Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!alberta!ccu!bright
From: bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Bob Bright)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Wordperfect newer release
Message-ID: <1990Feb14.193632.23724@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Date: 14 Feb 90 19:36:32 GMT
References: <90021206214250@masnet.uucp>
Reply-To: bright@ccu.UManitoba.CA (Bob Bright)
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Lines: 58

In article <90021206214250@masnet.uucp> derek.linfield@canremote.uucp (DEREK LINFIELD) writes:
>BTW, have you checked for crosslinked files while using Wordperfect. We
>used Wordperfect on IBM where I use to work and we always had problems
>with cross linked files. Now these problems are appearing on my HD. I've 
>had duplicte directories appear within the directory that I keep my  Text 
>files; I've also had directories corrupted so that I could return to the 
>parent directory from the desktop but not within a disk utility program
>like DLII. 

     Word Perfect maintains it's own virtual directory information in
temporary files (at least, the ST version does).  Why it does this I'm
not sure (ask the programmers :-), but if at some point it can't find
its temporary files, it gets real upset and starts cross-linking
_your_ files, messing up directories, etc.  This is a common problem
on floppy-only systems, particularly systems where memory is at a
premium and the user is tempted to set WP's virtual directory to the
floppy.
     If no virtual directory is specified by the user in WP_START.PRG,
then WP automatically sets up a ramdisk of 30K or so and saves its
temporary files there.  If you're short on memory, you can save the
30K by setting the virtual directory to A:, say, in WP_START.PRG.
(Setting the virtual directory to A: also allows you to edit large
files that won't fit into memory all at once; 30K isn't enough room
for WP to spool the virtual file into, but there's usually plenty of
room on the floppy.)
     God help you, though, if you have the virtual directory set to A:
and you swap out the disk that has WP's temporary files on it.  You're
virtually guaranteed to have problems with cross-linked files, etc.,
and the problems are virtually guaranteed not to show up until later.
I.e., the files you're editing will appear to save OK, you can
continue to edit them, save them again, exit WP, whatever; but the
next time you load them into WP, they're trashed, along with probably
80% of whatever else you had on the disk.  (Believe me, I learned all
of this the hard way.)
     I keep WP's virtual directory set to D: (a 200K ramdisk) on my
1040ST, and have _never_ had a problem with cross-linked files or
anything similar.  If you have a hard drive, set the virtual directory
to one of its partitions and you shouldn't have any problems either.
     If you absolutely MUST set the virtual directory to a floppy (I
sometimes do this on my wife's 520ST floppy-only system at home, when
I need to edit large files), proceed with extreme caution.  DO NOT
under any circumstances simply swap out the floppy and put in another
one in order to save a backup copy of the file or anything like that.
If you only have a single drive and you desperately need to access a
different floppy, make sure that you refer to the other floppy as B:
(assuming that the virtual directory is set to A:) -- e.g.: Shift-F10
will give the the "Retrieve File" dialogue; input "B:\yourfile.ext"
and the system will prompt you to insert the other disk.  Just to be
on the safe side, hit F5 ("List Files") as soon as you're done
retrieving the file from the B: disk, and the system will prompt you
to re-insert the A: disk so that WP gets its temporary files back.
     Hope this helps, BBB

-- 
Bob Bright <bright@ccu.umanitoba.ca>
Dept. of Philosophy
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Man  R3T 2N2  (204) 474-9680