Comparison between DRIVPARM and DRIVER.SYS (50104)


The information in this article applies to:
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.1
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.2
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.21
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 3.3a
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.0
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 4.01
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 5.0a
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.0
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.2
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.21
    • Microsoft MS-DOS operating system 6.22
This article was previously published under Q50104

SUMMARY

The files DRIVPARM and DRIVER.SYS offer you two different methods of supporting disk drives that either are not present or are not supported by the computer's own ROM BIOS.

MORE INFORMATION

The following chart shows the differences and the similarities between the two methods: 
    -------------------------------------------------------
   |          DRIVPARM                DRIVER.SYS           |
    -------------------------------------------------------
   |                          |                            |
  *|  Modifies the parameters |  Adds a new logical drive  |*
   |  of an existing floppy   |  that points to an         |
   |  disk drive.             |  existing physical drive,  |
   |                          |  optionally modifying the  |
   |                          |  parameters of the new     |
   |                          |  logical drive.            |
    -------------------------------------------------------
   |                          |                            |
   |  A new /i switch in      |  Allows the addition of    |
   |  version 4.00 of MS-DOS  |  a new physical drive      |
   |  offers better support   |  that is not normally      |
   |  for 3.5 inch disk       |  supported by the ROM      |
   |  drives.                 |  BIOS. This allows         |
   |                          |  external disk drives and  |
   |                          |  drive-controlling         |
   |                          |  software to be installed. |
    -------------------------------------------------------

* This feature is useful in situations where the ROM BIOS of the machine does not support the hardware being installed/modified.

Modification Type: Major Last Reviewed: 5/12/2003
Keywords: KB50104
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