Re: GS/OS dislikes my 2nd HD partition.

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <32av0v$2ek2@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>,
Steven Nelson <snelson@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu> wrote:
> 
> I'll reply to my own post :-)

[I just wish you'd done it as part of the same thread, so I didn't
have to make an unnecessary posting.]

> Whew!  Everythings back to normal again.  Since my boot floppy didn't
> have HFS drivers and both ProDOS partitions were fine, and my HD boot
> drive did have HFS drivers and the 2nd ProDOS partition was unavailable,
> I looked for the problem on the HFS partition.  I trashed the Desktop
> and Finder.data files on the HFS partition and rebooted.  Voila!
> Everythings cool again.  I don't know what went wrong, probably never
> will know,  but I suspect the HFS Desktop file was corrupted and the
> Finder responded by locking the 2nd ProDOS partition out !?!?!?!

I do _not_ like this suggestion, but it sounds like the best answer.
A key test would be to find out if the problem with the second
partition also occurred in other GS/OS programs, or just in Finder.

> Idiot question.  Does a 'Desktop' file only exist on a HFS volume?

A "Desktop" file will exist in the Icons directory of every volume
from which you've launched an application containing a "bundle"
resource.  (The boot volume's Desktop file is used for applications on
write protected disks and cases where the disk is full.)

The bundle resource is used by new applications to associate file
types with icons and to indicate which types of files the application
can open at launch time.  It is effectively a replacement for Icon files.

Any volume which a Macintosh has written to may contain the Mac's desktop
files, which have different names/locations and somewhat different
functions.

> I don't seen any on my ProDOS partitions.  What is the purpose of a 
> desktop file?  Of a Finder.data file?

Finder.Data files are used to hold information about window position,
"view" type, and icon positions.  One will appear in each directory
for which this information has been saved.

Finder.Root has information about icons on the desktop and windows
which were open.

If you have the "Save Finder information onto disk" preference enabled, a
Finder.Data file will be written every time you close a folder's
window or exit from Finder, and Finder.Root will be written when you
exit from Finder.  (Exit may be via "Quit", "Restart", "Shutdown" or
launching an application.)

You can hold down the CONTROL key when closing a window or launching
an application to reverse the meaning of this preference.


Finder.Root, Finder.Data and Desktop are marked "invisible" and should
be hidden in Finder unless you un-check the "Hide invisible files"
preference.

I can't think why you would only see these files on an HFS volume (HFS
and ProDOS both support invisible files).

On the other hand, AppleShare doesn't support Invisible files, so
these files will always be visible in a file server folder window.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand