TECHNICAL REFERENCE DOCUMENT DISK MANAGER VERSION 3.50 MANUFACTURED FOR SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY OCTOBER 28, 1988 Section Topic Page I. CONFIGURING YOUR HARDWARE ................. 2 Choosing proper drive-types on your system II. DISK MANAGER COMMAND-LINE ................. 4 Use of command line switches ( /m,/2,/3,/v,/a,/p,/c,/z,/w,/o,/i,/f,/b ) III. DEVICE DRIVER COMMAND-LINE ................ 10 Using command-line switches with DMDRVR.BIN IV. MODIFYING PARTITIONS ...................... 11 V. CONSIDERATIONS WHEN ADDING IN A 2ND DISK... 15 Some extra steps may be required VI. OTHER COMMON PROBLEMS ..................... 16 "1790", "1791", or "DISK ERROR" "HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER BAD" "NO HARD DRIVES INSTALLED" OTHER PROBLEMS WITH LARGE DISK DRIVES DISK MANAGER ERROR MESSAGES VII. CONSIDERATIONS FOR AT&T USERS ............. 24 VIII. CONSIDERATIONS FOR EPSON, COMPUTERLAND, AND SANYO DOS ............................. 25 IX. CONSIDERATIONS FOR WESTERN DIGITAL USERS .. 27 X. MIXING DOS WITH OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS ... 31 PAGE 1 SECTION I: CONFIGURING YOUR HARDWARE PC-XT TYPE CONSIDERATIONS APPROACH 1: If your controller card has a switch or jumper setting which correctly matches all parameters necessary for correct operation of your particular disk drive, you should set those switches/jumpers accordingly. The drive should then be treated as a "STANDARD" drive when using DISK MANAGER. APPROACH 2: Use "AUTO-CONFIGURE" on controller cards so equipped (usually invoked by using "DEBUG") to make DISK MANAGER perceive that the hard disk controller correctly matches all parameters necessary for correct operation of your particular disk drive. This process is usually invoked by using the DOS "DEBUG" program, and involves using programs which are stored in the controller's BIOS ROM to "AUTO-CONFIGURE" and low-level-format the hard disk. The drive should then be treated as a "STANDARD" drive when using DISK MANAGER. The DISK MANAGER low-level-format SHOULD NOT be performed after low-level- formatting with an "AUTO-CONFIGURE" BIOS, since the "AUTO- CONFIGURATION" data may be destroyed (this precludes use of the DISK MANAGER "AUTOMATIC" mode unless the "/b" switch is used to "BYPASS" initialization). NOTE: Many "AUTO-CONFIGURE" controllers provide an option for allowing the user to "SPLIT" the drive into 2 parts. Use of this option will cause DISK MANAGER to see the drive as though it were 2 separate disks. This is not recommended, and precludes the attachment of a second physical hard disk in most cases. APPROACH 3: Use of DISK MANAGER to call it a NONSTANDARD drive can be done as follows: A) Choose a drive-type which is supported by your controller's ROM-BIOS using the TYPE-SELECTION criteria below. B) Use DISK MANAGER in either the "AUTOMATIC" or "MANUAL" mode to install the drive as a NONSTANDARD drive, and inform DISK MANAGER of what type of drive you actually have at the appropriate prompt. C) Please see the note below on CAPACITY REDUCTION. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC-XT TYPE-SELECTION CRITERIA: The chosen TYPE must be smaller or equal to the actual disk drive you are installing in BOTH the head-count and cylinder-count dimensions. Further, it is desirable to match AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE the head-count between the drive-type and the drive you are installing. For further information on the consequences of this parameter, read the section below on CAPACITY REDUCTION. PAGE 2 PC-AT TYPE CONSIDERATIONS Drive-type selection is performed on PC-AT type computers by an internal "CMOS CONFIGURATION MEMORY" rather than switches and jumpers as in the PC-XT type computers. DISK MANAGER is capable of analyzing your computer's internal drive-type tables and correctly selecting the optimum CMOS setting for you, if desired. DISK MANAGER also allows you to choose CMOS settings based on your own criteria, if desired. Further, if your disk drive is a NONSTANDARD drive (one that does NOT have a corresponding entry in your machine's internal tables), DISK MANAGER's device driver will compensate for that, allowing partitions handled by the device driver to use the drive's full capacity. See notes below regarding CAPACITY REDUCTION, and, if you desire to select CMOS yourself, see the section immediately below on TYPE-SELECTION criteria. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PC-AT TYPE-SELECTION CRITERIA: The chosen TYPE must be smaller or equal to the actual disk drive you are installing in BOTH the head-count and cylinder-count dimensions. Further, if you are installing a drive with more than 8 heads (or has logic which decodes all 4 head-select bits) you MUST choose a type which either does NOT use WRITE-PRECOMPENSATION, or has a "08" value for the control-byte. Failure to satisfy the above requirements will result in a system which has an extremely long delay on boot (2-3 minutes) and finally produces a DISK ERROR message after the delay. Usually, the boot process can then be completed from diskette. Finally, it is desirable to match AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE the head-count between the drive-type and the drive you are installing. For further information on the consequences of this parameter, read the section below on CAPACITY REDUCTION. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAPACITY REDUCTION: The DOS partition (necessary ONLY to boot) on a NONSTANDARD disk can use ONLY the part of the disk depicted by the BIOS ROM for the particular drive-type you have chosen (with switches, jumpers, CMOS, etc.). Therefore, if you have a drive which DOES NOT have a drive-type entry with the same number of heads, the DOS partition will effectively WASTE DISK SPACE. If the head-count mismatch is severe, only a VERY SMALL DOS partition would be possible without wasting a significant portion of the capacity. This limitation DOES NOT apply to partitions handled by the DISK MANAGER device driver. PAGE 3 SECTION II: DISK MANAGER COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES USE OF /m,/2,/3,/v,/a,/p,/c,/z,/w,/o,/i,/f,/b SWITCHES ON THE COMMAND LINE DISK MANAGER can be invoked using "switches" as indicated in this section. For example, to invoke DISK MANAGER's MANUAL installation process, the command line would appear as follows: A>DM/M To invoke the MANUAL mode, have the ability to vary cluster size assignments, AND display in color, the command line would appear as follows: A>DM/M/V/C The following contains a description of each switch option. /m--MANUAL (INTERACTIVE) MODE Use of this switch removes DISK MANAGER from its "AUTOMATIC INSTALL" mode. The "AUTOMATIC" mode consists of a "QUESTION/ANSWER" session which defines what disk drive configuration you want to install, and then performs it. Use of other than the most common partitioning arrangements or other DISK MANAGER features requires use of the "MANUAL" mode. Use of the "F1" key for ONLINE help is available to explain your options, which are presented in a menu format. /c--COLOR DISPLAY Use of this switch allows DISK MANAGER to take advantage of COLOR on the display when using a computer which is so equipped. Operation of DISK MANAGER on a computer with a COLOR display without the "/c" switch is perfectly feasible, as DISK MANAGER will operate the display in monochrome. /p--FORCE PC-XT MODE /a--FORCE PC-AT MODE These 2 switches can be used to alter DISK MANAGER's perception of what type computer is currently being used. If neither switch is specified, DISK MANAGER will interrogate the BIOS ROM of the machine to ascertain if it is currently being used on a PC-type or AT-type computer. Since the DISK BIOS instruction set is different between the two types of machines, this information is required. Unfortunately, there are certain computers which have BIOS ROM's which indicate PC-AT compatibility, but in fact have DISK SUBSYSTEMS which behave in a PC-XT like manner. See the AT&T 6300 PLUS CONSIDERATIONS portion of this document for further information. If you are using an XT disk controller in an AT computer, invoke DISK MANAGER with the /p option. PAGE 4 /2--DOS 2.XX MODE /3--DOS 3.XX MODE These 2 switches can be used to alter DISK MANAGER's perception of what type operating system is currently being used. If neither switch is specified, DISK MANAGER will interrogate the OPERATING SYSTEM of the machine to ascertain if it is a DOS 3.xx or 2.XX system. Since the LOGICAL FORMAT is different between the two types of operating systems, this information is required. Unfortunately, there are certain systems which indicate DOS 3.XX compatibility, but in fact require LOGICAL FORMATS with DOS 2.XX compatibility. See the AT&T 6300 PLUS CONSIDERATIONS portion of this document for further information. DISK MANAGER can be forced to use clustering techniques patterned after MS-DOS version 2 or 3 by invoking DISK MANAGER with a "/2" or a "/3" switch, respectively. /z--ZENITH MSDOS compatibility mode Use of this switch provides DISK MANAGER the ability to be compatible with ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS operating systems. Specifically, it allows DISK MANAGER to maintain up to 4 DOS partitions on a disk drive when ALL 4 will be handled by the ZENITH DOS internal device driver. Without this switch, only 1 TYPE DOS partition is allowed per disk, with any remaining partitions being handled by the DISK MANAGER device driver. See your Zenith manuals for specific capabilities and requirements of your particular DOS version. /w--WYSE MSDOS Use of this switch provides DISK MANAGER the ability to be totally compatible with the WYSE-DOS VERSION 3 operating system. Specifically, it allows DISK MANAGER to maintain up to 4 DOS partitions on a disk drive when ALL 4 will be handled by the WYSE DOS internal device driver. Also, it forces DISK MANAGER to utilize the correct cluster-size versus partition-size algorithms required by WYSE-DOS version 3. It WILL also allow DOS partitions to extend beyond the 32 MB point on the drive. /v--VARIABLE CLUSTER SIZE AND ROOT DIRECTORY SIZE Driven partitions (WRITE/READ or READ ONLY) can now be prepared with operator-selected cluster size and root directory size. To enable this feature, DISK MANAGER must be invoked with a "/V" switch (i.e. DM/V/M). This feature applies to the manual mode only. Only invoke DISK MANAGER with the /V option if your application specifically requires modified cluster size or root directory assignments. PAGE 5 /o--OPERATE DISK MANAGER / DEVICE DRIVER USING VERSION 2.02 CONVENTIONS This option causes DISK MANAGER and its device driver, DMDRVR.BIN, to operate according to conventions established with DISK MANAGER ver. 2.02. If you are installing your disk drive(s) in a GOLDSTAR or other clone that "hangs" when invoking DISK MANAGER, use this option. By using this option, the following limitations will exist: 1) You may install two drives maximum 2) There is no support for SCSI extended I/O 3) There is no OMTI extended I/O (no support above 1024 cylinders). /i--SELECT INTERLEAVE DURING AUTOMATED INSTALLATION This option gives the user the option of selecting the desired interleave prior to initialization during automated installation. /f--FOR INSTALLATION WITH FUTURE DOMAIN DISK CONTROLLERS This option allows DISK MANAGER to install disk drives using FUTURE DOMAIN host adapters. Without this option DISK MANAGER may not agree with the FUTURE DOMAIN BIOS regarding the number of physical disks present in the machine. When using this option, also include the appropriate entry in the CONFIG.SYS file (see page 11). /b--BYPASS THE LOW-LEVEL FORMAT This option allows the DISK MANAGER AUTOMATIC MODE TO "bypass" the low- level format (initialization) process. This will facilitate installation of configurations which are known to be correctly initialized, such as XT-class controller cards which are set up with a "DEBUG" based initializer/auto configure program. PAGE 6 ############################################################################### D I S C L A I M E R PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME APPLICATION PROGRAMS ARE DEPENDENT UPON THE CLUSTERING RULES THAT MS-DOS NORMALLY WOULD UTILIZE. USE OF THE /V OPTION ON PARTITIONS MAY RENDER THEM USELESS TO SUCH APPLICATIONS. THE USER MUST ASSUME ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS CASE. WE THEREFORE RECOMMEND THAT THE /V OPTION NOT BE UTILIZED UNLESS THE USER HAS A SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT FOR A CLUSTERING STRUCTURE WHICH DIFFERS FROM THE NORMAL MS-DOS/PC-DOS CONVENTIONS. ############################################################################### If a WRITE-READ or READ ONLY partition is being PREPARED using the /V mode, the first new prompt will appear as follows. A default root directory code will appear in the parenthesis: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROOT DIRECTORY SIZE CODES: 1=64 2=128 3=256 4=512 5=1024 6=2048 Enter the code (1 to 6) for maximum root directory entries (3): -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The default response is the value that DOS would have assigned, given a DOS partition of equal size to the current one. If you desire a different number of maximum permissible entries in the root directory, respond with the desired size code (1-6) as shown. The second new prompt when PREPARING a WRITE-READ or READ ONLY partition using the /V option appears as follows: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLUSTER SIZE CODES: 1=.5KB 2=1KB 3=2KB 4=4KB 5=8KB 6=16KB 7=32KB 8=64KB Enter the code (1 to 5) for the desired CLUSTER SIZE (3): -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAGE 7 Again, a default selection is offered. The minimum and maximum values in this prompt will restrict your input to values which will cause DOS file operations to function properly. Selection of values SMALLER than the default value may cause utility programs such as CHKDSK to fail to operate. The user assumes the risk of finding such utilities useless on the current partition if these small values are selected. The default value is calculated based on the following criteria: 1) If the default root-directory size was selected, the default CLUSTER SIZE value equals what DOS would assign for this partition. 2) If a non-default root directory size was entered, the default CLUSTER SIZE entry will represent the smallest allocation size that will correctly operate with CHKDSK. Note that, with some partition sizes operating under MS-DOS 2.X, the minimum, maximum and default choices are equivalent because only one value is permitted. PAGE 8 FOLLOWING IS A REFERENCE FOR WHAT DISK MANAGER OFFERS FOR VARIOUS SIZED PARTITIONS: (DOS 2.X) PART SECTOR CLUSTER CLUSTER CLUSTER CLUSTER SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE (MB) (BYTES) (DOS) (ABSOLUTE MIN) (MIN CHKDSK) (MAXIMUM) 0-.262 512 512 BYTES 512 BYTES 512 BYTES 8K BYTES .262-1 512 1K BYTES 512 BYTES 512 BYTES 8K BYTES 1-4 512 2K BYTES 1K BYTES 1K BYTES 8K BYTES 4-8 512 2K BYTES 2K BYTES 2K BYTES 8K BYTES 8-16 512 4K BYTES 4K BYTES 4K BYTES 8K BYTES 16-32 512 8K BYTES 8K BYTES 8K BYTES 8K BYTES 32-64 1K 16K BYTES 16K BYTES 16K BYTES 16K BYTES 64-128 2K 32K BYTES 32K BYTES 32K BYTES 32K BYTES (DOS 3.X) PART SECTOR CLUSTER CLUSTER CLUSTER CLUSTER SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE SIZE (MB) (BYTES) (DOS) (ABSOLUTE MIN) (MIN CHKDSK) (MAXIMUM) 0-8 512 4K BYTES 512 BYTES 512 BYTES 8K BYTES 8-16 512 4K BYTES 512 BYTES 1K BYTES 8K BYTES 16-24 512 2K BYTES 512 BYTES 2K BYTES 8K BYTES 24-32 512 2K BYTES 1K BYTES 2K BYTES 8K BYTES 32-64 1K 4K BYTES 2K BYTES 4K BYTES 16K BYTES 64-128 2K 8K BYTES 4K BYTES 8K BYTES 32K BYTES 128-256 4K 16K BYTES 8K BYTES 16K BYTES 32K BYTES 256-512 8K 32K BYTES 16K BYTES 32K BYTES 32K BYTES PAGE 9 SECTION III: DEVICE DRIVER COMMAND LINE DISK MANAGER utilizes a device driver, DMDRVR.BIN. The CONFIG.SYS file resident on the boot partition of your hard disk must include the statement DEVICE = DMDRVR.BIN. Commmand-line switches are available with DMDRVR.BIN. For example, within the CONFIG.SYS file, you may include a statement as follows: DEVICE = DMDRVR.BIN /1 The following command-line switches are available: /1 through /8 ---- These switches will cause the device driver to limit its search for physical hard disks to the number supplied. This is useful for the following situations: A) To speed up the boot process on clones which respond very slowly to nonexistent disks. Use of /1 or /2 (depending on the number of disks attached) can dramatically decrease the system boot time. B) Configurations which DISK MANAGER has truncated to two drives because of the presence of a Western Digital SUPERBIOS. This BIOS has a bug which causes it to respond to three drives when only two are present. If a third (or more) disk is attached to a configuration such as this, DISK MANAGER might falsely assume that the third disk is a WD SUPERBIOS "phantom" disk and ignore it. Use of "/3", etc. will cause the driver to override its desire to ignore what it thinks is a WD SUPERBIOS phantom. Without any /1 through /8 switch, the DISK MANAGER DEVICE DRIVER interrogates for a maximum of eight drives. It will stop searching if a getparms BIOS call fails on a drive, or if a WD SUPERBIOS exists on the machine and the third drive is not recognizable as a SCSI host adapter. When the switch is used, the WD test is overridden and the search is stopped after the number of drives specified have been detected. /f ---- FOR USE WITH FUTURE DOMAIN HOST ADAPTERS When installing your disk(s) with Future Domain host adapters, use the following line within the CONFIG.SYS file: DEVICE = DMDRVR.BIN /F This will ensure that DISK MANAGER and the Future Domain BIOS agree on the number of disks present in the machine. PAGE 10 SECTION IV: MODIFYING PARTITIONS The first thing to consider if you decide to change the partitions after the drive has been used for a period of time is that ALL DATA WILL BE LOST ON ANY PARTITION THAT IS CHANGED!!!! Make certain that you have a flawless backup BEFORE attempting any manipulation of your partition structure. After your hard drive has been fully backed up, please read SECTION I of this manual entitled 'Configuring Your Hardware' to make sure you have a configuration that will operate efficiently. You will then be able to re-partition your drive using the following instructions. While you are running Disk Manager, pressing the "F1" key will give you on-line help. 1. Invoke Disk Manager in the manual mode by entering "dm/m" from the A> prompt with the Disk Manager diskette in the A: drive. Type only the characters INSIDE the double quotes, not the quotes themselves. 2. From the Main Menu, enter "c" to get to the configuration menu. At the configuration menu you will be shown what the drive is set up as (# of cylinders, # of heads & sectors per track) as well as the parameters that Disk Manager will actually use. You should check to see if the drive type that is set up has the same number of heads and cylinders as your drive actually has. If it does, you can skip down to step number 3. If it doesn't match, please read SECTION I of this manual on capacity reduction BEFORE you proceed to step number 3. 3. Now enter "r" to return to the Main Menu, and from the Main Menu enter "p" to get to the Partitioning Menu. 4. When you get to the Partitioning Menu you will see the partitions that the drive is currently using. If you are sure that you want to make changes and you have all your data backed up, you should enter "y" in response to the question "Does the above partition require modification?". If you don't want to change the partitions you can answer "n" which brings you to the Preparation Menu from which you can (R)eturn to the Main Menu. 5. The options that are available in the Partitioning Menu are described below. If you just want to change your partitions and you don't care to know how all this works, skip this section and see the example at number 7. Please note that since you can't use a partition until it has been prepared, you will be given the option to (R)eturn to the Preparation Menu rather than the Main Menu. If you haven't made any changes that require a partition to be prepared you can then (R)eturn to the Main Menu. PAGE 11 (A)llocate. This option is used to define a partition and can be used when there is still space available on the drive. If the current partition table says "NO VALID PARTITION TABLE" you must select (N)ew partition table before a partition can be allocated. You may have to (D)elete an existing partition or two to make room for the partition you wish to allocate. Upon selecting this option you will be prompted for the partition number, partition type (DOS, Write/Read, etc.), starting cylinder for the partition and the number of cylinders in the partition. The partition table information will be displayed on the screen to give you a frame of reference. NOTE: Only one DOS partition is allowed per drive and it is recommended that only the first hard drive have a DOS partition. Write/Read and Read Only partitions will behave exactly like DOS partitions. (D)elete. This option is used to remove a partition from the table. If you are using a Western Digital 8-bit controller, you may have a partition number 5 or 6 that has invalid parameters and reappears if you try to delete it. This is information put into the partition record by the controller. This condition will have no adverse effect on the operation of the drive, as you won't be able to use these table locations. If more than four partitions are needed, skip to partition # 7 for your next sequential partition. (S)elect boot. This option is used to identify which partition the computer will load the operating system from in the event that you have two operating systems on the hard drive. THE PARTITION YOU SELECT MUST HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO BOOT THE COMPUTER. Write/Read and Read Only partitions are not bootable partition types. (C)hange type. This option will allow you to make a partition READ ONLY to protect it from accidental erasure. You can select other types as well, though you may have to prepare the partition and destroy any data it contains to use the new type. Switching back and forth between Write/Read and Read Only partition types will not require the partition to be re-prepared. (N)ew partition table. This option will delete any partitions currently allocated and must be used if the current partition table says "NO VALID PARTITION TABLE". (R)eturn to preparation menu. This is the final selection you will make in the Partitioning Menu. When this option is selected you will be warned that all data will be destroyed if you write the partition data to the drive. If you are satisfied with the partitions as they appear in the upper half of the screen and you have backed up the disk prior to running Disk Manager, you should respond "y". WHEN YOU HAVE WRITTEN THE PARTITION DATA TO THE DISK THERE IS NO TURNING BACK! IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS YOU SHOULD RESPOND "N". You will now have completed the second level of formatting, leaving only one more level to go. The third level will be complete when we (P)repare the partitions for use from the Preparation Menu. PAGE 12 6. We are now at the Preparation Menu. This is where the drive will be high level formatted and made ready for data storage. Here are the options: (P)repare any partition. This is the third and final level of formatting and is the equivalent of the DOS Format program. Any partition that now says UNPREPARED in the Name/Ver column must be prepared at this time. When you enter "p" at the prompt you will be asked "Prepare ALL DOS, Write/Read and Read-Only partitions?". You should respond "n" unless ALL the partitions are unprepared. You will then be prompted to enter the number of the partition that you want to prepare. After entering the partition number you will be prompted "Enter (1-11 char) volume label:" to which you may enter a label or press the return key and not have a volume label. If the partition is a DOS type you will be asked "Place a system on the partition?" to which you should respond "y" if you want to boot from this partition. (C)heck any partition. This is an optional test of the partition to confirm that it is ready for data storage. (R)eturn to Main Menu. This option is the final choice and should be used only when no DOS, Write/Read and Read-Only partitions remain unprepared. Disk Manager is a DOS utility so it will not be able to prepare a partition for another operating system such as Xenix. To prepare a partition for Novell (TM), Disk Manager-N should be used. When you have completed the above procedure, the computer must be rebooted. If you have difficulty booting the machine see SECTION VI labeled COMMON PROBLEMS. 7. EXAMPLE: To partition the drive to have the largest DOS partition possible, just follow these steps: A) Start Disk Manager by typing "dm/m" B) At the MAIN MENU, enter "p" to go to the partitioning menu. C) Enter "y" when asked 'Does the above PARTITION TABLE require modification? (y/n):' D) Enter "n" to create a new partition table. E) Enter "n" when asked 'Save existing partition data? (y/n):' F) Enter "n" when asked 'Use default partition table? (y/n):' G) Now enter the following "a 1 d 0 9999" and press return. H) Now enter the following "a 2 w" and press return." I) Accept the default starting cylinder number by pressing enter without entering any value. J) Enter "9999" and press return when asked to enter the number of cylinders. K) Now enter "r" to return to the preparation menu. L) YOU WILL NOW GET A WARNING!! READ IT CAREFULLY, if you have made a full backup of all the partitions on the drive and are sure that you want to continue, enter "y" and press return. M) You will now be at the partition menu and should enter "p" to prepare the partitions. N) Enter "y" when asked 'Prepare ALL DOS, Write/Read and Read-Only partitions? (y/n):' THIS WILL DESTROY ANY EXISTING DATA ON THIS DISK!! PAGE 13 O) If you are sure that you want to continue, enter "y" and press return. P) Enter "y" when asked 'Place a system on the partition? (y/n):' Q) Press the enter key when asked for the Volume Label. R) Disk Manager will now prepare the 1st partition, after which it will prompt you for your system disk and Disk Manager disk. Put the appropriate disk in the A: drive when asked. S) Disk Manager will now prompt you for the Volume Label for the 2nd partition, once again you should press enter. T) Disk Manager will now prepare the 2nd partition. U) Enter "r" and press return. This will return you to the main menu. V) Enter "r" and press return. W) Enter "y" when asked 'Exit Disk Manager? (y/n):' X) Your screen now instructs you to 'Prepare system for start-up, and strike return when ready. . .' Y) Open the door on your A: drive, press return, and your computer will boot off the hard drive. PAGE 14 SECTION V: CONSIDERATIONS FOR ADDING A SECOND HARD DISK DISK MANAGER is perfectly able to help you install a 2nd add-on hard disk onto an existing 1-disk computer. However, if the first disk is not currently using DISK MANAGER, the following extra steps are required to cause your system to recognize the DISK MANAGER device driver. A) The DISK MANAGER DEVICE DRIVER, "DMDRVR.BIN", is a file that MUST exist on the BOOT device (your 1st hard disk, or, if desired, a floppy diskette). This can be simply copied from the DISK MANAGER diskette to the BOOT device. B) THE BOOT device MUST reference our driver from it's "CONFIG.SYS" file. Specifically, the "CONFIG.SYS" file MUST include a statement similar to the following: DEVICE = DMDRVR.BIN If your BOOT device already has a CONFIG.SYS, you must edit it to insert the above line. Order of "DEVICE =" statements in CONFIG.SYS can affect drive-letter allocations, if you have multiple BLOCK-DEVICE drivers, but beyond that our driver has no special requirements. If you currently have NO "CONFIG.SYS" file, you may simply copy the one from the DISK MANAGER diskette to your BOOT device. PAGE 15 SECTION VI: COMMON PROBLEMS The majority of problems experienced with disk installations are hardware related. Generally, DISK MANAGER will abort the installation process if any of these errors are encountered when executing under auto mode. In either case, any I/O error is decoded to an English-language equivalent and displayed on the BOTTOM LINE OF THE SCREEN. Some of the more common error messages and their possible causes are listed below: ---------------------- A substantial delay (2 or 3 minutes), followed by: "1790", "1791", or other "DISK ERROR" messages when booting the computer occur from the following causes: 1) This is a NORMAL error message when installing an UNINITIALIZED (new) hard disk. As soon as the initialization has been performed with DISK MANAGER, this error will disappear. 2) This situation can also arise from an improper choice of CMOS drive type when operating on PC-AT type computers. Specifically, the chosen type must be SMALLER, or EQUAL to, the dimensions of the disk drive in BOTH the heads- and cylinders- dimensions. ALSO, if you have a drive with more than 8 heads, you MUST choose a drive-type which either has a control-byte of "08", or has WRITE-PRECOMPENSATION turned off. 3) This can be the result of many hardware-related problems, such as cables, drive-select jumpers, or defective components. PAGE 16 "NO HARD DRIVES INSTALLED" when invoking DISK MANAGER Improper cabling--disk drives require 2 cables, 1 of which is "daisy-chained" from the controller to 1st drive, and from there to a 2nd drive, if installed. There is also a dedicated cable from each drive to the controller. Orientation (pin 1 placement) of these cables is crucial! The last drive in the daisy chain MUST have a terminator installed. If you have 2 drives, only the 2nd drive can have a terminator installed ! Improper drive jumpering--Drives usually have a drive select jumper which must be on the correct setting. IBM PC-AT type machines use drive select 2, IBM PC-XT type machines use drive select 1. (SOME DRIVES NUMBER THEIR SELECT JUMPERS AS 0-3, NOT 1-4. IF SO, AT-TYPE INSTALLATIONS USE 1, XT-TYPE INSTALLATIONS USE 0.) IBM PC-AT type machines require operation of a SETUP program of some kind to specify the hard-disk configuration. Improper specification of hard-disk types or the number of hard disks can lead to this error. ---------------------- "HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER BAD" when invoking DISK MANAGER Jumpering of various options on the controller card can lead to this error. Check with your controller card documentation, or ask your hardware dealer. Obviously, this message can also result from a defective controller card. ---------------------- OTHER PROBLEMS WITH LARGE DISK DRIVES We receive several support calls from customers who suspect a problem has occurred while initializing their large disk drive on an IBM PC-AT type machine. Specifically, it appears as if the DISK MANAGER initializer is only initializing heads 0-7 as it proceeds. In fact, DISK MANAGER will perform the initialization process on the lower heads first, then proceed with any heads above head 7. This is necessitated by an idiosyncrasy found in some IBM PC-AT controller cards, and, if the number of heads displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen is larger than 8, DISK MANAGER will in fact initialize those upper heads after all cylinders have been initialized on the lower heads. GENERAL HARD DISK DRIVE INSTALLATION GUIDELINES The most common errors that occur during the installation of a hard disk are due to incorrect hardware setup. Refer to the file, "HARDWARE.REF" to determine if a setup or configuration problem exists. PAGE 17 PROBLEMS when BOOTING from newly installed disk, or, "UNABLE TO LOCATE NECESSARY FILES" error message when copying SYSTEM files. Many vendors periodically release new operating systems which, for a variety of reasons, may cause DISK MANAGER to be unable to correctly copy the system. This problem generally occurs in 1 of 2 ways: 1) DISK MANAGER issues the following message when preparing the partition on which you desire to place the operating system: UNABLE TO LOCATE NECESSARY FILES BE SURE SYSTEM DISKETTE IS IN DRIVE A: AND STRIKE RETURN TO RETRY This is caused because the operating system programmers have renamed the system files with a convention that has not been included in DISK MANAGER's internal list of files. Or, 2) DISK MANAGER appears to copy the operating system without problem, but the system is both A) Unable to fully boot from the hard disk, and, B) Booting from diskette and looking at the files on the hard disk's DOS partition produced unintelligible or no files. This is caused because the operating system programmers have altered the cluster-size, root directory size, and/or fat-type algorithms which they use for the boot partition to an algorithm which DISK MANAGER does not understand. In either of the above cases, the solution is a simple one. Following the preparation of your disk(s) with DISK MANAGER, you will need to complete the installation by re-preparing the DOS partition with the utilities provided with the particular operating system being installed. Specifically, A) BOOT the system with your operating system boot diskette. B) FORMAT the DOS partition using the operating system-supplied FORMAT facility (another commonly used name is HDFORMAT. See your operating system's reference guide for details). You MUST invoke the format utility in such a manner that causes it to format (prepare) the DOS partition, and you MUST cause it to place the system on that partition. A typical command would be: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A>format c:/s -------------------------------------------------------------------------- If an error occurs during this step (Invalid drive specification), you will have to use DISK MANAGER to delete the DOS partition, and re-create it with your operating system's version of the FDISK utility. Then the format should proceed without error. PAGE 18 C) BOOT the system again, this time from the hard disk. At this point, however, any WRITE/READ or READ-ONLY partitions will NOT be accessible. This is because the operating system's FORMAT process did not install the device driver or CONFIG.SYS files needed by DISK MANAGER to allow access to these partitions. This is cured by the following commands, assuming a BOOT from C: disk has just been performed, and the DISK MANAGER diskette is in drive A:. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- C>copy a:config.sys c: C>copy a:dmdrvr.bin c: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- D) BOOT the system a final time, from the hard disk. Finally, the installation should be complete. DIR commands directed at all DOS, WRITE/READ, and READ-ONLY partitions should operate correctly, and CHKDSK should display the correct information about each partition as well. PAGE 19 DISK MANAGER ERROR MESSAGES ADDRESS MARK NOT FOUND: This is an error reported by your disk controller card due to a hardware malfunction. This error can also occur if you try to verify an uninitialized part of the disk. BAD COMMAND: This error is a controller card malfunction. CANNOT ADD A DEFECT -- THE TABLE IS FULL!: DISK MANAGER will permit you to enter up to 512 defects per disk drive. CANNOT FIND FILE: DISK MANAGER cannot locate the drive configuration file on the diskette. CANNOT HAVE MULTIPLE DOS PARTITIONS!: Per DOS convention, you are permitted to assign only one DOS partition per disk drive. However, you may copy DOS onto up to four partitions per drive. CONFIGURATION RECORD AREA IS USED BY A PARTITION: This error occurs when trying to write the configuration record to a disk that has been previously partitioned using FDISK. See the section in this file regarding mixing DOS with other operating systems. CONTROLLER DRIVE-TYPE SWITCHES MUST NOT BE THE SAME WHEN USING DISSIMILAR DRIVES!: Consult your hardware manual to set your switches properly. CONTROLLER IS USING NON-STANDARD PARAMETER MECHANISM!: The controller card is not using standard configuration tables. Consult your hardware documentation to determine the recommended installation procedure. CORRECTABLE ECC: This error indicates a possible disk media defect at the drive, cylinder, and head indicated. CYLINDER O CANNOT BE MARKED DEFECTIVE!: This is a DOS convention. DEFECT-LIST FILE HAS AN IMPROPER FORMAT!: The defect-list file should be re-copied or regenerated. DEFECT-LIST FILE I/O ERROR: DISK MANAGER is unable to write or read the defect-list file. Check diskette/diskette drive. DISK DEFECT DETECTED COPYING HIDDEN FILE: This error message will appear if there is a disk defect too near the beginning of a partition. You can correct this condition by re-allocating your partition accordingly. DOS PARTITIONS CANNOT START BEYOND 32 MB POINT!: Per DOS convention, there is a 32-MB limit on the size of a DOS disk partition. DOS PARTITION INCOMPATIBLE WITH NON-STANDARD CONFIGURATION: If a non-standard drive has a WRITE-READ partition (utilizing ALL HEADS on the drive) and the user attempts to change this partition's type to DOS, this will be illegal if the actual number of heads on the drive differs from that depicted by the ROM BIOS. PAGE 20 DOS PARTITIONS MUST BE IN 1-4!: DOS partitions are only permitted in the first four partitions of a disk drive. DOS PARTITIONS MUST BE > 40 SECTORS!: At least 40 sectors (or three tracks) are required per DOS convention. DRIVE NOT PRESENT: The disk drive selected is not detected as being present. Use DISK MANAGER DIAGNOSTICS and refer to your hardware manual to correct the problem. DRIVE NOT READY: Status indicates that the disk drive is not in the READY condition. Refer to your hardware manual to correct the problem. ERROR ATTEMPTING WRITE OF CONFIGURATION RECORD: This error occurs when attempting to write the configuration record to an uninitialized disk. This error will also occur if there is a hardware malfunction. GET DRIVE PARAMETERS FAILED: This error indicates a controller card malfunction. HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER BAD: This error indicates either a genuine controller malfunction, or a cabling problem. Run DISK MANAGER DIAGNOSTICS. IMPROPER CYLINDER VALUE. A cylinder value has been entered which is beyond the size of the disk. I/O ERROR READING DISK PARAMETERS: This error generally indicates a disk controller malfunction. INVALID DRIVE SPECIFICATION: This is a DOS message indicating the absence of DISK MANAGER's device driver. Use the program DMCFIG.EXE to ensure that the statement DEVICE = DMDRVR.BIN exists within the CONFIG.SYS file. INVALID OPERATION FOR NON-DOS PARTITION: This error will occur when trying to verify or prepare a partition that is not of DOS type (such as XENIX , PC/IX, etc.). INVALID PARTITION TABLE: This error will occur when trying to boot from a hard disk that does not have a boot partition allocated. NO DOS OR READ-ONLY OR WRITE-READ PARTITIONS: For the disk drive to be operable, at least one partition must be allocated. NO FREE SPACE FOR PARTITION: Given the partition assignments already allocated, there is not enough free space on the disk drive to assign another partition. NO HARD DISKS INSTALLED: Check the cable connections and power, or consult your hardware manuals. Run DISK MANAGER DIAGNOSTICS. NO PARTITIONS ASSIGNED: At least one disk partition must be allocated. NO PARTITION TABLE: This is a normal message for a new installation. Establish a new table using the Partitioning Menu. PAGE 21 NO RECORD FOUND: This error will occur when trying to verify an uninitialized disk area. NO SUCH DEFECT CURRENTLY IN TABLE: In trying to delete a defect from the defect-list, a non-existent entry was referenced. NO SYSTEM FOUND ON THE DISKETTE: The diskette in drive A: is not a suitable system diskette. Use an authentic system diskette or a legal copy. NO VALID PARTITION TABLE: This is a normal message for a new installation. Establish a new table using the Partitioning Menu. PARTITION NOT PREPARED FOR DOS USAGE!: This error will occur when trying to verify an unprepared partition. RESET FAILED: This indicates a controller card malfunction. SECTOR MARKED DEFECTIVE: This error occurs when attempting to perform an I/O operation on a track that has been marked defective. SEEK COMMAND FAILED: This error indicates a controller card/disk/cable malfunction. Run DISK MANAGER DIAGNOSTICS. TIMEOUT: This error indicates a controller card malfunction. Run DISK MANAGER DIAGNOSTICS. TRACK BAD, NEAR START OF PARTITION: This is a warning message. You can correct this condition by re-assigning the partition accordingly. TRACK BAD, NOT DE-ALLOCATED: This error is detected during verification, and is correctable by marking the defect in the defect-list and re-preparing the partition. TRACK MARKED DEFECTIVE: This is a passive message during a scan operation, but is a fatal error if found during a check partition operation. The corrective action is re-preparing the partition. UNABLE TO COPY ALL FILES -- PARTITION IS FULL: The allocated is too small to accommodate the files being copied. The partition should be re-allocated accordingly. UNABLE TO LOCATE NECESSARY FILES: If copying DISK MANAGER files, the required files are DM.EXE, DMDRVR.BIN, AND CONFIG.SYS. These files are on the DISK MANAGER diskette. If copying system files, the required files are IO.SYS, MSDOS.SYS, and COMMAND.COM, or IBMBIO.COM, IBMDOS.COM, and COMMAND.COM. UNCORRECTABLE ECC: This error indicates a disk media defect. UNRECOVERABLE I/O ERROR: This error occurs if an I/O error occurs during control file execution which cannot be recovered from. VALUE OUT OF RANGE: The value input is not within the acceptable range. PAGE 22 WRITE FAULT: This error indicates a controller card/disk/cable malfunction. WRITE-READ/READ ONLY PARTITIONS ARE NOT BOOTABLE!: These partitions require the DISK MANAGER device driver to operate, and as such cannot be used to boot the system. PAGE 23 SECTION VII: CONSIDERATIONS FOR AT&T USERS We have been exposed to 3 problems associated with operating DISK MANAGER in conjunction with AT&T hardware/software combinations. The following is our perception of the problems and their solution. 1. DISK MANAGER requires use of its "/p" switch to operate on an AT&T 6300 PLUS computer. This is necessary because the disk subsystem on the PLUS behaves exactly like that on a PC-XT type computer, yet the computer tells DISK MANAGER that it is a PC-AT type machine. The "/p" switch informs DISK MANAGER to operate as if on a PC-XT type machine regardless of the machine type returned by the computer. SEE the DISK MANAGER COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES section for more details. 2. Use of AT&T 6300 PLUS computers to INITIALIZE a hard disk seems to have a problem. If drives larger than approximately 20 MB in capacity are used, the following error occurs after approximately 5 minutes of initialization activity: TIMEOUT I/O ERROR, DRIVE 1, CYLINDER 0, HEAD 0 It appears that the 6300 PLUS has a BIOS timer which limits the time that the BIOS will spend waiting for the drive to get initialized. Therefore, large drives MUST be initialized either on a controller compatible to the one in the 6300 PLUS but on a different computer, or a controller-rom-resident initialize routine must be used. Check with the supplier of your AT&T hardware for additional details. 3. Version 3.10 of AT&T DOS operating system appears to differ from generic MS-DOS version 3.10 in its use of cluster-size and file allocation table structures. However, DISK MANAGER does interrogate the operating system to find out if it should use cluster techniques from version 2 or those from version 3. AT&T DOS appears to use rules not from version 3, but rather those from version 2. DISK MANAGER can be made compatible with the cluster techniques used by AT&T DOS version 3.10 if the "/2" switch is used on the DM invocation line. This forces DISK MANAGER to utilize version 2 rules when preparing any partition, REGARDLESS of the actual release level of the operating system currently running. SEE the DISK MANAGER COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES section for more details. PAGE 24 SECTION VIII: CONSIDERATIONS FOR EPSON, COMPUTERLAND OR SANYO DOS We have been exposed to problems associated with operating DISK MANAGER in conjunction with Epson EQUITY III DOS, COMPUTERLAND 3.10 DOS, and SANYO 3.2 DOS. The following is our perception of the problems and their solution. SANYO DOS: SANYO DOS v3.2, when used on a SANYO 990 with version 1.0 or 1.1 BIOS will not always boot when the disk is prepared with DISK MANAGER. To correct this problem, use the DISK MANAGER "/W" switch when preparing the disk. Alternatively, use of the SANYO "SYS C:" command or "FORMAT C:/S" command after installing with DISK MANAGER will provide similar results. EPSON / COMPUTERLAND DOS: These version 3 DOS operating system appears to differ from generic MS-DOS version 3 in their use of cluster-size and file allocation table structure. However, DISK MANAGER does interrogate the operating system to find out if it should use cluster techniques from version 2 or those from version 3. Equity III and COMPUTERLAND 3.10 DOS's appear to use cluster techniques that are a cross between versions 2 and 3. On type DOS partitions, these DOS's use version 3 rules if the partition is larger than 32,680 sectors in total size. This implies 16 bit F.A.T. entries as well. On partitions below this size, they will use version 2 rules, including the 12 bit F.A.T. entries. DISK MANAGER partition type WRITE-READ and READ-ONLY seem to work regardless of whether version 2 or 3 rules were applied during preparation. Therefore, preparation of the DOS partition will require invocation of DISK MANAGER with the "/2" switch if the DOS partition is smaller than 32,680 sectors (16.340 MB). When using Epson DOS version 3.2, you must use the "/2" switch on partitions smaller than 16 MB or greater than 26MB. This forces DISK MANAGER to utilize version 2 rules when preparing any partition, REGARDLESS of the actual release level of the operating system currently running. SEE the DISK MANAGER COMMAND-LINE SWITCHES section for more details. To take advantage of the version 3 16-bit F.A.T. technique, however, you may wish to prepare the other partitions without the switch. Therefore, there are 2 potential work-arounds for this situation: A) First run DISK MANAGER normally to prepare all partitions as you normally would under generic MS-DOS. Then, re-boot the system and again run DISK MANAGER with the "/m/2" switches and ONLY PREPARE THE DOS PARTITION ! The disk is then correctly prepared for Epson Equity III DOS, or COMPUTERLAND 3.10 DOS, as the case may be. PAGE 25 B) First run DISK MANAGER normally to prepare all partitions as you normally would under generic MS-DOS. Then, re-boot the system and use the DOS-III supplied format utility to prepare the DOS partition with a system as follows: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A>format c:/s -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It will then be necessary to again re-boot the system and copy the configuration and driver files from the DISK MANAGER diskette to the C> drive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- C>copy a:config.sys c: C>copy a:dmdrvr.bin c: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this point, a final reboot (from hard disk) will bring the operating system AND the DISK MANAGER driver into existence. Again, this is ONLY necessary if the DOS partition is smaller than 16.340 MB in size, AND Version 3 rules are desired on the DISK MANAGER WRITE-READ and READ-ONLY partitions. PAGE 26 SECTION IX: CONSIDERATIONS FOR WESTERN DIGITAL USERS ******** IF YOU HAVE MORE QUESTIONS, PLEASE CALL WESTERN DIGITAL! ******** This section describes behavior of several Western Digital AT-class controllers which use disks at 26 or 34 sectors-per-track, with optional translation (by their on-board microprocessor) into a 17 sector-per-track logical image. The general strategy behind "when to translate" or not is: 1) Translation allows compatability WITHOUT lost capacity on computers having BIOS entries with only 17 sectors per track. Non translated mode will cause DOS (boot) partitions to utilize only 17 of the available sectors on each track for the extent of the partition. This effect is minimized by having a SMALL DOS partition. 2) Translation on RLL cards implies use of 614 cylinder 4 head drive geometry only. Translation on WD1005 ESDI cards enforces a 8-physical head limit. 3) Generally speaking, low-level-format should only be performed in UNTRANSLATED mode. THE WESTERN DIGITAL 16 BIT RLL CONTROLLERS (RA2 & RAH) These controllers can optionally translate 26 sectors per track into 17. This translated mode only works on a drive that has 614 cylinders and 4 heads. The translated mode will portray the drive as having 614 cylinders and 6 heads. The RA2 F001 has this feature, the F000 doesn't. The non-translated mode of these controllers operates strictly at 26 sectors per track. Most 16-bit, 80286 class computers only have entries in the BIOS for 17 sectors per track drives. Therefore, the drive must be set up with a DOS partition running at 17 sectors per track. Disk Manager will automatically set up the DOS partition at 17 sectors per track when an RLL drive is being installed in a computer that has only 17 sector per track entries in the system BIOS. It is recommended in such cases that the DOS partition be kept small, since DOS will only be able to use 66% of the sectors on the DOS partition. All other write/read and read only partitions will use all 26 sectors on each track. WD 1003 RAH TRANSLATION JUMPERS: W4 1-2 Enables translation for drive 0. 2-3 Disables translation for drive 0. W6 1-2 Enables translation for drive 1. 2-3 Disables translation for drive 1. WD 1003-A RA2 W2 IS THE TRANSLATION JUMPER: (This is for the -A model only!) 1-2 Jumpered: Drive 0 translated. Open: Disables translation for drive 0. 3-4 Jumpered: Drive 1 translated. Open: Disables translation for drive 1. WD 1003 RA2 SPECIAL NOTE: Version F001 If you are getting an I/O ERROR on the first cylinder, head number 4 of the 2nd partition, check for a jumper wire in the upper left-hand corner going from the capacitor just under R29 to the large chip at location U2. If you have this jumper wire it will need to be cut, the controller will then be a F000. PAGE 27 THE WESTERN DIGITAL 16 bit ESDI CONTROLLERS (1005 WAH & 1007 WA2) WD1005 can optionally translate 34 sectors per track into 17. This is done by doubling the number of physical heads. This implies a limit of 8 physical heads. WD1007 translates 34 sectors into 63, and is only guaranteed to work on a 1224 cylinder 15 head disk drive. The non-translated mode of these controllers operates strictly at 34 sectors per track. Most 16-bit, 80286 class computers only have entries in the BIOS for 17 sectors per track drives. Therefore, the drive must be set up with a DOS partition running at 17 sectors per track. Disk Manager will automatically set up the DOS partition at 17 sectors per track when an ESDI drive is being installed in a computer that has only 17 sectors per track entries in the system BIOS. It is recommended in such cases that the DOS partition be kept small, since DOS will only be able to use 50% of the sectors on the DOS partition. All other write/read and read only partitions will use all 34 sectors on each track. WD 1005 WAH TRANSLATION JUMPER: W2 Jumpered: Translation disabled (# of heads = # of heads, SPT = 34) Open: Translation enabled (# of heads = 2 X # of heads, SPT = 17) WD 1007 WA2 TRANSLATION JUMPER: W14 Jumpered: Translation disabled (# of heads = # of heads, SPT = 34) Open: Translation enabled (# of heads = 2 X # of heads, SPT = 17) WESTERN DIGITAL WX1, WX2, WD-GEN, 27X These instructions are a general guide to using the controller's on board routine for initializing the drive. Your controller may give you slightly different responses but the procedure outline here should be close enough to guide you through your installation. Be certain to enter exactly what is contained in the double quotes but not the quotes themselves. 1. The first step will be to obtain the parameters for the hard drive to be installed. This can be done as follows: A) Run Disk Manager in the manual mode by typing "a:dm/m" making certain that you have the Disk Manager diskette in the A: drive. This will bring the Disk Manager Main Menu up on the screen. B) At the Main Menu, type "C" to get to the configuration menu. C) From the configuration menu, type "N" to display the list of non-standard drives supported by your version of Disk Manager. PAGE 28 D) Select the model code for the drive you are installing and Disk Manager will display the parameters for the drive. E) If you have a printer connected to your computer, press the shift key and the Prt Sc key. This will produce a printed copy of this screen on your printer. If you don't have a printer, you should copy the information in the left-hand column by hand. This information will be needed later by the debug routine on your controller. 2. Run the DEBUG program from your DOS diskette. Your prompt under DEBUG will be a hyphen (-). 3. At the hyphen type "g=c800:5". Remember, type ONLY the characters INSIDE the double quotes. 4. The controller then responds: "Superbios Formatter... etc. (C) Copyright Western Digital, Current drive is C:, Select new drive or RETURN to accept." A) If this is the first hard drive in your computer you should press the RETURN key to accept. B) If this is the second hard drive in your computer you should, as a safety precaution, have a FULL BACKUP of the data on your first hard drive BEFORE proceeding. If you have a full back up of the first drive you should enter "d:" and then press RETURN. NOTE: If you have TWO hard drives and the first one has been partitioned with Disk Manager, choosing d: at this prompt will not destroy any data on your logical drive d:. However, if you chose to virtually configure the first drive, you will have to start over with that drive. The reason for this is that the virtual configuration makes the controller see the drive as though it is two physical drives which is the maximum number of drives the controller can support. 5. The controller will then respond: "Current interleave is X, Select new interleave or RETURN to accept" The default interleave value (shown here as X) should work the best in most situations, so just press RETURN to accept the default value. 6. The controller will then ask: "Are you dynamically configuring this drive?" You should enter "y" at this prompt. 7. The controller will then display a list of parameters about the drive and request that you input them at this time. The information you got from step 1 above will be used here. The parameters in the left-hand column are the correct ones for the drive you are installing and should be input all on the same line with a space between each number. 8. The controller will then ask "Are you virtually configuring this drive?" to which you should respond "n". 9. The controller then responds "Press Y to begin formatting ...". You should enter "y" and then press RETURN. PAGE 29 10. When the controller has completed the initialization (low level format), it will ask "Do you wish to format bad tracks?". If your manufacturer has identified a list of bad tracks for the drive you are installing you should respond "y" and then input the heads and cylinders of the bad tracks. FAILURE TO ENTER THE BAD TRACK LIST AS SUPPLIED BY THE MANUFACTURER COULD RESULT IN SEVERE DATA CORRUPTION!! 11. The computer will now re-boot and you need to run Disk Manager in the manual mode (dm/m) to partition and prepare the disk. NOTE: The above procedure has accomplished three functions which will not need to be re-done under Disk Manager. They are as follows: A) INITIALIZATION. This is the physical format of the hard drive, DO NOT RE-INITIALIZE THE DRIVE under Disk Manager. B) DEFECT LIST MANAGEMENT. This identifies areas of the disk that your operating system will not use. These are flawed areas of the magnetic media which will not store your data properly. Entering the bad tracks will ensure the integrity of data on the drive. C) CONFIGURATION. This routine identifies the drive being installed as a standard drive so DO NOT select non-standard from the Disk Manager configuration menu. THE WESTERN DIGITAL 8 bit RLL CONTROLLER (27X) This controller also offers a translated mode that will portray a 26 sector per track drive as having only 17 sectors per track. The 27X accomplishes this by increasing the number of cylinders reported to the operating system by a factor of 1.5. This translation will work on a hard drive with a maximum of 682 cylinders because the maximum number of cylinders that are addressable to your system BIOS is to 1024. If your drive has 800 cylinders, there will be a loss of 175 logical cylinders since 1.5 times 800 equals 1200. To get the full storage capacity from a drive that has more than 682 cylinders, the non-translated mode must be used. The non-translated mode can be invoked as follows: A) If your 27X has a row of jumpers labeled S1, then there should be a jumper installed on the number 6 position, but no jumper on the number 5 5 position. Also, the jumper labeled W9 should not have a jumper installed. All other ju,pers should be left as they are. B) If your 27X doesn't have the row of jumpers labeled S1, then all jumpers should be removed. C) We strongly suggest using the non-translated mode! PAGE 30 SECTION X: MIXING DOS WITH OTHER (NON DOS) OPERATING SYSTEMS ON THE SAME HARD DISK DISK MANAGER does NOT extend NON-STANDARD drive support (drives not normally supported at full capacity by your computer system) to operating systems other than MS-DOS. DISK MANAGER does, however, provide features and functions which facilitate the creation of non MS-DOS regions on disks. You are free to use either the DISK MANAGER program or the "FDISK" program (or its equivalent) from the NON-MS-DOS system you are installing to allocate the space for the NON-MS-DOS partition. If you use DISK MANAGER, you MUST know what the "SYSTEM INDICATOR" or "SYSTEM TYPE" number is for the particular oper ating system that you are allocating space for. If you do not know what the number is, you must allocate the space for the NON-MS-DOS region using utili ties supplied with that operating system. ONLY the first 4 partitions are recognized by most operating systems. Creation of systems in which MS-DOS and another systems (XENIX, UNIX, NETWORK, PC/IX, etc.) coexist still must follow any and all rules imposed by the various operating systems involved. Some of the rules we have encountered are noted below: 1--SHARING MS-DOS AND NETWORK ON THE SAME PHYSICAL DISK Most MS-DOS implementations will REQUIRE that the MS-DOS partition be within the first 32 MB (entirely) on the disk. NETWORK partitions also generally require that they start on cylinder 0. This can cause a conflict when attempting to construct a disk which shares its space between DOS and NET WORK. One solution is to use the DOS-intelligible part of the disk ONLY when the system is booted from a DOS diskette (the machine is primarily used as NETWORK) which contains the DISK MANAGER device driver. The disk will then be constructed of a NETWORK partition starting at cylinder 0, and the UPPER area of the disk is a DISK MANAGER WRITE-READ or READ-ONLY partition, and will be accessed from the DOS environment using our device driver. 2--SHARING MS-DOS AND UNIX/XENIX ON THE SAME PHYSICAL DISK Some Unix/Xenix systems FORCE a low-level-format to be done as the first part of installation. This means that these systems will have to be built FIRST, then the MS-DOS system can be installed AFTER the UNIX/XENIX. Some Unix/Xenix systems require the use of a type "TABLE" partition (which provides the defect management mechanism), and further require it to be located on cylinder 0, head 0 of the disk. Unfortunately, DISK MANAGER also requires this area in order to maintain any NONSTANDARD drive parameters. If you have this conflict you will notice that DISK MANAGER will not allow you to "(W)rite Configuration Data" to the disk from the CONFIGURATION MENU. DISK MANAGER will indicate that a partition conflict precludes writing the configuration data. PAGE 31 Since the DISK MANAGER device driver requires knowledge of the drive's true parameters, it normally reads a designated sector on cylinder 0, head 0 to find that information, which was left by DISK MANAGER when it installed a NONSTANDARD disk. In order to correctly convey the NONSTANDARD disk(s) par ameters to the device driver, the following ALTERNATIVE mechanism is pro vided to assist in the conflict with the DISK MANAGER configuration record: CONFIG.SYS must be modified on the boot device. Normally, a statement exists in that file which references the DISK MANAGER device driver. That statement is modified as follows: normally ------- device = dmdrvr.bin alternative ---- device = dmdrvr.bin parm1.fil parm2.fil PARM1.FIL and PARM2.FIL are DRIVE PARAMETER FILES. These files contain all necessary data to describe the parameters of drive 1 and drive 2, respectively, and can be created with the "COPY CON PARM1.FIL" command. The text within the file contains a series of 11 numbers, separated by commas, which describe to DISK MANAGER's device driver all necessary operating parameters of the drives. Specifically, the values required are as follows: NUMBER OF CYLINDERS, NUMBER OF HEADS, RWC CYLINDER, WPE CYLINDER, ECC SPAN, CONTROL BYTE STANDARD TIMEOUT, FORMAT DRIVE TIMEOUT, CHECK DRIVE TIMEOUT, LANDING ZONE, SEC TORS PER TRACK These 2 files must, of course, exist on the boot device. Also, note that if you have only a 1 drive system, the "device =" statement in CONFIG.SYS still must contain 2 filenames. They may, however, both be the same filename. example-------- device = dmdrvr.bin parm1.fil parm1.fil PAGE 32