DKB RapidSet V1.0 Copyright © 1995, DKB Software, Inc.

   RapidSet was written by Glenn L. Nielsen of Express-Way
Software, Inc.  If you have any questions or comments about
RapidSet you can contact DKB Software, Inc. at:

	PO Box 438
	Wixom, MI 48393 USA
	(810) 348-3755 (voice) (810) 348-3531 (fax)

If you have questions or comments about RapidSet, or want to send
us copies of new Controller, Drive, or FileSystem config files
you have created, you can send them via email to:

   rapidset@express-way.com

or via the Express-Way BBS at (314) 474-0297.

What does Rapidset do?

SCSI drives come in many sizes, and with many small 
variations in how they operate.  Before AmigaDOS can format 
a SCSI drive, it needs some basic information about it:

1)  The total amount of storage space the drive contains.
2)  Partition information, including the number of 
partitions, the size of each, the device name of each, and 
whether or not each is bootable.
3)  The file system you are using (most Amiga hard drives 
use some version of the Fast File System, but it is also 
possible to format drive with "foreign" file systems, such 
as the MS-DOS and Macintosh HFS filesystems, using third-
party products such as Cross PC and Cross Mac)

The Rapidset program stores this information in a special 
place on the disk, called the Rigid Disk Block (RDB).  By 
looking at the RDB, AmigaDOS gets all of the information it 
needs to mount this disk at boot time, or to boot from the 
drive itself.  If you want your SCSI drive to mount 
automatically as an AmigaDOS device whenever you turn on 
your computer, you must use the Rapidset program to create a 
Rigid Disk Block on the disk.  If you have a removable media 
drive, you can use Rapidset to create an RDB on each media 
cartridge.  For most drives, however, you'll only need to 
run the Rapidset program once, when you initially set the 
drive up.

The Rigid Disk Block contains a lot of information about the 
drive.  Fortunately, however, the Rapidset program can 
supply most of this information by itself.  The only 
decision you have to make is what partition layout to use.  
Even there, Rapidset provides default settings that take 
most of the work out of partitioning your drive.  If you 
accept the defaults, you can perform the entire job by 
clicking a couple of buttons.

Installation

If your system already has a hard drive, you can drag the 
entire Rapidset drawer from the distribution disk to your 
Workbench partition.  The program is set up to automatically 
recognize your RapidFire controller.

If you're using the RapidFire board to install a hard drive 
for the first time, the Rapidset program directly from the 
distribution disk (or better yet, from a copy of the disk).  
Once you get your hard drive up and running, you can drag 
the drawer to your Workbench partition.

To start the Rapidset program, double-click on the program 
icon within the Rapidset drawer.

Quick Partition Setup

In most cases, all you'll need to do to setup your drive 
partitions is to select the drive to partition on the main 
program screen, and then click on the Quick Partition Drive 
button.  If you simply want to create one large bootable 
partition on the drive, all you have to do is click the Save 
button from the Quick Partition Setup screen.  The program 
will write a Rigid Disk Block to the drive, and the drive 
will be ready for AmigaDOS formatting.

Note that when you exit the main program, a requester asks 
if you want to save information to an emergency startup 
disk.  It's a good idea to create an emergency disk, since 
you can use this floppy to boot if something prevents 
AmigaDOS from booting from the hard drive.  When this 
requester comes up, click YES, and place a formatted and 
INSTALLed floppy disk with the volume label ???? in the 
drive.  Put this disk in a safe place, for emergency use.