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 Using !PCConfig

4.2 Disc setup
Now you are ready to set up a DOS partition file for your PC Card to use as its hard disc drive. This involves allocating space on your hard disc which looks exactly like a DOS hard disc to the PC Card. !PCConfig is used for this. You can have a maximum of two of these partitions. 

Note that these files are not really partitions in the correct use of the term, but that is the word we will use in this document. 

Deciding on partition size

You need to spend a moment deciding how much space to allocate to the PC Card before creating the drives, as you cannot change the size of the drive without losing all the data on it. 
 
  • If you will only be using DOS then a partition as small as 10MB might be sufficient, although 30MB is sensible. 
  • If you are using Windows then about 40MB should be viewed as a minimum, and 100Mb is typical. 
The amount of PC software that you intend to install is obviously significant – remember that PC software, especially for Windows, takes up much more disk space than RISC OS software. 
 
  • Aleph One PC cards allow the use of DOS partition files up to 512MB in size. The version of DOSFS built into RISC OS 3.10 and 3.5 does not let the RISC OS Filer support partitions larger than 32MB, so while the PC card can access larger partitions RISC OS cannot see them directly or display them on the desktop.

    • To view these larger partitions from the desktop you need to install an updated version of DOSFS, version 0.49 (or later). This is built into RISCOS 3.6. See Installing DOSFS on page 10.

 

Setting up your PC storage disc

To set up your PC storage:
 
  1. Click Select on the Disc setup icon in the PC Card
    2. configuration window.
    The following setup dialogue box will appear: 

 
  
  1.  Enter the number of hard disc partitions you want: you may have either one or two. 
  2. You may keep your DOS partition in one of several locations. Choose the option you require by clicking on its radio button:

    3.  
    • Partition is the usual option – a big file on your RISC OS disk, with the rest of the disc still available to RISC OS.

      •  
    • DOS format SCSI device – This is a real DOS-format fixed or removable disk completely devoted to DOS, that a normal PC could also read. It is only really useful if you need to move very large files between your PC Card and a normal PC, for example on Syquest discs. It is no faster than a normal partition file.

      •  
    • Local IDE drive - This option is only available for the PC Expansion card. It is a DOS-formatted drive plugged directly into the PC Card and not accessible from RISC OS
        • at all. For details on setting this up, see the following section Using direct IDE drives on page 25.
  1. Select the type of drive you need, then read the appropriate section below.

DOS partition files

  1. Specify the complete filename for where you want the partition file. The default is:

    2.  
      ADFS::4.$.drive_C 
       
    If you already have a partition just drag its icon to the filename window, and then click OK or Save. 
     
  2. To create the new partition click Create. 
    A further sub-dialog will appear with the name of the file to create: 
     
      
  1. Make sure the Initialise ready for use option is ticked, to format the partition when it is created. If you do not do this, you will need to format the partition using DOS before you can use it to store PC files.
  2. Specify the partition size you want in megabytes. Click the up arrows to increase each digit or the down arrows to reduce it.
  3. Click Create.
The partition will be created (and formatted if required), the>dialogue box will close and you will return to the Disc setup dialogue. 
 
  1. Click OK in the Disc Setup dialogue box, and Save in the main PCconfig dialogue box, to confirm these settings. 

    2. You must do this for !PC to be able to recognise the partition.
Aleph One Ltd. 14-18
 
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