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Date:	Thu, 25 Apr 2002 10:07:12 PST7
From:	"J. R. Fox" <jr_fox@pacbell.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: Re: Maint. Part'n. approach

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> >As I noted in a recent post, I like to use a regular, fully-stocked Warp
> >partition as my actual Maintenance Partition. That means I can do not
> >only backups and file maintenance from there, but also Internet access,
> >PMVIEW, the major complement of app.s & util.s -- you name it.

Jack Huffman wrote:

> An interesting approach. How do you use the maintenance partition?

Well, the main uses in having it are: 1) To get around the locked file issues,
which have implications for doing backups, defrag runs, certain program
or driver update procedures, etc. 2) Having a viable alternate, should your
main Warp partition ever go down or refuse to boot. (Fortunately, this
has almost never been a problem for me -- in stark contrast to , say, NT --
with rare exceptions like some video related Traps back in the days when
I ran an ATI video card.) The better equipped the MP is, the better it
can fill in if things go very wrong in your primary Warp partition.
3) If you don't have a purely experimental OS/2 partition, either your
production or MP can double for this. The stability of OS/2, and how
much easier it is recover from "disasters," gives me a lot more confidence
in trying new things out this way. Whereas, I've seen NT get so hosed that
even the combination of CleanSweep and Configsafe can't reverse the
damage.

> Solve a problem on the main OS/2 partition, let the partition run until you are
> satisfied that the problem has really been solved, then update the
> maintenance partition?

In theory, yes, but not in my case. I started out with Warp 3, used that for a
couple years, then made *it* my MP when I installed Merlin and gradually
made it my primary Warp partition. I plan to do something similar on
my pending system upgrades: bid adieu to W3, make W4 the MP, & install
eCs with that becoming the production partition. In the past, there were a
few things -- some common drivers, and shared app.s -- that could be
tested / updated "cross-border." I think common drivers in the new arrange-
ment may be far fewer, because of the kernel differences and whatnot, but
I can still do some of what I did before. Examples: update JJSCDROM on
the other side (I don't recall if that one is locked on the active partition or
not, but you get the idea); update PMVIEW on my Warp App.s partition
(I try to keep only certain essential app.s like UNIMAINT on each boot
partition), from one side, and it will just _be_ the later version on the other
side too, the next time it is run there, and OS/2 won't know or care. You
can't really do this with Windoze, because its design depends so much
on constantly revising the humongous and labyrinthine Win Registry for
such changes.

> Do you have a single file for something like

> Netscape bookmarks? Or am I asking questions that are irrelevant?

A majority of the data files belonging to various app.s tend to be stored on
removeable media, not on my hard drive. I've been doing that for a long
time. The data files that are on the H/D would probably be in the shared
app.s partitions, anyway, so, wherever the program is installed, it can get
at these. (Some people completely separate their data onto exclusively
data partitions -- another way to go.) NS bookmarks are a special case.
I use Web Organizer, sort of a centralized HTML database for bookmarks,
as my Home Page. This works great, except that you have to recompile it
periodically for additions / changes / deletions. I have a whole heap of
new bookmarks, gathered while surfing from the Profiles of my three
mail accounts, that have accumulated over the last few months, and I've
fallen way behind on integrating them into WO.

> Are the problems you mention likely to occur in my pc?

I'm not even sure the BOOTOS2 WPS thing I mentioned is a real problem.
All I recall is a prolonged discussion of it on the Compuserve OS/2 fora
a few years ago. If it is real, it may have something to do with the "phantom"
or duplicate Desktop issue that Larry Martin addressed in a couple of
reference and CMD files he wrote. I have these somewhere. (Of marginal
use to you, unless you have UNIMAINT, I think.)

Jordan

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