           Stacker 3.0 for Windows and DOS - Late Breaking News

This document contains important information that is not included in the
Stacker 3.0 for Windows and DOS User's Guide or in the Help. If you're
using any special or unique hardware or software with your system, such
as Toshiba 1000 series computers or Super PC-Kwik Cache, see the help
provided in Setup. To get help in these situations:

When Setting Up Stacker for Windows:

1.  From any Setup screen, press F1.
2.  Click Contents.
3.  Press TAB to select Hardware Considerations or Software Considerations
    and press ENTER.

When Setting Up Stacker for DOS:

1.  From any Setup screen, press F1.
2.  Press ENTER to choose the Index.
3.  Press TAB to select Hardware Considerations or Software Considerations
    and press ENTER.


Contents

This document contains late-breaking information on the following topics:

1.0     Changes to Stacker 3.0 for Windows and DOS User's Guide

        1.1     What You Need to Run Stacker

        1.2     When to Choose Express

        1.3     Unstacking a Stacker Drive

        1.4     Creating Passwords

        1.5     Saving Additional Driver Memory

        1.6     CREATE

2.0     Backup Configuration Files

3.0     Stacking Laptop or Palmtop Computers

        3.1     Free Space

        3.2     Entire Drive

4.0     SSWAP and Windows Permanent Swap Files

5.0     PC-KWIK Disk Cache Reports Boot Sector Mismatch

6.0     DR DOS and Norton Disk Doctor

7.0     More Details on Backing Up

8.0     Installing Stacker on IBM PS/1

9.0     Installing Stacker on PS/2 with External Sysgen Floppy Drives

10.0    Upgrading from Stacker 1.x

11.0    Setup Error Messages

12.0    Determining Free Space Requirements For Any Stacking Situation

13.0    SDEFRAG Error Messages

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.0     Changes to Stacker 3.0 for Windows and DOS User's Guide

        This section describes enhancements made to Stacker 3.0 after
        the User's Guide went to print.

1.1     What You Need to Run Stacker (pp. 17 and 87)

        For a new installation, the amount of free disk space required
        varies depending upon the size of allocation units or clusters you
        are using. To determine the size of your allocation units, run the
        DOS program CHKDSK from the drive on which that you intend to
        install Stacker and note the line that says "bytes in each
        allocation unit". Listed below is the space required to copy files
        from the Stacker diskettes to your hard disk for each allocation
        unit size.

        2048 byte allocation units  - 2.9 MB
        4096 byte allocation units  - 3.0 MB
        8192 byte allocation units  - 3.2 MB
        16384 byte allocation units - 3.7 MB
        32768 byte allocation units - 4.6 MB

        For upgrading from version 2.x, the amount of free disk space
        required for a stacked drive is 4.7 MB. On an unstacked drive,
        the amount of free disk space required varies depending upon the
        size of allocation units or clusters you are using.

        2048 byte allocation units  - 3.1 MB
        4096 byte allocation units  - 3.2 MB
        8192 byte allocation units  - 3.3 MB
        16384 byte allocation units - 3.5 MB
        32768 byte allocation units - 3.8 MB

        After Setup copies files from the floppy, about 1.2 MB of this
        space is freed.

1.2     When to Choose Express (pp. 25 and 95)

        To stack the drive, at least 1% plus 45 KB of the disk must be free.
        For further details, see section 12.0.

1.3     Unstacking a Stacker Drive (p. 138)

        You can reverse the setup procedure of stacked drives using the
        Unstack tool. You cannot, however, unstack the Stacker drive if
        you only have read-only access.

1.4     Creating Passwords (pp. 183 and 185)

        Passwords can contain colons (:).

1.5     Saving Additional Driver Memory (p. 219)

        The Stacker device driver statement in your CONFIG.SYS file contains
        a default driver setting of /F=128. The /F=nnn switch sets the
        maximum number of fragments allowed in the STACVOL file. To lower
        the memory usage by about 768 bytes, change this to /F=32. This
        causes the driver to use less memory and supports STACVOLs that
        have up to 32 fragments.

1.6     CREATE (p. 254)

        In the last paragraph, the second paragraph should read, "If you
        do this, the total number of @ equals the total number of drives;
        for example, three removables corresponds to three @ signs at the
        end of the STACKER.COM device line.

2.0     Backup Configuration Files

        Setup makes a backup copy of AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, both with
        an extension of .STC. This backup copy is always made at the
        beginning of Setup. Each time you run Setup (such as to stack
        another drive), the existing .STC files are overwritten.

3.0     Stacking Laptop or Palmtop Computers

        Stacking a laptop, palmtop, or other machine that doesn't have a
        floppy disk drive or has a small hard disk drive can be done in two
        different ways. If you are stacking a new palmtop or the free space
        on a drive of the palmtop, follow procedures outlined in section
        3.1. If you are stacking a palmtop with existing data, then proceed
        to section 3.2 for instructions.

        It is important to remember that the Software License Agreement
        provides you with ONE copy of Stacker. Therefore, you can transfer
        Stacker to the palmtop, but provisions of the agreement assume
        you'll delete it from the desktop.

3.1     Free Space

        If you want to stack a laptop, palmtop, or other machine that
        doesn't have a floppy disk drive or has a small hard disk drive,
        follow the procedure outlined here. STACPALM is a program which
        stacks the free space and makes the minimum necessary modifications
        to your CONFIG.SYS file.

        Your laptop/palmtop computer must have these things to run STACPALM:

        - The laptop/palmtop must be able to spare about 40 KB of resident
          RAM to run the STACKER.COM device driver.
        - There must be enough free space on the boot drive of the laptop/
          palmtop to hold STACKER.COM (43 KB) permanently.
        - There must be enough free space on a drive to hold STACPALM.EXE
          (20 KB) temporarily.
        - The CONFIG.SYS file on the laptop/palmtop must be modifiable by
          STACPALM. For example, the CONFIG.SYS file is writable and
          appears on the boot drive letter at the time STACPALM is run. For
          example, this is typically an issue with machines that use ROM
          drives.
        - You must have another computer with 640 KB RAM, at least one
          floppy drive, a hard disk with at least 2 MB free,
          and a way to transmit files between the two (such as LapLink).

        To stack the free space on a laptop or palmtop:

        1.  Install Stacker 3.0 on the desktop or other computer. You do not
            need to stack any drives on this computer.
        2.  Transfer STACPALM.EXE and STACKER.COM to the \STACKER directory
            on the laptop or palmtop using LapLink or whatever means is
            available.
        3.  From the laptop/palmtop, change to the \STACKER directory and
            type

            STACPALM drive:

            where drive is the letter of the drive you want to stack. For
            example, STACPALM G:

        The STACPALM program adds a STACKER device driver statement to your
        CONFIG.SYS file. If it cannot find a CONFIG.SYS file, it asks you
        for its location.

3.2     Entire Drive

        To stack the entire drive on a laptop, palmtop, or other machine
        without floppy disk drives or with unusually small hard
        disk drives requires installation of Stacker software on a separate
        system (typically a desktop) -- one with 640 KB RAM, at least one
        diskette drive, and a hard disk with at least 3 MB free.

        To use this feature, Your laptop/palmtop computer must have these things:

        - The laptop/palmtop has a drive that can effectively be stacked by
          Setup.
        - The laptop/palmtop can spare about 40 KB of resident RAM to run
          the STACKER.COM device driver.
        - The laptop/palmtop has 640 KB of installed RAM.
        - The laptop/palmtop has one drive with enough free space to hold
          the STACKER directory from the desktop computer, or at least the
          following files:

                SETUP.EXE        96 KB
                SETUP.OVL        32 KB
                SETUP2.EXE      360 KB
                SETUP1.COM        1 KB
                SCREATE.COM       1 KB
                SCREXEC.EXE      90 KB
                SCREXEC2.EXE     65 KB
                STACKER.COM      44 KB
                SSWAP.COM        58 KB

                Total           747 KB
        - There is enough uncompressed space on the boot drive of the
          laptop/palmtop to hold STACKER.COM and SSWAP.COM (100 KB).
        - The CONFIG.SYS file on the laptop/palmtop can be modified by
          Setup. For example, the CONFIG.SYS file is writable and appears
          on the boot drive letter at the time Setup is run.

        To stack the entire drive on a laptop or palmtop using this method:

        1.  Install Stacker 3.0 on the desktop  or other computer, exiting
            from Setup prior to stacking any drives at the Select a Disk to
            Stack screen.
        2.  Transmit the entire STACKER directory or just the files listed
            above from the desktop to the laptop/palmtop.
            NOTE: If you just transmit the files listed above, no Help
            will be available from Setup.
        3.  Run Setup from the directory in which the files are located on
            the laptop/palmtop. Choose Custom Setup and select the drive
            to stack.
        4.  If you wish, delete all of the above listed files from the
            laptop/palmtop except for STACKER.COM and SSWAP.COM.

4.0     SSWAP and Windows Permanent Swap Files

        If a Windows permanent swap file is found, but not SPART.PAR that
        points to it, the following message is displayed:

        "SSWAP Warning: Located a Windows permanent swap file on a disk to
        be swapped, but could not find the Windows file, SPART.PAR,
        pointing to it. Press any key to continue...

        There are two ways to correct the problem.

        1.  At the DOS prompt, type

              SSWAP drive: drive:

            where drive: is the drive containing the Windows permanent swap
            file.
        2.  Using any text editor, including ED, add /W=drive:\WINDOWS to
            the DEVICE=SSWAP.COM line in your CONFIG.SYS file where
            drive:\WINDOWS is the drive and directory where Windows is
            installed.

5.0     PC-KWIK Disk Cache Reports Boot Sector Mismatch

        PC-KWIK disk cache versions before 4.13 may report that there is a
        boot sector mismatch error when there is no problem with your drive.
        If you press ENTER to continue, everything runs fine. To bypass the
        need for a key press, add /K- switch to the PC-KWIK cache statement.

        PC-KWIK versions 4.13 and later are Stacker aware and will not give
        this error message.

6.0     DR DOS and Norton Disk Doctor

        If you are using DR DOS with more than one Stacker drive, using
        Norton Disk Doctor on one Stacker drive may unmount the other
        Stacker drive(s). If so, when you access the unmounted drive, you
        will receive a "not ready" message regarding that drive. To fix
        this, restart your system by pressing CTRL ALT DEL.

7.0     More Details on Backing Up

        In order to perform a full system backup, you need to back up the
        Stacker drive as well as the files on the uncompressed drive. Back
        up your Stacker drive as described on page 284 of the User's Guide.
        When you back up the uncompressed drive you do not need to back up
        the hidden STACVOL file. Essentially, the STACVOL file contains all
        the data on your Stacker drive in compressed form.

        You can use the STACKER command to determine the name of your
        STACVOL file. For example, on a system with a single C: hard drive
        that is stacked, typing C:\STACKER\STACKER displays:
 
        "Drive C: was drive D: at boot time  [ D:\STACVOL.DSK = 45.7MB  ]
         Drive D: was drive C: at boot time"

        In this example you should back up all the files on drive C:. In
        addition you should back up all the files on D: except
        D:\STACVOL.DSK. For details on the STACVOL.DSK file refer to the
        User's Guide, chapter 9 on "How Stacker Works".

8.0     Installing Stacker on IBM PS/1

        To install Stacker on an IBM PS/1:

        1.  Start IBM DOS from the fourth quadrant screen. Click
            "Backup and Restore Your Fixed Disk" and press ENTER. Follow
            the prompts to backup all of the files on your fixed disk.

            NOTE: The number of disks needed for backup varies depending
            on the amount of data on your hard disk drive.

        2.  From the fourth quadrant screen select "Customize How System
            Starts."
        3.  The third line from the bottom of the screen reads "Read
            CONFIG.SYS:" Click "From Disk" to read the CONFIG.SYS file
            from the disk.
        4.  The next line reads "Read AUTOEXEC.BAT:" Click "From Disk" to
            read the AUTOEXEC.BAT file from the disk.
        5.  The last line reads "Disk to read from:" Click "C:"
        6.  Press ENTER to save the changes and exit.
        7.  Restart your system by pressing CTRL ALT DEL.

            NOTE: You may get an "Error in CONFIG.SYS" message when the
            computer starts. Ignore it.

        8.  If you start into the built-in menu instead of to the DOS
            prompt, press Shift F9 to get to the DOS prompt.
        9.  Install Stacker by inserting the first Stacker disk and
            typing:

            A:SETUP /B=C

            and pressing ENTER.

            NOTE: If you have a black and white system, type:

            A:SETUP /B=C /M

            and press ENTER.

            At the end of Setup, let Stacker restart to access your Stacker
            drive.
        10. If you start into the built-in menu instead of to the DOS
            prompt, press Shift and then F9 to get to the DOS prompt.
        11. Insert Stacker diskette #2 into your floppy drive and edit the
            CONFIG.SYS file by typing:

            A:ED C:\CONFIG.SYS

        12. Move your cursor to the bottom of the file and add the
            following line:

            INSTALL=D:\SHELLSTB.COM

        13. If you see this line before the STACKER.COM device driver lines,
            delete it by moving the cursor to the beginning of the line and
            pressing CTRL K.
        14. Save your file by pressing CTRL Z.
        15. Restart your system by pressing CTRL ALT DEL for the changes to
            take effect.
        16. As your computer restarts, Stacker's SSWAP utility informs you
            the CONFIG.SYS file on your system's boot drive has been updated
            (this is because you have two copies: one on your Stacker drive
            and one on your uncompressed drive). Press ENTER to restart your
            system one last time and the installation of Stacker will be
            complete.

9.0     Installing Stacker on PS/2 with External Sysgen Floppy Drives

        If you have a Sysgen external floppy drive, even if installing from
        a non-Sysgen floppy, be sure you are using version 3.44 or later
        of BRIDGE_B.SYS.

        If you are using a version prior to 3.44:

        1.  Using any text editor, such as ED, disable BRIDGE_B.SYS in your
            CONFIG.SYS file.
        2.  Restart your computer.
        3.  Install Stacker from your internal floppy drive.

10.0    Upgrading from Stacker 1.x

        Before you upgrade from Stacker 1.x:

        1.  At the DOS prompt, type SWAPMAP and press ENTER to determine
            which drive letter is being swapped with C.
            Write that letter here._____________________________________
        2.  Insert Stacker 3.0 floppy disk #2 into its drive.
        3.  Type

            drive:\SATTRIB -R C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT

            where drive: is the letter of the floppy drive where you
            inserted floppy disk #2.
            This removes the read-only attribute from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file.
        4.  Type

            COPY drive:\AUTOEXEC.BAT C:

            where drive: is the drive letter in which C is being swapped
            (determined in #1).
        5.  Type

            COPY drive:\CONFIG.SYS C:

            where drive: is the drive letter in which C is being swapped
            (determined in #1).
        6.  Install Stacker 3.0.
        7.  When installation is complete, add /SYNC+ to the end of the
            SSWAP line in your CONFIG.SYS file by typing the following
            and pressing ENTER.

            C:\STACKER\ED drive:\CONFIG.SYS

            where drive: is the drive letter in which C is being swapped
            (determined in #1).

            For example, if C was swapped with D:

            DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C: D: /SYNC+
        8.  Press CTRL Z to save changes and exit.
        9.  Restart your computer.

11.0    Setup Error Messages

        If you do not have sufficient DOS memory available (due to TSRs
        and drivers or less than 640 KB installed), you will receive the
        following message:

        "Insufficient memory............."

        Solution:

        1.  Remove memory-resident programs or exit out of any application.
        2.  Rerun Setup.

        During installation, if Setup cannot find any drive with at least
        1 MB free, you will receive the following message:

        "Error creating temporary directory for installation. Either create
        x.x MB free space on a hard disk or rerun SETUP using the
        /T=<drive:> parameter specifying a drive with sufficient free
        space."

        Solution:

        1.  Remove data from one of your drives to create the indicated
            amount of free space.
        2.  Rerun Setup.

12.0    Determining Free Space Requirements For Any Stacking Situation

        Currently Setup allows you to stack an entire drive as long as you
        have at least 1% plus 45 KB free or stack free space if you have
        at least 100 KB free. However, if you have a drive which you are
        trying to stack which has particularly large clusters, you may
        receive an error message indicating that Setup cannot continue
        because the disk is full. If this happens to you, you can use
        the following procedure to determine the free space requirements.

        1.  Determine the Number of Sub-Directories using the DOS CHKDSK
            command. This is the "Number of Directories" (not the bytes).
            Write that number here.________________________________
        2.  Determine Stacker's Working Drive Size using the DOS CHKDSK
            command. This is the "Bytes Total Disk Space."
            Write the number of bytes here.________________________
        3.  Determine the amount of data you have on your disk using the
            DOS CHKDSK command. This is:
              Bytes determined in #2   _____________________________
            - "Bytes Available on Disk"_____________________________
            =                          _____________________________
        4.  Determine the STACVOL cluster size on your drive in bytes
            using the following table. Locate your drive size (the
            number of bytes determined in #2) in the first column.
            Locate your data size (the number of bytes determined in #3)
            underneath the Data Size heading. The cluster size for your
            drive is displayed in the column beneath the range in which
            your data size falls.
            Write the number of bytes here.________________________

     Drive Size            |             Data Size
                           |0 - 1,023,999,999 |1,024,000,000 - 2,147,483,648
                           |        STACVOL Cluster Size
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
          0 -   460,799,999|       8,192      |          8,192
460,800,000 -   921,599,999|      16,384      |         16,384
921,600,000 - 2,147,483,648|      16,384      |         32,768
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

        5.  Multiply the number from #1 by the number of bytes from #4.
            Write that value here.________________________
        6.  Multiply .006 by the number of bytes from #2.
            Write that value here.________________________
        7.  Add the two values calculated in #5 and #6. This is the free
            space requirement for stacking.
            Write that value here.________________________
        8.  Remove data from your drive until the amount of free space you
            have on your disk (see #3) is at least this size.

13.0    SDEFRAG Error Messages

        SDEFRAG reports read or write errors when it is unable to
        correctly read and write data on the Stacker drive. These errors
        can be corrected by running a surface scan utility, such as Norton
        Disk Doctor or PcTools DiskFix, to identify and mark the bad
        sectors to prevent them from being used in the future.

        To correct the problem:

        1.  Exit any application currently running.
        2.  Exit to the DOS prompt.
        3.  If you are at the prompt for your Stacker drive (such as
            C:\STACKER), change to the DOS prompt for your uncompressed
            drive. For example, if your Stacker drive is C and your
            uncompressed drive is D, type D: and press ENTER.
        4.  Remove the read-only, system, and hidden attributes from your
            STACVOL file by typing:

            SATTRIB -R -H -S drive:\STACVOL.xxx

            where drive: is the uncompressed drive and xxx is the file
            extension of your STACVOL file (usually DSK).

            NOTE:  If you don't know the name of your STACVOL file, type
            STACKER at the DOS prompt to get a list of all of your drives
            and STACVOL filenames.

        5.  Press ENTER.
        6.  Run the surface scan utility on the uncompressed drive
            containing your STACVOL file.
        7.  Restart your system.

        During start-up, Stacker automatically reapplies the read-only,
        hidden, and system attributes to your STACVOL file.

        In some instances, the Stacker driver may display one of the
        following messages:

        "Reboot during SDEFRAG detected - not mounted."

        If you see this message:

        1.  At the DOS prompt, type

            SDEFRAG /F drive:\STACVOL.xxx

            where drive: is your Stacker drive and xxx is the file
            extension of your STACVOL file (usually DSK).

        2.  Press ENTER.

        "Reboot during SDEFRAG detected - write protected."

        If you see this message:

        1.  At the DOS prompt, type

            SDEFRAG drive:

            where drive: is your Stacker drive.

        2.  Press ENTER.

        To make sure that the problem is not on your Stacker drive run
        Stacker's CHECK command on the Stacker drive. CHECK provides a
        surface scan for Stacker drives only. To run CHECK:

        1.  Type

            CHECK drive: /F

            where drive: is your Stacker drive.

        2.  Press ENTER.

        3.  When CHECK asks to perform a surface scan, type YES and press
            ENTER.

