Re: PCT Question...

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

In article <2mk0su$ec3@nuscc.nus.sg>,
Lim Thye Chean <ltchean@iss.nus.sg> wrote:
> Help!
> 
> I have a PC Transporter and it is work fine. But I make a very big mistake
> when I install it. I preallocate 10MB of disk space, thinking that with
> the size of PC software, sooner or later I will be able to fill it.
>
[snip]
> 
> Is there way I can reduce the amount of harddisk space? Like, can I change
> the preallocation to non-preallocation?

Definitely not.  In fact, I strongly recommend that you ALWAYS use
pre-allocation when creating PCT hard drives.

Another point: never use a GS/OS-based program to copy them, because
it will skip over all the zero-filled blocks, turning the hard drive
back into a non-preallocated one.

I've had nasty errors on my PCT when using non-preallocated hard
drives.

> Or can I create another PC harddisk file (non-preallocated or with a
> small size like 3MB), copy everything to it and remove my current
> harddisk file? 

You can do this if you have PCT software version 2.0 or later, which
lets you access two hard drives at once.  Earlier versions can only
access one hard drive at a time, so you'd have to copy all the files
to a floppy, create and select the new hard drive, then copy all the
files back again.

Create a small (e.g. 3 MB) pre-allocated drive as the second hard
drive.  Use FDISK and FORMAT on the PCT to set it up.

For FDISK, make sure you select the second hard drive.  The default is
to partition the first drive, and doing this will destroy the contents
of your existing drive.

Assuming you have one or two floppy drives connected, and your existing
hard drive is C:, use

FORMAT D: /S

This will format the second hard drive and transfer the system
software (MS-DOS) to it.  You can then copy all the files from the
first drive to the second one, using XCOPY for example.

As I said above, this only applies if you have PCT software 2.0 or
later.  If you have 1.3, you will have to go via a floppy disk (which
can be a disk drive connected to the normal IIgs disk port, or a RAM
disk on the IIgs).

Contact me via E-Mail if you need more information.
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand