Hello, Thanks for your interest in my partition split utility FIPS for DOS. Unfortunately, I currently can not afford very much time on answering emails about FIPS, so I prepared this standard answer. It answers some of the most common questions. There are four parts: - General Information - Troubleshooting - Unresolved problems - Obtaining the latest version In general, while I usually read the emails I receive about FIPS, I will not reply personally in most cases. I apologize if this mail does not answer all of your questions. For Germans: leider gibt es keine deutsche Version der FIPS-Dokumentation. Ich kann zur Zeit nicht die Zeit aufbringen, sie zu uebersetzen. Sicher koennen Sie jemanden finden, der Ihnen beim Lesen behilflich ist. General Information ------------------- 1. FIPS works flawlessly with Windows 95. Since the changes in the file system from DOS 6 to Win95 (i.e. long filenames) are on a higher level than what FIPS works on, FIPS was not affected and continued to work as it did under previous DOS/Windows versions. There is one exception, see the 'unresolved problems' section. 2. FIPS currently works on almost any existing PC hard disk that is for- matted for DOS. This includes IDE, EIDE and SCSI disks with no limit on drive size. Basically if the disk is accessible under DOS, FIPS will work. FIPS does not work on extended partitions, though. Some problems with large disks in FIPS 1.2 and older versions have been fixed, so try the current version first if you received any error messages. 3. In the unlikely case that you have a setup that is not supported by FIPS, it is not dangerous to try it. FIPS has a number of safety mecha- nisms that make it almost impossible for FIPS to destroy anything. Of course you will still use FIPS at your own risk, so please read the doc carefully and be sure to have recent backups of your important data. 4. The question about if and how it is possible to (re)join partitions is answered in detail in FIPS.FAQ. 5. FIPS does _not_ change the cluster size in the partition that you split. (In case you wonder: in the FAT file system, sectors are grouped in 'clus- ters', which are the basic units in which file space is allocated. Files take up multiples of the cluster size, so the larger the cluster size, the more space is wasted at the end of files. On average, one half of a cluster is unused space at the end of a file). Changing the cluster size would change the whole file system structure, and FIPS was never designed to do that. For more information read the FIPS FAQ. Troubleshooting --------------- In general, about 90% of the reported problems are solved by a.) using the latest version (FIPS 1.5) and b.) carefully reading the FAQ and other docs coming with that release. These files are FIPS.FAQ, FIPS.DOC and SPECIAL.DOC. If you lack any of these files, get the complete package from one of the places listed below. Here are some additional tips: 1. Especially under Windows 95, a frequent problem is that the defrag- mentation program does not move some of the files at the end of the partition, so that a large portion of the free space on the drive can't be used for the new partition, or FIPS refuses to run at all. In this case, use the program 'showfat' to locate the hidden files. It is available from SimTel (ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/ showf251.zip). For most hidden files it is safe to remove the 'hidden' attribute and run defrag to move them (no guarantees, however). 2. If all else fails, you might restore your original configuration with RESTORRB and give 'Partition Resizer' a try. It's a program that performs a similar function as FIPS, but it may provide additional functionality and may be more up to date (haven't had the chance to try it yet). It is available from SimTel in the same directory as FIPS (see below), the file- name is presz???.zip. Unresolved problems ------------------- 1. Some installations of Windows 95 have a partition type '0xE' that is supposedly also a FAT partition. I have not had the time to investigate, so this partition is _not_ currently supported by FIPS. 2. There is no support for extended partitions and probably will not be for some time. Please don't ask me about it. Obtaining the latest version ---------------------------- The latest version of FIPS is 1.5. It is available from some of the most important DOS and Linux ftp servers: SimTel and Garbo for DOS, tsx-11 and sunsite for Linux. These servers are mirrored all over the world, so it is very likely that FIPS is on a server near to you. The filename is: fips15.zip If you can, use archie to find a near server, or just check the file list of a large server in your vicinity. If you can't find it, try one of the following: ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/dos_utils/fips15.zip ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/Install/fips15.zip ftp://ftp.coast.net/SimTel/msdos/diskutil/fips15.zip ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/diskutil/fips15.zip It is also available by WWW from my home page http://www.student.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/~schaefer/fips.html If you have only email access to the Internet, try the ftp-to-mail gateways of Garbo or SimTel: Send email to ftpmail@garbo.uwasa.fi with a line help in the body of the message, or send email to listserv@simtel.coast.net with get simtel-mailserver.info in the body of the message. Best Regards, Arno