OS/2 Shareware BBS: 14 Text/14-Text.zip/hpfs2f.txt

Text File | 1994-11-05 | 12KB | 246 lines

HPFS to FAT

Keywords:  FastBack; FORMAT; Stacker; HPFS; FAT.

By:  Keith McLeod.  CompuServe:  73624,3057.
                    INet:  [e-mail]



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!