Cadzow 2000 File System SupportCadzow 2000 is a fully native 32-bit Windows application and supports most modern file system features. This article discusses recommendations and issues. File SystemsCadzow 2000 supports FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS volumes under Windows 9x, NT4, 2000 and above. However, NTFS volumes, for both the storage of data and storage of programs and operating systems, are recommended, due to their reliability, fault-tolerance and increased capacity. MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows applications can exist on NTFS volumes (as long as you do not disable 8.3 filename generation), so you do not need to maintain FAT volumes for compatibility with older programs. FAT16 and FAT32 volumes can be converted to NTFS volumes without data loss. Consult your IT provider. BitLocker-encrypted volumes are supported. Non-Microsoft PlatformsWhen using .MDB databases, non-Microsoft Windows storage volumes/file servers/network attached storage (NAS) are not supported, even if they are using FAT or NTFS volumes. Some examples of unsupported configurations include: Linux-based servers using SAMBA to provide Microsoft networking functions, Home/SOHO or enterprise-grade NAS devices. When using Microsoft SQL Server, any storage technology supported by Microsoft for use with SQL Server is supported. CompressionWindows 9x supports DriveSpace compression (which allows compressed volumes) and Windows NT/2000 and above support NTFS compression (which allows compressed files, folders or volumes). Cadzow 2000 does not disallow compression, which is to say the use of compression is invisible to Cadzow 2000 and compression is highly reliable in ideal conditions. However, the use of compression is to be avoided when using any sort of critical business data, in particular databases, including Cadzow 2000. There are two main reasons for this:
Microsoft does not support SQL Server databases or other database types on compressed volumes and recommends avoiding it on systems with a lot of write activity. Long FilenamesFor this discussion there are three types of filename conventions:
In addition, a fully qualified short filename may be at most about 76 characters whereas a fully qualified long filename can be several hundred characters. Cadzow 2000 supports the latter style of long filename in all places with the following exceptions:
However, while long names and UNC paths are supported, short names with mapped drives are recommended for performance reasons. (1, 2) Distributed File System (DFS)Cadzow 2000 fully supports data files etc specified with DFS, subject to the limitations discussed in Long Filenames above. In addition, Cadzow 2000 attempts to report low disk space conditions on startup by checking the volume where the data is stored and the TEMP location. However, since the DFS root can be on a different volume than the target directory, Cadzow 2000 will not be able to determine the space available. Therefore when storing data files on DFS paths, ensure there is sufficient free space for expansion. USB Drives and Other Removable DevicesUSB and other removable drives typically appear in Windows as a drive letter such as E:, F: etc. Files may be copied to and from the drive as per normal. However, some models of these drives do not implement a volume label, which causes the 32-bit command-line version of PKZIP (used by the Cadzow 2000 Backup utility) to fail, as it attempts to set a volume label. To work around this problem, backup to drive C: and then copy the file to the device manually using Windows Explorer. |