XPANDISK.SYS and XPANBOSS
Device Driver and Command

Michael J. Mefford             
1988 No. 18 (Utilities)


Purpose:	Permits varying the amount of expanded memory allocated to a RAM
disk without rebooting, when used on systems equipped with memory that conforms
to the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft specification.

Format:	In CONFIG.SYS file:
	DEVICE=XPANDISK.SYS [/Dn][/Sn][/En][/Mn][/An]

	At DOS command prompt:
        XPANBOSS [d:][/Dn][/Sn][/En][/Wn][/Rn][/Mn][/An]

Remarks:	XPANDISK makes use of an Expanded Memory Manager. The
DEVICE=XPANDISK.SYS entry must, therefore, follow the DEVICE=EMM.SYS (driver
name will differ with  manufacturer) line already in the CONFIG.SYS file. 
XPANBOSS varies the parameters of the RAMdisk d: created by XPANDISK.  Note that
while this does not require rebooting, changing parameters other than /R (Read-Only) does reformat d:, whose contents are thereby lost.  A confirmation warning
is given to allow saving the RAMdisk files before the reformatting.  The
optional switch parameters for XPANDISK.SYS and XPANBOSS.COM are as follows:

	/Dn	Disk size, variable from 16K to 32,768K; default 64K.
	/Sn	Sector size, 128, 256, or 512 bytes; default 265 bytes.
	/En	Number of RAMdisk root directory entries; default 64.
	/Mn	Minimizes RAMdisk size (to 16K); use when running
		 large spreadsheets or databases.
	/An	Expands RAMdisk to fill all extended memory.
	/Wn	Eliminates warning that changing RAMdisk
		 parameters loses contents; use in batch file operation.
	/Rn	Make RAMdisk read-only; use after loading possible
		 Trojan horse programs.  RAMdisk d: may be returned
		 to read-write by entering d:XPANBOSS.

	Note:  DOS assigns the next available drive letter as d:.  Be sure that
this does not cause a conflict if you are using a SUBST drive.

	Note:  XPANDISK and XPANBOSS allow the same parameter comments permitted
by the VDISK.SYS extended/conventional device driver.  Thus, for example, you
could enter

	DEVICE=XPANDISK.SYS /disk size=120K /sector=128

	and DOS would understand this as

	DEVICE=XPANDISK.SYS /D120/S128