS partition (can t on a shared one), an extra disk is included to convert it; then you do the normal Stacker install. Unfortunately, there are bugs. Mine bombed almost completed but just when updating AUTOEXEC.BAT; I recovered myself without help (just had to run CONFIG and completed the PATH), but left things a bit messy. I recommend the MS de-Doublespace if you have room. I especially recommend not using Stacker s converter if, like me, you have a shared D: drive. (Shared between DOS and OS/2. Recall I am using Boot Manager.) Stacker keeps the I: drive from DBLSPACE for *its* un-compressed C:, so assignes a *different* letter to the un-compressed shared drive (the next higher after I:, which is J:) than the letter assigned for it from OS/2 (which is F:). This might be OK but it left me uncomfortable, if only for the potential to confuse me. 3. Both the OS/2 and Windows swap files should be left un- compressed. (They can be on a compressed drive, but it s slower.) The Stacker install process automatically configures it this way by default; the Windows file, though, only if it is a permanent one and is found. (It requires contiguous space.) Therefore, if you ever *convert* from Windows temporary to permanent swap, and your temporary swap file has been on the compressed drive, re-configure the compressed space (easy with the CONFIG command) and assign the swap file to the drive for the uncompressed region of the partition. But Stacker s automatic process may not leave enough room for the OS/2 dynamic swap file. Depends on how large you want to allow it to get. You may want to do a custom install where you control the amount of non-compressed space. 4. Other files may need to be left uncompressed, and can be placed on the uncompressed region of the original partition (which will be a new drive , as C: will have the compressed files in one file-cum-C:-drive). Although it may not be necessary, for safety s sake I did this for my Oracle database files. (ORACLE assumes it is using pre-allocated space which, when not really used, compresses all to heck. If you suddenly INSERT a lot of data ... someone could be fooled, and ill-prepared. So, applications expecting pre-allocated and/or contiguous disk space may be better off with that space uncompressed.) Step by Step Conversion from HPFS to FAT, with particular attention to preparing to Install Stacker: 1. Rename any files to 8.3 naming format. This will only need doing to the Desktop folders and any files you created. OS/2's files are all 8.3 to fit either file system. Drag-and-drop to floppy any you created, if there are few and are small enough. 2. Even if you don t usually do this with new software, relying on a systemic backup: DISKCOPY the 2 Stacker Install disks. Consider a recovery: if you have too much data to fit an uncompressed drive, re-installing Stacker may have to come part way through a total re-load as a distinct step. 3. Re-work your backup strategy. (This is not easy given this area is totally ignored by Stacker. Well, they do charge for technical support calls. They may LIVE for users in trouble. Unfortunatly, it is beyond the scope of this article to try to cover this, and I am myself too new to Stacker to offer much expertise. But I can comlain!) At least have some idea how you expect to recover from a worst-case once Stacker is installed. 4. Have 2 copies of the OS/2 boot sets (the first 3 disks in the OS/2 install set); make 1 Stacker-aware . Again, something you ll always need after the install, and possibly during if anything goes wrong. Drivers must be added to the CONFIG.SYS file of any boot drive so what gets booted knows the files are compressed. To make one set Stacker-aware before installing Stacker, execute the STACBOOT command off Stacker Install disk 2 against disk 1 (the 2nd boot-set disk) of the OS/2 boot set. It adds the necessary drivers to the default CONFIG.SYS file there. Any boot off them will expect the disks to be compressed. (What if they are not? Will it come up any way? Can I Stacker-aware all my boot sets? Don t know.) 5. Do your normal backup of everything you ll want to restore to the FAT system, including the Desktop directory and \OS2\OS2*.INI files. However you do this. 6. Run CHKDSK, not simply to ensure its integrity, but to be sure of the volume s label. (DIR also gives this.) You may need to give this to FORMAT. (The OS/2 Install FORMAT does not care.) 7. Make a separate backup of your CONFIG.SYS file. Edit it: remove (or REM out) the line IFS=C:\...HPFS , usually the first line. This loads the HPFS manager, which should not happen if you are FAT. After you do your mass reload of files but before booting off the new FAT drive, this must be copied on. [If you have a CD ROM, there will be another IFS command for it. It need not be touched.] 8. FORMAT. As noted above, the FORMAT.COM command I copied out of the OS2 directory to my recovery disks only does FAT. OK. All I want. 9. Load your files. All of them, including Desktop and OS2*.INI. 10. COPY in that special CONFIG.SYS. 11. Boot from your new FAT hard drive. 12. Boot fails because you used FastBack Plus for OS/2. Or maybe other utilities provide this feature. 13. Boot off the install disks; insert the 1st install disk ( Installation Disk , which, thanks to the geniuses at IBM, comes before Diskette 1); while on drive A: (or whatever), execute the command: SYSINSTX C: (or whatever drive). It copies the boot files to C: s root directory. 14. Boot from your new FAT hard drive. Install Stacker as it advertises. 15. Drag-and-drop any files from diskette which had long names under HPFS. They have new, 8.3 names. 16. Complete setting up your new recovery procedure. This will include backing up any files YOU moved to the uncompressed region (drive) of your partition. (Any files Stacker puts there, it will create as needed on any re-start. I think. I m almost certain. I haven t tried it, but they say it does.) 17. Since OS/2 assigns drive letters dynamically (the user has no control nor way of fixing them as one does in DOS), and since Stacker must take a drive letter for each un-compressed (real, physical) drive, if you have a CD ROM or other such letter- addressable peripheral, it will come up with a different drive letter assignment. This necessitates changing the drive in the PATH of anything which accesses it. If you had drives C: and D: and your CD was E:, it will now be G:. Simple!