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1988-06-23
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FormatMaster
Version 1.02
A Floppy Disk Formatter
from
New-Ware
(tm) ┌─────────┐
┌─────┴───┐ │ MEMBER
───│ │ │────────────────
│ ┌──────┴──┐ │ Association of
│ │ ├──┘ Shareware
└──┤ ■ │ Professionals
──────│ ║ │───────────────────
└────╨────┘
Copyright 1988 - All Rights Reserved.
What is FormatMaster?
---------------------
FormatMaster is a full-featured floppy diskette format utility.
It achieves its utility through a menu driven interface and
provides the means to easily and quickly format 5 1/4" (360KB
or 1.2MB) or 3 1/2" (720KB or 1.4MB) diskettes. In addition,
it will transfer system files to a freshly formatted disk and
add a user provided volume label. Formatting speed is twice
that of the normal DOS format utility.
FormatMaster License Terms
--------------------------
FormatMaster, and all supporting/attendant documentation and
utility software, is copyrighted by New-Ware (John J. Newlin),
all rights reserved (1988). It is licensed specifically for
evaluation use by all IBM PC/XT/AT and compatible owners and
operators as Shareware. As Shareware, FormatMaster may be freely
copied by individuals, Computer User Groups, and Bulletin Board
System (BBS) operators for transmission to others for evaluation.
FormatMaster is not free. It is a fully mature software product
distributed via the Shareware method by New-Ware, which is
owned and operated by John J. Newlin. No charge of any amount
may be made by anyone for FormatMaster without the express
permission of New-Ware, with the following exceptions: Bona
fide organized computer user groups and/or clubs may charge a
nominal copying and handling fee for the purpose of
distributing Shareware copies of FormatMaster to their members.
BBS operators who operate on a subscription basis may include
copies of FormatMaster on their boards for downloading by board
subscribers.
COMPUTER DISK VENDORS AND SIMILAR DISTRIBUTORS OF PUBLIC DOMAIN
AND SHAREWARE WHO PROFIT FROM THE DISTRIBUTION OF DISKS ARE
SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED FROM DISTRIBUTING FormatMaster WITHOUT
WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM NEW-WARE.
All others are encouraged to make copies of FormatMaster and pass
them along (without charge) to their friends, associates, or
acquaintances for the purposes of evaluation.
Warranty
---------
FormatMaster is provided AS IS without any warranty, either
expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for
a particular pupose.
Distribution Files
------------------
The following files are included in the Shareware distribution
package:
FMTMAS.EXE
FMTMAS.DOC
PATHINFO.TXT
QUICK.RUN
Product Support
---------------
I support my software! Unfortunately, I cannot provide the use
of toll free access to telephone support, but I will respond to
phone calls, letters, telegrams, Telexes, BBS messages, or
carrier pidgeon drops. The author/proprietor (John Newlin) can
be reached at one of the following three telephone numbers:
(619) 455-6225 [1700-2300 PST] - Voice
(619) 455-5226 [24 hours/day] - Data
I can also be reached via the IBMNET or EASYPLEX on CIS
(ppn 71535,665) and GENIE (JNEWLIN).
Credits
-------
Computer software products, whether Shareware or Commercial,
just don't happen. It takes skilled, dedicated people to
design, code, and test a program. As skilled as I like to
think I am, it is not possible for me to offer a non-trivial
product that does not contain bugs and design flaws. The only
way, then, for a New-Ware program to mature into a polished,
useful product is through the invaluable assistance of people
who care. Thanks to Tom Kellen for his unflagging loyalty and
stubborn refusal to let this programmer off the hook when he
knew something is amiss and needed fixing. Thanks to Mike
(Dr. FileFinder) Callahan for his vigorous support of
Shareware products and authors. Thanks to Edward Mendelson
for his good ideas. Thanks to Kurt Diesch, fellow ASP member,
for saving me some valuable time by providing some needed
information. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to
Sammy Mitchell for QEdit.
Version History
---------------
1.00 - Initial release.
1.01 - Fixed bug caused by not properly storing boot sector
data with FMTMAS.EXE.
1.02 - Fixed bug that prevented system transfer from one
floppy disk to another.
1.03 - Fixed bug in formatting 720K floppy disks in a 1.44M
drive.
Registering FormatMaster
------------------------
FormatMaster is a Shareware product. It is NOT public domain
software. New-Ware urges those who find FormatMaster to be of
sufficient utility so as to use it on a regular basis to
remit a registration fee of $20.00. Registered users will
receive a copy of FormatMaster on disk that has the opening
Shareware information screen removed. In addition, registered
users will have access the Shareware Products BBS for
retrieval of all future registered versions of FormatMaster.
There are three ways to register FormatMaster - by mail,
phone, or BBS. Selecting the Registration item from the
program main menu will result in a pop-up window that will
prompt you for all the necessary information and then print
the form for mailing.
Registering FormatMaster is easy and may be accomplished in one of
four ways:
(1) Mail a check or money order in the amount of $20.00
payable to New-Ware. California residents PLEASE!!
add 6% sales tax ($21.20 total).
(2) Mail your Visa or Mastercard number, card expiration
date, phone number, and signature to New-Ware. Be
sure that the name you send is the exact name that
appears on your credit card.
(3) Call (619) 455-6225 and leave your Visa or MasterCard
number, expiration date, name and address, and phone
number.
(4) Call the Shareware Products BBS and register on line.
The number is (619) 455-5226, N/8/1, 1200/2400 baud.
Your credit card can usually be validated within one
day and this is the quickest way to get a copy of the
registered version.
The mailing address for registrations is:
New-Ware
4060-228 Rosenda Ct.
San Diego, CA 92122
FormatMaster will be shipped first class mail with two days of
receipt of a registration. If you are using Visa or Mastercard
for payment, please ensure that you include the EXACT NAME as it
appears on the card, the full card number (i.e., 1234 5678 0000
1234), the card expiration date, and your phone number. Visa or
Mastercard only, please. No other credit cards can be accepted.
If you call the voice number, ((619) 455-6225 to register, you may
get an answering machine. Have your card or the form printed by
FormatMaster ready so you can leave your registration information
quickly and accurately.
Registration By BBS
-------------------
New-Ware has opened a Shareware Products BBS. This BBS contains
exclusively Shareware products and is restricted to downloads
only. You may register FormatMaster by calling the BBS at (619)
455-5226 (1200/2400 baud,N,8,1). When you are connected,
select the Registration questionnaire from the main menu. Be
sure to have your credit card ready. You will be prompted for
all the pertinent information. As soon as your card number is
validated (usually in 1 day), FormatMaster will be shipped to
you and you will receive a security level that will permit you to
download the registered version. Not only will this hasten your
receipt of FormatMaster, but it gives you access to future upgrades.
The BBS operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
Why register FormatMaster?
--------------------------
Shareware is a unique concept. It benefits the user by providing
high quality, low cost software that can be thoroughly evaluated
before purchase. If you like the product and you decide to use
it, then you should register. Shareware is not like public domain
software--it is protected by federal copyright laws and it is not
free. More importantly, the only way to encourage Shareware
authors to continue to provide Shareware products is by paying
them for the products that you use.
Users who register FormatMaster will receive a copy of the
registered version of the program and will have access to
future registered versions through New-Ware's Shareware Products
BBS.
Getting Up and Running
----------------------
Here are the four things you MUST do to get the program to a
fully functional state:
(1) Make sure that the executable file FMTMAS.EXE is in the
active directory when you run it.
(2) Select "Set Drive Table" from the main menu and set up
each of your floppy diskette drives with the proper
parameters. Save the changes to disk.
(3) Place a formatted diskette in drive A. This should be
a system disk if you wish to format system disks. Then
select "Initialize Boot Sector". This keeps me out of
trouble with Microsoft/IBM and allows you to customize
the program for the DOS you are using.
(4) Make sure that the DOS utility SYS.COM is in a directory
that is listed in your path string if you intend to transfer
system files to a newly formatted diskette. See the file
PATHINFO.TXT for more information on the DOS PATH command.
The Drive Table Settings
------------------------
FormatMaster needs to know how the floppy disk drives in your
system are configured. Specifically, it is important to know
the size (3 1/2" or 5 1/4") of each drive and whether or not
that drive is dual density. Because there are so many
configuration variants among PCs and ATs (and clones), it may
not necessarily be true that floppy drives are sequentially
designated from A to D. In fact, there are some systems with
add on 3 1/2" drives (and attendant drivers), that are
addressed as a letter that is higher than the hard drive
letters in the system. For this reason, you need to use
FormatMaster's drive table set-up feature to assure proper
performance. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS PROPERLY, OR THE PROGRAM
WILL NOT FUNCTION AS DESIGNED.
Floppy disk controllers can address up to four drives and
access the available drives through numeric codes that can
range from 0 to 3. For example, just about every PC type
machine in the world will have a DOS drive A that is accessed
by the BIOS as drive 0. Normally, DOS drive B will be
accessed as drive 1, and so on. It should be clear by now
that there are two ways of addressing system drives. You
communicate with DOS about system drives using "logical" drive
designators, which are alphabetic letters ranging from "A" to
"Z". DOS in turn calls the machine ROM BIOS to perform low
level disk operations (read, write, format, etc.) and uses
"physical" drive designators that are numbers. FormatMaster
uses a user-defined drive table that keeps track of four
important items - the DOS logical drive designator, the BIOS
physical drive number, the size of the drive, and whether the
drive is a dual or single density drive. A dual density drive
is one that supports both normal and high density diskettes.
For example, the AT comes with a dual-density 5 1/4" drive as
DOS drive A. It will format either normal (360KB) or
high-density (1.2MB) floppies. Some systems now have dual
density 3 1/2" drives which format either 720KB or 1.4MB
diskettes.
Configuring FormatMaster's drive table is relatively simple.
You select one of the four drives from the menu and then
answer the following prompts. You will be prompted for the
DOS logical drive letter, the size of disk the drive supports,
and whether or not the drive is dual-density. Once you have
made the settings appropriate for your system, you can save
them permanently to disk. Just make sure that FMTMAS.EXE is
in the active directory. If in doubt about which logical
drive matches which physical drive, you can experiment. Don't
worry, FormatMaster will not attempt to format a hard disk.
It only calls the floppy disk BIOS and **never** uses the hard
disk format designator codes (80h and 81h).
You may want to deselect the drive letters that are associated
with drives not in your system. You can do this by selecting
the drive letter you wish to deselect from the menu and entering
a "0" when prompted for the drive size. By doing this, the
"Format a Disk" menu will only show the drives in the system that
you have selected.
Here are the drive table default settings for the Shareware
distribution version:
Physical Logical Size Density
-------- ------- ---- -------
0 A 5 Dual
1 B 3 Single
2 C 5 Single
3 D 5 Single
Storing the Boot Sector
-----------------------
When a disk is formatted, the formatting program must write a
boot sector to the disk. In order to maximize compatibility
with all systems, FormatMaster will read the boot sector from
a formatted disk and store it in the program file. Simply
place a formatted diskette in drive A and select "Initialize
Boot Sector" from the main menu. Again, be sure that
FormatMaster is in the active directory. FormatMaster will
copy the boot sector from the floppy in drive A and copy it
into a segment of the program file (FMTMAS.EXE). You only
need do this once for a given system. If you desire to
format system diskettes, be sure to use a copy of your DOS
system disk when performing this operation.
A message warning you that the boot sector has not been stored
will be displayed on the screen until you initialize.
Formatting System Diskettes
---------------------------
System diskettes differ from data diskettes in that they
contain a slightly different boot sector and they must contain
the two DOS system files as well as a compatible copy of
COMMAND.COM. FormatMaster will transfer system files to a
freshly formatted disk, but you must insure that it can access
the DOS utility SYS.COM. You do this by insuring that the
file SYS.COM is in a directory whose name appears in your DOS
path statement. For example, if your DOS files are in a
directory named C:\DOS, then the directory path name C:\DOS
**must** appear in your path command. Please read the file
PATHINFO.TXT for a more detailed explanation of the DOS PATH
command feature. FormatMaster invokes SYS.COM to transfer
system files to the newly formatted disk.
Operating FormatMaster
----------------------
FormatMaster is menu driven and therefore quite easy to use.
The main menu contains the following selections:
Format a Disk
Initialize Boot Sector
Set Drive Table
Enter DOS
Transfer System = OFF
Add Volume Label = OFF
Cycle Format = OFF
Double Cycle = OFF
Rapid Format = OFF
Warning Message = ON
Registration Form
Quit to DOS
@ Configure FMTMAS.EXE
Menu items are selected either by moving the cursor bar to the
desired item and pressing return (MOUSE LEFT BUTTON) or by
pressing the key corresponding the the highlighted character.
Two of the items above are toggles, e.g., they are either on
or off and each time you select one, it is toggled to the
opposite setting. If "Transfer System = ON" is set, then
FormatMaster will invoke SYS.COM to transfer system files to
the freshly formatted disk. Make sure that COMMAND.COM is
not a hidden file. If "Add Volume Label = ON", then you
will be prompted to enter a disk label when the formatting
is complete.
All menu items are augmented by a help line that is written
between the top two double lines of the screen.
"Initialize Boot Sector" will read the boot sector of a
diskette in drive A and write it to an area in FMTMAS.EXE.
This is the FIRST THING that you should do when operating
FormatMaster. Place a disk formatted by your DOS (preferably,
but not necessarily a system disk) in drive A and select this
item from the menu. Once this is accomplished, it need not be
done again unless you change DOS versions.
"Set Drive Table" will bring up a menu that allows setting the
operating parameters for each of up to four drives. An
additional menu item, "Save To Disk @", is available to
permanently save the parameters to the program file.
Selecting an item from this menu will result in a series of
prompts that ask for logical DOS drive letter, disk drive
size, and drive density.
"Enter DOS" provides the means to "shell out" to the DOS level
to perform whatever operations desired. Entering the command
"EXIT" from the DOS level will return you to the FormatMaster
main menu.
The "Transfer System" toggle will determine whether or not
FormatMaster transfers the DOS system files to the newly
formatted disk. You must be operating FormatMaster from a
boot disk that contains the two system files, i.e., IBMIO.SYS
and IBMDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM, and SYS.COM. SYS.COM must be in
a directory whose path name is part of your PATH= string. If
the system files are not transferred when this toggle is on,
double check the location of SYS.COM and that its host directory
does indeed appear in your PATH= string.
"Add Volume Label" determines whether you will be prompted for
a disk label at the end of the format. If it is ON, entry of
a valid disk label will result in that label being written to
the formatted disk.
The "Cycle Format = OFF" option allows you to set FormatMaster
to perform repetitive formatting on any ONE of your system floppy
drives with just a pause to change disks at the end of each
cycle. If the "Add Volume Label" toggle is ON, FormatMaster
will prompt you for the disk label at the end of formatting
the first disk and will automatically add that label to all
disks formatted thereafter. The system will be transferred to
each disk if the "Transfer System" toggle is ON.
"Double Cycle = OFF", when toggled to on, provides a means to
rapidly format disks in TWO of your system floppy drives.
Instead of the normal Format Drive submenu, you will be
prompted to enter two items for each drive. The first is the
DOS drive letter designator. Make sure that this is a drive
letter that you have set up in the "Set Drive Table" option.
If your drive table setting indicates that the selected drive
is a dual-density drive, you will be asked if you are going to
be formatting high density diskettes in the drive. In this
manner, any two drives in your system may be used for the
cyclic formatting. After entering the pertinent information,
a beep will sound and you will be instructed to ready the
selected drives for formatting. As soon as you press any key,
the formatting of the two drives will start.
"Rapid Format" provides a way to very quickly reformat disks
that are already formatted. If you have a batch of formatted
disks that you desire to re-initialize, use this option.
Instead of formatting the disk track by track, as is necessary
in the case of a fresh, unformatted diskette, FormatMaster
will skip the track formatting and re-initialize the boot,
FAT, and directory sectors. The disk will then be just as if
you did a full track by track format. If you use this feature
in conjuntion with "Double Cycle = ON", things tend to go
rather rapidly, so there is an approximate 8 second delay to
allow time for swapping disks.
"Warning Message = ON" is a toggle that controls whether or
not you will be warned if the disk you are about to format
possible contains data. Set this to off if you desire to skip
this warning.
If you have the "Transfer System" and/or "Add Volume Label"
toggles on, FormatMaster will act accordingly for each drive
being formatted. If the "Add Volume Label" toggle is on, you
will be prompted to enter the label at the end of formatting
the first drive. From then on, the label you enter will be
added to each disk formatted. There is NO PAUSE between
drives, so be sure to swap a fresh unformatted disk for a
formatted one in the drive that is idle while the other is
formatting. This method assures the fastest possible disk
formatting on a normal PC/AT system. A beep will sound as the
formatting is completed on one drive and FromatMaster switches
to the other. Pressing the ESC key during a dual drive format
operation will stop the formatting as soon as the drive that
is currently being formatted is complete.
"Registration Form" brings up a window that will prompt you
for the entry of registration information and then will create
a registration form on your printer that can be mailed to
New-Ware.
"Quit To DOS" terminates FormatMaster and returns you to the
DOS level. Alt-X will also terminate the program.
"Format a Disk" is the main routine of the program. This
selection brings up a menu containing the system drives as you
defined them using "Set Drive Table". Selection of a drive
for format will bring up the formatting window. You will be
prompted to insert a disk in the designated drive and to press
return when ready to format. Note that information pertaining
to the current status of the various toggles appears on the
help line at the top of the screen.
If the disk you have placed in the designated drive is already
formatted, it may contain valuable data and FormatMaster will
warn you of this condition and give you three options. You
may <I>gnore the warning and continue the format, <A>bort the
format altogether, or <V>iew a directory listing of the
target diskette. If you opt to <V>iew, the screen will clear
and a directory listing of the diskette will be displayed.
Pressing any key will return to the format display and you
will get the original three-option prompt.
If you proceed, FormatMaster will check the density entry in
the drive table and if the drive is a dual density drive, you
will be asked whether you desire to format a high density
diskette. After this query, FormatMaster will format the disk,
updating a track counter as it formats each track. When the
formatting is complete, if the "Transfer System" toggle is ON,
the system files will be transferred and if the "Add Volume
Label" toggle is on, a window will pop up prompting you to enter
the desired label. You will then get an opportunity to format
another disk in the same drive. If the "Cycle Format" toggle is
on, a beep will sound and you will have the option to insert a
fresh disk in the operable drive and continue or to stop the
formatting. A disk counter is incremented and displayed
during cyclic formatting to help you keep track of the number
of disks formatted.
To permanently configure FormatMaster, use the "@ Configure
FMTMAS.EXE" option. All the current toggle settings will be
saved to disk so that each time you execute the program, it
will start up with the toggles as set when you invoked this
option. In addition, if you have started FormatMaster with an
M (or m) on the command line, the monochrome (composite)
monitor color settings will also be saved so that it will not
be necessary to use the M on the command line.
The ESCAPE Key
--------------
The ESC key can be used to exit from just about any menu or
operation. It will also abort formatting with an error
message.
Error Handling
--------------
I have tried to make FormatMaster as bullet proof as possible
and have provided for an Error Box to pop up in the event a
critical error is encountered. The operation currently in
progress will usually be terminated if an error occurs.
Technical Notes
---------------
FormatMaster is written in Turbo Pascal 4.0 and makes generous
use of TurboPower Software's excellent Turbo Pro 4.0 package.
All formatting is done through INT 13h ROM BIOS calls based
upon parameters in the drive table as provided by the user.
It is twice as fast as the DOS format program because it does
not invoke the BIOS VERIFY routine during format. The BIOS
VERIFY does not perform a read/write type of verification and
therefore is not needed if one is using decent quality
diskettes.
The program was developed on an AST Premium/286 equipped with
one dual density 5 1/4" disk drive and an EGA monitor running
MSDOS 3.2. The program was tested on a Leading Edge model "M"
(XT clone) equipped with one single density 5 1/4" disk drive
and a CGA monitor running PC DOS 3.1, an ACER 710 (XT clone)
equipped with a single density 5 1/4" , a single density
3 1/2", and a monochrome monitor running MSDOS 3.2 (also
tested running under DOS 2.11), and the AST Premium 286.
Without direct access to a 1.4M 3 1/2" drive, I have had to
depend upon beta test support.
About New-Ware
--------------
New-Ware is the registered business name of an entity owned and
operated by John J. Newlin (me). I am a systems engineer, I
hold degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science, and I am a
member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). My
other Shareware products SCOUT and ArcMaster.
SCOUT is a memory resident file/directory/disk management
system that offers a powerful set of commands for manipulating
PC system resources.
ArcMaster is a semi-automated ARChive file manager that provides
an intuitive, menu driven user interface for PKARC/PKXARC,
ARCA/ARC-E, and Vern Buerg's LIST.
PLEASE SUPPORT SHAREWARE AUTHORS!! Register the programs you
use regularly with their authors.
Monitor Problems
----------------
Many laptop portables and those machines with a "composite"
monitor can trick programs like FormatMaster into thinking that
there is a fully functional Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) on board.
If you load the program and the cursor bar is not visible or the
display looks strange, quit the program using Alt-X and reload it
with an "M" (either case) on the command line. Example:
FMTMAS m
This will force FormatMaster to use a set of monochrome attributes
that should work fine on LapTops and composite monitors.
Mouse Support
-------------
FormatMaster supports all the popular Mouse systems. The left
button is used to enter a carriage return and the right button
serves as an ESC key.
NOTE: This documentation and all accompanying explanatory
information/files is Copyright 1988 by New-Ware. All
rights reserved.