DISK OPERATING SYSTEM

Main files of ms-dos operating system are creative for some special Functions like booting ,creating and co-ordinating devices for input And output ..these files have a special extension such as .sys , .com .exe ,etc. generally these are programe files, which are created While creating dos.. IO.SYS AND MS-DOS.SYS FILES. both of these files are hidden.the names of these files dont appear in file list .these are present on every disk..At the time of booting ,both of these files automatically loaded in RAM. To.sys file stores the Standard of operation related to Input/ Output devices,Ms-dos.sys stores the command that contact with operating system. COMMAND.COM FILE There is a command interpreter file in ms-dos.which is a group Of Io.sys ,ms-dos.sys and command.com file enables us to establish Contact with the computer.it stores various internal commands..

These are the instructions which are used to communicate with the computer system..we call these instruction as commands as we issue Commands to system to get our work done.The commands of DOS are Divided into toe categories namely: INTERNAL Commands EXTERNAL Commands 1. INTERNAL Commands These commands are always available with DOS because these commands Are automatically stored in the memory at the time of booting. All these commands are collected in COMMAND.COM. EX:.. DIR, RENAME, COPY, TYPE etc. 2. EXTERNAL Commands These commands are such short programs which are stored either On floppy disk or hard disk and if need be,they are execute and stored In the memory.. EX:..FORMAT ,CHKDSK ,PRINT , DISKCOPY etc.

COMMAND

PURPOSE

FORMAT CLS

EXAMPLE CLS

CLS

Clearing the screen display

VOL

Displaying the label of the volume in the drive specified

VOL [d:]

VOL B:

VER

Displays the VER version of the MS-DOS sets the path PATH [D:] Path ; path--] for search

VER

PATH

PATH=C:\Ws C:\FOX

EXAMPLE OF .

i. BACK UP
It is used for backing up one or more files from a hard disk on to a Floppy disk. To backup the files in all sub-directories under the path specified /s has to be used. Syntax : BACKUP d:[path][file name] d:[/s] Example : BACKUP C:\abc a:

ii. CHKDSK
This command is used for checking the disk and reporting back the Status of the system. It checks for the memory and gives the detailed Information about the memory consumed as well as free memory. Syntax: CHKDSK [d:] [file name.txt] Example: 1.CHKDSK 2..CHKDSK A:

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DISK COPY
This is used to copy a diskette into another .This makes an exact Copy of the diskette in the first drive on the diskette in another Drive. Syntax : DISKCOPY [d:] [d:] Example :

DISKCOPY a:b:

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DISK COMP
It is used to compare the contents of two diskettes on the drive Specified. Format : DISKCOMP [d:] [d:] Example : DISKCOM a: b:

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TREE
This is used to display all the directories and also the files if specified. If we want to display all the files use /p. Format : TREE [d:] [/f] Example : TREE A:/F

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FORMAT

This command is used to prepare a fresh diskette to be used by the DOS or all its storage purpose. It divides the disk into tracks and segments so that data can be stored .If we want to create a system Diskette ex a bootable diskette which can be used to boot a system as it had the basic operating system it, use \s as option. Syntax : FORMAT [d:][/s] Example : (a) FORMAT A: (b) FORMAT A:\S to create a system diskette ex..bootable floopy.

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RESTORE

This is used to restore the files from a floppy disk, which are backed up Using the backup command. If we like to restore all the files in the path Use \s option. Syntax : RESTORE [d:] [d:] [path [filename]] [/s] Example : RESTORE A:C:\Demo

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DEL TREE

This command is used to delete the directory including all the sub-directories And the files. This command has to be used carefully as it is dangerous, As deletes al the files and subdirectories. Syntax : DELTREE [d:] [path] Example: DELTREE A:\Demo

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COPY CON

This command is used to create files and saving them to the disk. once you Give the command then you can type in the contents of the file, once finished press <control +Z> keys of the keyboard .Then press <enter> key To end the file creation. Syntax : COPY CON [d:] [path] filename <control +Z> < enter> Example : COPY CON DEMO.txt this is a demo file. This is used to create a new file, with the name DEMO.txt .Now , as we Have finished typing lets close this command by pressing the keys specified For it. <control +Z> <enter>

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PRINT
This command is used for printing the contents of documents or files. This command sends the document or the file specified to the printer For printing . Syntax : PRINT :[d:] [path] file name Example : PRINT : A:\Demo customer .doc

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MOVE

This command is used to move the files from one directory to another .It Is also used to rename a directory . This is done by specifying the old Directory name as source and target would be new directory name. Syntax : MOVE [d:] [path] Directory1 Directory2 Example : MOVE C:\ABC:\XYZ

BOOTING
Loading of the operating system on the machine memory is called booting. These are two type.. 1)COLD BOOTING : Which is switching the power to the computer system, enables the computer to start up. 2) WARM BOOTING :It is the process adopted ,when instead of switching the power on , when the system hangs up ,even when the power is on, it is restarted pressing Alt+Ctrl+Del keys together from the key board it is called Warm booting.

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FAT AREA
FAT stands for file allocation table. It is the next part of the system of the Disk. This area of FAT id used by the MS-DOS to manage the big area option Of the disk. This area is used to record the status of each area of the disk . For managing the area of the disk ,the MS-DOS operating system divides Total area into logical divisions known as clusters. These clusters store the which contain data. The FAT table consists of numbers, with one place in table assinged for each cluster on the disk. The number which is recorded Every clusters FAT entry indicates the status of the cluster is free or has File. If there is zero in the clusters FAT entry ,it indicates that the cluster Is free and it can be assinged any file. If there is any other number, it Indicates that it is in use.

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ROOT DIRECTORY
This is the last part of the system area of the disk. This is the directory which Is the basic , but in directory for the disk, which every disk has. The directory Records the files that are stored on the disk. This directory has a fixed size For each disk format.

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DATA AREA

It is the bigger part of the disk, where the data files are stored on the disk . Each files on the disk has an entry in the FAT table of the system area. Once a file in the data area is assigned a cluster it finds the entry into FAT Table. The data area nearly forms 98% of the disk capacity. The following Figure gives the structure of the MS-DOS disk :

BOOT AREA

FAT AREA

ROOT DIRECTORY AREA

WILD CARD
These are special characters which are used for specific purposes so that Some of our operations with commands becomes more flexible and useful. These characters are used as indicatives and space holders for the characters . These are used when we need to replace a place with any of the characters . These are used when we need to replace a place with any of the characters The following are the most commonly used wild card characters : 1) * [Asterik] This is used to represent multiple spaces and is used in conjuction with a command . This special character is useful in many situations like searching , listing etc. Examples : ( i) Dir *.dot Display all the files with have .dot as extension irrespective of the file name (ii) Copy a *.* c:\abc Copies files with file name starting with a to the destination direction

2) ? [Question mark] This character is used to represent single space or any character. Example : a) Dir ? a.* Displays all the files whose file name has a as second character and has any character as first letter. b) Del ? c Delete all files with c as second character in file name and any character in first space/place.