CHAPTER 9

Using Stacker utilities

 

Stacker comes with many interesting programs and utilities.  The past several chapters have introduced you to a few of them: CHECK, SDIR, SDEFRAG, UNSTACK, and so on. All together, Stacker has quite a few interesting utilities, each of which you might find useful at one time or another during your Stacker drive travels. This chapter is where you'll read about each of them in detail.

This chapter covers all of the Stacker utilities. This is done in two sections:

 

 

The Stacker toolbox

 

Eight of the Stacker utilities are included in an integrated utility environment program STAC, which is generally known as the Stacker Toolbox. The utilities are CHECK, CREATE, PASSWD, REPORT, SDEFRAG with its various options set to perform different tasks, SETUP, TUNER and UNSTACK.

Each of the utilities used in the toolbox have been discussed in various chapters throughout this book.  The toolbox simply provides a handy way for you to access each of them.  It also pre-selects certain options for you, making it an ideal place to work with your Stacker drivers long after you've forgotten exactly which command does what.

 

icon   There are seven other major utilities included with Stacker that have also been mentioned in this book.  Altogether, 30 different utility programs come with Stacker.  Some of the more esoteric ones are covered in the second half of this chapter.

 

Running the toolbox

 

To run the toolbox, type STAC at the command prompt. Start by logging to your Stacker directory. Type:

 

C:

 

Then:

 

CD \STACKER

 

Above, it's assumed Stacker is stored on drive C in the STACKER directory.  Be sure to specify the proper directory on your system if that's not the case.  To start the toolbox, type STAC:

 

C:\STACKER> STAC

 

After pressing Enter, you'll see a screen similar to that shown in Fig. 9-1. Use the up and down arrow keys to move the highlight bar over the command you want. You also can press the highlighted letter to run a command immediately.

 

Figure 9-1. STAC, the Stacker toolbox.

 

For each command, a description or helpful information appears in the panel to the right.  After selecting some commands, you'll see a small panel listing available Stacker drives in your system.  Select a drive you want to work with, then press Enter.  The toolbox will then load the appropriate command-line version of the utility and move on from there.  This is much more handy than remember the SDEFRAG options or which command does what.

When you're finished using the STAC integrator, press F10 then Y to return to DOS. Pressing Esc and Y also works.

 

Advantages of the toolbox

 

The STAC program simply brings all Stacker's utility programs together under one software roof. It makes running the utilities easier for new users and lists options you might forget after you've been using Stacker for a while.  In some instances, such as with the Passwords item, using the Stacker utilities is actually easier in the toolbox than at the DOS prompt.

In the toolbox, the F1 key provides additional information on Stacker's commands, should you forget. Other than that, convenience is the only thing the STAC program offers over using the utilities separately at the command prompt.

My advice is to use the STAC environment when you become rusty on what the various Stacker utilities do. It also is makes for a handy reference, should you forget a command's options.

 

Stacker utility programs

 

Any filename that ends with a COM, EXE, or BAT extension is a DOS program. Stacker comes with several dozen such program files, all of them neatly installed in the Stacker directory on your hard drive. Many of these programs are used by the SETUP program to set up and test your equipment. Some are used by SSWAP, STACKER, SDEFRAG and other utilities.

Sixteen of Stacker's various COM and EXE programs are what I call the core utilities.  These are used to create, maintain, and adjust your Stacker drives. I've listed them, along with brief descriptions, in Table 9-1.

 

Table 9-1.  Stacker's core utilities.

 

You'll find that many of these utilities come in handy. To run them, however, you'll need to first log to your Stacker directory. This might take two DOS commands:

 

D:\> C:

 

C:\> CD \STACKER

 

C:\STACKER>

 

Here, it's assumed that the Stacker directory is on drive C, C:\STACKER. Your Stacker directory might be elsewhere.

Another way to access the Stacker utilities is by typing in their full pathname when you run them. For example:

 

D:\WINDOWS> C:\STACKER\SCHECK D:

 

This is a klutzy thing to do on a computer -- which is supposed to save you time, not create work. The real solution is to put your Stacker directory on the search path. This is what the SETUP program suggested when you first set up Stacker. Yes, it also is what I recommended against doing in chapter 3. (Personally, I run the utilities via batch files in a BATCH subdirectory. If you're interested in the subject, check out my batch file book Advanced MS-DOS Batch File Programming, also available from Windcrest books, #????.)

If you really want to put your Stacker directory on your search path, edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Use the DOS Edit program, Stacker's ED, or your favorite text editor and load AUTOEXEC.BAT. Find the line that starts with the word PATH. For example:

 

PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WORD;C:\UTIL

 

Add a semicolon to the end of that line, then the name of your Stacker directory. For example:

 

PATH=C:\DOS;C:\WORD;C:\UTIL;C:\STACKER

 

Above, C:\STACKER is appended to the search path. Save the proper change to your own AUTOEXEC.BAT file, exit to DOS, then reset. From that moment on, you'll have access to all of Stacker's utilities from any drive or directory on your system.

The following sections list each of Stacker's core utilities, as shown in Table 9-1.  You'll find detailed information and options, plus examples of how they work. Note that some utilities will not work from a networked disk drive. If your system is a file server or has drives made available to other PCs on the network, these utilities might not function.

In addition to these utilities, the section ``Extra bonus utilities'' covers some 14 other utilities that do interesting things for Stacker.  Though you may not find them particularly useful, they came with Stacker, you paid for them, so why not take a look at what they can do?

 

icon   Almost every Stacker utility command has the /? switch--the help option, similar to DOS's commands and programs. When you type the command name followed by a space, then /?, you'll see a screen of helpful information about using the particular utility.

 

CHECK

 

The CHECK command is similar to DOS's Check Disk (CHKDSK) command. (This command was called SCHECK in older versions of Stacker.) CHECK examines a Stacker drive and reports various statistics and error information. If errors are found, they also can be fixed by CHECK. Here is the command format:

 

CHECK [Stacker drive] [/B] [/D] [/F] [/V] [/WP]

 

The Stacker drive item is the drive letter of a Stacker drive on your system. If it isn't specified, then CHECK will check the current drive. (If the current drive, or drive letter specified, isn't a Stacker drive, you'll see Drive x is not a Stacker drive.)

The /B switch runs CHECK in the batch mode. This has nothing to do with DOS's batch file.  Instead, it means the CHECK program will not pause and wait for input, for example during repair operations.

The /D switch displays more detailed information when running CHECK, include the Stacker Drive Statistics display. An additional message that always displays when you run CHECK with the /D switch is the fragmentation level of the drive.

The /F switch works to fix any errors CHECK encounters, repairing the Stacker drive as best as it can. CHECK usually suggests you run it again with this option; otherwise it doesn't need to be specified.

The /V switch is the verbose option. When specified, CHECK will list all the files on the Stacker drive. This information is displayed before the statistical information and takes on the following format:

 

C:\123      ­directory

C:\DOS­      directory

C:\MSDOS­   .SYS HIDDEN

C:\STACKER\CHECK .EXE

(etc.)

No errors found

 

When fixing any errors, you should run CHECK /F or follow the instructions displayed with the CHECK /D command. Sometimes, CHECK might request you run DOS's Check Disk program with it's /F options first (CHKDSK /F), then run CHECK. Also, you might want to run a third-party disk repair program on the host drive to fix some low-level disk errors if that's required. Refer to chapter 6, ``Disk repair and low-level utilities.''

The /WP switch is used to perform a quick check of all Stacker drives in your system.  The command CHECK /WP should appear in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that the quick check is done every time you start your computer.  If any errors are encountered, you'll see instructions about what to do next.

 

icon    You cannot run CHECK in multitasking environments such as DESQview.

 

CREATE

 

The CREATE program is used to create  "empty" Stacker drives using available disk space.  This is most commonly done on freshly formatted floppy disks to create Stacker floppies.  (To Stack a disk and any files on it, the SETUP program is used.)

 

icon   Detailed information on using the CREATE command can be found in the section in chapter 5 titled, ``Stacking removable disks.''

 

The full format for the CREATE command is:

 

CREATE d:[\STACVOL.xxx] [/S=sss[K|M]] [/R=n.n] [/C=n] [/M]

 

You must specify d:, the letter of the drive containing the disk you want to stack. You optionally can specify the name of a STACVOL.DSK file, although Stacker will use STACVOL.DSK (or STACVOL.000 or STACVOL.001) if only a drive letter is specified. For example, to create a Stacker floppy in drive A, you type the following command:

 

C:\STACKER> CREATE A:

 

That's it. After this command, CREATE will build a Stacker floppy on drive A using all available disk space. A box displays on the screen during the creation process. When that's complete, the message Stacker drive created successfully is displayed.

 

icon   To automatically mount the removable Stacker disk built by CREATE you must specify its drive letter in the line that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS. Refer to the section in chapter 5 titled, ``Mounting a removable Stacker disk'' for additional information.

 

The /S switch sets the amount of disk space to be used for the STACVOL file. The sss value is the size of the STACVOL file in megabytes; the minimum value is 0.1 for a 100K STACVOL file, the maximum value is equal to the size of the disk. When S=0, then all of the free space on the disk will be used for the STACVOL file.

You can specify an optional M or K after the /S switch's value to indicate megabytes or kilobytes when creating the Stacker drive.

As an example of using the /S switch, suppose you wanted to use only half of a 1.4Mb floppy as a Stacker drive, you would enter the following:

 

C:\STACKER> CREATE A: /S=0.7

 

The /R switch is the ratio switch. You use /R to set the guesstimated ratio of data compression on the Stacker drive. Normally, this is set to 2.0:1, although you can create a larger Stacker drive by specifying your own values for n.n. For example, if the Stacker floppy were to hold only text files, you could assume a ratio of 8.0:1 with the following:

 

C:\STACKER> CREATE A: /R=8.0

 

When used on a 1.4Mb Stacker floppy, this command will create a 10,944K floppy disk! That's assuming everything you put on the drive compresses at an 8:1 ratio. (When you use /R in combination with /S, you can predict the size of the Stacker drive created by figuring out the STACVOL.DSK file size and multiplying it by the /R ratio.)

The /C switch sets the cluster size of the Stacker drive. The values are accepted for n are: 4, 8, 16 or 32 for a 4K, 8K, 16K or 32K cluster size. The best compression is possible with 8K clusters, although if you know the drive will have a lot of little files on it, better use of disk space is made with 4K clusters. For huge Stacker drives, cluster sizes of 16K and 32K are preferred (otherwise the drive slows down due to excess disk management overhead). A cluster size of 8K is used if /C isn't specified.

The /M switch starts the CREATE program in the monochrome mode. If you have a monochrome or laptop screen, then specifying /M will make the CREATE program's output easier to read.

 

ED

 

The ED command runs Stacker's full-screen text editor. This is a handy tool for editing your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT files, as well as other text files on disk. Here is the format:

 

ED [filename]

 

The filename is optional. If it is specified, ED will load that text file for editing. If no name is specified, ED starts with a blank slate.

Appendix B lists the keys used in ED to edit a file. (For more information on ED, refer to the section in chapter 3 titled, ``Using Stacker's editor.'')

 

PASSWD

 

The PASSWD command controls access and read-only passwords for a Stacker drive.  Without the proper password, Stacker will not mount the drive and you won't have access to the files stored on it.  Here is the format, which handles several variations of the PASSWD command:

 

PASSWD drive: [.|password] [newpass|.] [/RO]

 

The drive is a Stacker drive.  If it isn't specified, then the current drive is assumed.  password is a Stacker drive's current password.  newpass can either be a new password for the drive, or a read-only password if the /RO switch is specified.  A dot in either position represents no password.

As far as the passwords go, the cannot contain spaces or the following symbols:

 

. " /  | < >  ;

 

To assign a password to a Stacker drive, the following format is used:

 

PASSWD [drive:] . password

 

The drive letter is required unless you're referring to the current drive.  The dot is followed by a space and then the drive's new password.

To change a drive's existing password, use this format:

 

PASSWD [drive:] password newpass

 

Specify the original password first, then a space followed by the drive's new password.

To delete a Stacker drive's password, use this format:

 

PASSWD [drive:] password .

 

Specify the drive's current password, then a space and a dot.

To grant read-only access to a Stacker drive you must first assign a general password.  Then create the read-only password using the following format:

 

PASSWD [drive:] . ropass /RO

 

The ropass will be the Stacker drive's read-only password.  It's followed by the /RO switch.

To remove a Stacker drive's read-only password, use this format:

 

PASSWD [drive:] password . /RO

 

The dot after the drive's current password, along with the /RO switch, removes the read-only password.  Note that the drive's general access password is still firmly in place.

 

icon   Refer to the section ``Using the PASSWD command'' in Chapter 7 for additional information about using passwords on Stacker drives.

 

PREVIEW

 

The PREVIEW command evaluates a disk and reports back what Stacker would do to it, should you elect to Stack the drive.  Here is the format:

 

PREVIEW d:

 

d: is the letter of the drive you want to evaluate.  It can be any type of drive, though PREVIEW will only evaluate floppy drives if you have an A: specified on the line that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS. If you don't specify a drive letter, PREVIEW displays a list of available and un-Stacked hard drive you can sneak-peak at.

PREVIEW takes a good while to run its course, churning and evaluating what it finds on a given hard drive.  When the operation has completed, you'll know the drive's projected compression ratio plus how many extra megabytes of space Stacker would open up on that drive.  To proceed with Stacking, run the SETUP program and select the drive you want to Stack.

Press F10 to exit the PREVIEW program.

 

REMOVDRV

 

The REMOVDRV utility is used to delete a Stacker drive. You should use REMOVDRV only after backing up a Stacker drive or when you're certain the Stacker drive is no longer needed. (In older versions of Stacker this command was called SREMOVE.)

What REMOVDRV does is to delete the STACVOL.xxx file, which contains all your files and information on the Stacker drive. This is not the same as un-stacking a drive, which is done by the UNSTACK command. The format for REMOVDRV is:

 

REMOVDRV d:

 

The drive letter d: is a Stacker drive, which cannot be the current drive. REMOVDRV will display very serious warning messages before it deletes the Stacker drive. It will also peel away the drive's references in your CONFIG.SYS file. Refer to ``Removing a Stacker drive'' in chapter 7 for the details.

 

REPORT

 

The REPORT program gathers compression ratio information about a Stacker drive.  It's display is highly informative, much more detailed than that offered by the CHECK and SDIR commands.  Here is the format:

 

REPORT [/M]

 

REPORT is a full screen program.  It provides a list of available Stacker drives when it starts, so there's no need to select a drive letter.  The /M option can be used to improve REPORT's display contrast on monochrome PCs and laptops.

Full details on using the REPORT program are offered in the section ``The impressive compression summary'' in chapter 6.

Press F10 to exit the REPORT program.

 

SATTRIB

 

The SATTRIB command is designed specifically to change file attributes on the STACVOL file -- the Stacker drive. However, it also can be used to change attributes for any file in your system. Here is the format:

 

SATTRIB [±A] [±H] [±R] [±S] filename

 

A, H, R, and S represent the Archive (or modify), Hidden, Read-only, and System attributes of a file (Table 9-2). The ± is either the plus or minus character. The plus character in front of a letter turns that attribute on; minus turns it off.

 

Table 9-2. File attributes.

 

The filename is the name of a single file or group of files defined with a wildcard. If the filename isn't specified, SATTRIB assumes *.* and displays all files in the current directory.

SATTRIB changes the attributes of that file on or off as specified by the various attribute letters and plus or minus signs. For example, the following switches on read-only status for COMMAND.COM:

 

C:\STACKER> SATTRIB +R C:\COMMAND.COM

SATTRIB.EXE - 3.00, (c) Copyright 1990-92 Stac Electronics, Carlsbad, CA

 

 

C:\

     COMMAND.COM      Archive, Read-only

 

     1 file changed

 

You can check the attributes by specifying SATTRIB and a filename (or wildcard) only.  The output is the same as above, though the message 0 files changed appears.

 

The SCREATE device driver

 

The SCREATE device driver (SCREATE.SYS) builds empty Stacker RAM drives. The command is used only in CONFIG.SYS and must follow the line that creates the RAM drive. Here is the format for the SCREATE device driver:

 

DEVICE=path\SCREATE.SYS d:

 

SCREATE.SYS is not a memory-resident device driver. There is no need to load it high using the DEVICEHIGH command.

The path is the full pathname of the SCREATE.SYS device driver. For example, C:\STACKER\SCREATE.SYS. This must be specified for CONFIG.SYS to locate the SCREATE.SYS file.

A drive letter d: must be specified, indicating the letter of the RAM drive you want to stack. SCREATE creates the Stacker drive file named STACVOL.DSK on that drive.

In its simplest format (which I recommend), you can use the following commands to create a Stacker RAM drive:

 

DEVICE=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 1024 /E

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SCREATE.SYS D:

 

The first line here creates a 1Mb RAM drive, drive D, in extended memory. (RAMDrive is MS-DOS's RAM disk device driver.  It may be called VDISK.SYS in other versions of DOS.)  The second line above stacks the RAM drive, creating Stacker drive D.

Later in CONFIG.SYS, you must mount the RAM drive.  This is done by specifying it's letter -- the same letter used with the SCREATE.SYS driver -- on the line that loads the STACKER.COM device driver.  For example:

 

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM /B=280 @ C:\STACVOL.000 D:

 

Any additional Stacker RAM drives you create must follow this same pattern:

 

1.   Create the RAM drive using RAMDRIVE.SYS or similar RAM disk software.

 

2.   On the next line in CONFIG.SYS, use SCREATE.SYS, followed by the RAM disk's drive letter.

 

3.   Specify the RAM disk's drive letter after STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS.

 

For more information, see the section ``Doubling RAM drive size with SCREATE.SYS'' in chapter 5.

 

SDEFRAG

 

The SDEFRAG command is used to optimize a Stacker drive. It reorganizes files at a low-level, making them all contiguous and improving disk access. SDEFRAG also can be used to change the size of a Stacker drive, which allows more information to be stored on the Stacker drive or the host drive. It can also change the compression ratio of a Stacker drive, as well as re-Stacker Stacker drives. Yes, SDEFRAG does a lot. Here's the format:

 

SDEFRAG [drive:][/R][/P][/D][/Q][/B][/GL][/GP][/Sx][/Fx:STACVOL.xxx][/M]

 

SDEFRAG is a full-screen utility. To run it best on a monochrome PC or laptop, specify the /M switch.  To exit SDEFRAG, press the F10 key.

The drive: is the drive letter of a Stacker drive. If it isn't specified, then the current drive is assumed. SDEFRAG can optimize only a Stacker drive, otherwise the message Drive x is not a Stacker drive appears and the program quits.

The /R switch is used to re-Stack data on a Stacker drive, specifically to optimize space.  This should be done after you've upgraded to the hardware version of Stacker, after upgrading to the newest version of Stacker, to re-compress files to maximize space, or whenever you're directed to by another Stacker program or tech support.

The /P switch is used to tune Stacker's performance.  When specified, SDEFRAG will re-optimize your Stacker drive at a specific compression/speed level.  The /P is followed by an equal sign and a number from 0 through 9 in this format:

 

      /P=x

 

A value of zero for x specifies no tuning; 1 specifies fast disk access with standard compression; 5 is a mixture of standard compression and fast disk access; and 9 offers the best compression with a small speed performance sacrifice.  In-between values offer different performance/speed levels.  (For more information, refer to the TUNER program, later in this chapter.)

The /D switch directs SDEFRAG to optimize only your directories; files will not be defragmented.  This switch cannot be used with the /GL, /GP or /R switches.

The /Q switch directs SDEFRAG to perform a quick optimization of the indicated Stacker drive.  Basically, this just patches up fragmented files.  Other files on the disk won't be touched, and no directory optimization will take place.  SDEFRAG /Q is a great command to consider sticking into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file for a daily Stacker drive tune-up.  This switch cannot be used with the /R, /F or /GP switches.

The /B switch directs SDEFRAG to run in the batch mode.  This has nothing to do with DOS's batch files.  Instead, the batch mode runs SDEFRAG automatically; you won't have to answer any questions and the program will quit automatically when it's done.

The /GL switch is used to change the expected compression ratio of a Stacker drive.  This works best if you find yourself storing a lot of highly compressible (text and graphics) files on a particular drive.  Note that SDEFRAG /GL does not work miracles; Stacker usually tries its best all the time.  This switch may not be used with the /D or /F switches.

The /GP switch activates SDEFRAG's grow or shrink options. This allows you to make more space available on the Stacker drive by increasing the size of the STACVOL.xxx file (but only when there's room on the host drive).  Conversely, you can increase space on the host drive, but only if the Stacker drive is shrinkable.  SDEFRAG /GP will inform you of the possibilities when it initially starts.  This switch may not be used with the /D or /F switches.

The /Sx switch is used to sort files in a specific sort order. SDEFRAG can do this as it optimizes the Stacker drive.  The x is a single letter: N for the file name, E for the file extension, T for the file's time, S for the file size and U for no sorting. Files will be sorted alphabetically from A to Z, by time from earliest to latest, and by size from smallest to largest. You can specify more than one letter to sort in specific orders:

 

C:\STACKER> SDEFRAG D: /SSN

 

Here, SDEFRAG optimizes Stacker drive D and sorts all the files by size and then by name.

The /F switch is used to recover an STACVOL.xxx file should something disastrous happen during SDEFRAG's optimization process (for example, after a blackout or when your four-year-old thought it would be hilarious to press the Reset button). In that case, you run SDEFRAG followed by /F and then the letter of the drive containing the STACVOL file. You must specify the exact pathname for the STACVOL.xxx file.  For example:

 

C:\STACKER> SDEFRAG /FC:\STACVOL.000

 

Here, SDEFRAG resumes operations on Stacker drive D, an "empty" Stacker drive created on drive C.

If SDEFRAG reports that there isn't enough disk space to continue, try copying a few files from your Stacker drive to a floppy disk or another drive. SDEFRAG will tell you how many clusters it needs; multiply that value by eight and you'll see how many kilobytes of files you need to copy.

 

icon    Further details on using the SDEFRAG command can be found in chapters 6 and 7.

 

SDIR

 

SDIR is the Stacker directory command, working much like DOS's Directory (DIR) command. The difference is that SDIR also displays a file's compression ratio, which is handy to know for optimization purposes (refer to the section in chapter 6 titled, ``Improving Stacker drive performance''). The format for SDIR is:

 

SDIR [pathname] [/H] [/P] [/W]

 

The pathname is a drive letter, directory, program name, or a group of programs as specified by wildcards. If pathname isn't specified, then all files in the current directory are displayed. Here is a sample of SDIR's output:

 

SDIR - 3.00, (c) Copyright 1990-92 Stac Electronics, Carlsbad, CA

 

Volume in drive E is STACVOL_000

Directory of  E:\123R3

 

DATA     WK3      3199 06-20-91   1:23a   5.3:1

INC2S    WK3       619 06-20-91   1:23a  16.0:1

INC4S    WK3       965 06-20-91   1:23a  16.0:1

MFG      WK3      2044 06-20-91   1:23a   8.0:1

SALES    WK3      1890 06-20-91   1:23a   8.0:1

SHOES    WK3      3691 06-20-91   1:23a   5.3:1

        6 file(s)  117104640 bytes free

 

Overall compression ratio of files listed = 8.0:1

 

At the end of the display, the overall compression of the files listed is displayed.

The /H switch is used to display and flag hidden files on the drive. For example:

 

STACVOL  000  99999744  1-24-93   7:58a          HIDDEN

 

The /P switch works like the DIR command's /P switch. The message Strike a key when ready . . . is displayed after each screenful of directory information.

The /W switch works like the DIR command's /W switch. Files are displayed in a wide format by filename only, five across on the screen. In this format, individual compression ratio statistics on each file aren't displayed; however, the overall compression ratio value is.

 

SETUP

 

The SETUP program initially installs Stacker, copying files from the distribution diskettes to your hard drive, then creating a Stacker drive according to your specifications. For that purpose, the format of the SETUP command is as follows:

 

SETUP [/XT|/AT|/MC] [/M]

 

The /XT, /AT or /MC switches direct SETUP to test for and install the Stacker co-processor models XT/8, AT/16 and MC/16 respectively.  This only needs to be done if you've installed Stacker co-processor hardware before running SETUP.

The /M switch is the monochrome option. If you have a monochrome or laptop display, specifying /M will make the SETUP program's screens more readable.

After initially installing Stacker and setting up your first Stacker drive, you use the SETUP program to add additional Stacker drives and to create Stacker RAM drives or removable Stacker drives. In this case, the format for SETUP is the same as shown but without the optional hardware switches.

 

icon   SETUP will most likely reset your computer after creating a new Stacker drive and modifying CONFIG.SYS.  Detailed instructions on using SETUP are offered in chapter 5, ``Adding more Stacker drives.''

 

SSWAP

 

The SSWAP utility swaps drive letters between a Stacker drive and its host drive or any two drive letters in your system. It must be run in your CONFIG.SYS file and has the following format:

 

DEVICE=path\SSWAP.COM d:\STACVOL.xxx [/SYNC[+]]

 

The path indicates the full pathname of the SSWAP.COM device driver. This must be specified so that DOS knows where to find the file. Under most circumstances, C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM will be specified, although you should use the proper, full pathname to SSWAP.COM for your system.

The d:\STACVOL.xxx indicates the STACVOL file on a host drive Stacker has already mounted.  It is not the Stacker drive itself. SSWAP. Unless another extension is specified, SSWAP assumes you mean STACVOL.DSK. SSWAP will swap drive letters with that particular Stacker drive and the host drive. For example:

 

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK D:\­STACVOL.DSK

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM C:\STACVOL.DSK /SYNC+

DEVICE=C:\STACKER\SSWAP.COM D:\STACVOL.DSK

 

In this example, assume a hard drive system with drives C and D, both of which are Stacker drives. The first line above mounts both Stacker drives, which are given drive letters E and F. The second line swaps Stacker drive E with its host drive C; the next line swaps Stacker drive F with its host drive D. (Figure 5-4 illustrates this concept. See the section ``Post-installation discussion'' in Chapter 5.)

The /SYNC switch is necessary only when drive C was stacked with all its files. What /SYNC does is to monitor changes between the critical system boot files, primarily AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS, on both the host drive and the Stacker drive. If one of the files has been modified, SSWAP halts the boot process with a message somewhat like the following

 

Stacker has detected changes in the following file(s):

        \AUTOEXEC.BAT

        \CONFIG.SYS

Would you like Stacker to update the file(s)?

(Yes, No, or F1 for more details)?

 

If the files on the host drive were changed, then SSWAP updates the files on the Stacker drive. If files on the Stacker drive were updated, then Stacker copies the changes to the host drive (the uncompressed boot drive), then resets the system to allow the changes to take effect.

The changes will be made automatically if you specify a plus sign (+) after the /SYNC switch.  In that case you'll only need to press Enter if the CONFIG.SYS file on the Stacker drive was modified (that copies CONFIG.SYS to the host drive, then resets your system).

 

icon   SSWAP.COM is not a memory-resident device driver; there is no need to load it high using the DEVICEHIGH command. SSWAP also can be run from the DOS prompt, although without the DEVICE=path\ part of the command or the /SYNC option. Using SSWAP in that manner is rare.

 

The Stacker device driver

 

As a device driver in CONFIG.SYS, STACKER.COM is the magic that turns the STACVOL.DSK file into a Stacker drive. It also hooks Stacker's compression magic into the co-processor card, uses EMS memory, allows for removable Stacker drives, and automatically mounts certain Stacker drives. Here is the full format for the Stacker device driver:

 

DEVICE[HIGH]=path\STACKER.COM [/-AUTO] [/B=xxxx] [/C[=n]] [/EMS] [/M=nn] [/NB] [/ND] [/NW] [/P=x] [/UM] [*...] ­[@...] [[@]d:\STACVOL.xxx...]

 

To load STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS, you can use either the DEVICE or DEVICEHIGH command. If you've done your memory management homework, then use DEVICEHIGH and save some RAM. (Refer to the section in chapter 4 titled, ``Loading the Stacker device driver high'' for additional, albeit confusing, information.)

The path part of the command is the full pathname to the STACKER.COM program, including the drive letter and subdirectories. Normally, this should be C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM, although it might look different on your system. Everything that follows STACKER.COM is optional and can appear in any order.

The /-AUTO switch disables Stacker's Auto-Mounting feature.  This applies only to replaceable Stacker drives, such as Stacker floppies. For example, if you specify /-AUTO, then Stacker will not recognize and automatically mount a Stacker floppy when it's accessed (so you can also remove the A: or B: from the command that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS).  Specifying this switch causes Stacker to use 2.8K less memory.

The /B switch is used only if you have the Stacker co-processor hardware installed on your system. The xxxx part of the switch tells Stacker where to locate the co-processor. It's the base address for the AT/16 or memory location for the XT/8. The MC/16 co-processor is specified by the value 1 (one). Other values are selected by the SETUP program and are shown in Table 9-3.

 

Table 9-3. Values for the Stacker co-processor and the /B switch.

 

The /C=n switch sets the cluster buffer size for the Stacker drive. The values must not be smaller than the smallest cluster size used on any Stacked drive in your system.  Accepted values for n are: 4, 8, 16 or 32 for a 4K, 8K, 16K or 32K cluster size. The default for n is 4.

The /EMS switch directs Stacker to use 64K of expanded memory for its disk cache. Providing your system has expanded memory, this switch moves Stacker's cache and some of its operating instructions into that memory. This makes the device driver use less conventional (or upper) memory. There's no need to specify the /M switch if you're using this option.

The /M switch controls Stacker's conventional memory disk cache. Values for nn range from 0 through 64 for a 0K to 64K disk cache. Having a cache speeds up Stacker's disk operations, but it also sucks up that many kilobytes of conventional memory. Note that the /M switch isn't needed if you have expanded memory and are using the /EMS switch.

The /NB switch means ``no buffer'' and it eliminates Stacker's internal buffer, saving you some 8K of memory. This has two drawbacks. First, it slows down the Stacker drive. Second, you cannot use this option when you have the Stacker hardware installed.  On the sunny side, however, if you use the /NB switch with the /EMS switch, the size of the Stacker device driver in memory is reduced to some 18K.

The /ND, and /NW switches are used only when running Stacker under DR DOS, so ignore them here.

The /P=x switch tunes Stacker's overall performance, pitting fast access against high compression.  Values for x range from 0 through 9.  Zero specifies no tuning, or that the Stacker co-processor will take care of everything.  Lower values specify fast disk access with standard compression; higher values offer the best compression with a small speed performance sacrifice.  A value of 5 is a mixture of standard compression and fast disk access.

The /UM switch directs Stacker to load its buffers into upper memory -- providing you've created upper memory using DOS's memory management tools.  This

The asterisk is used to reserve a drive letter for use by Stacker. You can specify any number of asterisks. Stacker will reserve one drive letter for each asterisk -- in sequence -- starting with the next highest available letter. The reasons for using this option are rare. Normally, it would be used if you have multiple Stacker drives (and STACVOL files) that you're not mounting when the computer boots. Because the asterisk reserves a letter, this allows you to manually mount the drives at a later time.

 

icon   A good example of using the asterisk would be when you have several people using one computer. Each could have their own password-protected Stacker drive, which could be mounted using some type of batch file.

 

Note that the asterisk is used only to reserve non-removable Stacker drives. To make space for removable Stacker drives, the @ sign is used.

The @ is used to reserve a drive letter for a removable Stacker drive, such as a Stacker floppy or Bernoulli disk. You specify one @ for each removable drive. So, if you have Stacker floppies for two floppy drives, you should specify two at signs. (Note that you cannot mount a Stacker drive unless a letter is reserved for it using the @ sign; you need one at sign for each Stacker drive you'll be mounting manually.)

The d:\STACVOL.xxx... part of the Stacker device driver is what actually creates and mounts the Stacker drive. The d: is the drive letter of the STACVOL file. It's followed by the name of the STACVOL file, which is assumed to be STACVOL.DSK unless another extension is used. Stacker will create one Stacker drive for each STACVOL.xxx file listed.

 

Stacker on the command line

 

At the DOS prompt, you can use the Stacker command to display information about Stacker, mount and un-mount Stacker drives. There are three formats:

 

STACKER [-]d:

STACKER d1:=d2:\STACVOL.xxx

STACKER @d:\STACVOL.xxx

 

Without any options, Stacker displays the current status of the program, your Stacker drives, and any Stacker hardware installed in your PC, as seen in Fig. 9-2.

 

Figure 9-2. Stacker's summary of your system

 

The first format, with a single drive letter d:, is used to mount a Stacker drive, specifically a removable Stacker drive. To un-mount the drive, a minus sign is specified before the drive letter. Note that you must specify an at sign (@) or asterisk (*) in the Stacker device driver to make room for the removable drive (refer to the previous section).

The second format mounts a non-removable Stacker drive, such as a STACVOL.DSK file on your hard drive. d1: is the drive letter to assign the Stacker drive. It must be reserved, typically by specifying an asterisk by the Stacker device driver. d2: is the letter of the drive containing the STACVOL.DSK file. If the STACVOL file has another name, then it must be specified. For example:

 

C:\STACKER> STACKER D:=C:\STACVOL.000

 

Above, Stacker mounts the "empty" Stacker drive D:, which is created from the STACVOL.000 file on drive C. There must be an asterisk in the Stacker device driver in CONFIG.SYS for the drive to mount.

The final format of the Stacker command is used to mount a Stacker drive automatically. d: is the letter of the drive containing a STACVOL.DSK file. The at sign (@) before the d: tells Stacker to mount that Stacker drive using the same drive letter as the host drive. If a file other than STACVOL.DSK is used, then you must specify it.

 

TUNER

 

The TUNER program allows you to balance Stacker's speed verses compression.  You can select high speed and standard compression, high compression and standard speed, or a mixture of both.  Here is the format:

 

TUNER [/M]

 

Specify the /M to improve contrast on monochrome PCs and laptops.

What TUNER does is to add a /P=x switch into the line that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS.  The Fastest speed and standard compression choice sticks /P=1 into CONFIG.SYS; More compression and a bit less speed inserts /P=5; and Best compression inserts /P=9.  If you have the Stacker hardware, then no change is made to CONFIG.SYS, since you'll get the best speed and compression using the co-processor.

 

UNSTACK

 

The UNSTACK command un-does what the SETUP command does; it de-compresses a Stacker drive, copying files back to the host drive and then dwindling the STACVOL.xxx file down to nothing and eventually killing it (and its reference in CONFIG.SYS).  Here's the format:

 

UNSTACK drive:

 

drive: must be specified.  It indicates the letter of a Stacker drive in your system.

UNSTACK offers ample warnings about what it does.  However, unlike the REMOVDRV command -- which utterly destroys a Stacker drive and all the files on it -- this command diligently copies files from the Stacker drive to your host drive before removing the Stacker drive.

There's only one hitch to the UNSTACK command: You can't have more files on your Stacker drive than will fit on the un-compressed host.  If you do, then you have a problem.  Refer to chapter 7, in the section ``Un-Stacking a Stacker drive'' for the details, pitfalls and warnings.

 

Extra bonus utilities

 

The 16, core Stacker utilities are what you'll use most often to work with your Stacker drives.  The STAC toolbox helps in the process, integrating the most valuable functions into one handy environment.

Aside from the core utilities, there are 14 other interesting programs in your STACKER subdirectory you might want to take a look at.  Table 9-4 lists each of these commands along with a brief summary.  the remaining sections in this chapter discuss each of the utilities in brief, in case you want to try one or two.

 

Table 9-4.  Stacker's bonus utilities.

 

CONFIG

 

The CONFIG command is used to update the command that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS.  CONFIG isn't really that smart; it doesn't scan your hard drives and it will often disable some of the fine-tuning switches you've added to CONFIG.SYS.  Here is the format:

 

CONFIG [/S=dir] [/C=config]

 

The /S option indicates the direct where STACKER.COM is located.  The /C is used to specify a filename other than CONFIG.SYS which the CONFIG command modifies.

Without any options, CONFIG displays its suggested changes to your CONFIG.SYS file as follows:

 

CONFIG - 3.00, (c) 1990-92 Stac Electronics, Carlsbad, CA

 

Locating STACVOL files...C:D:E:

 

 

Reading C:\CONFIG.SYS.  The following lines will be disabled:

- DEVICEHIGH=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM /B=280 A: C:\STACVOL.000 D:

 

The following lines will be added:

+ DEVICE=C:\STACKER\STACKER.COM /B=280 D: C:\STACVOL.000

 

Change C:\CONFIG.SYS as indicated (y/N)?

 

Press Y to change CONFIG.SYS.  Above the changes aren't that drastic; the original line will be REM'd, the second one used in it's place.  If you press N or Enter, CONFIG displays Quitting.  No changes made. and you're returned to the command prompt.

 

DATETEST

 

The DATETEST command compares the dates on two files.  It returns an ERRORLEVEL value based on the results of the comparison.  In this way, Stacker can automatically determine which of two files is older, such as the SSWAP utility does when Stacker drive C is mounted.  Here is the format:

 

DATETEST [file1] [file2]

 

file1 and file2 are two files whose dates are compared.  If you don't specify either one or both, DATETEST returns an ERRORLEVEL of one.

To see which ERRORLEVELs the program returns, type DATETEST at the command prompt.  The last line of output displays the ERRORLEVEL returned.

 

icon   To suppress DATETEST's display in a batch file, redirect its output to the NUL device.  For example:

 

      DATETEST > NUL

      REM Test ERRORLEVEL values here

 

SAVEHDR

 

The SAVEHDR copies the first part of a Stacker drive's STACVOL.xxx file -- the header -- to a special file on a floppy disk, SAVEHDR.  This command is most likely used by Stac Electronics tech support to assist in troubleshooting errant Stacker drives. Here's the format:

 

SAVEHDR d:STACVOL.xxx floppy:

 

d is the host drive letter for a STACVOL file.  The floppy is either A: or B:, representing a floppy disk onto which the header information will be saved.  Be aware that the header file may be up to 1M in size -- or more -- so use an empty floppy disk.

 

SDIAG_AT

SDIAG_XT

 

The SDIAG_AT and SDIAG_XT utilities are used by Stacker's SETUP program to test the AT/16 and XT/8 co-processor hardware.  Here is the format for both:

 

SDIAG_AT [/Q|/V] [address]

SDIAG_XT [/Q|/V] [address]

 

The /Q switch runs the program in the quite -- no display -- mode.  The /V switch runs the diagnostic utility in the verbose mode.  The address is the base address of the Stacker co-processor.  Values can be found in Table 9-3 in the "Base Address" column.

After entering the proper command with a base address, the utility will test for the hardware at that address.  Instead of doing this, I recommend using the SETUP command followed by the proper switch to test and install the Stacker co-processor for your PC.  Refer to the section ``Installation'' in chapter 3.

 

SDIAG_MC

 

The SDIAG_MC utility tests the Stacker co-processor on IBM PS/2 Microchannel computers.  If you don't have such a computer, the test comes back negative rather quickly.

As with the previous two commands, I don't recommend running this utility at the command prompt.  Obey the instructions in chapter 3, the section ``Installation'' for dealing with a Stacker co-processor on your PC instead.

 

SGROUP

 

SGROUP is a Microsoft Windows program.  It can only run in Windows.  What SGROUP does is to install the Stacker Windows utilities -- Stackometer, Tuner and Setup -- into a special Stacker group in the Program Manager.  If you install Stacker under Windows, then this program is run automatically after SETUP resets your computer.

 

STACOMTR

 

STACOMTR is a Windows-only program.  It's the Stackometer program which monitors a Stacker drive's compression, capacity and fragmentation, as well as provides a gateway to other Stacker utilities from within Windows.

It's possible to specify the STACOMTR program as a DOS command in Windows.  This can be done using the Run command in either the Program Manager's or File Manager's File menu, or by entering information about the Stackometer program icon in the Program Manager's "Properties" dialog box.  If so, then you can use STACOMTR full format as follows:

 

path\STACOMTR.EXE drive:[-Tinterval]

 

The path is the full pathname to the STACOMTR.EXE program.  It includes the drive letter and subdirectory where the program can be found.  For most of us, that's C:\STACKER.  If not, be sure to specify the proper, full pathname to STACOMTR.EXE.

drive is a disk drive in your system, followed by a colon.  It can be a Stacker drive or non-Stacker drive.  Note that the Stackometer will only display fragmentation information for Stacker drives.

The -Tinterval switch is optional.  It's used to specify a time interval after which Stackometer will automatically update the information it displays.  The value for interval is measured in seconds; the default is 5 seconds.

For additional information on using the Stackometer, refer to chapter 8, the section `` The Stackometer.''

 

STACPALM

 

The STACPALM utility is used to install Stacker on diskless laptops and palmtop computers.  Using file transfer software, you copy STACPALM.EXE and the STACKER.COM program from your desktop PC to the diskless laptop.  Once there, you run STACPALM to install Stacker, create an empty Stacker drive using available space on your laptop's hard drive, and modify CONFIG.SYS.  Here is the format for STACPALM:

 

STACPALM d: [/S=sss.s] [/R=n.n] [/C=n]

 

This program should be run on your laptop -- not the desktop.  Once there, type in STACPALM followed by the host drive letter, d:.  The options above, /S, /R and /C are identical to the options found in the CREATE command listed earlier in this chapter; refer there for additional information.

 

STUNE

 

The STUNE program is a Windows-only utility. It's the Tune Up program that appears in the Stacker program group in the Program Manager.  In Windows, STUNE performs the same function as the Stacker TUNER utility at the DOS prompt.  Refer to the TUNER earlier in this chapter for additional information.

 

icon   Information on using STUNE -- the Tuner -- in Windows is presented in the section ``The Tuner'' in chapter 8.

 

SWAPMAP

 

The SWAPMAP program displays a list of drives that Stacker currently is swapping, similar to the latter part of what the Stacker command displays (see Fig. 9-2). There are no options for the SWAPMAP command.

 

icon   Note that SWAPMAP does not run under DESQview.

 

SYSINFO

 

The SYSINFO command is used to create the SYSINFO.TXT file, which is used by the Stac Electronics tech support people to evaluate problems in your system. Here is the full format:

 

SYSINFO [/A][/C][/E=ed][/H][/N=file][/R][/Q][/S][/W][/WR][/F][/T]

 

 

Without any switches, SYSINFO generates the SYSINFO.TXT file filled with information about your computer's hardware, software, DOS and Windows (if it's installed).  This file is displayed in the ED text editor for your viewing enjoyment.  Press the Escape key to exit ED.

SYSINFO's many optional switches do the following:

The /A switch directs SYSINFO to load your system's AUTOEXEC.BAT file into ED for editing.

The /C switch directs SYSINFO to load your system's CONFIG.SYS file into ED for editing.

The /E=ed switch directs SYSINFO to use the text editor specified by ed instead of Stacker's ED.

The /H switch directs SYSINFO to generate a report detailing your PCs hardware only.

The /N=file switch directs SYSINFO to output its information to the file named file instead of SYSINFO.TXT.

The /R directs SYSINFO not to generate a report, but instead display the current SYSINFO.TXT file in ED (or the file specified by the /N switch using the text editor specified by /E).

The /Q switch directs SYSINFO to display the "Quick Info" string only.  The editor is not run with this switch.

The /S switch directs SYSINFO to generate a report detailing your PC's software only.

The /W switch directs SYSINFO to generate a report detailing Windows information only.

The /WR switch also directs SYSINFO to generate Windows information from all your disk drives.

The /F switch directs SYSINFO to generate information on your disk drives only.  This is the same information that used to be generated by the old FINDVOL command, no longer included with Stacker version 3.  The output looks something like this:

 

Stacker Volume Information

 

Drive C:

 STACVOL.000       5,000,192

Drive D:

 None found!

Drive E:

 Drive not mounted!

 

The /T switch directs SYSINFO to output the SYSINFO.TXT file to the drive and directory specified as the TEMP directory by DOS.

 

VIDTYPE

 

The VIDTYPE program generates an ERRORLEVEL value based on which graphics system you have installed in your PC.  To see which ERRORLEVELs are produced, type VIDTYPE at the command prompt.

If you want to use VIDTYPE in a batch file, redirect it's output to the NUL device to keep the batch file's display neat and clean.  For example:

 

      VIDTYPE > NUL

      REM Test ERRORLEVEL values here

 

WSETUP

 

The WSETUP program is a Windows-only utility. It's the gateway to the DOS SETUP program, used in both Windows and DOS to create new Stacker drives.

After you select the SETUP application, Windows will shut down, closing all other applications.  It then quits to the DOS prompt, where the SETUP program is run. When SETUP is finished, it may reset your computer.  If not, you'll be returned to Windows.

Additional information on running the Setup program in Windows is presented in chapter 8.  Refer to the section titled ``The Setup program.''

 

Review

 

This chapter covered Stacker's core utilities, as well as the bonus utilities included in your Stacker directory.  The core utilities represent tools you'll use to create, work with and tune your Stacker drives.  The bonus utilities were documented here primarily to satiate your curiosity, though a few Stacker users may find appeal in some of the utilities.

The STAC program is an integrated environment for running the most important Stacker utilities -- the Stacker toolbox. It offers on-line help with the options and makes using the Stacker utilities easier if you forget a command or don't consider yourself a technical person.

CHECK checks the integrity of a Stacker drive and reports statistics and any errors encountered. When run with its optional /F switch, CHECK also fixes the errors.

CREATE makes empty Stacker drives, such as Stacker floppies by converting free space on a disk into "empty" Stacker drives.

ED is Stacker's easy-to-use text editor.

PASSWD is used to apply passwords to your Stacker drives.

PREVIEW can be run on non-Stacker drives to give you an idea of what Stacker would do with the drive.  PREVIEW reports the un-compressed drive's potential compression ratio as well as how many additional megabytes of space Stacker would create.

REMOVDRV deletes the STACVOL file from disk, utterly destroying your Stacker drive. It also removes references to the drive in your CONFIG.SYS file.

REPORT offers detailed compression information for a Stacker drive.  It's much more detailed than the statistics offered by the CHECK or SDIR utilities.

SATTRIB changes a file's attributes, similar to DOS's ATTRIB command.

The SCREATE device driver builds Stacker RAM drives.

SDEFRAG optimizes Stacker drives. It also changes the drive's compression ratio and it can make a Stacker drive larger or smaller.

SDIR displays files on a Stacker drive, along with their individual compression ratio.

SETUP initially sets up Stacker but, afterwards, can be used to create new Stacker drives, including Stacker floppies. Using the SETUP program is the only way to stack an existing disk with all its data.

SSWAP is both a command line program and device driver that swaps drive letters in your system. SSWAP swaps drive letters between your Stacker drive and the host drive.

STACKER is both a device driver and command line program. As a device driver, STACKER initially loads Stacker and mounts any Stacker drives. As a command line program, STACKER is used to mount removable Stacker drives, as well as report on the status of the program.

TUNER is a utility used to compensate between Stacker's speed and ability to compress files.  Basically, it adjusts the /P switch on the command line that loads STACKER.COM in CONFIG.SYS.

UNSTACK is a miraculous utility that un-Stacks Stacker drives.  It copies files from a Stacker drive to the host drive, then shrinks and finally eliminates the STACVOL.xxx file.  Unlike REMOVDRV, UNSTACK lets you keep the files that were on your Stacker drive.