Why Step Up to MS-DOS 6.2?

MS-DOS 6.2 improves on the safety and ease of use provided by MS-DOS 6. This 
article describes features new to MS-DOS 6.2 and is designed for those already
running MS-DOS 6.

Safety Features and Enhancements 

* MS-DOS 6.2 includes ScanDisk, a new utility that detects, diagnoses, and
   repairs disk errors on uncompressed drives and DoubleSpace compressed
   drives. ScanDisk can repair file system errors (such as crosslinks and
   lost clusters) and physical disk errors. ScanDisk keeps a log of its
   repairs and enables you to undo any of the changes it made. DoubleSpace
   runs ScanDisk to check the reliability of your disk before it begins
   compression. You can also run ScanDisk yourself by typing SCANDISK at the
   command prompt. 

*  DoubleSpace includes DoubleGuard safety checking, which protects your
   data by verifying data integrity before writing to the disk. If DoubleGuard 
   detects that the memory DoubleSpace is using has been written to by another 
   program, it notifies you and recommends you shut down your computer
   immediately to minimize damage to your data

*  The MS-DOS extended-memory manager, HIMEM, automatically tests your
   system's memory when you start your computer. This test can identify
   memory chips that are no longer reliable.  If  you wich to turn off the memory 
   test, add the /TESTMEM:OFF switch to the command that starts HIMEM.

*  Setup now configures SMARTDrive as a read-only cache by default. Even if
   write-caching is enabled, MS-DOS does not display the command prompt
   until SMARTDrive has written its cache to your disk.

*  The MOVE,COPY, and XCOPY commands now ask you for confirmation
   before copying a file over another file that has the same name. (These 
   commands do not prompt for confirmation before overwriting a file when 
   issued from a batch file to maintain compatibility with the large base of  MS-DOS 
   batch files.)

Ease-of-Use Features and Other Enhancements

*  SMARTDrive now caches CD-ROM drives.

*  DoubleSpace automatically mounts compressed floppy disks and other
   compressed removable media -- even when Windows is running.
 
*  With MS-DOS 6.2, you can easily uncompress a DoubleSpace drive or even
   completely uninstall DoubleSpace from memory

*  Interactive Start (F8) has been enhanced so you can now bypass or carry 
   out individual commands in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. (In MS-DOS 6, this 
   capability was limited to your CONFIG.SYS file.) This feature makes it 
   easier to troubleshoot your system configuration.

* No-Swap Diskcopy:  The DISKCOPY command now uses your hard disk 
    as an interim storage area, which makes copying from one floppy disk to 
    another faster and easier.

*  Microsoft Defragmenter makes better use of your computer's extended
   memory, so it can now defragment much larger disks and disks containing
   many more files and directories.

*  The output of the DIR, MEM, CHKDSK, and FORMAT commands is much easier to
   read, since it now includes thousands separators when displaying numbers
   greater than 999. For example, "1000000 bytes free" now reads "1,000,000
   bytes free."