SUMMARY
This article describes how to determine whether you need to
repartition your hard disk before you install MS-DOS 6 or 6.2 Upgrade and how
to complete the procedure if it is necessary.
DO YOU NEED TO REPARTITION?
In most cases, you don't need to repartition your hard disk to
install MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2. You need to repartition your hard disk only
if:
• The primary DOS partition on your hard disk is too small
(less than 2 megabytes [MB]).
• The size of the clusters or sectors on your hard disk is
incompatible with MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2.
• There are more than four primary partitions on your hard
disk.
• The primary DOS partition is inaccessible.
• A disk-partitioning program that is not compatible with the
Setup program for MS-DOS was used to partition your hard disk.
• Your primary DOS partition is incompatible with the Setup
program for MS-DOS. (This may be the case if you receive an error message when
trying to run Setup.)
If you don't need to repartition your hard disk for any of the
preceding reasons, but you still would like to, see "Optionally Repartitioning
Your Hard Disk" at the end of this document. If you have determined that you
cannot install MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2 without repartitioning your hard disk,
use the procedures in the "Preparing to Repartition" section.
Warning: Once you repartition your hard disk, you can no longer use the
Uninstall disk to return to your previous version of MS-DOS.
PREPARING TO REPARTITION
Before you partition your hard disk, you need the following:
• Enough floppy disks to back up your hard disk. Make sure
your floppy disks are newly formatted.
• A single floppy disk on which to install MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2.
Repartitioning your hard disk involves:
• Creating an MS-DOS Startup disk
• Backing up your hard disk
• Repartitioning your hard disk by using the Fdisk
program
• Formatting your hard disk
• Restoring your backed-up files
• Upgrading your system to MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2
Warning: If you are using software such as Disk Manager, SpeedStor(R),
Priam(R), or Everex to replace the BIOS in interactions between MS-DOS and the
hard disk controller, do not repartition your hard disk with the MS-DOS Fdisk
program. Instead, use the disk-partitioning program you originally used to
partition your hard disk.
To determine whether you have one of these
disk-partitioning programs on your computer, search for the following files:
DMDRVR.BIN (Disk Manager), SSTOR.SYS (SpeedStor), HARDRIVE.SYS (Priam), and
EVDISK.SYS (Everex). If you need help in repartitioning your hard disk or are
unsure whether the BIOS is being replaced, contact the manufacturer of your
original disk- partitioning software.
Creating a Startup Disk
Begin by creating an MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2 Startup disk. To
do so:
• Start your computer with your current version of MS-DOS.
• Insert MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2 Setup Disk 1 in drive A.
• Type A:SETUP /F at the MS-DOS
command prompt, press ENTER, and then follow the instructions on your screen.
Setup expands key MS-DOS files onto your floppy disk. You'll use
this floppy disk with the expanded files to temporarily run MS-DOS version 6.0
or 6.2.
Backing Up Your Files
You should back up files on every partition and each logical
drive of your hard disk.
Warning: Make sure you back up your files
before using the Fdisk program. When you delete or modify a partition, all
files on that partition are deleted.
Use the MS-DOS BACKUP command
to back up all the files on your hard disk to a floppy disk by typing the
following at the MS-DOS command prompt and pressing ENTER
backup <drive>:\*.* <floppy>: /s
where <drive> is your hard disk drive and <floppy> is
your floppy disk drive. The /S switch specifies that every file in every
directory will be backed up. For example, to back up every file in every
directory on hard disk drive C onto disks in floppy disk drive A, type the
following command and press ENTER:
NOTE: Use the backup command to back up files on every partition
and each logical drive of your hard disk.
You can use your current
version of the MS-DOS BACKUP command because it should be compatible with the
RESTORE command provided with MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2. Because MS-DOS 6.0 and 6.2
include the full-screen version of Microsoft Backup for MS-DOS and Microsoft
Backup for Windows, the MS-DOS command prompt version of BACKUP is not included
with the product. However, the RESTORE command is still provided.
NOTE: Before using your current version of the backup command and
repartitioning, you should back up a few files and use the restore command
provided with MS-DOS 6 Upgrade or MS-DOS 6.2 Upgrade to restore the files. This
should be done as a safety precaution to ensure you are not using an original
equipment manufacturer (OEM) version of backup that is not compatible with the
MS-DOS restore command.
If you do not want to use BACKUP and
RESTORE, you can use a third- party backup program such as Fastback, Norton
Utilities(R) Backup, PC Tools Backup, and so forth.
Repartitioning Your Hard Disk
Repartitioning your hard disk involves:
• Deleting any non-DOS partitions
• Deleting the logical drives in the extended DOS partition,
if your system has any
• Deleting the extended DOS partition, if your system has
one
• Deleting any primary DOS partitions
• Creating a new primary DOS partition
• Specifying the maximum disk size for the partition, and
making the partition active
Before you repartition your hard disk, make sure you write down
the volume label for each partition. You will need this information later. To
find the volume label for your hard disk drive, type the following at the
MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if you
want to determine the volume label for drive C, type the following command:
To repartition your hard disk:
• If you are not already running MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2, insert
your Startup disk in drive A, and then restart your computer by pressing
CTRL+ALT+DEL.
• If you have not already done so, insert the Startup disk
(which you created using the procedure in the "Creating a Startup Disk"
section) in drive A.
• At the MS-DOS command prompt, type
FDISK and press ENTER. The FDISK Options screen appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
MS-DOS Version 6.2
Fixed Disk Setup Program
(C)Copyright Microsoft Corp. 1983-1993
FDISK Options
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Set active partition
3. Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive
4. Display partition information
Enter choice: [1]
Press ESC to exit FDISK
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive,
and then press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen
appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Delete Primary DOS Partition
2. Delete Extended DOS Partition
3. Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
4. Delete Non-DOS Partition
Enter choice: [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• If any of your partitions were created with a third-party
disk- partitioning utility or installation program, press 4 to choose Delete
Non-DOS Partition, and then press ENTER. If all your partitions were created
with MS-DOS, press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen, then skip to step
10 of this procedure.
If you chose option 4, the Delete Non-DOS
Partition screen appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete Non-DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
2 Non-DOS 23 33%
3 EXT DOS 23 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Non-DOS Partition will be lost.
What non-DOS partition do you want to delete..? [1]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Type the number of the partition you want to delete, and
then press ENTER.
• To confirm the deletion, press Y, and then press ENTER.
• Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
• Repeat steps 4 - 8 if you have any other partitions that
were created with a third-party disk-partitioning utility or installation
program.
• The FDISK Options menu should now be on your screen. If you
have a partition that was created with MS-DOS, press 3 to choose Delete
Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and press ENTER.
If you chose option
3 on the FDISK Options screen, the Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive
screen appears.
• If you have a logical drive, press 3 to choose Delete
Logical DOS Drive(s) In The Extended DOS Partition and press ENTER. The Delete
Logical DOS Drive(s) In The Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't
have any logical drives, skip to step 19.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Drv Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
D: 15 FAT12 65%
E: 8 FAT12 35%
Total Extended DOS Partition size is 23 Mbytes (1 MByte=1048576
bytes)
WARNING! Data in a deleted Logical DOS Drive will be lost.
What drive do you want to delete.........................? [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Type the letter of the drive you want to delete and press
ENTER.
• Type the volume label if there is one and press ENTER.
• To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
• If there are other logical drives you want to delete,
repeat steps 12 - 14 above.
• When all logical drives have been deleted, press ESC. An
information screen appears.
• Press ESC again to return to the FDISK Options screen.
• Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and
press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
• Press 2 to choose Delete Extended DOS Partition and press
ENTER. The Delete Extended DOS Partition screen appears. If you don't have any
extended DOS partitions, skip to step 21.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete Extended DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
2 EXT DOS 23 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Extended DOS Partition will be lost.
Do you wish to continue (Y/N)........................? [N]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• To confirm that you want to delete the extended DOS
partition, press Y and press ENTER.
• Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
• Press 3 to choose Delete Partition Or Logical DOS Drive and
press ENTER. The Delete DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
• Press 1 to choose Delete Primary DOS Partition and press
ENTER. The Delete Primary DOS Partition screen appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Delete Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C: 1 A PRI DOS 23 FAT16 33%
Total disk space is 69 Mbytes (1 Mbyte=1048576 bytes)
WARNING! Data in the deleted Primary DOS Partition will be lost.
What primary partition do you want to delete..? [1]
Enter volume label...............................? [ ]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Press ENTER to delete your primary partition.
• Type the volume label, if there is one, and press ENTER.
• To confirm the deletion, press Y and press ENTER.
• Press ESC to return to the FDISK Options screen.
• Press ENTER to choose Create A DOS Partition Or Logical DOS
Drive. The Create DOS Partition Or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Choose one of the following:
1. Create Primary DOS Partition
2. Create Extended DOS Partition
3. Create Logical DOS Drive(s) in the Extended DOS Partition
Enter choice: [1]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Press ENTER to choose Create Primary DOS Partition. The
Create Primary DOS Partition screen appears.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Create Primary DOS Partition
Current fixed disk drive: 1
Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS
Partition and make the partition active (Y/N)..............?[Y]
Press ESC to return to FDISK Options
-----------------------------------------------------------------
• Press ENTER to specify the maximum size for the partition
and make the partition active.
• Make sure your Startup disk is in drive A and press any
key.
Formatting Your Hard Disk
You cannot use your hard disk until you format it.
To
format your hard disk:
• Make sure you are running MS-DOS 6.0 or 6.2 from your
Startup disk.
• Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if your
hard disk drive is drive C, type the following command:
• Press Y and press ENTER to proceed with formatting.
• Once formatting is complete, type a volume label if you
want one and press ENTER.
Restoring Your Files
Now you can restore the files you backed up previously. If you
used a third-party program such as Fastback to back up your files, use the same
program to restore your files. If you used the MS-DOS BACKUP command, use the
MS-DOS RESTORE command to restore them.
To restore your files using
the MS-DOS RESTORE command:
• Insert the Startup disk in drive A.
• Type the following at the MS-DOS command prompt and press
ENTER
restore <drive1>: <drive2>:\*.* /s
where< drive1> specifies the drive on which the backed-up
files are stored and <drive2> is your hard disk drive. For example, if
you insert your backup disk in drive A and your hard disk drive is drive C,
type the following command:
The /S switch restores every file in every subdirectory you
backed up.
• Insert your Startup disk if you are prompted with the
following message:
Insert disk with \COMMAND.COM in
drive A
• Repeat steps 2 and 3 if you have other backup disks. For
example, you might have a set of backup disks for drive D.
Upgrading to MS-DOS 6.0 or MS-DOS 6.2
Now you can upgrade your system to MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2. To
upgrade:
• Insert Setup Disk 1 in drive A.
• At the MS-DOS command prompt, type
A:SETUP and press ENTER.
• Continue following the instructions on the screen to
install MS-DOS.
NOTE: Before you restart your system, make sure
drive A is empty.
Optionally Repartitioning Your Hard Disk
If you don't need to repartition your hard disk in order to
install MS- DOS version 6.0 or 6.2, follow the steps outlined here. You have
two choices when optionally repartitioning your hard disk:
• Use your current version of the MS-DOS BACKUP and RESTORE
commands to back up your hard disk when preparing to partition.
-or-
• First install MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2 in order to use the
Microsoft Backup program (MSBACKUP) when preparing to partition.
While this option requires that you install MS-DOS twice (once before and once
after you partition), using the Microsoft Backup program provides you with many
more options when backing up your data.
To partition your hard disk by using MS-DOS version 6.0 or 6.2:
• Insert Setup Disk 1 (the first of your installation disks)
in drive A.
• At the MS-DOS command prompt, type
A:SETUP, press ENTER, and then follow the instructions
in the first few screens. At the screen that begins with "The following
programs can be installed on your computer," note the default setting for
"Backup." This setting will be either Windows Only or MS-DOS Only.
• If you have Microsoft Windows installed on your personal
computer, change the Backup setting to include MS-DOS. You can choose either
the Backup: MS-DOS Only option or the Backup: Windows And MS-DOS option.
• Continue following the instructions to install MS-DOS.
• Before you restart your system, make sure drive A is
empty.
• Insert Setup Disk 1 (the first of your installation disks)
in drive A.
• To create a startup floppy disk called Startup, type
A:SETUP /F at the MS-DOS command prompt and press ENTER.
Follow the instructions on the screen.
• Run the Microsoft Backup program by typing MSBACKUP at the
MS-DOS command prompt and pressing ENTER. Create full backups of all the
partitions on your hard disk.
• At the MS-DOS command prompt, type
FDISK and press ENTER. This initiates the procedure to
partition your hard disk. Refer to "Using Fdisk to Configure Your Hard Disk" in
Chapter 8 of the Microsoft MS-DOS 6 "User's Guide".
• Insert the Startup disk (which you created in step 7) in
drive A and format all of your partitions. When formatting your hard disk
drive, use the /S switch (this transfers system files to your hard disk drive,
making it the startup drive). For example, type the following at the MS-DOS
command prompt and press ENTER
where <drive> is your hard disk drive. For example, if your
hard disk drive is drive C, type the following command:
• Install MS-DOS on your newly partitioned hard disk. Be sure
to install the MS-DOS version of the Microsoft Backup program.
• Run Microsoft Backup to restore your data by typing
MSBACKUP at the MS-DOS command prompt and pressing ENTER. If you used the
MS-DOS Backup program to back up your data, use the MS-DOS RESTORE command to
restore it.
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