Chapter 2

Preparing a Hard Disk for Use

If your computer has a hard disk, follow the instructions in this chapter to prepare it before using it for the first time.

WARNING

Do not perform any of these procedures if your hard disk has already been prepared for use or has data stored on it; otherwise, you will erase all the data on the hard disk. These instructions apply only to a new hard disk.

The hard disk inside your computer has a capacity of 20 megabytes-about 20 million characters. This is equivalent to approximately 30 720KB diskettes. Using a hard disk reduces the number of diskettes you need and eliminates much of the diskette-swapping you do when you use diskettes. You can do almost all your work on the hard disk and copy your files to diskettes as needed (to make backups, for example).

Although the hard disk is very reliable, it is essential to back up any of your hard disk files that you cannot afford to lose. Use the Epson MENU program or the MS-DOS BACKUP command described in your MS-DOS manual to back up your hard disk files.

Before you can use the hard disk, you must do the following things to prepare it:

•Use the FDISK program to partition the hard disk to run the MS-DOS operating system.

•Use the SELECT program to format the MS-DOS partition and to copy the MS-DOS Startup/Operating 1 files to the hard disk.

•Use the COPY command to copy files from the Operating 2 and Reference diskettes to the hard disk.

These procedures are described in this chapter.

Preparing a Hard Disk for Use

2-1