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STACKER NOTE                                                  STACKER NOTE
Title: Stacker and MS-DOS DOS 6.0  (Applies to Stacker 2.x and 3.0)
STAC FAX Index #3301 - 04/02/93
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Background.

The information provided in this Stacker Note addresses issues related  to  
compatibility between Stacker and MS-DOS 6.0.  Stacker 2.x and 3.0 are 
completely compatible with  MS-DOS  versions  3.2  and  above, including  
MS-DOS 6.0.  The MS-DOS setup program will detect Stacker's  presence and 
install files to the appropriate drives.  This eliminates  the  need  for  
DOS installation batch files such as  STACDOS5.BAT  to perform a DOS upgrade.

Microsoft includes a data compression product with MS-DOS 6.0.  It  is  not  
possible to run multiple data compression products simultaneously on a single 
computer.  DO NOT attempt to Stack a DoubleSpace ompressed  drive with 
Stacker 2.x or 3.0.  The result could cause data loss.  The  MS-DOS  6.0  
installation will  not  offer  to  use  the  DoubleSpace  compression program 
on your Stacked drive.

Installing MS-DOS 6.0 on a Stacker Drive.

The  DOS  6.0 setup program is aware of data compression programs.  
To install  MS-DOS  6.0  on a Stacker drive, use  the  normal  DOS  SETUP 
command. The  setup  program  will detect  your  Stacker  drive  and  
following message will appear: "Your  computer uses a disk compression  
program. Setup can install MS-DOS on  your computer. However, you will not be 
able to un-install MS-DOS during or after setup. For more information see 
'Diagnosing and Solving Problems'." Setup will recommend to continue with the 
installation process. Installing the utilities that are offered during the 
setup process will  not impact your Stacked system. Setup will not offer to 
install DoubleSpace if it detects another compression program on your system.

   The  DOS  6.0  system  files  will  be  properly  transferred  to  the 
uncompressed  portion of the boot drive during installation.  Any  DOS device  
drivers that are referenced in your CONFIG.SYS file will  also be properly  
updated  on  the uncompressed drive by the DOS setup program. It will be 
necessary to manually update any DOS program that  is  located in the DOS 
directory on the uncompressed drive, but is not  referenced in  your 
CONFIG.SYS file. For example, to determine  which  drive is the uncompressed 
boot drive type STACKER and press ENTER. The  output will look similar to the 
following:  

     Stacker Disk Mount Utility - 3.00, 
     (c) 1990-92 Stac Electronics, Carlsbad, CA  
     Registered to: Stac Electronics  
     Stacker drive map: 
     Drive C: was drive D: at boot time  [ D:\STACVOL.DSK = 80.30MB ]

Look  for the drive that C was at boot time.  In the example  drive  C was  
drive D at boot time, so drive D is uncompressed boot  drive. Now  that  
you  have  identified  the uncompressed  boot  drive,  copy CHKDSK.EXE from 
the DOS directory on your compressed Stacker drive  to the  DOS  directory 
on the uncompressed drive.  Do the same  with  any other  DOS  file  that  
did not get updated on the  uncompressed  boot  drive.  It is recommended 
that you keep a copy of  COMMAND.COM in  the  DOS   directory  on  the 
uncompressed  drive.  Stacker's  boot file synchronizer may update 
COMMAND.COM automatically for you.  If it does not,   manually  copy  
COMMAND.COM  to  the  DOS  directory  on the  uncompressed  boot drive.


Installing Stacker on an MS-DOS 6.0 System.

Stacker  versions 2.x and 3.0 will install fine on any system that  is  
running  MS-DOS  6.0.  They  are FULLY COMPATIBLE.   However,  it  is  
important  that you DO NOT install Stacker on a drive  that  has  been
compressed with the Microsoft DoubleSpace compression utility.   Doing    
so could result in data loss.  If you wish to use Stacker and you have  
already   compressed   your  drives  with  DoubleSpace,   follow   the
instructions  in your MS-DOS 6.0 users guide for removing  DoubleSpace  
before installing Stacker. 

As  indicated  in  the  Stacker Users Guide, disable  any  Anti  Virus 
programs before running the Stacker setup program.  This includes  the  
Anti Virus program that is a part of MS-DOS 6.0.




































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Copyright 1993, Stac Electronincs

