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1994-01-31
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SRDISK (TM)
ReSizeable RAMDisk version 2.05
for XMS and EMS memory
Copyright (c) 1991-1994 Marko Kohtala
All rights reserved
CONTENTS
1. Disclaimer of warranty
2. License
3. Features included
4. Files in this release
5. Usage
5.1. Basic installation
5.2. SRDISK device driver
5.2.1. XMS memory device driver
5.2.2. EMS memory device driver
5.2.3. EMS 3.2 memory device driver
5.3. SRDUMMY device driver
5.4. SRDISK program
5.4.1 SRDISK sample commands
5.4.2 SRDISK command line options
6. Troubleshooting
7. Trademarks
8. Last words
1. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS
TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE USED, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED.
GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY
TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST
ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE
SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF
PURCHASE PRICE.
2. LICENSE
This software is NOT public domain. It is copyrighted software
distributed as shareware.
This software is NOT free. A license fee must be paid if used longer
than for one month evaluation period. See PAYMENT.DOC for details of the
payment.
If you received this software on a CD-ROM or from a disk vendor, you
have only paid for the disk. You do NOT have a license to use this
software.
Everybody has the right to copy and distribute this software as long as
it is unmodified and all the original files listed in chapter 4 of this
document are included. A fee of at most $7 may be charged for the total
expences of copying. If a copying fee is taken, the receiver of this
software must be made aware that he has only the evaluation and copying
license stated above.
Remember that you may COPY THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS! This is the idea behind
shareware. Show this to your boss also (not meaning: if you do not count
him/her to your friends <g>). SRDISK can prove worth a few megabytes of
memory to you.
3. FEATURES INCLUDED
This RAM disk currently supports the following features:
* Compatible with MS-DOS versions from 3 to 6 and DR-DOS 5 to 6.
* XMS - Extended memory on 286 and up with HIMEM or other XMS 2.0
driver.
* EMS - Expanded memory of LIM/EMS version 3.2 and 4.0.
* Device drivers may be chained to form larger disks using many
different kind memories.
* Resizeable - can preserve disk contents if new format has room
enough.
* Removable. Can be disabled without reboot.
* Supports 32-bit sector addressing introduced in DOS 4. Thus over 32M
RAM disks are possible if you have the memory.
* Configurable
- sector size
- cluster size
- root directory entry count
- number of FATs
* Predefined DOS and FDFORMAT floppy disk look-alike formats.
* DISKCOPY compatible with DOS versions from 3.20 up. You can copy
to/from SRDISK drive using DOS DISKCOPY.
* Write protection.
* Can optionally set environment variables SRDISKn (n=1,2,...) to
the installed SRDISK drive letters.
* Comes with a dummy drive you can use to locate SRDISK (or any other
installable) drive at a higher letter.
I have a list of new features to implement in the future. By sending
money and feature suggestions you can help me make this program still
better.
Users may find that the ability to resize is invaluable. Since some
programs can take best use of memory by directly using it while others
need a fast disk for temporary files, you can now have optimal
performance with both kinds of programs without the trouble of changing
configuration and rebooting.
The feature of being able to resize automagically when there is need for
it is currently not in my reach. FAT filesystem in DOS just was not
designed for it. There is some more explanation about it later in this
document.
4. FILES IN THIS RELEASE
The following files are distributed in this release:
READ.ME some notes
FILE_ID.DIZ short description of packet for BBS operators
WHATSNEW.DOC what is new in this release and history
SRDISK.DOC this document
SRDXMS.SYS device driver for XMS memory
SRDXMSS.SYS device driver for XMS memory (small version)
SRDEMS.SYS device driver for EMS 4.0 memory
SRDEMSS.SYS device driver for EMS 4.0 memory (small version)
SRDEMS3.SYS device driver for EMS 3.2 memory
SRDUMMY.SYS device driver for nothing but use drive letters
SRDISK.EXE formatter program
SUOMI.DOC Finnish version of this document
DEUTSCH.DOC German note to German users
PAYMENT.DOC registering information
The small versions of device drivers do not support DOS DISKCOPY
compatibility and may require user to make sure there is enough stack
available by specifying STACKS=8,512 (or similar) in CONFIG.SYS. Also,
you can not chain another device driver after a small version device
driver.
5. USAGE
The SRDISK is basicly split into two parts:
1) a device driver to add the virtual drive into DOS and
2) a program to control the device driver
The following explains the installation and how to use both of these
parts.
5.1. BASIC INSTALLATION
The basic installation for XMS memory can be done following these steps:
1. Copy SRDXMS.SYS into you root directory.
2. Copy SRDISK.EXE into some directory in your PATH.
3. Make sure you have HIMEM.SYS or some other XMS driver installed
in CONFIG.SYS before the following step.
4. Add into your CONFIG.SYS line
DEVICE=SRDXMS.SYS
5. Add into your AUTOEXEC.BAT after the PATH command line
SRDISK <size>
The <size> defines the disk size in Kbytes.
If you have EMS memory, then use file SRDEMS.SYS in place of SRDXMS.SYS
and make sure EMS 4.0 device driver is installed in CONFIG.SYS before
the SRDEMS.SYS.
The device driver adds into DOS a new disk drive. Before you run
SRDISK.EXE or when you set the disk size to zero, the new disk drive
behaves as if you have a floppy drive without a floppy inserted.
5.2. SRDISK DEVICE DRIVER
For a RAM disk you need a device driver. This device driver supplies a
storage for an array of sectors which DOS uses to store all the data.
SRDISK comes with separate drivers for storing the sectors in XMS
(extended memory managed by HIMEM.SYS or other XMS driver) and in EMS
memory.
Most often you do not need any parameters for the device drivers, but
the driver accepts two parameters:
DEVICE=SRDmmm.SYS [d:] [/A]
The [] around the parameter mean it is optional; you must not type the
brackets.
d: The 'd:' can be used to tell the driver at what letter it is
assigned in case DOS does not let it know it.
Another use for 'd:' is to define into what SRDISK drive the
current driver is to be appended.
If you need to have SRDISK at some specific drive letter, you
can use SRDUMMY.SYS. Note though, that drive letters are always
used in order from A to Z and you can only use up a few drives
before the letter you want to use.
/A This tells the driver to append itself to the previously
installed SRDISK device driver. The memory accessed using this
driver is then available as extra memory to the previously
installed SRDISK drive.
If you want