Compressed Drive

[FZWG]

A friend has an old ThinkPad 380CE with Windows 95A (4.00.950) installed. The TP has a 350MB hard drive!

Drive C:\ is a Compressed drive. It is stored on uncompressed drive H: in the file H:\DBLSPACE.000
This file is ‘Read Only’.

Free space=335.48MB with an estimated compression ratio of 1.7 to 1
Used Space=164.61MB compressed ratio 1.5 to 1
Capacity=500.09MB

Option to ‘Hide Host Drive C:’ is unchecked.


Drive H is not compressed.
Free space=15.25MB
Used Space=312.93MB
Capacity=328.18MB

Option to ‘Hide this host drive’ is unchecked.

Trying to install some Solitaire games from a CD. The ThinkPad does not have a CD-ROM, so, used a 2.4” to 3.5” Hard Drive adapter, and connected it to a desktop running W98SE. The TP hard drive is then shown as Primary Slave, ‘Host for C (D

So, the ‘Host for C (D)’ shows up in the W98SE PC, but the compressed drive, which is supposed to have 335MB free space, does not. Guess that is because it is stored in the file H:\DBLSPACE.000

Any ideas of how one could install the Solitaire games on the compressed drive that is stored in the H:\DBLSPACE.000 file?

Thanks for the help.

[GaryRouth]

Seems like the Double-Space drivers have to be loaded on the system that wishes to access the Double-Space compressed drive? [80% guess, 20% hazy remembering]

If they don't have to install from the cd itself, I wonder if a Laplink sort of connection might work, or a direct Cable connection, since then the TP double-space drivers would be in action. This would only work if the games are older, and don't really do much installing other than copying a few executables.

I'll bet Hal might know a way . . .
. . . Gary

[...if anyone you know has a PC-card Cd-drive, maybe they'd let you borrow it long enough to install things]

[FZWG]

Thanks for the reply, Gary.

Got sort of hesitant to mess with the drive too much, after finding out that there is absolutely no support from IBM for this old a Laptop (TP380CE).

Copied the Solitaire Game CD to another PC (Desktop), and then spanned its contents over 13 floppies using WinZip.

Took the 13 floppies and used WinZip once again to get the games installed on the Laptop. It worked!! It was also some floppy flippin' exercise!!

[GaryRouth]

Necessity generates invention once again! Nice work.

In the days before I discovered WinZip (and THAT was a good long while ago!) I used to use Microsoft Backup for that sort of trick - it would let you copy files over several floppies in that strange compressed fromat, and then I'd "restore" them to the target machine. Soooo happy nowadays with ethernet - wired or wireless, cd-burners, and teeeny memory sticks of all sorts.

We've come a long ways! ( & I'll have to make a mental note of your WinZip trick - another entry for my "bag of tricks" folder)
. . . Gary

[FZWG]

If you ever need to use the WinZip spanning process, here is the basic process that worked to install a CD program on a Laptop without a CD-ROM:

Spanning a file with WinZip allows saving files larger than 1.44MB when there is no access to a CD-ROM.

The first step is to insert a blank floppy disk on the target computer (where the file is located) and choose the file to save to the floppy. Right-click the file and select: Add to Zip, or Add to Zip file.

WinZip opens up with an Add prompt to choose how to save the Zip file.
Click the New button in the: Add to Archive area.

When the New Archive prompt appears, choose the A:\> drive using the drop arrow to the right of Tthe Save in: area.

In the File Name area, key in a name for the file. Click OK.

Back to the Add prompt: the Action is: Add files, Compression is set to: Normal, Multiple Disk Spanning is set to: Automatic, and Attributes has checked: Include System and Hidden Files.

Click the Add button for WinZip to begin adding a zip file to floppies and start the spanning. Check: Erase any existing files on the new disk before continuing.

Once a floppy disk is full, WinZip prompts to insert the next disk. These prompts appear until the file is saved completely. Label each disk in sequence, as indicated by the WinZip prompt. WinZip indicates floppy disk is 1, floppy disk 2, etc..

As files are copied, a progress bar is seen on the bottom of the WinZip window in the background.

Once the entire process is finished, remove the last floppy, close WinZip.



WinZip must also be installed on the target computer.

To recover the file spanned over floppies, place the #1 floppy of the set on the target computer. Double click floppy drive A:\>, and then double click the zipped file on the floppy disk.

When the WinZip prompt appears on the screen, click the: I Agree button. The next prompt indicates: The diskette in drive A is the first diskette in a spanned archive set. Please insert the last diskette of the spanned set into the drive, and click OK.

Insert the last floppy disk of the spanned series. A WinZip prompt appears again. Click on Install, and follow the on-screen instructions.

[GaryRouth]

Thanks!

I'll bet I'm not the only one copying & saving these instructions
. . . Gary

[FZWG]

They might come in handy sometime.

Who knows.