NOVELL TECHNICAL INFORMATION DOCUMENT

TITLE:  SUPERSTOR - INSTALLATION & OPERATION
DOCUMENT ID:  TID800019
DOCUMENT REVISION:  A
DATE:  15AUG94
ALERT STATUS:  Yellow
README FOR:  NA

NOVELL PRODUCT and VERSION:
DR DOS 6.0

ABSTRACT:
N/A

-----------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER
THE ORIGIN OF THIS INFORMATION MAY BE INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL TO NOVELL.  NOVELL 
MAKES EVERY EFFORT WITHIN ITS MEANS TO VERIFY THIS INFORMATION.  HOWEVER, THE 
INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR YOUR INFORMATION ONLY.  NOVELL 
MAKES NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED CLAIMS TO THE VALIDITY OF THIS INFORMATION.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

ISSUE

      SYMPTOM:  PREPARING TO INSTALL SUPERSTOR

  ISSUE/PROBLEM:  PREPARING TO INSTALL SUPERSTOR

       SOLUTION:  The implementation and use of the SuperStor
disk compression utility consists of several steps.  First,
prepare the hard disk partition to ensure a smooth compression
process.  Second, compress the hard disk partition using the
SSTOR.EXE compression utility.  

STEP #1: PREPARATION OF THE HARD DISK PARTITION

The preparation of a prospective compressed hard disk partition
is the most vital step in ensuring a smooth compression process.

a.)  BACKUP

It is STRONGLY recommended that the hard disk partition be backed
up before running the SSTOR program.  This is done for two
reasons.  First, BACKUP is done to ensure that recovery is
possible should an error occur during compression.  Second, to
return to an uncompressed state it is necessary to remove the
SuperStor partition.  Removing the SuperStor partition destroys
all of the data on that partition.  

WARNING: There is no uncompress feature to restore a currently
compressed hard disk partition back to its previous uncompressed
state.


b.)  REMOVE COPY PROTECTED SOFTWARE

Generally copy protected software cannot reside on a SuperStor
hard disk partition.  This is because most copy protected
software puts its copy protection at a specific location on the
hard disk partition.  As soon as SuperStor is used, the copy
protection is moved and the application will not work.  Copy
protected software may be reinstalled after a hard disk partition
has been compressed with SuperStor.

c.)  FREE UP DISK SPACE

SuperStor requires a minimum of 1.5 MB of free space on the hard
disk partition.  Make sure that at least 1.5 MB of hard disk
space is free prior to running SSTOR.  See the DELWATCH/DELPURGE
section for further information regarding freeing up hard disk
partition space. 


d.)  DELWATCH/DELPURGE

When DELWATCH is running, files that are deleted from DOS are
marked by DELWATCH as pending delete files.  These files no
longer show in a directory but continue to take up space on the
disk.  It is recommended that all files that have been deleted
with DELWATCH active, be removed with DELPURGE prior to
compressing the hard disk partition with SuperStor.  


e.)  RUN CHKDSK

Run CHKDSK prior to using the SuperStor compression utility. 
CHKDSK is helpful in verifying the current integrity of the hard
disk partition.  Errors reported by CHKDSK may be fixed using the
CHKDSK /F command.  


f.)  RUN DISKOPT

Run DISKOPT prior to using the SuperStor compression utility. 
DISKOPT is a DR DOS utility that helps optimize the performance
of a hard disk partition.  


g.)  WINDOWS 3.1 SWAP FILE

The Windows 3.1 permanent swap file CANNOT reside on a compressed
volume.  Also, applications that create fixed length data files
must be stored on an uncompressed volume.  Failure to place these
files on an uncompressed volume will result in data corruption on
the compressed partition.


h.)  THIRD PARTY SURFACE ANALYSIS

A surface analysis of your hard disk partition is suggested. 

There are several third party surface scanning utilities on the
market.  These utilities will further verify the integrity of the
low level format of the hard disk partition.

i.)  VIRUS PROGRAMS AND SUPERSTOR

Remove virus protection software before compressing the hard disk
partition.  The virus protection program can be reinstalled after
the hard disk partition has been compressed.  Many of today's
virus detection software programs report viruses on the basis of
the changes it detects within various system structures. These
virus detection programs may incorrectly report a virus on a
SuperStor hard disk partition if the program was installed prior
to compression.  This is due to the virus program suddenly seeing
vast changes to the hard disk partition structure after
compression.


STEP #2: COMPRESSION OF THE PARTITION

After successfully completing the above steps continue on to the
compression. Key areas of interest are outlined below.

a.)  CHOOSING AMOUNT OF UNCOMPRESSED AREA (IN K)

The SSTOR compression utility allows the user to define an amount
of space to be left uncompressed by SuperStor.  Certain
applications such as programming compilers may perform better on
an uncompressed portion of a hard disk.  

The actual amount left uncompressed will depend on the data
compression ratio and the disk space available before the
compression was done (in other words, SuperStor will use as much
space as necessary to compress all of your files).  Uncompressed
space must be entered in K.  For example, to leave 4 MB of a 20
MB hard disk partition uncompressed, enter 4000. 


b.)  VERIFY, COMPRESS, AND DEFRAGMENT

VERIFY, COMPRESS, and DEFRAGMENT are the three steps performed by
SuperStor.  VERIFY further analyzes the integrity of the chosen
SuperStor hard disk partition.  COMPRESS, the longest of the
three phases, actually does the compression of the files on the
hard disk partition.  DEFRAGMENT reorders the compressed files so
that they are contiguous.


There are two scenarios which can occur when compressing a disk. 
One is compressing a primary Boot Partition and the second is
compressing Non-Boot Partition. Examples follow for the these two
scenarios.

INSTALLATION TO A BOOT PARTITION (SCENARIO #1)
On default, a 512k uncompressed boot partition will be created
when SuperStor is utilized on the Entire Boot Partition of a hard
disk partition.  As the user you have the option to increase the
size of this partition as explained above in "Choosing Amount of
Uncompressed Area (in k)."  This uncompressed boot partition is
needed to accommodate system files which must remain in an
uncompressed state in order to boot the system.  During the
booting process the SuperStor hard disk partition will load from
this uncompressed boot partition and mount all of the compressed
partitions found.  Then, the uncompressed boot partition will
swap hard disk partition letters with the original boot partition
where the remaining DR DOS operating files exist.  


THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF FILES WHICH MUST BE IN THE ROOT
DIRECTORY ON THE UNCOMPRESSED BOOT PARTITION:

IBMBIO.COM  - Hidden system file used in booting process    

IBMDOS.COM  - Hidden system file used in booting process

COMMAND.COM - DR DOS Command Processor

DCONFIG.SYS - Your computer's boot configuration file

DEVSWAP.COM - SuperStor device driver that allows for the
swapping of hard disk partition letters. This utility is only
needed when compressing a boot partition.

SSTORDRV.SYS - SuperStor device driver that mounts all presently
compressed hard disk partitions.  

SSPARTSS.* - This is the SuperStor compressed hard disk
partition.  It is marked read-only, system, and hidden so it is
not harmed.  ANY MANIPULATION OF THIS FILE COULD LEAD TO THE LOSS
OF ALL DATA ON THE COMPRESSED PARTITION.

Additional files that may be needed in the root directory
include:  a device driver for an additional I/O device or for a
Memory Manager.  The DR DOS memory manager should also exist in
the DRDOS subdirectory on the uncompressed boot partition. 


DCONFIG.SYS

The DCONFIG.SYS file is the acting boot configuration file which
will be created on the uncompressed boot partition after
SuperStor has been used on the boot partition of a hard disk. 
The basic contents of this file, in the proper order, are as
follows:

a.)  MEMORY MANAGER - A DR DOS or 3rd party memory manager which
creates Upper Memory Blocks (UMBs).  This allows SSTORDRV.SYS to
put a portion of itself into the available Upper Memory Blocks.

b.)  ADDITIONAL I/O DEVICE Hard disk partition - If a driver is
needed on your system to access a certain hard disk partition,
(disk partitioning utility) it should be placed here (before
SSTORDRV.SYS).  Drivers such as Disk Manager's DMDRVR.BIN or a CD
ROM driver should be loaded prior to SuperStor so that their
existence is properly recognized by the SuperStor driver.  

c.)  SSTORDRV.SYS - The SuperStor device driver

d.)  DEVSWAP.COM  - Device Swap device driver.

e.)  ADDITIONAL I/O DEVICE DRIVER - It is possible that an
additional I/O device driver will be loaded after loading the
SuperStor drivers.

f.)  CHAIN STATEMENT - Chains or jumps to execute the CONFIG.SYS
which exists on the now compressed old boot partition.  



EXAMPLE (COMPRESSION OF A BOOTABLE HARD DISK PARTITION)
Prior to using the SuperStor compression utility there is one C:
hard disk partition.  The user decides to compress this entire
boot partition.  Once the SSTOR compression utility has done its
job the user reboots and watches the booting messages display.  

The machine now boots and activates the DCONFIG.SYS which exists
on what now is the 512k uncompressed C: boot partition.  The
first SuperStor message to display is:

SuperStor fixed drive C: mounted as drive D:

The above message is displayed by the SSTORDRV.SYS device driver
as it mounts the newly compressed C: partition as D:.  

Hard disk partitions C: and D: swapped

The above message is displayed by the DEVSWAP.COM device driver
as it swaps hard disk partition letters so that the newly
compressed C: hard disk partition shows once again as C:.

REMEMBER, the hard disk partition letter used for the
uncompressed boot partition will vary depending on the next
available hard disk partition letter.


COMPRESSION OF A NON-BOOTABLE HARD DISK PARTITION (SCENARIO #2)
installation of superstor to a non-bootable hard disk partition
is a much simpler process than to that of the boot partition.  As
with the bootable partition, the full non-bootable hard disk
partition may be compressed entirely or uncompressed space may be
set aside as another hard disk partition letter (see "choosing
amount of uncompressed area (in k)" above).  

The following is a list of the files seen on a Non-Bootable Hard
disk partition having booted without the SuperStor hard disk
partition installed.

SSPARTSS.* - This is the SuperStor compressed hard disk
partition. It is marked read-only, system, and hidden so it is
not harmed.  ANY MANIPULATION OF THIS FILE COULD LEAD TO THE LOSS
OF ALL DATA ON THE COMPRESSED PARTITION.

EXAMPLE (COMPRESSION OF A NON-BOOTABLE HARD DISK PARTITION)
Prior to using the SuperStor compression utility a user has one
C: partition and a D: partition.  The user decides to compress
the entire D: partition.  Once the SSTOR compression utility has
done its job the user reboots and watches the booting messages
display.  

The machine now boots and activates the CONFIG.SYS which exists
on the C: hard disk partition.  The first SuperStor message to
display is:

SuperStor fixed disk drive D: attached

The above message is displayed by the SSTORDRV.SYS device driver
as it mounts the newly compressed D:.

Note: DEVSWAP.COM is only needed as a device driver when
compressing a Boot Partition, or leaving additional uncompressed
space when compressing a Non-Boot Partition .

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their 
respective owners.  Consult your product manuals for complete trademark 
information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------