The drive list contains the DOS letter designator of all floppy drives that are detected by FormatMaster. To operate on a specific drive, move the list cursor bar to the letter of the target drive. The drive letter that is highlighted by the cursor will be the target of any operation that is commenced by pressing the "Enter" key or clicking on an action button with the mouse. S
Action buttons are arrayed vertically along the right side of the main FM dialog:
Format
View
Check
Quick
Format
Drop
Save
Abort
Exit
Two radio button clusters titled Disk
Size and Capacity affect the format that will be applied to the target disk. The target diskette MUST be of the type that can support the type of format indicated or the format will fail with multiple bad clusters.
A list of check box controls in a cluster titled Options control the operations that FM will perform when formatting each disk
The disk size button MUST match the size supported for the target drive. Obviously, a 5
" disk cannot be formatted using parameters intended for a 3
" drive. H
Note that you can independantly set the disk size for each floppy disk
The disk capacity button MUST be set to a capacity that the target diskette is capable of supporting. Obviously, a 360K diskette cannot be successfully formatted using 1.2M parameters even though the drive itself supports those parameters.
The volume label is entered into the edit field titled "Volume Label:". The label can be up to 11 characters in length and must consist of valid DOS name characters. FM will add the label following a format if the label field is not blank and the option "Add Label" is checked.
The serial number must be in the range from 0 to 2147483647. FM uses the volume label to place a serial number type label on each formatted disk. You must have the "Add Serial #" option checked to use this feature. If you have the "Add Label" option checked, FM will add the character representation of the serial number to the label. For example, if the label field contains "MYDISK" and the serial number field contains "1000", FM would add a volume label of "MYDISK1000" to the disk.
Check this box when you want FM to sequentially increment the serial for each disk that is formatted. This can result in a series of disks being formatted with sequential serial numbers. For example, if the serial number field contains "1000" and the "Incr Serial #" is checked, FM would add volume label of "1000", "1001", "1002", etc. to each successively formatted diskette.
FM will create a system disk following a format if the "Transfer System" option is checked. This function will copy the DOS system files and COMMAND.COM to the target diskette.
Check this box if you want FM to physically format and verify each track even though the target disk has been formatted.
Check this box if you do NOT want FM to load and save the history file each time that FM is executed.
FM will warn you before formatting a disk that is already formatted if this box is not checked. Check this box only if you do NOT wish FM to warn you in the case of a previously formatted disk.
If this box is checked then FM will not sound any beeps. Otherwise, FM will sound a beep each time it detects and marks a bad sectors during the format process and upon completion of the formatting of a disk.
Use this this option ONLY if formatting time is critcal and you are certain of the quality of the diskettes that you will be formatting. When this option is checked, FM will NOT verify and will NOT mark bad sectors when formatting a fresh diskette or when the "Force Full" option is checked. This saves approximately 6 seconds per diskette but risks missing bad diskette sectors.
The "All Drives" option will cycle through each drive in your system with NO pauses so you must place a fresh diskette in the inactive drive while the other drive is formatting. This option is similar to the old "Two Drive Cycle" option in previous versions of FM. 7
This option cannot be set if you have just one drive.
Note that FM does provide a pause when using this option in conjunction with the quick format option because otherwise there is not enough time to change the diskette.
Be sure to set each diskette capacity to the desire setting before commencing a cyclic all drives format session. And you might wish to set the "No Fmt Warn" option if you intend to format a lot of previously formatted diskettes.
FM will format a disk when the "Format Disk" button is pressed or when the "Enter" key is pressed and the "Format Disk" button is the default. If the disk has been previously formatted, FM will verify the disk track by track, marking bad sectors as it goes, and then initialize the disk in a 0 directories and 0 files state. This is exactly what DOS does. '
If the target disk is not formatted, FM will format and verify each track on the disk. This takes longer but is always necessary with a fresh, unformatted disk. Note that you may force FM to do a full format even if the disk has been previously formatted by checking the "Force Full" option.
This FM feature permits you to view the contents of a formatted disk. This includes the capability to select different subdirectories for viewing. To view the files in a specific subdirectory either move the cursor bar to the subdirectory name and press the "Enter" key (or "Okay" button) or press Alt+D, type in the correct directory path, and press "Enter" (or "Okay" button).
The FM check disk function is similar to the DOS CHKDSK external command. A window displays information pertinent to the target disk.
The FM quick format is the fastest way to clear and re-initialize a previously formatted disk. FM will read the file allocation table (FAT) of the target disk, clear all but those sectors that are marked as bad, and then re-initialize the disk. No track-by-track verification is accomplished in this mode and if unreadable sectors have appeared since the disk was last formatted, this mode will not detect and mark them.
FM maintains a history buffer in memory that is associated with the volume label entry editing window. Each time a new volume label is typed in, FM saves it to the history buffer. FM saves this buffer to a file named FM.HST and loads the buffer from this file at run time. To access a label that resides in the history buffer, make the volume label edit window label active and either press the down arrow key or click on the adjacent down arrow. A window will open that displays a list of labels that you may select from. To clear the history buffer, press the "Clear Hist" button.
Use this mode to temporarily quit FM and return to the DOS level. You MUST use the DOS "Exit" command to return to FM in order to reclaim the memory used by FM when you have completed your work at the DOS level.
The FM configuration is maintained in a file named FMCONFIG.CFG. This file will be created and maintained in the host directory of FM.EXE. This file is read each time FM is started. The primary use for saving the configuration is to semi-permanently store various option switche settings, volume label, and serial number.
The abort button may be depressed at any time during a format operation to cause FM to halt and return control to the main dialog. Pressing the "Esc" key during a format serves the same purpose.
Press Alt+X to terminate operation of FM and to return to DOS. You may also press the "Esc" key when operating in the main dialog.
A window that displays information pertinent to the completed format is displayed following the formatting of each disk. At this time you have the option to halt format operations or to format another disk.
Set color stuff
Save color stuff
Registration stuff
Colors may be set for the main FM dialog, the help window, and the various information windows/dialogs such as the check disk and view disk windows. First, move the cursor in the group box to the dialog/window that you wish to change. Then move to the item box (Tab Key or mouse) to select the items you wish to change. To change the color of an item, move foreground box (Tab key or mouse) and select the foreground color, then move to the background box to select a background color. When you are finished changing the colors, depress the "Okay" button. The main FM dialog will re-appear and will be displayed in the new colors.
This feature permits you to manipulate the volume label and serial number on a formatted disk. Check the "Increment" box if you wish to sequentially increment the serial number for each disk processed.
This feature permits you to manipulate the volume label and serial number on a formatted disk. Check the "Increment" box if you wish to sequentially increment the serial number for each disk processed.
You can make a floppy disk that will cause your system to boot from drive C: even though the disk is in drive A: and the door is closed. The target disk MUST be formatted to accomplish this.
Press F1, click on the "F1 Help" status item, or select help from the main FM menu to obtain context sensitive help. The help window that appears will be related to the cluster, input editor, or command push button that is active at the time help is activated. B
Press Alt+P to send the current help topic text to your printer.
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