Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!rutgers!mcnc!rti!bcw
From: bcw@rti.UUCP (Bruce Wright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: DOS File limits
Message-ID: <1947@rti.UUCP>
Date: 31 Dec 87 07:53:33 GMT
References: <862@suvax1.UUCP>
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC
Lines: 36
Summary: How to bypass DOS file limits

In article <862@suvax1.UUCP>, hirayama@suvax1.UUCP (Pat Hirayama) writes:
> Hello out there in Net-land.  I was wondering if anyone knows of a way around
> PC/MS-DOS maximum number of files=112.  Is there a way around this, or do I
> have to use two floppys?
> 
As someone else posted, the easiest (read: least cost, in $ and time) method
is probably to use subdirectories.  But subdirectories are slower to search
than a root directory (especially if they are in fragmented clusters), and tend 
to take more space (since you still have the root directory floating around 
with all of its space preallocated, and since the use of the FAT to map the 
subdirectory is not entirely free).

But there are alternatives if you are determined, for one reason or another.
There are a number of utilities out there for modifying the FAT sizes of 
disks and so forth.  Some are commercial, others are public domain.  Even
the commercial packages aren't very expensive, maybe $30-70.  

One commercial package we have used with reasonable success is MCFORMAT -
this allows the use of 1K or 2K clusters on a 10-MB disk drive, or 1K clusters
on a 20MB disk drive (an easy way to get a couple of extra megs out of a
nearly full drive).  It also allows you to modify the number of entries in
the root directory.  There is a table in the disk boot record which gives
information like this which the OS should interpret, the problem is that
MessyDos just ignores it and uses the values it "knows" must be correct.

The biggest problem with using something like this is that you need to install
a device driver ... and the non-standard format means that only systems with
a compatible device driver can recognize the floppies (or the hard disk either
for that matter, if you re-formatted that).  Still, if you can control your 
environment sufficiently that this is not a problem, then a package like this 
is worthwhile.  It is still quite possible to generate a floppy which is 
compatible with standard MessyDos - it's just an administrative hassle to 
keep track of several different kinds of floppies.

Good luck.

					Bruce C. Wright