Procedure of creating a FOLDER-disk

     To create a FOLDER-disk start the FCREA utility.

Syntax: FCREA.COM

Typ:    External command

Note:   FCREA cannot be used with multitask systems like WINDOWS, DESKview
        etc.

Description:
     The command is entered without parameters. All necessary data for
creating FOLDER-disk you may specify in a dialog box:

         +[+]----------------Create Folder Disk-----------------+
         |                                                      |
         |Select Drive:    Maximum Available space:     412K    |
         |+-------------+  Size of Folder                       |
         ||A: Local     +  disk Image(Kbyte):          [412+++] |
         ||B: Local     +                                       |
         ||C: Local     *  Estimated compression                |
         ||D: Local     *  Factor(XX.X):               [2.5++]  |
         ||E: Local     *                                       |
         ||F: Local     *  [ ] Use the same drive letter        |
         ||             +      for FOLDER DISK.                 |
         |+-------------+                                       |
         |                 Volume:[FOLDER DISK]                 |
         | Cluster size:                                        |
         | ( ) 4 Kbyte  (*) 8 Kbyte  ( ) 16 Kbyte ( ) 32 Kbyte  |
         |                                                      |
         |         Create #        Exit  #        About  #      |
         |         ########       ########       #########      |
         +------------------------------------------------------+

     There are several items corresponding to the specified parameters of
FOLDER-file. You may switch between items using arrow keys or clicking the
left mouse button.

     There is a window on the left where you may select the host-disk for
your FOLDER-file. Select the disk with arrow keys or mouse.  If there is no
enough room for the needed disk, you may scroll through all disks available
using arrow keys or clicking the scroll bar on the right.

     In the right upper corner you see the information about the free space
available on your host-disk. Under it there is a bar where you may input the
desired size for FOLDER-file. By default the maximum possible size of
FOLDER-DISK for the specified host-disk is assumed. You cannot create
FOLDER-file larger than this default size. If this default size proves much
less than all the free space on the host-disk, you should defragment it
(with COMPDISK) before creating FOLDER-disk on it. This will increase the
maximum possible size of FOLDER-disk. The size of FOLDER-file is specified
by the Kilobyte (1 KByte = 1024 Bytes).

     The next bar down is for input of estimated compression ratio.  It may
range from 1.0 to 10.0.

     Different types of data allow different compression ratios.  Typical
compression coefficients for different files compressed by the PTS-FOLDER
system are in a table below.

          +-----------------------------------+----------------+
          |           File type               | Compression    |
          |                                   |    ratio       |
          +-----------------------------------+----------------+
          |                                   |                |
          | Executable files  (EXE, COM, SYS) |    1.5 - 4.0   |
          | Object module libraries           |    2.0 - 3.0   |
          | Text files                        |    2.5 - 4.0   |
          | Hypertext files (Help files)      |    1.5 - 3.0   |
          | Source textes, listings           |    3.0 - 4.5   |
          | Data base  files                  |    2.0 - 4.0   |
          | Font files                        |    4.0 - 6.0   |
          +-----------------------------------+----------------+

     If you are not sure what kind of files will be stored in your
FOLDER-disk, type in 3.0. The compression coefficient you choose will not
affect the data compression ratio, it just helps the system to preestimate
FOLDER-disk physical structure and its size.

     In the next bar down you should specify whether you want the host disk
name to be used as a name of FOLDER-disk.  To agree, press the [Space] key
or click the bar [ ]. If you agree, in further use the FOLDER-disk will be
known to the system under the same logic name as the host-disk. We recommend
you to switch this parameter when you use the WHOLE host-disk for your
FOLDER-disk.

     The next bar is for the folder-disk label.

     Then you may choose the cluster size for FOLDER-disk from four possible
values: 4 Kb, 8 Kb, 16 Kb, 32 Kb. You should choose the smallest cluster
size for small disks and large cluster size for large disks. If you are not
sure, the optimum size is 8 Kb.

     In the very bottom of the menu there are three buttons.  Pressing the
first you will create the FOLDER-file with all the parameters specified.
For this you may also press [Enter] from any place in menu except other
lower buttons. The other button is "Exit" to exit FCREA. Pressing it is
equal to pressing [Esc] key from any place in menu.  The third button is to
display the info about the program version. It is equal to pressing [F1].

     If a FOLDER-file cannot be created, an appropriate error message is
displayed. If the error message "Cannot create FOLDER-disk of specified
size" is displayed, increase the cluster size or decrease the size of the
FOLDER-file.

     If the FOLDER-file has been successfully created, the following message
is displayed:

        FOLDER-disk succesfully created.
        Insert the following line to your CONFIG-file:
        DEVICE[high] = [path]FOLDER.SYS current_drive: [another_drives]

     This line will enable booting FOLDER.SYS driver.

Example:

       DEVICE=C:\FOLDER\FOLDER.SYS C: D: E: A:

     This command means that, first, the FOLDER driver will be initiated
from the FOLDER directory on drive C:, and, secondly, that drives C:, D:, E:
and A: are host-disks and each of them has its own FOLDER-disk created
(C:, D: and E: are hard drives, and A: is a diskette).

     If you look then at the root directory of a host-disk you will see that
the whole disk space (or its part) is occupied by the hidden FOLDER.FLD file
created by the FCREA utility.