In the following sections, we look at five of the most useful MS-DOS commands and utilities.
Mem
If you want to check the status of your system’s memory, try Mem. Mem.exe is a utility that reports on conventional, upper, reserved, and extended memory. It tells you how much memory is used and the size of the largest MS-DOS executable program that can be run. To learn more about Mem, type Help Mem at the MS-DOS 6.22 command prompt.
Memmaker
Memmaker is a useful MS-DOS 6.22 utility that optimizes your memory configuration. Memmaker automatically modifies the lines in your Config.sys and Autoexec.bat to improve your system’s use of memory. It is especially effective at freeing conventional memory to increase the largest possible executable size. You can learn more about Memmaker by typing Help Memmaker at the MS-DOS 6.22 command prompt.
Note: In the Activities section of this chapter, you will have the opportunity to use both the Memmaker and Mem commands.
Msd.exe
Microsoft Diagnostics (Msd.exe) is a useful utility that provides you with detailed technical information about your computer system. Figure 10.2 illustrates the various categories of information that you have to choose from. You can learn more about Msd by typing Help Msd at the command prompt or by using the Msd utility.
Ramdrive.sys
If you have more RAM than you need to load your operating system, you might want to configure a RAM hard drive (a.k.a. RAM drive). The Ramdrive.sys utility reserves and creates an area of memory that looks and acts like a hard disk.
Why would you want to create a RAM drive? If you suspect that your memory is corrupt, you can use Scandisk.exe to check your physical memory after you create a RAM drive. Also, it might be interesting to have a RAM drive for other types of tests. For example, if you want to find out how much hard disk access is slowing down a particular application, you might load it into your RAM drive.
However, it’s important to remember that everything you load into your RAM drive will be lost when you reboot the system because memory is cleared during system shutdown. An example entry for a RAM drive configured in the Config.sys file might be:
Device=C:\Windows\Ramdrive.sys /e 2048
The two options for this entry are explained below.
/e — Calls for the Extended memory manager, which means you must load Himem.sys first.
2048 — Creates a 2 MB RAM drive (1024 = 1 MB). You can make the RAM drive as large as you want; just be sure not to go above the amount of actual memory you have in the system and need to load your operating system.
Ramdrive.sys automatically sets the next available drive letter to the RAM drive. For example, if your hard drives are C: and D:, then E: will be your RAM drive. You can obtain more information about RAM drive by typing Help Ramdrive.sys at the MS-DOS 6.22 command prompt.
Msbackup.exe
Backups protect your files in case of failure or accidental deletion
MS-DOS lets you back up hard disk files to floppy disk
Windows 95/98 backup media include floppies, tape drives, hard disks, network drives, and writeable CD-ROMs
Another useful tool that is not only functional but also critical is Msbackup.exe, the backup utility that comes with MS-DOS and Windows 3.x. You should run this backup utility before installing or upgrading any software on a system, so that you have a backup of the current information on the system.
In general, when you use Msbackup.exe, you can back up the entire drive or selected data files. If you need to store large amounts of data, you can use tape backup devices, which can back up an entire hard drive. These backup devices can be installed on, or connected to, the system that requires backing up.
To start Msbackup.exe, at a command prompt type Msbackup and press Enter.
Note: The older version of Msbackup utility is called Backup.exe
The first time the backup utility is run, it goes through a setup procedure to configure the system. As part of the backup process, Msbackup creates a backup catalog that contains information about the files you backed up. When you need to restore one or more files, you can load the backup catalog and easily select files from a backup set. The backup catalog includes the following information:
Backed-up disk’s directory structure
Names, sizes, and attributes of the selected files
Total number of files
Total size of the backup
Name of the setup file that was used
Date the backup was made
When you back up files, Msbackup places one copy of the backup catalog on the hard disk and a second copy on the disk or network drive that contains the backup set.
Note: When restoring data, ensure that you use the same version of MS-DOS that was used to perform the backup. Different versions of the backup utility use different forms of compression, making them somewhat incompatible.
Two versions of the backup utility ship with MS-DOS 6.22 — the command-line version and the Windows version (Mwbackup.exe). These two versions of the backup utility are compatible.
If you plan to use either Msbackup.exe or Mwbackup.exe to exchange backup files with other MS-DOS 6.x systems, you should disable backup compression before backing up. If you receive an insufficient memory error during backup, follow these steps:
Make sure you have at least 512K of memory on your computer
Quit Msbackup, remove all memory-resident programs from memory, and try using Msbackup again
Choose the Options button on the Backup screen to display the Disk Backup Options dialog box. Turn off the Compress Backup Data option and then choose OK
Note: You can obtain additional information on Msbackup or Backup by typing Help Msbackup or Help Backup at the MS-DOS 6.22 command prompt.
Other MS-DOS Commands and Utilities
Many different MS-DOS commands and utilities can be useful in a variety of situations. Table 10.3 lists several additional MS-DOS commands with which you should become familiar.
To learn more about any of these commands or to learn about additional MS-DOS commands, type Help at the MS-DOS 6.22 command prompt.
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