SUMMARY
STAC Electronics' Stacker disk-compression program creates logical drives
and makes exact copies of the old drives, except that the files are
compressed to save space. The compressed files are then uncompressed as
needed.
The following files are not compressed by Stacker:
- MSDOS.SYS
- IO.SYS
- COMMAND.COM
- CONFIG.SYS
- AUTOEXEC.BAT
This article covers the following usage issues with Stacker:
- Editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Files
- Using the STAC Coprocessor Card
- Stacker and Windows Temporary Swap Files
- Formatting Floppy Disks in File Manager
MORE INFORMATION
Editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT Files
Because of the way Stacker works, the CONFIG.SYS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT
files that are on the "new" logical drive need to be edited instead
of the ones that are in the root of drive C. This may give the
appearance that the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are not being
read during startup.
To determine where drive C has been reassigned to, use the SWAPMAP
utility that comes with Stacker. This shows you the drive to which
drive C has been copied. Then, edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files on that drive as you normally would.
Using the STAC Coprocessor Card
If you are using the STAC coprocessor card and are trying to run Windows in
386 enhanced mode, you must add an EMMEXCLUDE statement to the [386Enh]
section of the SYSTEM.INI file to exclude the area of memory that the card
uses. To find the address that needs to be excluded, look for the following
line in the CONFIG.SYS file
device=<path>\stacker.com /b=<address> c:\stacvo1.000
where <address> is a hexadecimal number. The address plus the next 16
kilobytes (K) should be excluded. The default address is CC00. In this
case, the line would be:
emmexclude=cc00-cfff
If you are still unable to run 386 enhanced mode, STAC Technical Support
suggests excluding the paragraph below the address as well. In this case,
the line would be:
emmexclude=c800-cfff
The temporary file that Windows creates when it comes up should be located
on the uncompressed portion of the hard disk. Allow a minimum of 2
megabytes (MB) free on the uncompressed portion of the hard disk. If a
permanent swap file is being used, locate it and allocate space on the
uncompressed portion of the disk.
Do not use SMARTDRV.SYS version 3.x with Stacker; they were not designed to
work together.
Stacker and Windows Temporary Swap Files
If you run Windows on a compressed drive using Stacker, temporary swap
files can be placed on an uncompressed portion of your disk to reduce
fragmentation of the Stacker drive.
To accomplish this, add the following entry to the SYSTEM.INI file
under the heading [386Enh]
PagingDrive=<drive letter>
where <drive letter> is an uncompressed drive.
For example, if drive C was the only drive before the Stacker installation,
installing Stacker creates drive D, which then becomes the uncompressed
portion of the disk. Use the following PagingDrive parameter to indicate
drive D:
Formatting Floppy Disks in File Manager
On some systems using Stacker 3.1 or 4.0, Windows File Manager is not able
to format floppy disks. Formatting usually fails at either the 99 percent
mark or when Windows attempts to create the root directory. The failure
usually indicates a conflict with Stacker's base drive feature, which
specifies the drive letter from which Stacker drive letters start.
There are two ways to resolve this conflict:
- Instead of using File Manager, format floppy disks at an MS-DOS command
prompt using the MS-DOS FORMAT command.
-or-
- Disable Stacker's use of the base drive feature.
NOTE: This changes the order of your device-driven drive letters.
For information on this procedure, contact STAC Electronics Technical
Support.
For additional information about Stacker or Stacker's interaction
with Windows, contact STAC Electronics.
The product included here is manufactured by STAC Electronics, a vendor
independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding this product's performance or reliability.