Downloaded from USENET: IS WINDOWS 3.0 A THREAT TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM? The new Windows 3.0 environment, with its greatly improved interface, memory management and developer and user capabilities, gained near-uni- versal acclaim when it was released by Microsoft on May 22. But now, thousands of users around the country are asking the ques- tion: What is the REAL price of using Windows 3.0? In addition to the more mundane problems affecting any major new software release, many users are reporting serious difficulties with Windows 3.0. And some have had disk failures and file losses because of severe incompatibili- ties between Windows and certain large hard disk drives and disk format- ting programs. As users buy new, more powerful systems and upgrade existing ones to tap the power of Windows 3.0, a wave of disk problems and data loss is starting to sweep the MS-DOS world. In July 1989, Microsoft released a limited-circulation memo which stated, in part: Many non-standard (i.e. non-FDISK) disk partitioning schemes will cause problems when used with Windows and/or the SMARTDRV.SYS disk caching utility. This information applies to Windows/286, Windows/386, and Excel. Specific partitioning methods that will ALWAYS cause problems include the following: - Disk Manager by Ontrack & Seagate (DMDRVR.BIN) - Priam disk partitioning (supplied with Priam hard disks) - Golden Bow V-Feature Deluxe - Partitioning used by CORE hard disks (cannot be changed; contact Core) - Any system with a XENIX or UNIX partition on the hard disk Windows will NOT work properly on ANY system using one of the above methods for disk partitioning. Other brands of utilities may or may not cause problems . . . Because of the large number of partitioning-utility versions and methods of partitioning the hard drive with them, it is impossible to say whether a given utility will definitely cause a problem in a particular configu- ration. The underlying reason for these problems is that some routines in Windows, for performance reasons, bypass DOS disk services (and associ- ated disk utilities like Disk Manager and SWBIOS which change the way disk writes occur in normal operation) and write directly to disk through BIOS. Symptoms of the resulting discrepancy range from mild to severe, with file systems damaged and data lost. Yet, in its general publicity and documentation for Windows, Microsoft has utterly failed to warn hundreds of thousands of affected users that their programs and data are vulnerable to these problems. Nowhere in the Windows 3.0 manual or in associated literature (such as the Hardware Compatibility List) are these limitations mentioned. For example, the Windows 3.0 manual (pp. 513-514) strongly encourages opti- mizing hard disk interleave, which "can drastically improve your sys- tem's speed." But there is no warning about the dangers of using Disk Manager or other such programs which provide low-level formatting and interleave selection! The purpose of this message, therefore, is to alert current and potential Windows users to these problems, and to provide impetus for Microsoft to address this situation in a timely and effective manner. A. INCOMPATIBILITY WITH DISK MANAGER AND OTHER DISK FORMATTERS PROBLEM: The first type of difficulty occurs with 80386-based systems using: (1) a "permanent swap file" under Windows 3.0 in 386 enhanced mode; and (2) using a non-Microsoft disk formatter such as Disk Manager, SpeedStor or Vfeature. Many users have noted the inability to load and run certain programs, and non-destructive system lockups. With the exception of very large hard disks, as noted below, no problems occur as long as Windows is not running in 386 enhanced mode, or a permanent swap file is not in use. WORKAROUND: Microsoft has published a workaround on CompuServe to address this problem. Briefly, two things must be done to avoid prob- lems while using third-party disk formatters: (1) switch the permanent swap file to a temporary swap file (see the Windows 3.0 manual, pp. 525- 529); and (2) add the line: virtualhdirq=off to the SYSTEM.INI file in the [386ENH] section. Note: The temporary swap file is much slower than the permanent one, because the latter creates a block of contiguous disk space which is written to directly by Windows. B. DESTRUCTION OF HARD DISK SYSTEMS WITH MORE THAN 1,024 CYLINDERS PROBLEM: Windows (all versions), like DOS, only recognizes the first 1,024 cylinders of a hard disk. But unlike most software, it can write directly to disk through BIOS. This is a major risk for larger hard drives, which may be using SWBIOS or similar software-based extenders to address cylinders beyond the 1,024th. A mismatch between the DOS-level situation provided by SWBIOS and the BIOS-level situation encountered in a direct disk write can be fatal. One Windows 3.0 beta tester in Port- land, Oregon recently had a Conner 150 MB drive trashed by Windows 3.0. Many other incidents of similar disasters with large hard disks have been reported. WORKAROUND: At present, there is no reliable workaround. Some RLL and ESDI drive controllers support "sector translation" at the hardware level, making the drives they support appear to have no more than 1,024 cylinders. Use of or conversion to these controllers may avoid the problem. However, not all large MFM drives are RLL-com- pliant. In any event, reformatting hard disks is costly, tedious and error-prone. ************************************************************************ If you are unsure about the safety of your system: STOP USING WINDOWS IMMEDIATELY IF YOU HAVE A DRIVE WITH MORE THAN 1,024 CYLINDERS!! ************************************************************************ The following is a partial list of commonly available drives with more than 1,024 cylinders (number of cylinders in parentheses): Conner Hopi CP-30104 (1,522), CP-3204F (1,366), Stubby CP-4044 (1,104) Control Data 94186-383 (1,412), 94186-383H (1,224), 94186-442H (1,412) Fujitsu M2247E (1,243), M2248E (1,243), M2249E (1,243) Imprimis 94186-383 (1,412), 94186-383H (1,224), 94186-442H (1,412), 94196-766 (1,632), 94246-383 (1,747) Maxtor XT2085 (1,224), XT2190 (1,224), XT4380 (1,224), XT8760 (1,632) Micropolis 1551 (1,224), 1554 (1,224), 1555 (1,224), 1556 (1,224), 1557 (1,224), 1558 (1,224), 1653 (1,249), 1654 (1,249), 1663 (1,780), 1664 (1,780), Microscience HH-1090 (1,314), HH-1120 (1,314), HH-2160 (1,276) Miniscribe 3085 (1,170), 3130 (1,250), 3180 (1,250), 9230E (1,224), 9380E (1,224), 9780E (1,661), 9000E (1,224) NEC D5655 (1,224), D5662 (1,224), D5682 (1,633) Priam 630 (1,224), V185 (1,166) Rodime RO5040 (1,224), RO5065 (1,224), RO5090 (1,224) Seagate Swift 94354-230 (1,272), Wren 94244-383 (1,747), Wren 94246-180 (1,453), Wren 94186 (1,412), Wren 94186H (1,224), Wren 94286-380 (1,747), FURTHER INFORMATION The two main sources of information for this message have been the Microsoft Windows forum on CompuServe and the Ontrack Systems BBS (612/937-0860). Ontrack is now intensively testing Disk Manager and Windows 3.0 and promises daily bulletins on their findings.