Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!dalcs!lane
From: lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: hard disk and DOS 3.0/3.2 problems
Message-ID: <2787@dalcs.UUCP>
Date: 20 Feb 88 13:01:42 GMT
References: <1661@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1930001@hpbbrd.HP.COM>
Reply-To: lane@dalcs.UUCP (John Wright/Dr. Pat Lane)
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Lines: 42

In article <1930001@hpbbrd.HP.COM> gary@hpbbrd.HP.COM (Gary Tuosto) writes:
>When I updated the system on my HP-Vectra (AT compatible)
>from 3.1 to 3.2 all I had to do was boot 3.2 from diskette
>and then transfer the system files with
>	  A> SYS C:
>After that all I had to do is transfer the new MSDOS files
>
>			      Gary

I didn't catch the original posting with discription of the problem but it
might be one I've had when changing DOS versions from an MS-DOS to a PC-DOS
or vice versa.  Specifically, a PC-DOS SYS looks at the target disk and removes
any existing IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM and writes the new ones from the source 
disk.  An MS-DOS SYS will, of course be looking for IO.SYS and MSDOS.SYS.
Some versions will not recognise the other, will not delete the existing system
files and will report "No room on target disk".  Solution:  unhide the system
files and get rid of them.  I know Compaq PC-DOS 3.20 does not have this
problem but Microsoft's MS-DOS 3.20 does.

Other possible problems here:  If the version of SYS does not re-write the
boot sector (are there versions which do not?), then the disk will not boot
as it's bootstrap program will be looking for the wrong files.  Also, there
must be enough continuous free space after the root directory for one or
both system files as DOS may not allow them to be fragmented (this differed
with DOS version...I forget exactly how).

This reminds me of another stupid incompatibility in the BACKUP/RESTORE pgms.
MS-DOS BACKUP writes the files pathname in the back-up file with "/" while
PC-DOS's BACKUP uses "\".  MS-DOS's RESTORE reads either way.  PC-DOS's
only recognises files with "\"s.  Silly, eh?  (I might have a few things
reversed there as I'm going on memory, but it's something like that).

Hope that wasn't all redundant.

Cheers,
John Wright

-- 
John Wright      //////////////////      Phone:  902-424-3805  or  902-424-6527
Post: c/o Dr Pat Lane, Biology Dept, Dalhousie U, Halifax N.S., CANADA  B3H-4H8 
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