SimulTask and huge D: file

[~XT6561110~Frank McGee~C23~L25~6326~]

In article <1990Aug14.181508.10655 at cbnewsd.att.com> bamford at cbnewsd.att.com (harold.e.bamford) writes:
>
>I have a 6386 running SimulTask 2.0 and a large problem.
>Specifically, the D: DOS volume is getting too large.  I have
>deleted files such that the total size of the files (according to
>chkdsk) is about 9 megabytes.  But the D: file (in the unix dosapps
>directory) is still 15 megabytes.  How can I shrink the D: file to
>a more appropriate size?

The ability to shrink pseudo-volumes is one of the features of
Simultask 3.0, which is in Beta now.  In the mean-time, here's
how you can shrink the volume.

Note that it's a good idea to back up the /usr/vpix tree
before you do this.

Basically, what you want to do is create a new copy of the
pseudo-volume, then delete the old volume.  An original,
pristine, pseudo-volume can be found in /usr/vpix (the file
Cdrive).  To make a copy of the pristine Cdrive, you could do
something like :

# cp /usr/vpix/Cdrive /usr/vpix/defaults/D:

To make this available under Simultask, you need to edit the
/usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf file.  In that file, near the
bottom, you should see an entry like :

# D	/usr/dosapps/D:

To make your new copy of the D drive available under
Simultask, you would change that to :

# D	/usr/vpix/defaults/D:

Then, start Simultask.

# dos

Then, format the new D drive :

C:\> format D: /s

This will format the new pseudo volume.  It will behave
exactly like the normal MSDOS format of a hard disk, except in
this case your hard disk will be the UNIX filename you put in
the C line of /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf.  MAKE SURE you aren't
formatting a volume you've made available through dosslice
(ie, your D line in /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf does not
contain an entry that starts with /dev/rdsk).  If you've followed
the instructions above you'll be okay.  Don't forget the /s
parameter so that the volume is bootable.

When this completes, execute the following command :

C:\> xcopy c:\ d:\ /s

This will take a few minutes.  Then exit out of Simultask, and
execute the following command :

# cp /usr/vpix/defaults/D: /usr/vpix/defaults/C:

At this point, you should now see lots of space freed up.
Then re-edit /usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf so that the D entry
looks like it did originally.

Then restart Simultask; everything should boot as normal,
except now you're pseudo volume should be almost exactly the
size of the files you have in it.

Hope this helps you out.  Highly recommend you take a look
through the Simultask manual and read up about the contents of
/usr/vpix/defaults/vpix.cnf if you aren't familiar with
editing that file before you attempt this.

-- 
Frank McGee, AT&T
Entry Level Systems Support
attmail!fmcgee (preferred)
att!cuuxb!fmcgee (those that can't reach attmail)