Whats the best DOS upgrade path?
Bill Pechter
pechter at dasys1.UUCP
Sun Sep 4 23:08:24 AEST 1988
In article <39457 at linus.UUCP> mhg at mitre-bedford.ARPA (Granoff) writes:
>After a total mishap and 98% recovery, I am now ready to try and
>upgrade the DOS on my PC.
>
>As I understand it, I cannot use SYS to upgrade DOS from 2.x to 3.x
>because 3.x is bigger. I must reformat. (Once I get to, say 3.1, I
>could then use SYS to go to 3.2 without formatting, right?)
>
You don't have to reformat if you can clear enough free space in
the area where the dos files go to put the new ones there. There are
a number of public domain programs that do that. AT&T's DOS has a
new install program that replaces the older files with the new ones
but I don't know about it working with DOS v2.11.
Reformatting and re FDISKing the disk will allow you to use the smaller
cluster size that'll give you a bit more free space on your 20 meg
though.
>I have read quite a bit lately (here, in fact) that BACKUP/RESTORE
>between DOS versions doesn't work. Whether that's true or not (is
>it?), I am not planning on using DOS BACKUP and RESTORE. I got a copy
>of FastBack+, which I am told by others, works just fine on AT&Ts.
>Any comments? Will I be able to read FastBack+-written disks (under
>DOS 2.11) under DOS 3.x?
Fastback Plus works under all Dos versions and it it reliable. You'll have
no problems.
>Since I will have to reformat, what is the exact procedure? I think I
>know, but I would like to check it out before I start:
>
> 1. DOS BACKUP my FastBack+ directory, to RESTORE later onto 3.x
> disk, rather than reinstall it from scratch
I recommend just reinstalling the fastback plus directory or do what I did.
I made a bootable version 3.x disk with fastback plus, fdisk and format on it
and used that to format /S C: and to begin the restoration.
> 2. Low level format with interleave factor 3.
Your best interleave may be 4 or 6 instead of 3. I recommend getting
a copy of Spintest to see what works best. My fastest interleave was 6 using
the WD1002-wx1 Superbios Rom, 4 with the AT&T internal disk rom and now
is 3 after using qfresh to tighten up my refresh time to memory.
> 3. FDISK to create partition.
> 5. DOS 3.x RESTORE of FastBack+ directory.
> 6. FastBack+ restore (all but DOS 2.11 stuff)
>Right?? Will I be able to run DOS 3.x RESTORE on DOS 2.11 BACKUP
>disks????
probably not. But if you do what I put in #1 it shouldn't be necessary.
>Next, I can go to either AT&T MS-DOS 3.1 or AT&T MS-DOS 3.2. Which should I
use.
I've used AT&T's 2.11, 3.1 and 3.2. There's an annoying bug in 3.2 that causes
the clock to lose time. AT&T's just released DOS3.3. It's a little more money
but it's probably worth being at the latest rev.
I've never had problems reading different rev floppies with the AT&T dos
versions.
The 3.2 Dos clock fix is to get Biopatch 12 from some BBS. (I recommend the
Right Choice BBS (201) 974-8317. Or the AT&T run support bbs systems --
(201) 769-5616,or 6397.
>What am I forgetting? Tell me.
You've got the right idea. DOS3.x is much better than 2.11. I re-low-leveled
the disk and got 4mb more free space due to the smaller cluster size.
--
Bill Pechter {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!pechter
USnail 103 Governors Road, Lakewood, NJ 08701
AT&T 201-370-0709 Evenings
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