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Gold Medal Software 3
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Gold Medal Software - Volume 3 (Gold Medal) (1994).iso
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utils1
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exhume.arj
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EXHUME.DOC
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1993-12-11
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120 lines
E X H U M E
User-supported software by
Norman Newman
Kibbutz Tsor'a
M.P. Shimshon
ISRAEL 99705
Fax: 972-2-908555
EXHUME is a program which will enable you to resurrect data which have been
lost on disks. It's the sort of program which you don't normally need - but
when you do need it, you need it badly!
Despite DOS's normally robust behaviour as a file system, it can happen
that a disk's directory or its file allocation table (FAT) can be become
corrupted. Should this happen, DOS will be unable to find data on the disk
even though the data still physically exist on the disk and have not been
damaged.
EXHUME is capable of retrieving this data because it regards the disk as a
collection of sectors (each sector is 512 bytes of disk space), as opposed
to a collection of files. By viewing the sectors on the disk and selecting
those which contain data from the desired file, you can EXHUME lost files.
Note that in all the above, 'disk' applies equally to floppy diskettes and
to hard disks (but not to RAM disks which have may have a sector size other
than 512 bytes). 'Data' will normally be text, which can be readily
recognised; EXHUME is capable of resurrecting binary files, but it is
difficult to determine when a file of this type begins and ends.
EXHUME offers the following functions:
Choose disk
-----------
Enter the letter of the disk that you wish to examine (eg A, C). The use of a
colon after the disk name (eg A:) is optional.
Find string
-----------
When you are looking for a specific string, the search can be made automatic
by choosing this function. You will be prompted for a string to search for
(case-sensitive) and from which sector to begin searching. When the string is
found, the program will display the appropriate half-sector. Should the
string not be found and the program starts searching unused space, it may be
halted by pressing <ESC>. A successful search may be continued by pressing
<F10>.
Choose sector
-------------
This function enables you to display a given sector.
Next sector
-----------
This function will display the sector which succeeds the currently displayed
sector.
Previous sector
---------------
This function will display the sector previous to the currently displayed
sector.
Save sector
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When you find a sector which you wish to save, press F9. EXHUME will save
this sector in an internal buffer. You can then save other sectors belonging
to the file which you wish to restore. When you exit the program (by
pressing <ESC> at the main prompt), you will be prompted for a file name in
which to write the saved sectors. This file should be an accurate copy of the
original file, but may contain extraneous characters (especially at its
end) and so should be examined by a text editor.
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Changes to Version 3 from Version 2 (October 1993)
-----------------------------------
This version (belatedly) supports DOS 4+ and disks whose capacity is greater
than 32MB.
Changes to Version 2 from Version 1 (September 1991)
-----------------------------------
a) The sector is displayed as ASCII characters only without hex; this enables
an entire sector to be displayed at once.
b) The user interface has been completely changed.
c) A slight 'feature' in 'Find string' has been corrected: after completing a
search, one need not press <ESC> in order to use another function; instead
an arrow key ,ay be pressed.
d) The implementation of the 'Find string' function has been been improved.
e) When saving a file, the target disk is checked to see that it has enough
room to store the file.
f) When saving sectors, a check is made to ensure that there is enough free
RAM. Should you run out of memory, save the file in pieces.
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Legal note
----------
This program is copyright 1990,3 by Norman Newman, Kibbutz Tsor'a, M.P.
Shimshon, ISRAEL 99705; all rights reserved, all wrongs deserved. The program
may be freely distributed and copied, provided that no changes are made in
either EXHUME.EXE or EXHUME.DOC (this file). The author denies all
responsibility for any damage caused by the use or misuse of this program.
Should you decide to use this program, you are requested to register your
copy with the author by sending a cheque for $20. This will entitle you
to receive a new copy of the program without the shareware screen at the
beginning, along with the source code (written in Turbo Pascal 6).