Seagate ST31270A manual Configuring the computer, Using the installation software

14 Medalist 1270 Installation Guide, July 1995

try values allowed by the BIOS, which limits the capacity of each logical drive to 528 Mbytes.

Configuring the computer

Configuring the computer involves updating the computer’s Sys- tem Setup records with the new drive’s translation geometry (cylinder, head and sector information) and partitioning and for- matting the drive. The translation geometry is kept on the CMOS chip and is used by the BIOS to assign locations for the data on the drive. Many older BIOSs place limits on the translation geometry parameter values that do not allow it to assign locations beyond 528 Mbytes when DOS is used. If your computer uses such a BIOS, it cannot access the full capacity of your new drive.

In this section we describe three methods you can use to config- ure your computer for DOS: EZ-Drive installation software, stand- ard setup and dual-drive emulation setup.

Using the installation software

Note. The EZ-Drive software is authorized for installation only with the drive on which it is shipped.

The EZ-Drive installation software allows your computer to ac- cess your Seagate drive’s full format capacity. It bypasses the BIOS during the boot sequence and uses the information it creates on Drive C to identify the drive before DOS is loaded. During the installation, EZ-Drive:

∙Determines how many drives are installed

∙Enters a drive type in System Setup for the new drive

∙Modifies the Drive C boot record with the new drive’s transla- tion geometry

∙Partitions and formats the new drive

∙Copies the boot files to the new drive if it is Drive C

∙Enables Maximum Overdrive, which enables read/write mul- tiple in drives that have this feature. The Change Installed