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DISKDUPE ______________________________________________________________________________ OWNER'S MANUAL Version 2.0 Micro System Designs, Inc. 1309 El Curtola Lafayette, CA 94549 (415) 944-9994 DiskDupe (July 1989) (c) Copyright 1989 Micro Systems Designs, Inc. All rights reserved. DISKDUPE, AUTOLOAD, RELAY and MICRO SYSTEM DESIGNS are trademarks of Micro System Designs, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language (natural or computer) in any form by any means, except as described in the following license without the written permission of Micro System Designs, Inc. LICENSE AGREEMENT This software is protected by both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You may use it on a trial basis for up to one month provided you do not violate the copyright. After one month, you are required to pay the license fee as described below. This license fee entitles you to use the software on one computer at one time. If you wish to run several copies of the software concurrently, you need to pay a license fee for each concurrent copy. You are granted a limited license to copy DiskDupe for the trial use of others providing you include the files DISKDUPE.EXE, DISKDUPE.OVR, DISKDUPE.DAT, and DISKDUPE.DOC in complete and unmodified form. LIMITED WARRANTY Micro System Designs, Inc. does not warrant that the functions contained in this program will meet your requirements or that the program operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Micro System Designs, Inc. specifically disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of fitness for any particular purpose and of merchantability. IN NO EVENT WILL MICRO SYSTEM DESIGNS, INC.BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST SAVINGS, COMMERCIAL DAMAGE OR OTHER INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS PROGRAM, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY. GOVERNING LAW These statements shall be construed, interpreted, and governed by the laws of the state of California. You agree that this is the complete and exclusive statement of this agreement which supersedes any prior agreement or other communication between us on this subject. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be subject to the restricted rights under DFARS 52.227-7013 applicable to commercial computer software. III REGISTRATION INFORMATION You may use DiskDupe for up to one month on a trial basis subject to the restrictions described in the License Agreement. After one month, if you want to continue to use DiskDupe, you are required to pay a license fee of $39. This license fee entitles you to the following: - Perpetual license to use DiskDupe on one computer at one time. - 30 minutes free technical support good for 60 days following your first call (Technical support thereafter is 75 cents per minute. See the Owner's Manual for more information.) - Advance notification of updates and new products. IV DiskDupe Registration Form Send to: Micro System Designs, Inc. 1309 El Curtola Lafayette, CA 94594 (415) 944-9994 Please print: Version__________ Serial Number________________ Name_____________________________ Title_______________________ Company Name__________________________________________________ Address_______________________________________________________ City________________________________ State______ Zip__________ Phone#________________________________________________________ I have read the License Agreement and agree to its terms. Signature____________________________________ Date____________ Payment by: MC____ Visa____ Check____ Cardnumber____________________________________________________ Expiration date_____/____ Name as it appears on the card________________________________ Yes! I want to register my copy of DiskDupe. I want to use: ___ copies of DiskDupe concurrently. ($39 each) $______ Total $______ V TABLE OF CONTENTS LICENSE AGREEMENT III Limited Warranty........................III Governing Law...........................III REGISTRATION INFORMATION IV Registration Form.........................V INTRODUCTION 9 Summary of Features.......................9 Trial Edition............................10 System Requirements......................10 INSTALLATION 11 Hard Disk Installation...................11 Floppy Disk Installation.................11 Configuring..............................11 STARTING DISKDUPE 12 From AutoLoad............................12 Manual DiskDupe..........................12 DISKDUPE SCREEN 13 Source...................................13 Source Drive.............................14 Source Image File........................14 Source Image File List...................14 Format...................................14 Relay....................................14 Destination..............................15 Copy Type................................15 Copies...................................16 Setup Menu Choice........................16 SETUP MENU 16 Drive Type...............................17 Format and Verify Options................18 Temp Buffer File.........................18 auto-loader Drive........................19 MANUAL MODE 21 Changing Disks...........................21 Relay....................................21 COMMAND LINE AND BATCH FILES 21 Command Line.............................21 Batch Files..............................22 MAXIMUM SPEED 22 Clean Master.............................22 Format and Verify Optimization...........23 VI EXAMPLES 23 Standard Copying.........................24 Pre-Formatting...........................24 Image Files..............................24 Backing up Floppies......................25 Making Blank DOS Disks...................25 GETTING HELP 26 What to Do Before Calling................26 30/60/75 Support Plan....................27 OTHER PRODUCTS 27 AutoLoad.................................27 For More Information.....................27 INDEX 29 VII DiskDupe Owner's Manual INTRODUCTION SUMMARY OF FEATURES Diskdupe is a fast and versatile disk duplication program for the IBM compatible PC, XT, AT or 386. It will copy the following disk formats: - 5.25" 320k........(8 sectors, for CPM/86) - 5.25" 360k..................(Standard 5") - 5.25" 1.2M..............(AT High Density) - 3.5" 720k..................(Standard 3") - 3.5" 1.4M..............(3" High Density) DiskDupe also provides a quick way of making blank, formatted disks. Diskdupe can either run manually or in conjunction with AutoLoad and your auto-loader to automate disk duplication. You can instruct DiskDupe to copy to an image file on your hard disk. This image file can later be used to make copies of the original disk. You can also specify a list of image files to create or to copy from. DiskDupe is fast. It employs advanced DMA techniques so that it can make an image of a floppy disk on your hard disk and then copy from the image without slowing down. For a normal 360k disk, the copy time takes less than 58 seconds. If you pre-format the disks, it can take less than 26 seconds. Diskdupe needs 640k of RAM memory to run. With 640k of RAM, DiskDupe will store the entire disk image of a 360k disk in memory. If you have less memory installed or if you are copying higher density disks, DiskDupe will buffer the rest of the disk image to your hard disk. This hard disk buffering does not affect copying speed. The RELAY option allows you to make backup copies of new program disks or floppy disks. You simply put write protect tabs on all of the master disks and put blank disks behind each master. DiskDupe will copy each write-protected master to all of the disks behind it that are not write-protected. DiskDupe will also pre-format your disks ahead of time. This will drastically cut the time needed to later make a copy. Page 8 DiskDupe Owner's Manual TRIAL EDITION You may use DiskDupe for up to one month on a trial basis subject to the restrictions described in the License Agreement. After one month, if you want to continue to use DiskDupe, you are required to pay a license fee of $39. This license fee entitles you to the following: - Perpetual license to use DiskDupe on one computer at one time. - 30 minutes free technical support good for 60 days following your first call (Technical support thereafter is 75 cents per minute. See the Owner's Manual for more information.) - Advance notification of updates and new products. - Reduced prices on other products. Your license fee will be applied to the purchase price of: AutoLoad software (to use your auto-loader with DiskDupe) or the DiskMachine system (which includes an auto-loader and software). See the Registration Form for more information on registering DiskDupe. You can also copy DiskDupe for the trial use of others providing you include the files DISKDUPE.EXE, DISKDUPE.OVR, DISKDUPE.DAT, and DISKDUPE.DOC in complete and unmodified form. See the License Agreement for more information. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS To run DiskDupe you must have the following: - IBM compatible PC, XT, AT or 386 - 640K RAM memory. - Floppy disk drive To automate disk copying you also need: - Mountain compatible auto-loader, like the DiskMachine - AutoLoad software. Page 9 DiskDupe Owner's Manual INSTALLATION If you are using DiskDupe in conjunction with AutoLoad, DiskDupe will be automatically installed in the \AL subdirectory. However, if you using DiskDupe alone, follow the instructions below to install DiskDupe onto your hard disk. HARD DISK INSTALLATION To install DiskDupe if you are using it without AutoLoad, follow the instructions below: - Boot up your computer as usual until a C> prompt appears. - Type: MD \DISKDUPE and press <ENTER>. - Type: CD \DISKDUPE and press <ENTER>. - Insert the DiskDupe disk in the A: drive and type: COPY A:*.* <ENTER>. FLOPPY DISK INSTALLATION DiskDupe works better in conjunction with a hard disk. This is because DiskDupe cannot buffer a disk image to a floppy disk. If you need to use DiskDupe on a floppy disk, copy the files DISKDUPE.EXE, DISKDUPE.OVR, and DISKDUPE.DAT to the floppy. Then choose the TEMP BUFFER FILE option from the Setup menu. Press the backspace key till there is no entry. Then press <ENTER> to record the changes. This will erase the TEMP BUFFER option so that DiskDupe will not try to buffer a disk image. (See the next section on how to configure DiskDupe.) CONFIGURING Now that DiskDupe is installed, you need to configure it for your computer. - Start DiskDupe by typing: DISKDUPE and pressing <ENTER>. - If the floppy disks are not set up according to what is in your computer, at the DiskDupe main menu move the bar cursor over to the Setup option and press <Enter>. - Choose the disk drive you want to setup by moving the bar cursor up and down with the cursor keys or by typing the Page 10 DiskDupe Owner's Manual letter of the drive and pressing <Enter>. A menu of all the available types of drives will pop up. Choose the appropriate selection from the menu. - If you are using an auto-loader with AutoLoad software, specify which drive your auto-loader is connected to. - If you are using DiskDupe on floppy disks, type T and press the backspace key till there is no entry. Then press <ENTER> to record the changes. This will erase the TEMP BUFFER FILE option so that DiskDupe will not try to buffer a disk image. STARTING DISKDUPE DiskDupe can be run manually or, if you have an auto-loader, can be used in conjunction with AutoLoad software. FROM AUTOLOAD If you are using DiskDupe with AutoLoad, follow the directions in the AutoLoad manual to start AutoLoad. (Usually you can start AutoLoad by typing AL and pressing <ENTER> from the DOS prompt C>.) Then, select DiskDupe from the AutoLoad menu. (If DiskDupe is not on the Main Menu, first select the Utility Menu and then select DiskDupe from this menu.) MANUAL DISKDUPE If you are using DiskDupe manually without AutoLoad software, follow the instructions below: - Boot up your computer as usual until a C> prompt appears. - Type CD \DISKDUPE and press <ENTER>. - Type DISKDUPE and press <ENTER>. (DiskDupe will search your PATH for its data file. This means that if the DiskDupe directory is included in your PATH command, DiskDupe can be started from any subdirectory.) Page 11 DiskDupe Owner's Manual DISKDUPE SCREEN When you first start DiskDupe, the following screen will appear: Go Source Destination Type Setup Quit ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ DiskDupe Version 2.0 ║ ║ ║ ║ (c) 1989 Micro System Designs, Inc. ║ ║ 1309 El Curtola Blvd. ║ ║ Lafayette, California 94549 ║ ║ (415) 944-9994 ║ ║ ║ ║ Written by Max S. Dunn & Paul J. Perry ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ Press Alt-Q to Exit to DOS, Press Alt-G to Start disk Copying ║ ║────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Drive A: 5.25" 360k │ Temp buffer file: DISKDUPE.TMP ║ ║ Drive B: 5.25" 360k │ Base Address: 03F0 Hex ║ ║ 3rd Drive: NONE │ Data Rate: Auto ║ ║ 4th Drive: NONE │ Auto-loader drive: (Not Present) ║ ║────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Source: A: │ Copies: 99 ║ ║ Destination: B: │ Format: ONLY IF NECESSARY ║ ║ Copy type: 5.25" 360k │ Verify: ONLY AFTER FORMAT ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════╝ USING THE MENUS To change a menu choice, either move the cursor along the top bar cursor or type in the first letter of the menu you want to pull down and press <ENTER>. For instance to change the source disk, press the right arrow key once and press <ENTER>. Then move the cursor up and down to select the appropriate drive letter. When you are ready to start copying, press <Alt>-G. If you want to exit to the DOS prompt press <Alt>-Q. Page 12 DiskDupe Owner's Manual SOURCE The source can either be a drive, a filename, a list of filenames, the word INITIALIZE, or the word RELAY. SOURCE DRIVE The source drive is the drive letter where the master will be read from. This can be the same as the destination drive although it doesn't have to be. If you have more than two floppy drives attached to your computer, you can enter 3rd: or 4th: to specify the third or the fourth floppy drive respectively. SOURCE IMAGE FILE If you have previously created a disk image, you can specify the filename of the disk here. For instance, if you have a disk image named DISK1, type in DISK1 here and the copies will be made from this image. SOURCE IMAGE FILE LIST You can also specify a list of disk images. Suppose you want to make 10 copies of three master disks which you have created disk images for, then you could enter DISK1,DISK2,DISK3 here. You can enter as many images as you want however the total number of characters in these filenames can not be more than 80 characters. INITIALIZE If you want to pre-format your disks to save time when you copy them, choose INITIALIZE here. The disks will be formatted and verified which will save a lot of time when you later use them to make copies. For this to work properly the DiskDupe Setup Menu should have the FORMAT option set to "ONLY WHEN NECESSARY" and to save even more time the VERIFY option should be set to "ONLY AFTER FORMAT". NOTE: Disks that are pre-formatted using this option can only be used with DiskDupe (or the DOS DiskCopy program). If you want to format a disk to use for DOS file storage, copy from a blank DOS formatted disk. (See the "Examples" section for more information.) Page 13 DiskDupe Owner's Manual RELAY If you want to make backup copies of a stack of floppy disks, the easiest way to do it is to use RELAY. To use RELAY, simply choose RELAY from the Source pulldown menu. Then put write protect tabs on your master disks and behind it put as many blank disks as you want copies for. Then put this stack in the auto-loader drive and start copying. DiskDupe will read the first disk and copy it to all of the disks behind it until it reaches the next disk with a write- protect tab. It will then read that disk in and copy it to all the disks behind it. This will continue until all the disks are copied. If you are using DiskDupe manually, you can still use RELAY. However when you are done, you will need to press <ESC> to exit. CAUTION: Be sure to put write protect tabs on all of your master disks. If you don't, they will be overwritten. DESTINATION The Destination can either be a drive, a filename or a list of filenames. If Destination is a drive, this drive will be used to copy the disks. If Destination is a filename or a list of filenames, the source disks will be read and disk images created on your hard disk. COPY TYPE The Copy Type that you can use depends on what type of disk drives are installed in your computer. (Be sure that your drive types have been set up correctly on the Setup Menu. See INSTALLATION for more information.) If either the source or destination drive is a 5.25" 360k drive, then the copy type can be either 360k or 320k disks. A 360k disk is the standard DOS format. If you are copying CPM/86 disks (or need to copy disks that have 8 sectors) use the 320k disk format. If both the source and destination drives are 5.25" 1.2Mb drives then you can copy either 320k, 360k or 1.2Mb disks. Page 14 DiskDupe Owner's Manual Note: Although you can copy 360k and 320k disks in a 5.25" 1.2Mb drive, it is not recommended. Because the 5.25" 1.2Mb drives write a smaller track than usual, they can not be reliably read in a 5.25" 360k drive. If either the source or destination drive is 3.5" 720k drive, the copy type will be the same. If both the source and destination drives are 3.5" 1.4Mb drives, you can copy either 720k or 1.4Mb disks. COPIES To select the number of copies choose the Copies option from under the Go pulldown menu. You can enter any number from 1 to 32000 here. If you are creating a disk image file or doing a RELAY copy, the copy number has no affect. SETUP MENU CHOICE Go to the Setup Menu to change various system parameters. Refer to the next section for more information on the Setup Menu. SETUP MENU The Setup Menu is used to change various system parameters. This menu looks like the following: Page 15 DiskDupe Owner's Manual Go Source Destination Type Setup Quit ╔═════════════════════════════════════════┌────────────┐═══════════════════════╗ ║ │ A: │ ║ ║ │ B: │ ║ ║ │ 3rd: │ ║ ║ │ 4th: │ ║ ║ │ Format │ ║ ║ │ Verify │ ║ ║ │ Temp file │ ║ ║ │ AutoLoader │ ║ ║ └────────────┘ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Drive A: 5.25" 360k │ Temp buffer file: DISKDUPE.TMP ║ ║ Drive B: 5.25" 360k │ Base Address: 03F0 Hex ║ ║ 3rd Drive: NONE │ Data Rate: Auto ║ ║ 4th Drive: NONE │ Auto-loader drive: (Not Present) ║ ║────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Source: A: │ Copies: 99 ║ ║ Destination: B: │ Format: ONLY IF NECESSARY ║ ║ Copy type: 5.25" 360k │ Verify: ONLY AFTER FORMAT ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════╝ DRIVE TYPE Choices A: through 4th: are used to setup the drives that are in your system. Simply enter the number of the correct drive and then a menu of all drive types will appear. Then enter the correct drive type. This setup information will be stored so that you only need to change it once. The 3rd: and the 4th: drives on this menu refer to the third or fourth floppy disk installed on your system. For instance, if you are using an XT and have a drive hooked up to a connector on the back of your computer, it is probably the 3rd: floppy drive. Page 16 DiskDupe Owner's Manual FORMAT AND VERIFY OPTIONS The Format and Verify options are used to help speed up the disk copying time. If you always use new disks when making copies, set Format to ALWAYS. This will save a few seconds that DiskDupe normally takes to identify that a disk is blank and shift into Format mode. When Format is set to ALWAYS a 360k disk will take less than 58 seconds to copy. If however, you sometimes use disks that are pre-formatted (by the DiskDupe Format routine described above), you can save a lot of time by setting the Format option to ONLY IF NECESSARY. This will skip the format step on disks that have been pre-formatted. You can use this option even if you use a combination of pre-formatted and new disks because DiskDupe will still sense when a disk is new and automatically shift into format mode for that disk. If you are confident that the disks you have pre-formatted have not been subsequently damaged, you can also set VERIFY to ONLY AFTER FORMAT. On pre-formatted disks this can cut the copying time on a 360k disk down to less than 18 seconds per disk. Be aware however, that if the disks have been damaged after they were formatted (for instance, someone accidently touched the floppy disk surface), DiskDupe will probably not detect this damage. If you are concerned about this, you can set VERIFY to ALWAYS to double check the disk for errors. Copy times for pre-formatted disks when you VERIFY is set to ALWAYS are still fairly quick. For a 360k disk it will still be less than 42 seconds. TEMP BUFFER FILE The Temp Buffer File is the file where DiskDupe stores any part of the disk that will not fit in memory. If you have at least 640k of RAM memory in your computer and are copying 360k disks, the entire disk will fit in memory and will not have to be buffered. If however, you are copying another type of disk or don't have as much memory, part of the disk will probably be buffered to this file. DiskDupe will only store the parts of the disk with data on it. For instance, if you are copying a disk that is only half full, only that half of the disk that has data on it will be stored. Note: If files have been erased from a disk, DiskDupe may be fooled into thinking that there is more data on the disk than there really is. To help DiskDupe work most Page 17 DiskDupe Owner's Manual efficiently, it is best to make a clean master disk by copying the necessary files onto a disk that has just been formatted by DOS. (See the "Examples" section on a quick way to do this.) DiskDupe is also designed so that the copy time will not slow down even when parts of the disk are buffered to your hard disk. This option will not create a disk image file. If you want to create an image of a master disk, put that filename in the Destination field of the Main Menu. AUTO-LOADER DRIVE This option is used to specify which drive your auto-loader is attached to. If you don't have an auto-loader and AutoLoad software, this option will be disabled. RUNNING DISKDUPE The following is the display of the DiskDupe screen as it is running. Page 18 DiskDupe Owner's Manual ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ Source disk Loaded in drive A: ║ ║ Press <ESC> key to abort ║ ║─────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ │ Track = 27 Head = 1 ║ ║ KEY │ ║ ║ Read = * │ 1 2 3 3 ║ ║ Format = ∙ │ Track = 0123456789012345678901234567890123456789 ║ ║ Write = o │ Head 0: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ║ ║ Verify = O │ Head 1: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ║ ║ │ ║ ║ │ ║ ║ │ ║ ║ │ ║ ║─────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Disks per Hour: 216 Disks Requested: 99 ║ ║ This Disk Time: 16.7 ║ ║ Good Disks: 0 ║ ║ Bad Disks: 0 ║ ║────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────║ ║ Source: A: │ Copies: 99 ║ ║ Destination: B: │ Format: ONLY IF NECESSARY ║ ║ Copy type: 5.25" 360k │ Verify: ONLY AFTER FORMAT ║ ╚════════════════════════════════════╧═════════════════════════════════════════╝ This screen gives the user useful information while running DiskDupe. The top line of the screen gives the user messages regarding what disks to enter. The Bars give the user the status of the disk copying as it is being done. Other important information displayed on this screen is listed below: Disks per Hour - Gives the total number of disks which will be copied in one hour with the current setup. This Disk Time - Tells the user how long it will take to copy the current disk in seconds. Disks Requested - Lists the number of disks which have been requested to be copied. Good Disks - Lists the total number of disks done. Disks Bad - Lists the number of bad disks which have been encountered. Page 19 DiskDupe Owner's Manual MANUAL MODE DiskDupe can be used manually as well as in conjunction with your auto-loader. CHANGING DISKS In manual mode, DiskDupe will prompt you to change disks and then wait until you press <ENTER>. Otherwise the operation is exactly the same. RELAY In RELAY mode, DiskDupe will keep copying disks until the auto-loader is empty. If you are using RELAY manually, press <Esc> when you are done. Be sure to put write protect tabs on all your masters or they will be overwritten. COMMAND LINE AND BATCH FILES Most DiskDupe parameters can be entered from the DOS command line. This allows you to create DOS Batch files to automate the use of DiskDupe. COMMAND LINE Here is an example of a DiskDupe command line: DISKDUPE A: B: 10 NOPAUSE This will start DiskDupe with A: as the source drive and B: as the destination drive and will make 10 copies. The NOPAUSE statement instructs DiskDupe to start copying and then return to DOS without stopping at the menus. This is useful if you want to use DiskDupe in a batch file. Here is the form for the DiskDupe command line: DISKDUPE (SOURCE) (DESTINATION) (COPIES) [NOPAUSE] You must enter the Source, Destination and Copies. If you don't want DiskDupe to pause at the menus, also add the word NOPAUSE Page 20 DiskDupe Owner's Manual Notice that this format is very similar to the DOS command DISKCOPY. The major difference is that you have to enter the number of copies that you want made. Source can be a drive, a filename, a list of filenames, the word FORMAT or the word RELAY. Destination can be a drive, a filename or a list of filenames. BATCH FILES You can combine DiskDupe commands into DOS batch files to automate sequences of tasks. The following is a batch file that reads in three source disks creating disk images and then makes ten copies of each disk. DISKDUPE B: DISK1,DISK2,DISK3 1 NOPAUSE IF ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO END DISKDUPE DISK1,DISK2,DISK3 B: 10 NOPAUSE :END Notice that you can test if there was a problem using the ERRORLEVEL command. An ERRORLEVEL of 1 or greater indicates that there was an error. MAXIMUM SPEED There are several ways in which you can optimize the speed of the copies made with DiskDupe. CLEAN MASTER DiskDupe works faster when the master disk is "clean". This means that the master disk was formatted before any files were copied to it and no files have been deleted. The reason that this speeds up the copy is that DiskDupe is now able to sense which part of the disk has valid data on it and only copy that part of the disk. If you have a master disk which has had many different files copied to it and then erased, DiskDupe will have to copy the entire disk even though all of the disk might not contain real data. To make a clean master disk, first format a disk using the DOS FORMAT command. (Or use the trick in the "Examples" section below to make a DOS Formatted disk more quickly.) Page 21 DiskDupe Owner's Manual Then use the DOS COPY command to copy the necessary files onto this newly formatted disk. This disk can now be used as your clean master disk. FORMAT AND VERIFY OPTIMIZATION The following table lists the maximum time it takes DiskDupe to copy a 360k disk. If the source disk is not completely full, the copy times will be faster than this. Format on, Verify on 58 seconds Format off, Verify on 42 seconds Format off, Verify off 18 seconds Notice that if you don't need to format or verify the disk, the copying can take as little as 18 seconds! To do this, you need to pre-format the disks. This can be done by choosing FORMAT as the copy Source. The disks will be formatted and verified and any bad disks will be rejected. You can format disks at any time that is convenient. Then, use these pre-formatted disks later when you make copies. Make sure that Format is set to ONLY IF NECESSARY and Verify is set to ONLY AFTER FORMAT on the Setup Menu. If you are nervous about not verifying the disk after you write to it, set the Verify option to ALWAYS. This will increase the copy time but will re-verify the entire disk. EXAMPLES This section lists several different ways of copying disks with DiskDupe and shows the best way to do it. All these examples assume that your auto-loader is hooked up to the B: drive. If your auto-loader is hooked up to a different drive (like the third floppy drive) use that letter instead of B:. If you would like to specify the 3rd: or 4th drive on the command line use either 3: or 4: to refer to the third or fourth drive. If you are using DiskDupe manually you can still use these examples however you will have to change disks by hand. Page 22 DiskDupe Owner's Manual STANDARD COPYING - You have 1 master disk and want to make 50 copies. Put the master disk in the auto-loader and then place 50 blank (or pre-formatted) disks behind it. Start DiskDupe and set Source and Destination to B: and Copies to 50. Or at the DOS prompt type: DISKDUPE B: B: 50 - You want to keep a stack of blank (or pre-formatted) disk in the auto-loader and don't want to have to unload them to put in the master disk. Put the master disk in the A: drive and keep your blank (or pre-formatted) disks in the auto-loader. Start DiskDupe and set Source to A:, Destination to B: and Copies to 50. Or type at the DOS prompt: DISKDUPE A: B: 50 PRE-FORMATTING - You only copy 200 disks a month but when you get an order you need those disks as quickly as possible. Pre-format the disks ahead of time. You can do this at your convenience during lunch or at night. To do this, place a stack of new disks in the auto-loader, start DiskDupe and enter FORMAT as the Source, B: as the Destination and 200 for the Copies. You can also do this at the command line by typing: DISKDUPE FORMAT B: 200 Then when you get the order to copy the disks, use these pre-formatted disks. Make sure the Setup Menu has Format set to ONLY WHEN NECESSARY and Verify set to ONLY AFTER FORMAT. (You can also set Verify to ALWAYS to double check the disks although this takes a longer.) IMAGE FILES - You have 10 master disks that you need to copy periodically and you don't want to keep using the masters over and over again. Create image files of the masters on your hard disk. Do this by putting your master disks in the auto-loader and then Page 23 DiskDupe Owner's Manual starting DiskDupe and setting Source to B: and Destination to D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7,D8,D9,D10. Or type: DISKDUPE B: D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7,D8,D9,D10 Then to make 3 copies of these 10 masters, set Source to D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7,D8,D9,D10 and Destination to B:. Or type: DISKDUPE D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7,D8,D9,D10 B: 3 BACKING UP FLOPPIES - You just received PageMaker (or another software program) and the instructions tell you to backup the 13 program disks before using it. - Or, your secretary has been keeping all of your letters on floppy disks and you want to make a backup copy of these in case something happens to them. Put write protect tabs on every master disk. Place a blank (or pre-formatted) disk behind each master. Put this stack in the auto-loader and start DiskDupe. For the source, enter the word RELAY and for the destination, enter B:. Or type: DISKDUPE RELAY B: Each master disk will be copied to all of the blank disks that is behind it. Be SURE to put write protect tabs on your master disks or they will be overwritten. If you are using DiskDupe manually, you will need to type <ESC> when you are finished. CAUTION: Be sure to put write protect tabs on all of your masters or they will be overwritten. MAKING BLANK DOS DISKS - You sell floppy disks and you want to pre-format them for your customers. - Or, you are responsible for formatting and distributing all the blank floppy disks that your business receives. You also re-format old disks to remove any potentially sensitive information from them before you redistribute them. First, use the DOS FORMAT command to format a disk. If you like, use the FORMAT /S option to put the system on the Page 24 DiskDupe Owner's Manual disk. Then start DiskDupe and select B: as Source and type the word BLANK for Destination. Or type: DISKDUPE B: BLANK You only need to do the above step once. Then if you want to make 10 blank DOS disks, start DiskDupe and set Source to BLANK and Destination to B: and Copies to 10. Or type: DISKDUPE BLANK B: 10 GETTING HELP DiskDupe is backed by a technical support system designed to offer you fast, courteous service. This section explains what to do if you need assistance beyond what the manual can provide. NOTE: We are sorry but we cannot offer technical support to the many users who are trying DiskDupe before they send in the registration fee. After you register, you will receive 30 minutes of free technical support (See the 30/60/75 Support Plan below.) WHAT TO DO BEFORE CALLING There is a program called HELPME included on the DiskDupe disk that prints out instructions on what to do before you call, the phone number of where to call, and technical information about your computer. To run HELPME, follow these steps: 1. Make sure that your printer is on and ready. 2. Type HELPME and press <ENTER>. That should do it. However, if you get a message that says: BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME, do the following: Type C: and press <ENTER>, type CD \DISKDUPE and press <ENTER>, then type HELPME and press <ENTER>. Be sure to read the HELPME printout and follow the directions before you call. (ADVANCED USERS: If your printer is hooked up to another port besides LPT1 (or PRN) then type HELPME followed by the name of your printer's port. For instance, if you have a Page 25 DiskDupe Owner's Manual serial printer hooked up to your COM1 port, type HELPME COM1.) 30/60/75 SUPPORT PLAN -30- After you return your registration card and pay your license fee, you will receive 30 minutes of free technical support. -60- This free time is good for 60 days following your first call. -75- Technical support after that is 75 cents per minute. OTHER PRODUCTS If you are interested in automating your disk duplication, Micro System Designs also offers other products to help you. AUTOLOAD If you already have an auto-loader, DiskDupe can be used in conjunction with another software product called AutoLoad to automate disk changing. This will allow you to put a whole stack of disks in the auto-loader to be copied automatically. AutoLoad also allows you to use your auto-loader and a hard disk backup program (like FastBack) to automatically back up your hard disk. DISKMACHINE If you don't have an auto-loader, you might be interested in the DiskMachine package. This includes an auto-loader and the AutoLoad software in a reasonably priced package. Page 26 DiskDupe Owner's Manual FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information on AutoLoad and the DiskMachine contact: Micro System Designs, Inc. 1309 El Curtola Lafayette, CA 94549 (415) 944-9994 Page 27 DiskDupe Owner's Manual INDEX 30/60/75 Support Plan..............................27 3rd: floppy drive..................................17 <ESC>..........................................15, 21 A Auto-loader Drive..................................19 AutoLoad...........................................27 B Backing up Floppies................................25 Batch files....................................21, 22 C Clean Master.......................................22 Command line.......................................21 Configuring........................................11 Copy Times.........................................23 Copy Type..........................................15 Copying Disks Examples.............................23 D Destination........................................15 Disk formats........................................9 Disk image.........................................14 DiskDupe Menus.....................................13 DiskMachine........................................27 Drive Type.........................................17 E ERRORLEVEL.........................................22 Examples...........................................23 Exit to the DOS prompt.............................13 F Floppy Disk Installation...........................11 For More Information...............................27 FORMAT.........................................14, 23 Format and Verify Optimization.....................23 Format Option......................................18 G Getting Help.......................................26 Governing Law.....................................III H Hard Disk Installation.............................11 I Image File.........................................14 Page 28 DiskDupe Owner's Manual Image Files........................................24 Installation.......................................11 Introduction........................................9 L License Agreement.................................III Limited Warranty..................................III List of disk images................................14 M Making Blank DOS Disks.............................25 Manual Mode........................................21 Maximum Speed......................................22 Menus..............................................13 N NOPAUSE............................................21 O Other Products.....................................27 P Pre-format.........................................14 Pre-formatted......................................18 Pre-Formatting.....................................24 R Registration Form...................................V Registration Information...........................IV RELAY.......................................9, 14, 21 S Setup Menu.........................................16 Source.............................................13 Standard Copying...................................24 Starting DiskDupe..................................12 Summary of Features.................................9 System Requirements................................10 T Table Of Contents.................................VII Technical Support..................................26 Temp Buffer File...................................18 Third or fourth floppy disk........................17 V Verify Option......................................18 Verifying the disk.................................23 W Write protect tabs.................................14 Page 29