In computing,
FASTOPEN is a
DOS terminate-and-stay-resident command, introduced in
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...
version 3.3,
that provides accelerated access to frequently-used
files and directories.
The command is also available in
SISNE plus.
Overview
The command works with
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
s, but not with
diskettes (probably for security when swapping) or with network drives (probably because such drives do not offer block-level access, only file-level access).
It is possible to specify for which drives should operate, how many files and directories should be
cached on each (10 by default, up to 999 total), how many regions for each drive should be cached and whether the cache should be located in conventional or
expanded memory
In DOS memory management, expanded memory is a system of bank switching that provided additional memory to DOS programs beyond the limit of conventional memory (640 KiB).
''Expanded memory'' is an umbrella term for several incompatible tech ...
.
If a disk
defragmenter tool is used, or if
Windows Explorer is to move files or directories, while is installed, it is necessary to reboot the computer afterwards, because would remember the old position of files and directories, causing MS-DOS to display garbage if e.g. "
DIR" was performed.
DR DOS 6.0 includes an implementation of the command.
[DR DOS 6.0 User Guide Optimisation and Configuration Tips](_blank)
/ref> is also part of the Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...
MS-DOS subsystem to maintain MS-DOS and MS OS/2 version 1.x compatibility. It is not available on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.MS-DOS subsystem commands
/ref>
The "fastopen" name has since been reused for various other "accelerating" software products.
See also
* FASTOPEN (CONFIG.SYS directive)
* SmartDrive
* List of DOS commands
References
Further reading
*
External DOS commands
{{DOS-stub