SLICE (and SPLICE)

SLICE (and SPLICE) (Version 1.3)
Copyright(c)1989 Ziff Communications Co.
Bob Flanders and Michael Holmes
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First Published in PC Magazine May 16, 1989 (Utilities)
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SLICE (and SPLICE):

This utility spreads a DOS file too large to be copied onto a single floppy disk across multiple diskettes, enabling the file to be restored onto a second machine.

Format:   SLICE [d:][path]filename[.ext] d:

Remarks:

The filename of the file to be divided may be preceded with a drive and/or path, if needed. The d:target drive may be any drive that DOS recognizes as a removable medium. Diskettes from 160KB to 1.44MB capacity may be used, as may disk cartridges whose device driver identifies them as employing a removable medium.

As each target diskette becomes filled, the user is prompted to insert a fresh one; up to 99 formatted target disks may be accommodated. On the first of these, SLICE also creates a short (approximately 1KB) program, SPLICE.COM, which is subsequently used to reassemble the separate sections into which filename has been broken.

The syntax for SPLICE.COM is:

Format:   d:\SPLICE s: [t:][path] [/R]

Remarks:

The d: parameter designates the drive on which SPLICE.COM has been written, and s: designates the source drive. Normally, these are the same. The optional t: and path identify the hard disk/path onto which the file is to be reassembled as single entity. If these latter parameters are unspecified, the default drive and directory will be used for restoration. The original filename cannot be changed in either the SLICE or SPLICE operations, each of which requires approximately 34KB of available memory. The optional /R parameter tells the program to disable the check for removeable media. If you receive an error message saying, "Must be removeable media," you can try running SPLICE with the /R parameter. This is useful when the device driver for a drive does not support the IOCTL requesting removeable status.

Note: Although the DOS BACKUP and RESTORE utilities also permit a single file to be divided among multiple disks, they require that the same version of DOS be present on both the originating and the receiving machines.