Long file names & FAT 32

[franchi]

I need to read & write long file names of FAT 32 discs (CDs & 3 1/2 disquetes) from VB 4.0, running on windows 3.x; (most CPUs that use my programs are 486). Is there a way to achieve this ? The CD & 3 1/2 media come from higher PCs; the filenames carry important information.

 

[LegoArtist]

Win32s is what you're looking for. There's a download link to it at

http://www.completelyfreesoftware.com/windows_extras_w31.html.

Never having used it myself, I don't know how you'd use it in VB4. There should be some info on the net if none comes with Win32s.

What you're looking to do is read filenames from a 32-bit OS on your 16-bit OS. Win32s will handle that. FAT32 and FAT16 just handle how data is actually stored on disk. And all this OS/FAT stuff is completely separate from CPUs.

I know this is more info than you were looking for, but hopefully I've saved you some confusion when you go to work with this stuff.

 

[franchi]

Thanks ! I'll try it. I still have some confusion. I used to think a 32 bit operating system can't run on 16 bit hardware, and also associated FAT 32 with 32 bit OS. I don't know if a 16 bit OS like MS-DOS 6.22 or Windows 3.11 have services to access FAT 32 disks (maybe some int 21H ?). Is there any ? It'll help me.

 

[LegoArtist]

You won't have any trouble reading floppies, and shouldn't have any problems with CDs. I copy stuff from my Win95/98 computers to my 386 (DOS and Win3.11) all the time. I'd guess that 99% of users don't bother to use FAT32 on floppies. You'd get very little benefit from reformatting them, so people just use them as is, which is FAT16. If you tried to hook up a FAT32 hard drive to your Win3.11 computer, you probably couldn't read it.

Win32s came out around the time Win95 went gold. If I remember correctly, FAT32 wasn't introduced to Win9x until OSR2, which means that it's very unlikely Win3.11 (even with Win32s) would know what the heck FAT32 is, let alone how to use it.

Let me know if I can be of any more help.

 

[franchi]

The fact is that I tryed reading long names with lnf.exe, a c-language DOS DIR substitute, and it worked only with FAT 16 disks. Many CDRs and disketes I tryed (almost all) were FAT 32. I tried lnf.exe 'cause it came with c source code, which I can easily translate and paste in my VB4. By now, I've installed win32s on my 486, and I've checked that VB4 32 bit doesn't install. I'll try some other tricks. Thanks for your help!