2.12
SYSTEM CONFIGURATION COMMANDS
FILES
Type: Internal
Syntax: FILES=(number)
Purpose:
Used in the CONFIG.SYS file to specify the maximum number of files that can be
open at the same time.
Discussion
You should
specify a FILES= value of at least 20 to satisfy most of today’s application
programs. Some programs, such as Windows, may require as many as 30 or 40
files. If you have not allocated enough files for an application, an error
message may be displayed. If this happens, increase the number of files
available and restart your computer. You should be aware that some programs
change the FILES= value in your CONFIG.SYS file automatically. After installing
a new program, be sure to check your CONFIG.SYS file to make sure the setting
will work with your other applications.
Option
number -
Specifies the maximum number (8 to 255) of open files that DOS will allow. The
default value is 8.
Example
To set the
maximum number of files that can be open at the same time to 60, enter the
following in your CONFIG.SYS file: files=60
BUFFERS
Type: Internal
Syntax: BUFFERS=(number),(read-ahead
number)
Purpose:
Used in the CONFIG.SYS file to set the number of disk buffers (a number from 1
to 99) that will be available for use during data input. Also used to set a
value for the number of sectors to be read in advance (read-ahead) during data
input operations.
Discussion
While
conducting input and output operations, DOS stores information in memory
buffers so that it will be readily available when requested by an application.
The more buffers set in the CONFIG.SYS file with the BUFFERS command, the
faster DOS will be able to access the information requested. You should
experiment to determine the most efficient number of buffers for your computer
and the applications you are running. The same is true for determining the
appropriate number of read-ahead buffers. The read ahead buffers determine the
amount of data DOS will read from the disk in addition to the data requested by
the application.
Options
number
- Sets the number of disk buffers DOS should use (1 to 99). If no value is
provided the default value (determined by the amount of memory in your
computer) will be used. Generally, if you have 512K of memory, the default will
be 15.
read ahead -
Sets the number of buffers in the secondary or read-ahead cache. DOS 5.0 allows
values of 1 to 8 with 1 as the default. In DOS 6.0 you can specify 0 to 8 with
0 as the default.
Example
To set buffers
to 60 and read-ahead buffers to 5 enter the following line in your CONFIG.SYS
file buffers=60,5
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