CD Xpress for Windows 95
Copyright (c) 1996-98 HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
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CONTENTS
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Release Note
Introduction
Requirements to Use CD Xpress
Installing CD Xpress
CD Buffer Control
CD Xpress Monitor
CD Types Supported
Stopping CD Xpress
Clearing CD Buffer
Uninstalling CD Xpress
Frequently Asked Questions
Contacting HighPoint
Copyright, Trademarks, Changes, Limitation of Liability
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Release Note version 3.0
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- Only works with HighPoint PCI Ultra DMA host adapters (*)
- Supports CD-ROM and hard disks on different controller
(*) HighPoint PCI Ultra DMA host adapters are:
HPT143, HPT343, HPT345 and HPT2345.
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INTRODUCTION
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CD-ROM technology is growing fast, but its performance is still
unacceptable compared to today's hard drives. The transfer rates of today's
hard drives can exceed 18MB/sec with access times below 12ms. However,
transfer rates for the fastest CD-ROM drives on the market are below
2MB/sec with access times over 100ms.
CD Xpress was created to accelerate the accessing speed of the CD-ROM
drive by utilizing the hard drive's high performance. CD Xpress reads and
buffers data from the CD-ROM to an area in the hard drive. With CD Xpress,
when you access CD-ROM data, you are actually accessing data from a buffer
in the hard drive. This results in a tremendous increase in CD-ROM
performance without penalties.
CD Xpress will work seamlessly with all applications requiring your
CD-ROM drive(s) utilization. CD Xpress starts to automatically buffer data
when the CD is first inserted into the CD-ROM drive. Since
CD buffering is only performed during idle times, CD Xpress is
totally transparent to the user.
CD Xpress requires a free space, called a CD buffer, on your hard disk
for CD buffering to take place. CD Xpress was designed to work with
large capacity IDE hard disk drives.
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REQUIREMENTS to USE CD XPRESS
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- A system running the Windows 95 operating system. This
version of CD Xpress is for Windows 95 operating systems only.
- A HighPoint PCI Ultra DMA host adapter installed in your system.
- The driver for the HighPoint PCI Ultra DMA host adapter installed in
your system.
- An IDE or SCSI hard disk and an ATAPI CD-ROM drive in your system.
- Reserved free space on your hard disk for use by CD Xpress for
buffering. This can be done by running the CD Buffer Control utility
after the installation of CD Xpress.
- You need to enable the Windows 95 AutoRun feature which will
automatically start the program or play the music when you
insert a CD disc in your CD-ROM drive. Most systems have this
feature pre-enabled.
To check if the AutoRun feature is enabled:
1. Double-click "My Computer".
2. Double-click "Control Panel".
3. Double-click the System icon.
4. Click "Device Manager".
5. Double-click the CD-ROM item in the device list.
6. Double-click the CD-ROM drive installed.
7. Click "Settings".
8. The "Auto insert notification" box should be check marked.
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INSTALLING CD XPRESS
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To install CD Xpress:
1. Start up your computer under Windows 95.
2. (a) For diskette version :
Insert the CD Xpress diskette into the floppy drive.
(b) For CD disc version :
Insert the CD Xpress CD disc into CD-ROM drive. The
setup program will start automatically. If your CD-ROM can
not execute the autorun feature proceed to step 3, otherwise
goto step4.
3. Run "SETUP.EXE" from the floppy drive or CD-ROM drive.
4. Follow the instructions throughout the Setup program.
Setup creates a program group (folder) called HighPoint CD Xpress that
includes the following items (icons):
CD Xpress Starts CD Xpress.
Stop CD Xpress Stops CD Xpress.
CD Buffer Control Reserves or adjusts the space on the hard
disk used for the CD Xpress buffer.
Clear CD Buffer Flushes the CD buffer and restart CD Xpress
Uninstall Uninstalls CD Xpress from the computer.
Readme Opens this Readme file.
After finishing installation, you need to restart the computer. When the
system boots up, CD Xpress will display a message indicating that
there is no buffer space. At this times, users need to run the CD buffer
control utility to reserve a buffer space.
The CD Xpress icon will appear in the System Tray at the right end of
the Taskbar when CD Xpress is enabled.
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CD BUFFER CONTROL
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The CD Buffer Control lets you reserve the necessary space on
the hard drive required for use by CD Xpress:
1. Start CD Buffer Control from the HighPoint CD Xpress program
group by double-clicking the CD Buffer Control icon.
2. Read the instructions in the CD Buffer Control Wizard and click
Next to continue.
3. Choose which CD-ROM you want to use as a file source.
4. Choose the hard disk(s) that you want to reserve the buffer space on.
The recommended sizes of reserved space for buffering depends
on the size of the hard drive capacity and available free space.
Listed are some recommended sizes according to hard disk capacity.
DISK CAPACITY RESERVED SPACE
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< 1 GB 50 to 100 MB
1 to 2 GB 100 to 400 MB
> 2 GB 400 to 680 MB
4. To set the buffer space, adjust the scroll bar to the desired
amount. Note: Buffer space is measured in 50MB increments.
5. A final confirmation menu will display the CD-ROM (source), the hard
disk(s) (target(s)) and the size of the buffer space you just selected.
At this time, you have the option to return to the previous menus to
make any necessary changes to your selection. When satisfied with
your selection, click on "Finish".
6. CD Xpress will now start automatically. Users do not have to restart
the system after adjusting the buffer size.
To make any changes the reserved space, simply run this utility again.
Before changing any system configurations (ie. repartition the hard disk, add
new hard disks or CD-ROM drives), users should run this utility and clear any
allocated buffer space from the system.
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CD XPRESS MONITOR
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After installing CD Xpress and restarting your computer, the CD Xpress
icon will appear in the System Tray. Double-clicking on this icon will
bring up the CD Xpress Monitor.
The CD Xpress Monitor displays:
- The volume label of your current disc.
- The space reserved on your hard drive for CD data buffering.
- The total amount of free buffer space.
- The amount of data that has been buffered.
The CD Xpress Monitor will also indicate any errors that may occur during
buffering.
To hide the CD Xpress Monitor, click the "OK" button.
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CD TYPES SUPPORTED
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CD Xpress supports Mode 1 discs and Mode 2 Form 1 discs only. These
include most disc types used in PC applications such as:
- computer data discs
- MPEG titles
- multimedia titles
- games
- Photo CDs.
CD Xpress cannot buffer the following types of discs:
- Music CD
- CD-I
- Video CD
- Multi-session CDs (multi-session photo CD, CD Extra).
CDs that cannot be buffered will be used as they would normally without
buffering.
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STOPPING CD XPRESS
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To stop CD Xpress, run "Stop CD Xpress" from the HighPoint CD
Xpress program group. The CD Xpress icon in the System Tray will
disappear after CD Xpress has been disabled.
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CLEARING CD BUFFER
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The icon "Clear CD Buffer" from the HighPoint CD Xpress program group
allows users to flush current CD data and then rebuffer CD data in
case of improper file data.
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UNINSTALLING CD XPRESS
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To uninstall CD Xpress from your system, run "Uninstall" from the Highpoint
CD Xpress program group. This uninstall utility will deactivate CD
Xpress, if CD Xpress is active, remove the buffer space, and uninstall
CD Xpress from the system. After the uninstallation of CD Xpress,
the hard disk will return to its original status.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Q: What is CD Xpress?
A: CD Xpress buffers CD data from your CD-ROM drive to your hard drive.
When accessing the CD-ROM, you are actually accessing your hard
drive. Since the hard drive is much faster than the CD-ROM drive,
CD-ROM data gains a tremendous performance increase in transfer rate
and access time.
Q: Will CD Xpress work with other operating system such as OS/2, NT ..
A: No. This version is only for Windows 95 operating systems.
Q: Why do I need to waste so much hard drive space when using CD Xpress?
A: You lose disk space because the CD buffer is not used by the file
system. However hard drives are getting larger and larger and with
larger cluster (allocation unit) issues in current FAT file systems
(not FAT32), the wasted disk space is not as much as you imagine.
So, it is worth giving up some disk space for CD buffering to get better
CD-ROM performance.
Q: If I don't like CD Xpress, how can I recover the reserved hard drive
space from CD buffering?
A: Just run "Uninstall" from the CD Xpress folder. This will remove
CD Xpress from your system and return your hard drive to its original
status.
Q: Can CD Xpress work with more than one CD-ROM drive ?
A: Yes. CD Xpress supports multiple CD-ROM drives on a system.
Q: How long does CD buffering take?
A: The CD buffering takes approximately 2 to 10 minutes depending on
the amount data on the CD and the CD-ROM drive speed.
Q: Do I need to wait for CD buffering to finish before I can access
the CD-ROM?
A: No. You can operate as normal without waiting for the CD buffering
to finish. The CD buffering takes place when your system is idle,
so buffering will be transparent to you.
Q: Can I select which hard disk CD data will be buffered to?
A: Yes. Users can select any logical disk volume as its target disk.
Q: Will CD Xpress work if the CD-ROM device is connected to a sound card
(multimedia kit)?
A: Yes. CD Xpress can work with CD-ROMs, which are connected on the sound
card
Q: Will CD Xpress work with network drives ?
A: No. CD Xpress wll not work with network drives.
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CONTACTING HIGHPOINT
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HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
4450 Enterprise Street, #101
Fremont, CA 94538
Tel: (510) 623-0841
Fax: (510) 490-4578
Internet E-mail: support@highpoint-tech.com
World Wide Web: http://www.highpoint-tech.com
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1996-1998 HighPoint Technologies, Inc. All rights
reserved. No part of this README file may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the prior written consent of HighPoint Technologies, Inc.
TRADEMARKS
All trademarks are owned by their respective owners.
CHANGES
The material contained within this document is for informational use
and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have
been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy,
HighPoint Technologies, Inc. assumes no liability resulting from errors
or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information
contained herein.
HighPoint Technologies, Inc. reserves the right to make changes in
the product design without reservation and without notification to
its users.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:
IN NO EVENT WILL HIGHPOINT BE LIABLE FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR
INABILITY TO USE THIS PRODUCT OR DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF ADVISED OF
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN PARTICULAR, HIGHPOINT SHALL NOT
HAVE LIABILITY FOR ANY HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, OR DATA STORED/USED WITH
THE PRODUCT, INCLUDING THE COSTS OF REPAIRING, REPLACING, OR
RECOVERING SUCH HARDWARE, OR DATA.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.