DOS

You loved it or hated it, there was no in between. Most people hated it because it was so difficult to remember all the commands. And where all the files were stored. It seemed to be only for the geeks. Others loved it for exactly the same reasons.

Batch Files Disk Compresssion

Compressing onto Floppies.

If you wish to take all the hassle out of zipping files then here is a simple BAT file which will use maximum compression, include subdirectories, span disks and allow you to name it.

PKZIP 2.04g , a DOS shareware program is probably on your system already. Assuming PKZIP is installed to C:\PKWARE add " ;C:\PKWARE " to the end of your PATH command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT. Alternatively copy PKZIP.EXE to the DOS or WINDOWS directory ( Folder ).
Next make a BAT file in the same directory as PKZIP.EXE. Type the following.

PKZIP A:%1 -& -ex -rp

Call it ZIP.BAT

...To use it move to the directory you wish to compress and type ZIP followed by a file name ( 8 letters max ).
e.g. "ZIP MYFILES" will compress everything in the current directory to A: and call it MYFILES.ZIP
Works well on my 386 running WIN 3.1 and DOS 6.2 and also on my Pentium 166 with Win 95 OSR2 FAT32. (For WIN 95 set properties to close on exit. )

Unzipping Files

Having zipped up your files you will no doubt want to unzip them again (there would be no point otherwise). WINZIP is fine but in DOS you have the old command line to type. Far easier is a utility that came free with some shareware I bought from JUMBO shareware catalogue called GO.EXE . This little program works for DOS, WIN3.x and up to WIN98. Easy to use. Will create and unzip to any directory you like.
Put it into a directory with PKUNZIP.EXE and copy all your zip files into the same directory. Better still copy GO.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE onto the last disk of your spanned set. I have my PC set up with a batch file to copy these two files to a floppy. i.e. GO.EXE & PKUNZIP.EXE are in C:\UTILS\GO therefore the BAT file which I call "GO2A.BAT" is;

CD C:\UTILS\GO
COPY *.* A:\

N.B. If you do use it with WIN95/8 set the check box in properties to "close on exit".
The two files together take up only 39.8Kb. You would have to be very unlucky for an otherwise full floppy not to have that much space left over. Does happen sometimes though, that's when you have to use the first method.

MSBACKUP

MSBACKUP is an excellent utility but it is not perfect.

On the negative side it does seem to get upset if you have more than one drive or partition. This happens after you have chosen the files that you what to back up on the C:\ drive and you will naturally click on the D:\ drive and select a few more. At this point you may notice that the files displayed as belonging to the D:\ drive are actually the ones that belong to C:\ Do not worry the solution is simple. Just select the drives in reverse alphabetical order. Sounds daft but it works so why knock it? Of course if you only have one drive and only one partition this will not be a problem.

On the plus side it will backup any files you select to any predefined path or onto floppy. Better still unlike the backup that comes with Windows 96/98/ME it will allow you to save files between date ranges. This makes sense and saves a lot of time because the program files themselves are available on your installation disks and it is only the files that you create that you will need to backup.

To set this up type "MSBACKUP" from the DOS prompt from any directory (or set up an icon in CounterPoint and give it the same command). Select "BACKUP" from the menu. Click on "Select Files". Click on "Special" and click on "Apply Date Range" and type in the dates. The earlier date should be some date after the latest date in the program. The last date will be some date in the far future. With care you can typically backup all your DOS word processor files, game configuration files and CounterPoint (if you have it installed) in two or three minutes. Using just two or three floppies.

FORMATTING FLOPPY DISKS

For a faster format try the command "FORMAT A: /AUTOTEST" This will dispense with the "insert new diskette for driveA: and press ENTER when ready..." message. It wont ask for a volume label or if you want to format another one either. It will however assume that there is a floppy already in the drive. If you also add the "/U" switch it wont bother to save the UNFORMAT information and thereby save even more time. Set this up as a batch file or icon command in CounterPoint to make life easier.

UNDELETE

The undelete command can be very useful to recover accidentally deleted files. For some unknown reason Micosoft did not include it in Win 95 onwards. I have used an old 486 running DOS 6.22 to recover deleted files on a floppy disk which were created under Win 95. It will not see the long file names but give a 8.3 type name instead. Just rename it under Win 95 back to whatever it should have been. In theory you could copy the UNDELETE.EXE file from DOS 6 and insert it into the C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND folder in Win 9x then run it from the hard drive. I have not actually tried it so proceed with caution and let me know if it works.

PRINTING THE CONTENTS OF A DIRECTORY

This is a useful little trick. Navigate to a Directory (or Folder) in DOS and type "DIR > filename.txt" and you will have created a text file called "filename.txt" which contains all the details you would have seen on the screen with the simple "DIR" command as it is. Will also work on Windows 9x in a DOS box.

COPY A FLOPPY DISK

DISKCOPY A: A:

Still works with Windows 95/98/2000. Set it up as the command in a new shortcut (remembering to set "close on Exit"). Good one to use if you want more than one copy.

Batch Files Disk Compresssion