Msg: 6627 *Conference*

06-27-96 15:11:57

From: RON WIESEN

To : ROBERT BENSON

Subj: REPLY TO MSG #6604 (RAMPAC DIAGNOSTIC)

Regarding NPL.CO: I use it to backup Rampac content to disk. Years ago I put a
warning message here on Club 100 about NPL where .DO file transfers can cause
virus-like operation of the laptop that ultimately leads to Cold-start. The NPL
shortcoming is that NPL doesn't store .DO files on diskette the same way as
disk utilities store them. The difference manifests itself, as I recall, where
a .DO stored on disk by NPL is subsequently read from disk by any disk utility
- FLOPPY, FLOPPY2, TS-DOS, and so on. But if the disk is subsequently read by
NPL, then all is well.
 
Consequently, for each Rampac I maintain two diskettes: one for backup of .BA
and .CO files, another for backup of .DO files. The diskette with .BA and .CO
files is safe to use with disk utilities - the diskette with .DO files MUST
ONLY BE USED WITH NPL! With 202K capacity diskettes being just a bit small for
256K Rampack backup, the two-disk arrangement also makes it unlikely that
Rampac file capacity can exceed backup diskette capacity.
 
I haven't seen or heard of James Yi's alternative to RAM100.CO - sounds
interesting. Don't do CompuServe so can't help you there Bob.

Glad you sent me the message because it reminds me that I promised the Rampac
Diagnostic (RD) this week -- and the week's about gone. I best get outta here
and call back today and put RD in the Upload area. Bye - see ya' in a while.