The Current Drive

At any given time, MS-DOS considers one disk drive to be the current (or default) drive. The current drive is the drive on which MS-DOS executes your next command, unless you tell it to do otherwise. For example, if the current drive is C, and you enter the DIR (directory) command, MS-DOS lists the files stored on drive C. If the current drive is A and you type WP and press Enter, MS-DOS looks on drive A for a file called WP and executes the instructions in that file. The current drive is the drive you are logged onto at the time.

The MS-DOS command prompt tells you which drive is the current drive. The MS-DOS command prompt includes the current drive’s letter followed by a greater-than symbol.

(Depending on how you installed MS-DOS, it may also include additional information.) Thus, when you see C> on the screen, you know the current drive is C. The MS-DOS command prompt also lets you know that MS-DOS is ready to receive a command from you.

If you need to access a file or program on another drive, you can either change the current drive or specify the other drive when you give the command.

Changing the current drive

To change the current drive, type the letter of the drive you want to change to, followed by a colon. Then press Enter. For example, to change the current drive from C to A, type A : at the C> prompt and press Enter. MS-DOS acknowledges the change by displaying the command prompt A>. Changing to a new drive is also known as logging onto that drive.

4-4 Using MS-DOS with Your Equity 386SX