CompuServe Thread

Re the question of WUTIL/MS-DOS compatibility: I have just used WUTIL to format a Seagate ST251-1 (40 MB capacity, 28 ms access) in my R'bow with two DOS partitions of 8 and 32 MB. The latter is the biggest partition possible, and you obviously could specify several smaller ones though the reason for doing so escapes me. I have little use for CP/M so keep it and what little associated code I need on a floppy. The latest & greatest WUTIL is v3.12 and will _not_ run under DOS v3.10b. But if you have that you presumably have DOS v3.10 which does allow WUTIL to run. The procedure is simplest if you have the two versions of DOS and WUTIL each on a separate floppy, and use the R'bow Set-Up to disable auto-boot until done. 1) Boot from the MS-DOS v3.10 floppy, run WUTIL to Format and Initialize (these are WUTIL menu selections) the hard disk with the "Double Verify" option -slow but reliable . Use WUTIL to specify partition size and type (E must be a DOS partition), to copy the boot loader to the hard disk, and to specify E as the boot drive. If you have it, run the utility HDSCAN to check for bad sectors (run WUTIL again to Format and Initialize if HDSCAN and WUTIL don't agree on bad sectors). 2) Boot from the MS-DOS v3.10b floppy, and use the DOS FORMAT command as "FORMAT E: /S" to install the operating system on drive E. Other DOS partitions need _not_ be formatted with the DOS FORMAT command if they will not be used as boot drives. Use the R'bow Set-Up to specify "W" as the auto-boot drive, and you're done. Ok, I'm being sort of dogmatic here, and what I've said applies of course only to a 100B or 100+ (though I could dig out the stuff that fakes auto-boot on a 100A if anyone's interested). You can vary the above recipe to suit your own taste, but I made E the smaller (8 MB) drive holding all the DOS stuff plus utilities, communications, and editors. Compilers, applications, and data then get the bigger drive all to themselves…Steve