🚀 go-pugleaf

//]Does anyone know how to make Smartdrive work on a hard disk setup by
//]Disk Manager? A Microsoft article I read suggested that it doesn't, and
//]I have noticed that it's operation is intermittent.

I  too  have  had  problems  running  SMARTDRV.SYS  with  my disk
managing  software   (Vfeature  by   Golden  Bow   Systems)  when
partitioning over 32mb.

I spent months pulling hair on this one; I got 2 replies...

Microsoft:

    "...(SMARTDRV.SYS) caches only nonremovable hard  drives
    that  operate  on  the  IBM  ROM INT 13H interface using
    drive numbers starting at 80H...

    ...all logical partitioning schemes  that operate  above
    the INT 13H interface will not work..."

Golden Bow System:

    "...SMARTDRV.SYS  _assumes_   a  sector   size  of   512
    bytes..."  I note: Partitions >32mb require an increased
    sector size  to comply  with the  current FAT  structure
    (DOS 3.x).

SMARTDRV.SYS's usage  of extended  memory (I  use Windows/386) is
variable:  Windows/386  can  dynamically  'borrow'  some extended
memory  from  SMARTDRV.SYS;  so  that  makes  SMARTDRV.SYS a very
attractive option, eventhough performance tests show it's  second
class to many other superior cache programs.

But with SMARTDRV's bad temper,  I turned to PC-Cache: say  hello
to another set of problems!  My Priam V185 has 1166 cylinders and
7 heads; in my Phoenix  BIOS device table, the maximum  number of
cylinders of any type with 7 heads is 1024, so that's the type  I
select in my setup.   Vfeature's documentation indicates that  it
doesn't really care what the setup says anyway.

Now, maybe  this is  just a  coincidence, but  using PC-Cache  on
anything  that  lands  on  a  cylinder  number  > 1024 freezes my
system.  So maybe Vfeature  doesn't care about the  device table,
but here's PC-Cache 'apparently' having a peak at my device table
and having a stroke.  I can't explain the freeze any other way.
_________________________

I don't fully understand the internals of what is going on  here,
but I hope this helps a bit.

Oh, and by the way, Microsoft suggests that SMARTDRV.SYS 'should'
work with partitions  >32mb under DOS  4.01; I haven't  dared try
this yet...
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 ~ EZ-Reader 1.21 ~ Windows/386...faut l'faire!

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