        ValueStor Mobile Disk EP version 1.18F
        Copyright 1993 - 1996 ValueStor, Incorporated
        All rights reserved.

          This README file contains up-to-date information and
          hints on Mobile Disk Installation and Use for DOS & Windows 3.1
	  customers. For information on issues related to Windows 95, refer
	  to the readme.w95 file.

          The following topics are included in the order shown:

          * HELPFUL HINTS FOR INSTALLATION OF MOBILE DISK

	  * QUICK INSTALLATION WITHOUT CHANGING SYSTEM FILES

          * ETOOLS UTILITY PARTITION & FORMAT FUNCTION 

          * BASIC HINTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL MOBILE DISK USER

          * CD-ROM HINTS
          
          * INSTALLING ON COMPUTERS WITH NO INTERNAL HARD DRIVE
          
          * MS-DOS 6.0 AND DBLSPACE
         
          * ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

        This file can be printed by entering the DOS command

               PRINT READ.ME

        with a printer available and powered on.

__________HELPFUL HINTS FOR INSTALLATION OF MOBILE DISK _____

        1. Switch options for VSMOBILE.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file
                (None are case sensitive)
        Occasionally due to the implementation of your PC parallel printer 
        port, the VSMOBILE driver may experience difficulty in detecting the
        connection to the parallel port peripheral device. In those cases, it
        would be necessary for you to manually adjust the operating mode of 
        VSMOBILE in order to work with your parallel printer port. The switch 
        options for VSMOBILE.SYS are intended to be used for this purpose. 
        To adjust to these operating modes, you have to edit 
        the CONFIG.SYS file to append the switch options to the 
        VSMOBILE driver line as shown below:-

        A. /U   Force Unidirectional Operating mode
   
        Example: Device =C:\VSMOBILE\VSMOBILE.SYS /U
   
        B. /SF=XX Variable Transfer Speed mode
   (For use in situations where the drive is detected but experience
   data errors; this mode is not valid for EPP port )

        Example: Device =C:\VSMOBILE\VSMOBILE.SYS /SF=10

        /SF=xx  where xx is a number from 0 - 30, specifying incremental 
        delays; 0 is fastest operating speed and 30 is the slowest.  

        To adjust the operating mode, first attempt to use /SF mode, 
        this will solve the problem in most cases. If not successful, 
        then try using the /U switch set to 30 and experiment to find 
        the lowest number you can use and still have reliable operation 
        of your drive. 

Other Driver Options:
---------------------------
VSMOBILE.SYS	/I       : Uses interrupts during data transfer.
                         
                /U       : Forces the port to be Uni-directional.
  
                /E       : Disables fast EPP.

                /P       : Prompts the user to press a key if driver
                          : could not install.

__________QUICK INSTALLATION WITHOUT CHANGING SYSTEM FILES ______
		(Only Works with DOS & Windows 3.1x)
	
If you move the Mobile Disk from system to system, we have implemented a quick way 
for you to install the software without modifying the config.sys file. Under this
mode of operation, there is no need to reboot before the Mobile Disk is recognized 
by your system. However, the software driver installed to work with the Mobile Disk
this way is only temporary and will not be in effect upon power down or reboot of your
system. Here are the steps for quick installation:-

1. Insert the ValueStor software diskette into your floppy drive. Change
   to the correct drive, by typing B: (or A:) and pressing the <ENTER> key.

2. Type IDEDRIVE from the DOS prompt. The driver will install and assign
   a new drive letter for the parallel port hard drive. 

3. When you are done transferring files, reboot your system.

Note: IDEDRIVE offers several options. For example, you can assign a fixed
      drive letter for all the systems for your parallel port. To accomplish
      this, do the following:

    Type IDEDRIVE /L:G where you would like to assign drive letter G to the
    parallel port drive.  



__________ETOOLS UTILITY PARTITION & FORMAT FUNCTION _________

        The ValueStor ETOOLS Partition Mobile Utility under the RUN menu
        will not only partition your Mobile Disk but also do a quick format
        of your drive at the same time. This will eliminate the lengthy 
        duration associated with formatting a large capacity Mobile Disk.
        However, this quick format process is not meant to catch defective
        sectors throughout all of the disk surfaces. So it is still 
        recommended that you Format the drive using DOS or Windows 
        Utility if you want the security of a complete disk drive 
        surface scan while formatting.

__________BASIC HINTS FOR THE SUCCESSFUL MOBILE DISK USER_____

          Devices that are connected to the Mobile Disk should
          not be powered on or off while the Mobile Disk is in
          operation ( when the drive light is on ).

          Normally, when a printer is connected to a Mobile
          Disk, the Mobile Disk will operate whether the
          printer's power is ON or OFF.  But, with some
          printers, the  power needs to be left ON for the
          Mobile Disk to operate.  This has been the case for
          some HP Laserjet and Deskjet printers.  If your
          Mobile Disk is not operating, and you have a printer
          connected to it, try powering up the printer.

          On some computers, the printer or parallel port
          needs to be in a standard printer port mode or
          unidirectional mode for the Mobile Disk to operate.
          If your Mobile Disk is not operating, your parallel
          port may be in the wrong mode.

          Computer manufacturers provide various ways to set
          the parallel port mode.  There isn't a universal
          way of changing the parallel port mode.  On laptops
          or portable computers there may either be a DIP
          switch that controls the port mode or some sort of
          SETUP program that can change the port mode.  If you
          have a desktop computer and your parallel port
          is on a plug-in card, there may either be a DIP
          switch or a jumper setting on the card that controls
          the port mode.  Other desktops have their parallel
          ports built-in to their motherboards.

          Only attempt to change the parallel port mode if
          all else fails.  And, before attempting to do so,
          read your computer manuals carefully!  When in doubt, 
          consult technical support for the printer you are
          using.

----------CD-ROM HINTS----------------------------------------

          If you already have a CD-ROM System installed, it is
          likely that Mobile Disk will take the drive letter
          being used by your CD-ROM.  For example, if you have
          a CD-ROM installed as drive D: and install Mobile Disk
          It will come up as drive D: and the CD-ROM will no
          longer be accessible.  You will have to allow the Mobile
          Disk drive D: and set up the CD-ROM as drive E:.  The
          reason for this is that CD-ROMs don't play by normal
          DOS rules when receiving a drive letter.  Mobile disk
          does:  It simply requests a drive letter from DOS and
          takes whatever DOS gives it.  CD-ROMs allow you to
          choose what drive letter will be assigned using the MSCDEX 
          utility in AUTOEXEC.BAT.  The /L: parameter on your 
          MSCDEX command line in AUTOEXEC.BAT determines the drive
          letter allocated to your CD-ROM.  To move the CD-ROM
          to drive E:, change the /L:D to /L:E, as shown below:

               MSCDEX /M:4 /D:MSCD000 /L:E

__________INSTALLING ON COMPUTERS WITH NO INTERNAL HARD DRIVE________

        Some customers are having difficulty with this particular type of
        installation, so we thought we'd provide this list of pointers to
        assist.

        It is important to know the names of all drives involved, whether
        they are floppy drives or hard drives.  All installations 
        will have floppy drive, named A:.  Some will also have a second 
        floppy drive,named B:. In most cases, since there is not already 
        a hard drive on the System, the Mobile Disk will be installed 
        as drive C:.  

        If your system has no disk drives at all, there is no way to
        install Mobile Disk.  This product will not work on your system
        unless you can use a product such as laplink to transfer the
        installation files to your computer's RAM from a desktop computer
        through a serial or parallel cable connection.

        For the purpose of this discussion, I will refer to your install
        disk and your boot disk.  Your boot disk is the floppy diskette you
        have to have in drive A: when you start your computer.  Your
        install disk is the floppy diskette provided with your Mobile Disk. 

        You must have a diskette that you use to boot your computer
        system.  We strongly urge you to copy this diskette, and keep the
        original safe in case you have any difficulties. You will need to
        modify the copy of your boot diskette, and if for some reason the
        new boot diskette doesn't work, you can boot from the original and
        try again.  

        What is going to happen here, is that the ValueStor Mobile Disk
        Software will have to be installed to a copy of your Boot Diskette. 
        Note that this cannot be done if there is insufficient space on
        your boot floppy. Mobile Disks install files require about 460K
        Bytes of free space. You can see how much space is available by
        using the CHKDSK command on your DOS disk. If you do not have 
        this much space available, you will have to delete some files 
        from your boot floppy. Do not delete any of the following files:  
        COMMAND.COM, AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS.  All other files 
        may be deleted at your discretion, but it is wise to make
        sure that you know what the purpose of a file is before deleting it.

        Put your copy of the boot disk in drive a: and boot your
        computer.  We want to make sure that the copy is good by making
        sure that it comes up okay.

        Once you have successfully booted your computer, perform one of
        the following two steps:

        IF YOU HAVE 2 FLOPPY DRIVES:  Insert the install disk in drive
        B:, then type:

        B:

        and press enter.  

        IF YOU HAVE 1 FLOPPY DRIVE:  Type:

        B:

        and press enter.  Then, when the computer prompts you to do so, put
        your install disk into the floppy drive.


        Now, type

        INSTALL

        and press Enter. 
   
        Next you will be asked where to install the Mobile Disk
        Software.  You want to install the software to A:\VSMOBILE.  Also,
        tell the install program that you will be booting from drive A:.  

        From here, you need only press Enter for each message telling you
        what action Install is preparing to take.  If, for some reason, you
        want to bypass a step, you can do so by pressing Esc.  Do not do so
        unless you are certain that the step has already been accomplished.

        If you have only one floppy drive, the computer will stop
        periodically to let you know that it needs you to change disks.  
        Remember that whenever the computer asks you for the diskette for
        drive A:, it needs your Boot floppy.  Whenever the computer asks
        for the diskette for drive B:, it wants your install disk.  Press
        Enter when you have put the necessary disk in the drive.

_________MS-DOS 6.0 AND DBLSPACE_______________________________

          Common question:  I have created a doublespace volume
          on my Mobile Disk, but when I move it to another
          computer running MS DOS 6.0, I can't access the data
          there.  What do I do?  

          DoubleSpace is not really aware of removable fixed disk
          drive products, so some manual work is required to make
          doublespace work properly on a Mobile Disk that is used
          on more than one machine.  There are two issues that may
          arise in attempting to do this: 

            1) DoubleSpace may not have been installed yet on the
               second machine.

            2) DoubleSpace may have been installed, but the
               DoubleSpace volume on Mobile Disk may not be
               mounting for you.

HOW TO FIND OUT IF DOUBLESPACE HAS BEEN INSTALLED; WHAT TO DO IF IT HASN'T:

          These instructions assume that you are dealing with an
          unknown computer system and that you have no way of
          knowing whether doublespace is present.

            Enter the command,

            DBLSPACE /LIST

          If DoubleSpace has been installed, you will see one or
          more drive letters listed as "Available for DoubleSpace",
          or you will see one or more drive letters listed as
          "Compressed Drive".  Most likely, you will see both.

          If DBLSPACE /LIST shows no drives available for DoubleSpace
          and no drives as Compressed, then DoubleSpace has not been
          installed, and the computer will be unable to recognize
          your Mobile Disk DoubleSpace volume.

          If you want to create a doublespace volume on the computer
          (on C: or any other local drive) simply follow the
          directions from your MS-DOS 6.00 owner's manual and do so.
          If you want Mobile Disk's DoubleSpace volume to be the only
          one on the system, you will need to move the DBLSPACE System
          files from the computer where the mobile disk DoubleSpace
          volume was created (We'll call that the primary computer)
          to the computer where you want to use the Mobile Disk DoubleSpace
          volume (let's call that the secondary computer).  Follow
          these steps:
                                                                    
            1)  Make sure that you know where your Boot volume
               is:  if Drive C: has been compressed on the primary
               computer, your Boot volume will have been moved
               elsewhere.  Execute the following command:
                                                                    
                  DBLSPACE /LIST

                 Drive C: will show the location of the compressed
                 volume file under the column labelled CVF Filename.
                 The drive letter in the CVF Filename for drive C:
                 will be the location of your boot volume.  For
                 example, if you see L:\DBLSPACE.000, then your
                 boot volume is at drive L:.  If drive C: is not
                 a Compressed Hard Drive, then you will have no CVF
                 Filename, and your Boot volume should be drive C:. 
                 In any case, substitute your Boot Volume drive
                 letter for drive C:  in step 2.

                 2) Remove the Hidden, Read only, and System file
                    attributes for the DBLSPACE system files in
                    your boot volume.  Execute the following two
                    commands:

                      ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.INI -h -s -r
                      ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.BIN -h -s -r

                 3)  Copy these two files to your secondary computer's
                    boot volume, which should always be drive C:.

                 4)  Reset the Hidden, Read only, and System file
                    attributes for the DBLSPACE system files on
                    both computers.  Execute the following commands
                    in the boot volumes of BOTH THE PRIMARY AND THE
                    SECONDARY system.

                      ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.INI +h +s +r
                      ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.BIN +h +s +r

          Don't forget that you will most likely use drive C: in
          these commands on the secondary computer, but you may
          use a different drive letter (your boot Volume letter
          from the CVF Filename for Compressed Hard Drive C: under
          DBLSPACE /LIST) on the primary computer.

          Reboot the secondary system with Mobile Disk installed,
          and you should have no trouble accessing the compressed
          volume on your Mobile Disk.

          If you experience difficulties with drive letter assignments
          on the secondary computer after following these instructions,
          Remove the DBLSPACE system files from the secondary computer
          (Step 2 above) and then enter the command:

            DEL C:\DBLSPACE.*

          Or, contact Microsoft Technical support for assistance in
          modifying DBLSPACE.INI for your configuration.  
 
          MOUNTING Mobile Disk:

          If you simply installed a new compressed drive on your
          secondary computer to get it to install DBLSPACE.BIN,
          or if DBLSPACE.BIN had already been installed, the only
          obstacle now to being able to use Mobile Disk is that
          the Mobile Disk drive DoubleSpace volume is not mounted.
          You will not need to follow these instructions if you
          copied your primary computer's DBLSPACE.INI file to your
          secondary system and re-booted the secondary computer.

          There are two ways to mount mobile disk.  The easiest 
          way by far is to mount it manually, but if you do this,
          you will have to repeat the procedure every time you
          turn your secondary system on with the Mobile Disk attached.
          Execute the command:

            DBLSPACE D: /MOUNT

          Where D: is the drive letter assigned to your Mobile Disk
          drive on that system.

          If you want your computer to always attempt to mount the
          Mobile Disk drive for you whether or not Mobile Disk is
          installed, you will want to modify your DBLSPACE.INI file
          to activate Mobile Disk at Boot time.  To accomplish this,
          follow these steps:

            1)  Find out what drive letters to assign to Mobile Disk
               Host and Active Volumes.  Execute the following
               command:

                  DBLSPACE /LIST

          Your Mobile Disk active volume will be the drive letter
          currently assigned to it.  The Host Volume will be the
          highest drive letter currently listed as Available for
          DoubleSpace.  The following steps assume that you have
          found your Host and Active volumes to be H: and S:,
          respectively.  We further assume that your Boot Volume
          is drive C:.  Substitute your own Boot, Host and Active
          volume letters for C, H, and S in these steps.

            2)  Execute the following command:

                 ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.INI -h -s -r

            3)  Edit your DBLSPACE.INI file, and add the following
               line at the end:

                      ActivateDrive=S,H0

            4)  Execute the following command at the DOS prompt
               after you have saved your changes to DBLSPACE.INI:

                 ATTRIB C:\DBLSPACE.INI +h +s +r

          From now on, whenever Mobile Disk is connected,
          the DoubleSpace volume will automatically be mounted
          for you upon boot up.  When Mobile Disk is not connected,
          the computer will accomplish a normal boot procedure and
          will report no errors.

          For more information about DBLSPACE.INI and how the drive
          letter assignments are made, call Microsoft Fax Service
          hot line at (206) 936-7329.

__________ADDITIONAL SUPPORT__________________________________

          For answers to other questions about Mobile Disk
          that are not covered in this README file or in the
          Mobile Disk Installation and Use manual, contact
          VALUESTOR Technical Support.

          The Technical Support line is staffed between the
          hours of 8 A.M. and 4 P.M. Pacific Time.
          Phone number:   (408) 437-2310
       Fax         :   (408) 437-9333
       BBS         :   (408) 437-1616

        Thank you for your purchase and use of this VALUESTOR product.
______________________________________________________________




						
