The Command Prompt

After the computer has loaded MS-DOS from the hard disk, you see the MS-DOS command prompt on the screen:

C : \ >

The command prompt tells you that your computer is ready to receive instructions. It also identifies the current operating drive: A or C, for example. The command prompt appears on the screen whenever you load MS-DOS, complete an MS-DOS command, or exit an application program.

In your computer, the diskette drive is A and the hard disk is drive C. If you have an optional second diskette drive, MS-DOS identifies it as B.

9Copying System Diskettes

Now that you have started your system and loaded MS-DOS, it is important that you make copies of your MS-DOS and Reference diskettes right away. Use the copies (called working copies) as they are needed and store the originals in a safe place.

Note

If you have only a single diskette drive and no hard disk drive, see "Using DISKCOPY With One Drive Only" in

Chapter 4 for instructions on copying diskettes.

Each of the system diskettes is formatted for 360KB. (Formatting prepares a diskette to store data and is described in Chapter 3.) To copy them, you need four 360KB double- density, 5¼-inch diskettes.