Smartdrive needed?

I am going to install 2kServer on this pc as a multi boot option for the purpose of hands on learning. It is recommended by my textbook that smartdrv.exe be installed and on the autoexec.bat before beginning to copy files. Here's the problems:

1. Smartdrive is not installed on this pc (currently 2kpro). I found the application on my 98se cd and can copy it to this computer, but where would be the best place to put it? Winnt or winnt\system32? Or somewhere else?

2. Autoexec.bat is not recognized as a valid system32 app when I attempt to open it. (get that error message) However, I can modify it to add smartdrv.exe. When I attempt to run it from the command line I get the message that it is not found- but, it is in the root (C:\)

Do I need to solve this problem? If I do I have the ingredients, just don't know how to fix these particular problems I have not encountered before...

 

The Autoexec.Bat is only meant to be run at system startup, and it is done automatically, the rest of the time it just sits there. However, if Smartdrv.Exe is located at C:\, and you are at the C:\> prompt, and no folder is listed to the right such as C:\Windows> , just typing in "smartdrv" and pressing Enter will load it. You will not get any confirmation that it has.
However, I really do not think Smartdrv works in the NT operating system enviroment. You would need to boot off of a 98 floppy to use it.
And that brings up another question, does the W2K Pro drive have a NTFS file system? If it does, using a 9x floppy will do you no good. As a 98 floppy operates on a FAT32 file system, and cannot read or write to NTFS. Smartdrv from 98 certainly will not work on NTFS.

 

All partitions are formatted NTFS

I did successfully (?) load smartdrv.exe and add it to the autoexec.bat. I will post a followup when I install server (poss today) to see if it works... thanks for this good advice. E

 

smartdrv.exe is not needed in 2K read/write caching is it done automagically by the OS. Dont bother with it.