With the introduction of drives with more than 1024 cylinders problems have been encountered when trying to use Full size partitions. Most BIOS’s do not support Large capacity drives in older machines. Machines that are newer usually have a switch within the BIOS to allow them to write to a greater than 1024 partition size. Microsoft Windows products also have a limit in that 32bit Disk access is not available on drives greater than 504MB. The Option for 32bit Disk Access (in the Virtual memory section of 386 Enhanced) is grayed out.

The IDEnhancer software is designed to take advantage of today's IDE drives and high performance systems. It provides all the Enhanced IDE features while remaining fully compatible with current versions of DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows for Work Group(Windows 3.11), Windows 95 (Beta), OS/2, Windows NT, and OS/2 Boot Manager. The Self configuration feature of the IDEnhancer makes it ideal for the novice user. User option setup menus provide full functionality to the power user to take full advantage of today's Enhanced IDE drives.

System Requirements

The IDEnhancer software supports all IDE Hard drives including those greater than 528MB without needing any additional Hardware or BIOS changes. Fully compatible with MS DOS 4.0 ( & higher versions ), Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, Windows 95 (Beta), Windows NT and OS/2 2.1. The included "ENCRWIN.DRV" FASTDISK Driver for Windows 3.1 & 3.11 allows "32bitDiskAccess" mode for all IDE drives.

The software supports two IDE ports i.e., with 4 IDE drives IDEnhancer automatically detects Primary and Secondary IDE Ports in the system. When a Secondary IDE port is found, all connected IDE drives are automatically configured.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A full verified backup should be made of the existing system prior to Installation of the IDEnhancer software.

Installation

IMPORTANT NOTE: A full verified backup should be made of the existing system prior to Installation of the IDEnhancer software.

1. Insert the IDEnhancer diskette in Floppy drive A: and reset the system. If you have set up the option to boot directly from the hard disk ensure that your CMOS is setup to boot first from drive A: and then from drive C:.
2. The IDEnhancer copyright message is displayed followed by the installation screen. The following screen prompt will then be displayed:
   
   Please Enter Y to install, N to Abort (Y or N):
   
   Press Y to continue the installation or press N to abort the installation.
   
   On pressing Y (Yes) the IDEnhancer installation checks for improper partitions on the IDE drive(s). At this time IDEnhancer will determine if there is data on any IDE drive that may be destroyed. If so, the Drive(s) will be identified and the first of two warnings displayed as follows:
   
   Data on First / Second / Third / Fourth Drive will be Destroyed.
   Do you want to continue? (Y/N):
   
   By default the answer is "N". If you have already backed up your data answer "Y" (Yes). You may abort installation at this time to back up your data from the specified drive(s). Remove the IDEnhancer diskette and Restart the system. Back up your data and return to step 1 of installation.
   
   If you answered "Y" (Yes), a second warning will be displayed.
   
   Data on above mentioned drives will be lost for ever.
   Do you want to continue? (Y/N):
   
   By default answer is "N". If you have already backed up your data answer "Y" (Yes). You may abort installation at this time to back up your data. Remove IDEnhancer diskette and restart the system. Back up your data and return to step 1 of installation.
   
   
3. If the answer is Yes then the following messages will be displayed:
   
   Loading IDEnhancer on the Hard Disk.....
   *Loading IDEnhancer Library on the Hard Disk.....
   IDEnhancer loaded on the Hard Disk successfully.....
   
   If Installation detects the boot drive C: is unpartitioned because either it is a new drive or IDEnhancer installation destroyed the data on the First Hard disk (if you got the warning messages), Partition Editor will run and the following messages will displayed:
   
   Largest partition that can be created-----> XXXXX MBs
   Allocate all the space and set the partition active? (Y/N) :
   
   Press: Y To create a single (Default) partition on the boot drive. Press: N to create more than one partitions on the hard disk. If you choose to create more than one partition on the boot drive the Partition Editor will allow you to create smaller partitions on the drive.
   
   If you selected "N", the following message will be displayed.
   
   Enter New Partition size in MBs.---->
   Enter the new partition size.
   
   Partition Editor will then create the new partition and the following messages will be displayed:
   
   Creating New partition Please wait.
   New Partition created and set active. Press any key to continue.
   
   NOTE: Partition Editor will not run if IDEnhancer detects a valid partition table on the boot drive (usually on IDE drive less than 528 MB in capacity).
   
   
4. IDEnhancer Installation is now complete. The following message will be displayed.
   
   Installation completed successfully..!!! Press any key to continue.
   
   If Partition Editor was run following message will be displayed:
   
   "Remove IDEnhancer floppy & Insert Operating System boot or Installation diskette in drive A: and press any key to continue".
   
   You must install your Operating system (DOS, OS/2, Windows 95 or Windows NT) at this time. Insert the operating system installation diskette in drive A: and follow the directions to install the operating system.
   
   Otherwise, the following message will be displayed:
   
   "Remove IDEnhancer floppy & Press <ctrl-alt-del> to restart the system. You may insert Operating System bootable diskette in drive A: and press any key to continue".

You may now remove the IDEnhancer diskette from Drive A: and restart the system. Your system is ready for operation. The IDEnhancer will initialize automatically every time you boot from the hard disk.

OPTIONS.EXE

It is not always recommended that the IDEnhancer is installed on the hard disk. Some machines already have the facility in BIOS to support Large Hard Disk sizes (see Apricot Specifics below). Although no damage will result if the BIOS is set and the IDEnhancer software is used, the access times to the Hard Disk will be affected. If the driver for 32Bit Disk Access is only required then a program called Options.exe can be used to install this driver. This program is also used to adjust the settings created after installation of the IDEnhancer. This program is contained in a subdirectory of the Installation Disk called Options.

To run "Options.Exe":

There are then displayed various options

It is advisable to leave the settings at their default settings. However it is possible to set the Floppy Boot Time to 0 or disabled to stop the waiting for floppy disk message at power on.

The Install Windows 3.1X driver option is the option which should be used to install the windows 3.1x driver for IDEnhancer. When this option is selected, The Windows 3.1x driver (ENCRWIN.DRV) is copied into the windows directory and the "SYSTEM.INI" file is modified. The old SYSTEM.INI" is saved as "SYSTEM.SPX" in the Windows directory. When Windows is restarted then it will be possible to select "Control Panel" then the "386 Enhanced" followed by the "Virtual Memory setting". It will then be seen that the 32 Bit Disk Access Box has been “ungrayed”.

NOTE: Please ensure that no other Fast disk driver for IDE drive is installed in the SYSTEM.INI" file. This may include the drivers you may have received from the IDE controller manufacturer.

NOTE: The “Create Emergency Boot Floppy” option within OPTIONS.EXE does not appear to work properly. This is being investigated.

Apricot Specifics

On Apricot machines it is not always necessary to run the full IDEnhancer software as the BIOS supports Large Hard Drive Partitions. It is then only necessary to install the Windows drivers to enable 32bit Disk Access.

Summary of IDEnhancer requirements for installation.

NOTE: Version 1.90 of Windows FASTDISK driver ENCRWIN.DRV will load with SurePath BIOS without the IDEnhancer driver being loaded first. Versions of ENCRWIN.DRV prior to 1.80 would not.

A slight performance decrease may be seen if the IDEnhancer driver is loaded.

ENCRWIN.DRV does not support the use of ATAPI devices (CD-ROMs, etc.) on the same cable / port as hard disks.

Appendix

The IDEnhancer is being shipped on all new products from the factory as a disk image (not installed). The software consists of two parts:-

1. Support for Large Hard Disk sizes greater than 504MB disk support is provided by what is referred to as the IDE enhancer driver. This is only applicable for XEN-PC (A1 motherboard) and FT//ex (J3 motherboard) systems, all other Apricot systems have support for large hard disks in the BIOS so the driver is NOT needed.
   
   
2. Microsoft Windows products also have a limit in that 32bit Disk access is not available on drives greater than 504MB. The Option for 32bit Disk Access (in the Virtual memory section of 386 Enhanced) is grayed out.
   
   The FASTDISK driver is required to give 32bit Disk Access support on all Apricot systems with drives greater than 504MB. This driver will give you better performance and enable you to get faster benchmark results.