Copyright 1994-1999, Dell Computer Corporation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Suspend-to-Disk Instructions for Dell Portable Computers --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section # Topic I. Introduction II. MKS2D Command Line Options III. Why/when do I need to use the Suspend-to-Disk utilities? IV. Using MKS2D.EXE, the Suspend-to-Disk Utility V. Methods of Creating the S2D Save Area VI. Deleting/Creating the File System Portion of the Save Area VII. Creating the S2D Partition on HDD Less than 8.4GB VIII. Creating the S2D Partition on HDD Greater than 8.4GB IX. Calculating Partition Sizes X. Errata --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suspend-To-Disk (S2D) is a feature that allows you to turn off your computer in a special way. S2D allows you to leave your system off for long periods of time, and then turn it back on, beginning work at the point where you turned it off. The applications that were running when you activated the S2D feature will be running again when you turn the system back on. The act of turning the system on after an S2D is called resuming or resuming from S2D. The S2D feature cannot function unless an area has been created on your hard disk to save the state of the operating system. This "save area" is created by the MKS2D.EXE program and normally consists of a separate partition on your hard-disk. MKS2D.EXE can also use part of the MS-DOS file space. The S2D feature is activated by the <Fn+A> key combination or through timed settings in System Setup. When S2D is activated, the BIOS checks to verify that an S2D save area exists on your hard-disk and that it is large enough to hold the contents of your system and video memory. If the save area does not exist or if it is not large enough, the S2D will fail (generating an error message). If the save area exists and is large enough, the system's state will be saved and the computer will be powered off. The next time you turn on the computer, it will run POST normally and then restore the saved system state. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. MKS2D Command Line Options --------------------------------------------------------------------------- MKS2D -- Make Suspend-To-Disk data structure. USE: mks2d [option1 [option2 [...]]] Options are: -nopause Do not pause when mks2d is done. -p#[M|K] Make partition a fixed size (e.g. -p136M is 136 Megabytes). -c Create an empty S2D partition, then exit. -f Do not use file system for the S2D data structure. -v# Set verbosity (reporting) level. -r Print revision number and exit. @<file> Read options from the specified file (one per line). NOTES: * Options are processed from left to right. * # is assumed to be a decimal number unless it begins with "0x" (e.g., "-p64M" and "-p0x40M" are equivalent). * The -p option cannot generate partitions of exactly the specified size due to disk geometry limitations. * The -c option will fail if an S2D partition already exists. You can run RMS2D to delete an existing S2D partition. The partition will be the default size unless you also use the "-p" option. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Why/when do I need to use the Suspend-to-Disk utilities MKS2D and RMS2D? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) When additional RAM is added to the system, you may need to run RMS2D and then MKS2D. By default, MKS2D creates a save area that is just large enough to save the memory installed in the system at the time MKS2D.EXE is executed. If you add memory later, the save area will no longer be large enough to support S2D functionality. 2) If S2D functionality is required for a new hard-disk drive, run MKS2D.EXE to create an S2D save area. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Using MKS2D.EXE, the Suspend-to-Disk Utility --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If Dell installed an operating system on your hard-disk drive, MKS2D.EXE was used to create an S2D save area on your hard disk. This save area is a single-drive partition, the S2D partition. This S2D partition matches the size of your memory configuration for your hard disk. This partition is used to store all of the system data that is copied and saved when you activate suspend-to-disk mode. Note: Use the information in this README file to delete or recreate the S2D partition on your hard-disk drive in the following situations: -- If you are using an operating system that is not compatible with MS-DOS (i.e., Microsoft Windows NT), -- If you want to reserve a physical partition for your S2D space, -- If you have upgraded system memory. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- V. Methods for Creating the S2D Save Area --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Method # 1: Set Up a Small Physical Partition Plus Part of the MS-DOS Filespace ============================================================================ You can create an S2D save area that consists of a small physical partition on your hard-disk drive plus a portion of your MS-DOS file system (FAT 16 or FAT 32). Advantage of Using a Small Physical Partition * The portion of the MS-DOS file system used by S2D can be removed easily with RMS2D. That portion of the hard drive space can then be used for other purposes. If you remove the S2D save area, you will not be able to use the S2D feature. Disadvantage of Using a Small Physical Partition * S2D functionality has to be filtered through the operating system, which can drastically increase the amount of time that it takes for the system to save the system state. Method # 2: Set Up a Large Physical Partition ============================================================================== You can set up the S2D save area as a single partition on the hard-disk drive. Then, the system stores all S2D information there. This is the factory default method for all operating systems. Advantage of Using a Large Physical Partition * All of the S2D information can be stored in the partition without using the MS-DOS file system. This method substantially decreases the time required to save the system state. * The S2D partition structure is not compressed when converting to the NTFS file system under Windows NT 4.0. This method should also be used with any type of file compression (DBLSPACE) or non MS-DOS operating system. Disadvantage of Using a Large Physical Partition * This method is not as flexible when adjustments need to be made to the size of the S2D save area. Adding RAM to the system can require that the drive partitions be redone to restore S2D functionality (or revert to using part of the MS-DOS file system for S2D). --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. Deleting/Creating the File System Portion of the S2D Save Area --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the RMS2D command to delete the S2D partition and return the file system portion of the save area (if any) to the operating system. Notes: 1. Once you run RMS2D, you cannot place your computer into suspend-to-disk mode until you recreate the S2D save area using the MKS2D command. 2. If you are using MS-DOS, run your defragmentation utility after running RMS2D and before running MKS2D to ensure there is enough space to allocate the file system portion of your S2D partition. If there is not enough space, you must delete files from the uncompressed partition on your hard-disk drive. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. Creating the S2D Partition on Hard Drives Less Than 8.4 GB --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dell's suspend-to-disk technology requires a minimum-size S2D partition to be built to save your system's state to the hard-disk drive. Use the following procedure to build the S2D partition: 1. Create an MS-DOS bootable diskette that contains the DOS utilities FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM. Then copy the MKS2D and RMS2D files to this bootable diskette. 2. Back up all critical files. (You do not need to back up programs which can be reloaded from storage media, such as diskettes or CDs.) 3. At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER. WARNING: THE FDISK UTILITY DESTROYS ALL DATA ON YOUR HARD-DISK DRIVE. 4. Delete the partitions that exist on your hard-disk drive. 5. Create a primary partition for your operating system. Leave enough space for the S2D partition. If your operating system is MS-DOS, the S2D partition should be at least 4 to 8 MB. In MS-DOS systems, the remainder of the suspend-to-disk space can be taken from your file system (see Method # 1: Set Up a Small Physical Partition). Using your file system space for the remainder of the S2D space allows you to manage the file system space by installing and removing the S2D portion of your file system. If you would like to restrict all S2D files to a large physical partition, or if you are using an operating system that is not compatible with MS-DOS (for example NT FAT or NTFS), this partition size should be calculated by the formula listed in Section VIII below (also see Method # 2: Set Up a Large Physical Partition). 6. If you are using MS-DOS, format your operating system partition and install your software. 7. Boot MS-DOS from a diskette or from the hard-disk drive. 8. At the operating system prompt, type MKS2D (or MKS2D -F, see explanation immediately below) and press ENTER to finish building the S2D partition. If you are using an operating system that is compatible with MS-DOS and you build a partition smaller than required, the MKS2D utility uses part of your file system to supplement the S2D partition. If you are using an operating system that is not compatible with MS-DOS, or if you want to restrict the S2D files to the S2D partition, type MKS2D -F at the operating system prompt and press ENTER. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII. Creating the S2D Partition on Hard Drives Larger than 8.4 GB --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dell's suspend-to-disk technology requires a minimum-size S2D partition to be built to save your system's state to the hard-disk drive. Use the following procedure to build the S2D partition on a hard drive larger than 8.4GB. Note: The S2D partition on a hard drive larger than 8.4GB *must* be placed within the first 8.4GB of the drive. The Dell factory installation places the S2D partition at the very beginning of the hard drive. Viewing the partition information with FDISK.EXE (or Disk Administrator under Windows NT 4.0) will reveal a non MS-DOS partition at the front of the drive. 1. Create an MS-DOS bootable diskette that contains the DOS utilities FDISK.EXE and FORMAT.COM. Then copy the MKS2D and RMS2D files to this bootable diskette. 2. Back up all critical files. (You do not need to back up programs which can be reloaded from diskette or CD.) 3. At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER. WARNING: THE FDISK UTILITY DESTROYS ALL DATA ON YOUR HARD-DISK DRIVE. 4. Delete the partitions that exist on your hard-disk drive. 5. Boot from the MS-DOS diskette. The following options are available: a. Type MKS2D and press Enter. This action creates a non MS-DOS partition at the beginning of the hard drive. This partition is approximately the size of the RAM in the system (plus a small amount of overhead). This option places the entire S2D save area in a physical partition (see Section IV, Method # 2: Creating a Large Physical Partition). b. Type MKS2D -p# and press Enter (refer to Section I to review the command line options). The "-p#" option allows the size of the S2D partition to be adjusted (see Section IV, Method # 1 or # 2). Use the -p option to create a larger partition if you plan to add memory to your system later. By doing this, you avoid having to create a new, larger save area after the memory is added. For example, suppose you have 64 MB of system memory, but you plan to upgrade to 128 MB in the future. Use the following command to create an S2D save area that is large enough for current and future memory requirements: mks2d -p134m The 134 MB is calculated by the formula: 1.01 * (Memory size + 4MB) = 1.01 * (128 + 4) = 133.3 On the other hand, if you want to create a small S2D partition and use MS-DOS file space for the remainder of the S2D save area, you would use the -p option with the -c option. As an example, suppose you want to devote only 5 MB of your disk for the S2D partition. Create an empty S2D partition of approximately 5 MB by entering the following command: mks2d -p5m -c After you have created and formatted an MS-DOS compatible OS partition, you must re-run MKS2D without any command line options to complete the creation of the save area. MKS2D will use the 5MB partition for part of the save area and complete the save area using free space from the MS-DOS partition. Caution: Using the MKS2D -p# option without the -c option will generate the following error message if the partition size specified is smaller than the available RAM plus the necessary overhead to create the S2D partition: "File space is needed, but there is no FAT partition on the disk." This error message is generated because the program attempts to create the MS-DOS portion of the save area, but the MS-DOS compatible operating system partition does not exist yet. Adding the -c switch option eliminates the above error message. Otherwise, there is no difference in using the -c option. Note: Using either of these two methods will create a non MS-DOS partition at the front of the drive to hold the S2D information. 6. Create a primary partition for your operating system. 7. If you are using MS-DOS, format your operating system partition and install your software. 8. If you ran MKS2D.EXE -p# to create a S2D partition that was smaller than the available RAM plus the necessary overhead, you must run MKS2D.EXE again. This time, use no options so the save space will be taken from the previously created S2D partition plus the required MS-DOS file space. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX. Calculating Partition Sizes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use the following table to calculate the amount of space needed for the S2D partition. FAT 16: ======= S2D partition should be at least 4 MB FAT 32: ======= S2D partition should be at least 8 MB NT FAT or NTFS: =============== Use the following formula to calculate the needed S2D partition size: (Size of system memory + Size of Video Memory) * 1.01 + 2 MB DBLSPACE or Compressed Drive: ============================= Use the following formula to calculate the needed S2D partition size: (Size of system memory + Size of Video Memory) * 1.01 + 2 MB -------------------------------------------------------------------------- X. Errata -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some hard drive utilities completely remove or modify the partition table (other than FDISK.EXE) in such a way that MKS2D.EXE will generate the following error: "Partition sector is invalid" This error typically occurs on a hard drive in which the partition has been "removed" by a third part utility. To work around this error, a partition table must be created on the hard drive. To create a partition table on a blank hard drive: 1. Boot from an MS-DOS diskette that contains the DOS utility FDISK.EXE. 2. At the operating system prompt, type FDISK, and press ENTER. 3. Create a primary partition, exit FDISK, and reboot from the same DOS diskette. 4. At the operating system prompt, type FDISK and press ENTER. 5. Delete the primary partition, exit FDISK, and reboot Proceed with the normal Suspend-to-Disk creation instructions. Revised 10/26/99 End of README.TXT -----------------Download Driver Pack
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