User`s guide

9 Working with Target PC Files and File Systems
Introduction
xPC Target file scopes create files on the target PC. To work with these
files from the host PC, you need to work with the
xpctarget.ftp and
xpctarget.fs objects. The xpcta rget.ftp object allows you to perform basic
file transfer operations on the target PC file system. The
xpctarget.fs object
allows you to perform file system-like operations on the target PC f ile system .
YoucannotdirectthescopetowritethedatatoafileonthexPCTargethost
PC. Once the software has written the signal data file to the target PC, you
can access the contents of the file for plotting or other inspection from the host
PC. The software can write data files to
• The C:\ or D:\ drive of the target PC. This can be a serial ATA (SATA) or
parallel ATA (PATA)/Integrated Device E lectronics (IDE) drive. The xPC
Target software supports file system s of type FAT-12, FAT-16, or FAT-32.
Ensure that the hard drive is not cable-selected and that the BIOS can
detect it. The type of file system (FAT-12, FAT-16, or FAT-32) limits the
maximum size of the file. The target PC file system uses the 8.3 file name
convention. This means that a targetPCfilenamecannotexceedeight
characters. Its file extension cannot exceed 3 characters.
If you have a target PC with mu ltip l e pa rtiti on s on a hard drive, th e xP C
Target software file scope can access those partitions if they are formatted
with FAT-12, FAT-16, or FAT-32. It w ill ignore any unsupported file
systems.
• A3.5-inchdiskdrive.
• Disks connected to a secondary IDE controller. The software supports up to
four drives through the second IDE controller. By default, it works with
drives configured as the primary master. If you want to use a secondary
IDE controller, you must configure the xPC Target software for it (see
“Converting x PC Target File Format Co ntent to Double Precision Data” on
page 9-12 in Chapter 6, “Software Environment and Demos”). The software
searches for another drive in the first four ports of the target PC.
The largest single file that you can create is 4 GB.
Note that writing data files to 3.5-inch disk drives is considerably slower
than writing to hard drives.
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