Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!bc
From: bc@Apple.COM (bill coderre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: 7.0 VM On a SyQuest: How??
Keywords: Help
Message-ID: <53049@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 May 91 16:13:15 GMT
References: <5786@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> <1991May17.194226.27421@ccu.umanitoba.ca> <43435@netnews.upenn.edu>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 31

rubinoff@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Robert Rubinoff) writes:
|In article <1991May17.194226.27421@ccu.umanitoba.ca> burchil@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Charles Andrew Burchill) writes:
|>You can not put VM on any removable media.  The reasion is simple -
|>What would happen if you ejected the cartride?, its kind of like
|>pulling SIMMS out of a running machine.

|No, this is kind of like saying that you can't boot a machine with SIMMs in it,
|because somebody might pull one of the SIMMs out while it was running.
|
|Obviously, if you eject a cartridge that has paging files on it, the system is
|going to crash.  But that's no reason not to allow VM on removable media!  The
|system should just give a warning when the paging files are set up.
|
|Ideally, an attempt to eject the cartridge should be blocked with an alert.
|But this would require (I presume) modifying the driver.  In the meantime, I
|don't see what the problem is.  This seems like unnecessarily protecting people
|from themselves.

Let's get something clear: because of the way Multifinder works, if
any paging files are ejected, the Mac would crash within 1 second.
And, there's only one disk driver interface for floppies, hard drives,
and removable hard drives. Also recall that you set up paging BEFORE
you use it, then reboot to start using it. 

It therefore would be incredibly hard to allow paging files to go onto
removable drives without causing really serious crashes. 

But why don't you request it as an enhancement for the next version?
I'm sure that if enough people do, Apple might do it.

bill coderre
hoping to set the facts straight.