VFAT-OS2.IFS

The VFAT-OS2.IFS driver installs support for the Windows VFAT file system. You need also following drivers installed: VFAT-LW.EXE and MWDD32.SYS.

Note: The Vfat-os2.ifs includes also support for the Linux ext2 file system. To enable it you need to add BASEDEV=EXT2FLT.FLT to your config.sys file. IFS=\VFAT\VFAT-OS2.IFS

ATTENTION: vfat-os2 is a FILE SYSTEM DRIVER. Being a driver it runs at the most privileged level of the OS/2 operating system, known as "kernel mode". IN KERNEL MODE THERE IS NO MORE CRASH PROTECTION. It means that if a bug occurs in the driver IT CAN CAUSE A HANG OR A SYSTEM HALT, AND THUS CAN CAUSE LOSS OF DATA. I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU TO MAKE A BACKUP OF ALL YOUR DATA (EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT LOCATED ON A VFAT PARTITION) PRIOR TO USE THIS DRIVER. DON'T USE THIS DRIVER ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE, OR IF YOU MANIPULATE CRITICAL DATA. IF HUMAN LIFE DEPENDS ON YOUR SYSTEM, DON'T INSTALL THIS DRIVER ON IT. USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISKS, AND ONLY ON A MACHINE YOU ACCEPT TO CRASH AND REINSTALL.

Parameters:

All parameters are case insensitive and you can use a "/" instead of the "-". Use any logically combination of the parameters.

This parameter turns off the banner during boot up.
 * -q

Specifies which VFAT partition should be supported. Value can be *, one or more drive letters or one or more drive letters with a plus sign. To use all recognized FAT partition as VFAT you need to add this: -VFAT:* To use a list of recognized FAT partition as VFAT you need to add the driver letters to the -VFAT: parameter. For example use drive E and F as Vfat use this option: -VFAT:EF To force a FAT partition as VFAT when not automatically recognized add a plus sign after the drive letter: -VFAT:E+
 * -VFAT:value

The cache parameter sets up the maximum disk cache size. This value is the maximum amount of physical memory Vfat-os2.ifs can dynamically allocate for the disk cache. Value can be in the range from 240 to the value of the installed RAM. This value is expressed in Kbytes. If this parameter is not set it defaults to 240.
 * -cache:value

Use this parameter if you want to have write access to the disk. If this parameter is not set you have only read access to the disk. note: You can also use the vfat-os2.exe program to enable a limited write access.
 * -rw

Only available with EXT2FLT.FLT. Prevents vfat-os2 from forcing Linux to run e2fsck on partitions "touched" by OS/2. The default is to force Linux to run e2fsck.
 * -no_auto-fsck

ext2flt.flt. This option makes the ext2 file system behave like HPFS. With this option set you can access a file by the name of the file no matter what case you use. The default is case sensitive. That means that you can access a file only if you use the right case.
 * -case_retensive

Traces one or more specific IFS entry points. Vfat-os2.exe generates than an output whenever the specified entry point is entered.An example of this parameter would look like this: IFS=vfat-os2.ifs -FS_Copy -FS_Delete
 * -IFS trace entry point

Here is a list of the available entry points:
 * FS_AllocatePageSpace
 * FS_ChDir
 * FS_ChgFilePtr
 * FS_Close
 * FS_Commit
 * FS_Copy
 * FS_Delete
 * FS_DoPageIO
 * FS_Exit
 * FS_FileAttribute
 * FS_FileInfo
 * FS_FindClose
 * FS_FindFirst
 * FS_FindFromName
 * FS_FindNext
 * FS_FlushBuf
 * FS_FsInfo
 * FS_IOCtl
 * FS_MkDir
 * FS_Mount
 * FS_Move
 * FS_NewSize
 * FS_OpenCreate
 * FS_OpenPageFile
 * FS_PathInfo
 * FS_ProcessName
 * FS_Read
 * FS_RmDir
 * FS_ShutDown
 * FS_Write

Use this option to turn off the extended I/O operations. Turn the extended I/O only off, if you have any problems with it. If you use Os2dasd.dmd as your block device driver it should work fine. If this parameter is not set up, the default is to use the extended I/O on every fixed disk.
 * -no_strat2

Here you can set up what vfat should do when it finds an error in the file system. Value can be panic or continue. If set to panic the system will halts immediately. You must boot Windows/Linux to repair your file system. Use the continue option to go on with your work after an error where detected. Ext2 marks this partition as bad and forces Linux to run e2fsck on the next Linux reboot.
 * -errors=value

Redirect the ext2 messages to the specified comport. It is only necessary for tracing or debugging Comport can be com1 or com2.
 * -output=comport

ext2flt.flt Specifies the timezone in minutes from UTC (GMT). This parameter is used to have the same date and time for files as Linux. Value can be in the range from -1440 to +1440. 0 is the same as GMT.
 * -tz=value

Vfat normally use extended disk I/O only on fixed disk, but not on removable media. With this option set removable media can use extended disk I/O, if available. This will improve your performance. But you must first use the unmount.exe utility before you can remove the drive. Drive-number can be in the range from 0 to 26. A "0" for the drive-number means drive "A", a "1" means drive "B" and so on.
 * -force_strat2:drive-number