Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!sjsca4!poffen
From: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01?
Message-ID: <1990Nov15.203722.3888@sj.ate.slb.com>
Date: 15 Nov 90 20:37:22 GMT
References: <71077@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <4260@ruuinf.cs.ruu.nl> <13227@encore.Encore.COM> <1990Nov13.012007.1283@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> <4876@bwdls58.UUCP>
Reply-To: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger)
Organization: Schlumberger Technologies, San Jose, CA.
Lines: 38

In article <4876@bwdls58.UUCP> mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) writes:
>In article <1990Nov13.012007.1283@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> baalke@mars.UUCP (Ron Baalke) writes:
>>Most people don't realize this, but the 32MB limitation in DOS 3.3 only applies
>>to the partition that you boot off of.  In other words you can have 
>>partitions greater than 32MB, as long the partition is not the boot partition.
>>I have DOS 3.3 using a 212MB hard disk with two partition.  My C: drive is
>>32MB, thats the one I boot off of, and my D: drive is 180MB.  
>
>Err.. before making a wild claim like this, even if it is true, 
>you probably ought to specify EXACTLY what DOS 3.3 you are running..
>Ie.  is it plain vanila MS-DOS 3.30 directly from Microsoft? (Obviously not).
>or is it Compaq DOS 3.31 ?
>or is it Zenith MS-DOS 3.30 ?
>
>Etc..
>
>The plain vanilla MS-DOS 3.30 from Microsoft can indeed create extra partitions
>and logical drives within those partitions, but it does not permit creation
>of a logical drive larger than 32MB in ANY partition.. unless of course, one
>augments this with DMDRVR.BIN or some other third party driver.
>
>But then, most of us already know this..

You need to get term straight. In MS-DOS 3.30, there are two terms to think
about. The first is a partition. Yes, MS-DOS CAN make multiple partitions, a
boot partition of 32M, and another (extended) partition that is the rest of
the disk, regardless of size. (Up to a limit, 512KB for a single disk rings a
bell, but not sure). After that, you create logical drives within the extended
partition, no one logical drive can be greater than 32M.

So the bottom line is that as far as useability is concerned, with plain MS-DOS
3.30, the largest drive (real or logical) is 32M.


Russ Poffenberger               DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies       UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
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