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Sydex CopyQM Quick Multiple Format/Copy/Verify for Diskettes Sydex, Inc. P.O. Box 5700 Eugene, OR 97405 Voice: (503) 683-6033 FAX: (503) 683-1622 Data: (503) 683-1385 Table of Contents What is CopyQM?..............................................1 Requirements.................................................3 Getting Started..............................................5 Differences with Earlier Versions............................6 Memory Usage.................................................7 Diskette Image Files.........................................8 Copying Modes................................................9 Format Conversion............................................9 Inserting Serial Numbers....................................10 Copy Verification...........................................12 Audible Signals.............................................13 "Smart" Formatting..........................................13 Quick Mode Copying..........................................14 Display Color Set...........................................14 CopyQM Operation............................................15 Command Line Syntax.........................................18 Changing Operating Defaults.................................25 Status Messages.............................................26 Specifying a Diskette Configuration.........................31 CopyQM A Quick Diskette Duplicator for Multiple Drives Copyright 1992 Sydex, Incorporated P.O. Box 5700 Eugene, OR 97405 (503) 683-6033 What is CopyQM? CopyQM is a standalone utility to copy diskettes. It is designed with the object of copying medium-to-large quantities of dis- kettes, rather than making single copies. CopyQM supports copy- ing to more than one disk drive at a session and possesses a cor- nucopia of options and features. CopyQM will: * Read a master diskette, and make multiple copies of it. Formatting, writing and verifying of copied diskettes is performed in a single pass. * Convert between diskette formats. That is, a 360K 5.25" diskette can be converted to a 1.2M 5.25", or a 720K, 1.44M or 2.88M 3.5" diskette. * Store information that does not fit into conventional memory in extended or expanded memory or on hard disk. * Operate on more than one diskette drive at a time. Only one copy is written at a time, however. Drives are serviced in consecutive "round robin" fashion. * Maintain images of diskettes as DOS hard disk files. That is, a "recording" can be made of a diskette for subsequent "playback" to copies. _________________________________________________________________ Introduction 1 * Insert either ASCII or binary serial numbers into dis- kette data. An audit trail of serial numbers that have been written is maintained. Up to 150 instances of a serial number on a single diskette can be processed by CopyQM. * Copy non-DOS diskette formats, including Xenixtm and CP/M. * Execute under DOS, Windowstm or the OS/2tm DOS environ- ment. * Compare a number of copies against a master diskette or image. CopyQM will not: * Write copies on more than one drive simultaneously. Hardware restrictions prevent CopyQM from doing this. * Copy proprietary (e.g., Amiga, Apple ][, Atari 820) or copy-protected formats. * Copy individual files. The smallest unit of informa- tion that CopyQM can deal with is an entire diskette. * Copy one hard disk to another. CopyQM is a diskette- copying utility. * Copy files from a hard disk to a diskette. CopyQM is fast--in most cases it will copy at the best-case theoretical speed. The primary limitation in any diskette opera- tion is the time that it takes the diskette to complete one revolution. Our timings indicate that CopyQM can format, copy and verify a full 360K diskette in about 50 seconds. Larger capacity diskettes will, of course, require more time. _________________________________________________________________ 2 Introduction Requirements At a minimum, the following three files are necessary for opera- tion of CopyQM: COPYQM.COM implements the primary functions needed for dis- kette copying. CQMENU.COM contains a menu interface and all on-line help. VIEWCONF.COM is a utility to display the diskette configura- tion information being used by CopyQM. Other text files may be present which describe the operation of CopyQM, but the three files mentioned above must be present for successful operation. In almost all cases, CopyQM will be able to determine the con- figuration of a system without any sort of intervention. Unusual or special disk drive configurations, however, may require that the configuration be explicitly specified. For more information on how to construct a configuration file for all Sydex utilities, consult the section titled Specifying a Diskette Configuration near the end of this document. CopyQM requires the following operating environment for execu- tion: 1. An IBM PC-compatible with an 8088, 80286, 80386 or 80486 processor. Other system operating environments, such as PC emulation on non-PC systems (e.g., Commodore Amiga or Apple Macintosh) may work, but operation under them is not supported by Sydex. 2. PC-DOS or MS-DOS Version 3.2 or later. CopyQM has been tested using a DOS session under IBM OS/2 Versions 1.3 and 2.0, but support of OS/2 operation is not supported by Sydex. Other DOS-compatible systems such as Novell's DR-DOS or The Software Link's PC-MOS may af- ford successful operation, but have not been fully tested by Sydex. _________________________________________________________________ Requirements 3 3. At least 256K of available base memory, sometimes referred to as "RAM". 4. A hard disk with at least 2MB of free space for tem- porary files created by CopyQM. 5. At least one diskette drive local to the system running CopyQM. Network diskette drives are not supported. CopyQM does not require, but can make use of the following: 1. Extended memory that is managed by an XMS-compatible memory manager such as Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS or Quarterdeck's QEMM. 2. Expanded memory, or LIM (Lotus-Intel-Microsoft), that is managed by a a driver that is compliant with EMS 4.0 or later. 3. Additional diskette adapters, provided that BIOS-level support is furnished for them. Sydex has tested the Micro Solutions Compaticard I, II and IV adapters. CopyQM will operate under Microsoft's Windowstm or Quarterdeck's Desqviewtm. However, because diskette copying is a time-critical application, performance under any multi-tasking environment will be degraded somewhat. The actual amount of the degradation depends on several factors, including the scheduling algorithms used by the multitasking software. Executing more than one copy of CopyQM under control of a multi- tasking executive, such as Windows is not recommended. Severe performance degradation will result. If two sets of diskette copies are required, running two CopyQM sessions consecutively will result in significantly better performance than attempting to execute the sessions concurrently. CopyQM will support a total configuration of up to eight diskette drives. A CopyQM session can make use of up to seven diskette drives--one for reading and six for writing. _________________________________________________________________ 4 Requirements Getting Started To install CopyQM from a diskette to a hard disk, copy all ex- ecutable .COM files to your selected hard disk directory. As an example, suppose that the CopyQM distribution diskette is in- serted in diskette drive A: and it is to be installed on hard drive D: in the subdirectory MYCOPY. The following DOS command can be used: COPY A:*.COM D:\MYCOPY If CopyQM is to be used when logged in at any directory, the directory and drive used for CopyQM's files must be included in the DOS PATH environment variable. For details on specifying a command PATH, consult the DOS reference manual. In most cases, this is all that will be required to get CopyQM up and running. First-time users should execute CopyQM through the menu interface furnished by CQMENU. Entering the following command at a DOS com- mand prompt will initiate execution of CQMENU: CQMENU CQMENU takes the menu selections made and translates them into a command line for CopyQM. After all selections have been made, COPYQM.COM is located and read into memory overlaying CQMENU. CQMENU also contains a full on-line help facility for CopyQM. Help related to the current selected menu item can be obtained by pressing F1. In addition, a general help facility which describes command-line syntax and configuration file setup can be displayed by pressing F1 a second time. All of the features of CopyQM are not available through CQMENU's interface. Some of the more obscure facilities, such as serial- number insertion, are accessible only through the DOS command line interface to CopyQM. _________________________________________________________________ Getting Started 5 Differences with Earlier Versions Users of versions 1.x and 2.x of CopyQM will notice many dif- ferences in Version 3. A few of the more significant ones are as follows: 1. Separate Source for Reading. CopyQM divides copying activity up into two operations; reading the master dis- kette and writing the copies. If a source drive is not explicitly specified, the first drive in the list of diskette drives will be used as the source drive. Writ- ing, however, will commence with the first drive and not with the second drive as was the case in previous versions. 2. Sequence of Operations. The copy count is prompted for after the master diskette has been read, not before. 3. Double-density 80 track 5.25" Format Not Supported. Because version 3 of CopyQM uses BIOS-level interface routines, the 80-track (720K) 5.25" double-density for- mat is no longer supported on a 1.2M drive. 4. Overflow Specification. Version 3 automatically deter- mines the availability of extended and expanded memory or hard disk for overflow. Use of a specific type of memory can be disabled by using the NOEMS or NOXMS command-line options. Hard disk overflow file place- ment can be specified by means of the CQTEMP environ- ment variable. 5. Serial Number Support. Version 3's support of serial numbering is more flexible than pervious versions. However, the command syntax and operation is substan- tially different. 6. Status Updating. Version 3 updates drive status after every diskette; previous versions updated drive status after every track. Under Version 3, a drive will main- tain the same status until a disk has been processed. This can be changed with the STATUS command-line op- tion, however. _________________________________________________________________ 6 Differences 7. Configuration Specification. Version 3 maintains all configuration information in an ASCII file called DISKETTE.CFG. Previous versions maintained configura- tion data by having it "patched" into the executable files by a configuration program. This represents only a partial list; there are many other changes, refinements and additions to CopyQM. Memory Usage CopyQM reads a master diskette or image file in one uninterrupted pass. Because most diskette formats can hold more data than can be contained in conventional memory on a system, CopyQM uses a variety of methods to store the "overflow" data: 1. As much data as can be contained in conventional memory is first read. Sufficient memory must be available for CopyQM execution; this can be as little as 256K. 2. A test for extended memory is then performed. Extended memory, if it is to be used by CopyQM, must be managed by a high memory manager, such as Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS. Unmanaged high memory will not be used by CopyQM. If the NOXMS command line option has been specified, no check is made for extended memory. 3. After extended memory has been filled, or if extended memory could not be located, a test for expanded memory is performed. Expanded memory, or EMS, must conform to the Lotus/Intel/Microsoft Expanded Memory Specification level 4.0 or later. If the NOEMS option has been specified on the command line, no check is made for ex- panded memory. 4. Finally, after expanded and extended memory have been used, a search for an environment variable named CQTEMP is performed. If found, it is taken to specify a drive and directory on which a temporary file can be created. If the CQTEMP variable cannot be located, a search for an environment variable named TEMP is per- formed and the drive and path specified by it is used. _________________________________________________________________ Differences 7 If neither environment variable is found, the first hard disk partition is used that has enough free space available for the temporary file. 5. If sufficient memory or disk space cannot be located, the master diskette or image file is rejected by CopyQM and a NOT ENOUGH MEMORY error message is displayed. When converting between formats, CopyQM writes a temporary image file and then reads it back into memory. A sufficient amount of hard disk space must be available for the temporary image file and any overflow storage required for the master diskette image. Diskette Image Files CopyQM has the ability to save the information contained on a dis- kette in the form of a hard disk file called a diskette image file. Diskette image files contain all of the data that would be processed in the course of a diskette copy, along with other in- formation necessary to construct a copy. After an image file has been created, it can be read later by CopyQM to produce copies of the original master diskette. Diskette image files are unlike "archive" files in that in- dividual diskette files cannot be manipulated. However, image files of non-DOS diskettes can be created. When CopyQM options are called out using the DOS command line in- terface, the RECORD and PLAYBACK options respectively are used to specify creation and reading of diskette image files. Although a limited amount of data compression is performed within a diskette image file, it is recommended that sufficient hard disk space be reserved equal to the capacity of the master dis- kette when diskette image files are created. _________________________________________________________________ 8 Memory Usage Copying Modes CopyQM contains logic to optimize copying of DOS diskettes. When a DOS diskette is processed by CopyQM the master diskette is read only as far as the highest cylinder containing active data. While this mode ensures all active data is copied, areas of a dis- kette which contain erased data may not be copied. Normally, this presents no problem and the result is a fully functional dis- kette. However, some copy-protected DOS products may record their protection information as erased data. When the DOS utility DISKCOMP is used to compare a master dis- kette with a copy, it may report mismatches when erased data from the master diskette is compared with the corresponding areas on the copy. If all areas of a diskette are to be copied, "blind" mode copying may be specified. In this mode of operation, CopyQM does not at- tempt to interpret the data being copied and no "shortcuts" are taken. Usually, "blind" mode is specified when a diskette was not created by a DOS system. However, "blind" mode may also be used to DOS diskettes when it is desired that all data contained on a master diskette be transferred to the copies. However, note that format conversion, described below, operates differently in "blind" mode. The DOS command line option for CopyQM is BLIND. Format Conversion CopyQM can be used to translate one diskette format to another. For example, a 360K 5.25" diskette can be converted to a 3.5" 1.44M diskette. This conversion can be specified by a CQMENU menu choice or by the CopyQM CONVERT command-line option. When DOS diskettes are being copied, CopyQM adjusts track sizes and File Allocation Table (FAT) lengths and updates the informa- tion contained in the boot sector. The resulting combination of active data and new system tables must fit on the new format specified. Thus, a 1.44M diskette containing less than 360K of data can be copied to a 360K diskette. _________________________________________________________________ Copying Modes 9 When non-DOS diskettes are being copied in "blind" mode, conver- sion is performed differently. Data from the master diskette is "re-packed" to fit the new track size; no other adjustments are performed. A special case occurs when conversion of a DOS 1.2M or 1.44M master to a 2.88M format is specified. Because of limitations in the conversion process, the result will exhibit only 2.04M of available data space, rather than the entire 2.88M. CopyQM Version 3 also supports non-conversion copies between some formats. This undocumented capability in previous versions al- lows copying of some smaller formats to larger ones without any processing of the data. For example, a 1.2M 5.25" diskette can be copied to a 1.44M 3.5" diskette. The result is a 3.5" 1.2M diskette. Inserting Serial Numbers Serial numbering of copies is a capability available only from DOS command line operation of CopyQM. The operation of CopyQM Version 3's serial numbering differs substantially from earlier versions in specification and capabilities. A serial number is a group of characters present on a master dis- kette which is altered each time a copy is produced. Two types of serial numbers are available, ASCII and binary. The two types differ primarily in the manner in which they are incremented. An ASCII serial number is a group of printable or displayable characters containing at least one digit between 0 and 9. Before CopyQM produces a copy, all digits contained in the serial number are taken as a simple decimal number. Any intervening non-digit characters are ignored. Each time a copy is written, the decimal number formed by these digits is incremented by one. For ex- ample, the serial number "AB1C2D3" would be incremented on succes- sive copies as: _________________________________________________________________ 10 Format Conversion AB1C2D4 AB1C2D5 ... AB1C3D0 ... AB9C9D9 Note that non-digits are not affected. After the highest number that can be represented by the digits in the serial number has been reached, the process starts over with the number zero. A binary serial number is treated as a group of bytes, in Intel "little-endian" representation. That is, the least significant bytes appear to the left of, or before, more significant bytes. Binary serial numbers can be of any length up to 127 bytes. Bi- nary numbers are represented by hexadecimal numbers (digits 0-9 and letter A-F). However, binary serial numbers are specified in their normal "big-endian" mode. That is, more significant bytes appear to the left of less significant bytes. Thus, the number specified by 00 00 20 would be stored in successive copies as: 21 00 00 22 00 00 ... 00 01 00 ... FF FF FF Serial numbers are recorded in a user-specified ASCII file, one serial number per line. CopyQM updates this file at the end of a session to by appending the serial numbers written during the ses- sion. The starting serial number for a CopyQM session is always one greater than the last serial number in the file. For ex- ample, to start serial numbering with A0001, a serial number of A0000 must be the last number in the serial number file. Placement of serial numbers is done by specifying an ASCII search string on the CopyQM command line. Each time this string is detected in data read from the master diskette, it is replaced by a serial number unique to the copy being made. Up to 150 occur- rences of a serial number on a single diskette can be processed by CopyQM. A serial number can cross sector boundaries, but may not straddle a track boundary. _________________________________________________________________ Serial Numbering 11 The length of a serial number is determined by the length of the search string, not by the length of the serial number represented in the serial number file. When a set of diskettes are being copied, that is, when the REPEAT option has been specified, the same serial numbers will be inserted into each set of diskettes. That is, the serial number- ing process will be restarted when the master for each group of copies is read. For information on command line parameters for serial numbering, refer to the section on CopyQM command line syntax. Copy Verification Several methods of checking the accuracy of data are offered by CopyQM. CQMENU offers a menu selection for each verification type. By default, CopyQM checks the part of a diskette known to contain active data for readability by reading the copy diskette and dis- carding the data. The part of the copy not containing active data is not read. This corresponds to the VERIFY=DATA command line option. An entire diskette can be checked for readability by specifying the VERIFY=ALL option on CopyQM's command line. Note that the accuracy of the copied data is not checked, but only the readability of the data. Read-back checks can be completely disabled by specifying VERIFY=NONE. This option is usually selected when the speed of the copy operation is more important than the accuracy of the copy. A byte-by-byte compare can also be specified by use of the COM- PARE command-line option. Comparison is performed only on the part of the diskette containing active data. Inactive areas can be checked for readability only. _________________________________________________________________ 12 Serial Numbering An option not covered by a CQMENU selection alters the basic operation of CopyQM. If the CHECK option is specified on the CopyQM command line, copies are not formatted or written. In- stead each copy is compared with the data from the master dis- kette. This option is useful when the validity of a number of copies needs to be checked against a master standard copy. Audible Signals CopyQM provides several audible "cues" during its operation: 1. A high-pitched "warble" that indicates that an opera- tion has been successfully completed. This tone is sounded after a master diskette has been read, after after each copy has been written, and after keyboard entries have been selected. 2. A low-pitched "beep" that signals an error condition. This tone is sounded after unsuccessful disk read or write operations, and when an erroneous keyboard entry is made. 3. A medium-pitched "warble" that signals a need for atten- tion. This tone can be selected as an option and is sounded after intervals of 20 seconds of inactivity. The command line option for this tone is NAG. All audible signaling may be disabled by CQMENU menu selection or by the SILENT command line option. "Smart" Formatting By default, CopyQM formats all copies before writing data. However, it is possible to direct CopyQM to check for pre- formatted media before writing. This option is available by a CQMENU menu choice, or by the SMART command line option. _________________________________________________________________ Verification 13 "Smart" mode attempts to write data without first formatting a copy. If writing and verification succeed, the inactive area on the copy is skipped. However, if an error is detected while writ- ing active data, all remaining tracks on the diskette are for- matted before being written. "Smart" mode can result in substantial time savings over normal format-then-write operation. Quick Mode Copying When copies of partially full DOS diskettes are made, a con- siderable increase in copying speed can be obtained by specifying the QUICK command-line option. When this option is selected, only the part of the master diskette that contains active data is copied or formatted. However, when using unformatted blank diskettes, it is important to realize that tracks at the end of each diskette will not be formatted. This may make it impossible for users of the copies to successfully write to the copies or duplicate them using the DOS DISKCOPY utility. This option is not available from CQMENU. Display Color Set In some instances, it may be desirable for CopyQM to show all dis- plays with a black-and-white (monochrome) color palette. This may be specified by means of the MONO command line option. This option is not available from CQMENU. A monochrome color set is particularly useful when portable sys- tems with liquid crystal displays (LCD) are used. Many of these systems support color as shades of gray, rather than actual colors. A monochrome color set will be found to be more readable in this case. _________________________________________________________________ 14 "Smart" Formatting CopyQM Operation Once menu selections have been made from CQMENU or the command line for CopyQM has been entered, CopyQM begins execution. Opera- tion of CopyQM is divided into two phases, reading the master dis- kette or image file, and writing the copies or diskette image file. Because CopyQM continuously accesses diskette drives to obtain their operating status, diskette changes are permitted when drive access indicators are illuminated. In addition, since CopyQM is sensitive to drive changes, it may be necessary to remove a dis- kette and then re-insert it into the same drive to indicate to CopyQM that a change has occurred. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CopyQM Version 3.00 (Jul 00 1992) Copyright 1992 by Sydex Press ESCape to quit +----------+ | ===A:=== | READING +----------+ Sector size: 512 Sectors/track: 9 Sides: 2 Density: Low Data cylinders: 54 Volume label: ** NONE ** #####################+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Figure 1: Reading display _________________________________________________________________ CopyQM Operation 15 When CopyQM reads a master diskette, a display similar to that shown in Figure 1 appears. Note that an icon representing the drive currently being accessed is shown along with the status of the current operation appearing to the right of it. If the ES- Cape key is pressed before CopyQM is able to read the master dis- kette, execution terminates and CopyQM exits to DOS. A summary of information relating to the diskette is also shown. Sector size indicates the size in bytes of each sector. Sectors/track specifies the number of sectors that occur on each track. Sides reports either 1 for single-sided formats, or 2 for double-sided. Density can show values of low for double-density (360K and 720K), high for high density (1.2M and 1.44M), or ex- tended for 2.88M media. Data cylinders indicates the number of cylinders containing active data. Volume label shows the DOS volume label name or ** NONE ** if no volume label can be found. The bar graph at the bottom of the display shows the proportion of the total diskette space that has been processed. A similar display is shown when a diskette image file is processed. If creation of a diskette image file has been requested, the file is written after the diskette has been completed. If the conver- sion option has been specified, a temporary diskette image file will be written and the requested conversion will be performed while the image file is read back into memory. If copying to diskettes has been requested, the following prompt will appear in the lower part of the display: How many copies? (Hit ESCape to exit) - Between 1 and 9,999 copies may be requested; after the desired number is entered, the Enter key is pressed. If the ESCape key is pressed instead, no diskettes will be written and a new master diskette will be requested. If an invalid number or digit is en- tered, an error tone is sounded and the number is not accepted. _________________________________________________________________ 16 CopyQM Operation After the master diskette or image file has been read and processed, CopyQM begins the writing phase. A display similar to that shown in Figure 2 appears. Up to six drives can be shown on the writing status display. Note that only those drives which support the diskette format cur- rently being copied are shown. For example, if a high-density 5.25" (1.2M) master diskette were being copied, only drives capable of high-density support would be displayed. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CopyQM Version 3.00 (Jul 00 1992) Copyright 1992 by Sydex Press ESCape to quit 0 of 999 Copies Done Volume Label: ** NONE ** +----------+ |o===A:=== | WRITING +----------+ +----------+ | ===B:=== | INSERT BLANK DISKETTE +----------+ +----------+ | ===I:=== | INSERT BLANK DISKETTE +----------+ #####################+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Figure 2: A Sample Writing Display _________________________________________________________________ CopyQM Operation 17 When more than one drive is being used, it is important to ob- serve that drive status messages are updated between diskettes, not during the copying of diskettes. Thus, the status displayed for non-active drives will not be updated until the diskette cur- rently being written has been completed. For example, the message INSERT BLANK DISKETTE will persist on drives not currently being accessed after blank diskettes have been inserted until the current diskette being written has been completed. CopyQM can be set to status all drives at intervals of a few cylinders by means of the STATUS command line option, but performance will be somewhat degraded. The bar graph displayed at the bottom of the screen tracks the progress of the copy operation. A solid, red bar indicates that active data is being transferred; a hatched, green bar indicates that an inactive area is being formatted. When all requested copies have been completed, the following mes- sage appears: All copies done. Press any key to continue... If the ESCape key is pressed before all copies have been written, the following message appears: ESCape hit. Press any key to continue... In either case, CopyQM requests the next master diskette after a key has been pressed. Command Line Syntax Not all CopyQM options are available via the CQMENU menu inter- face. Several options can be selected only by means of a command line invocation of CopyQM. The general syntax of the CopyQM command line is: COPYQM <drive list> <options> _________________________________________________________________ 18 CopyQM Operation <Drive list> specifies the diskette drives used to write copies of the master diskette. A drive is specified by a drive letter followed by a colon. At least one drive must be specified if diskette copies are to be made. A write drive need not be specified if a diskette image file is to be generated. If more than one drive is specified, the first copy is written in the first drive named, the second in the second drive and so on. If no drive is explicitly named as a source drive (see the SOURCE option, below), diskettes are read in the first destina- tion drive named. <Options> refers to a list of special terms. A term may consist of a single word or it may require a value, denoted by following the word with an equal sign (=). No spaces are allowed between the word, the equal sign, and the assigned value. In cases where a value can contain spaces or other special characters, it may be enclosed in double quotation marks ("). In most cases, the keyword in a term can be abbreviated. In the following discussion of options, the minimum number of letters that can be used to denote a word are given after the word. CopyQM recognizes the following options: BLIND (BL) specifies that CopyQM may not assume that the master diskette is a DOS diskette. No interpretation of the diskette's data is attempted; the diskette is copied in its entirety. Note that the CONVERT options functions differently when BLIND is specified. CHECK (CH) specifies that no writing of diskettes is to take place; rather, diskettes are to be compared against the master. Essentially, formatting and writing are dis- abled, while COMPARE-type verification is enabled. COMPARE (COM) specifies that verification is to be performed by comparing the copied data with data read from the master diskette. Normally, verification checks for readability of data, not for accuracy. _________________________________________________________________ Command Line Syntax 19 CONVERT (CON) requires one of the following values: 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M or 2.88M. It specifies that the source data is to be converted to the specified format before writing. When DOS diskettes are being copied, the boot sector and File Allocation Tables are altered to conform to the new format. When BLIND mode copying is performed, source tracks are simply "re-packed" to the indicated format and no table modification is per- formed. Thus, CON=360K specifies that data is to be converted to a nine-sector 360K format. COUNT (COU) requires a numeric value and specifies the num- ber of copies to be made of a single master. This term is useful when the number of copies prompt is not desired. COUNT=3 specifies that three copies of the master are to be produced. LOGO specifies that the Sydex name and product logo displays are to be shown on startup. This option has meaning only on registered CopyQM versions; evaluation copies always display the Sydex and CopyQM logos. MONO (MO) specifies that a white-on-black color scheme should be used in all displays. Normally a monochrome display adapter is automatically detected, but there may be instances where a monochrome color set is desired. NAG specifies that a distinctive tone is sounded after 20 seconds of inactivity. This option is ignored if SILENT is also specified. NOCOMPRESS (NOC) specifies that data compression is not to be performed on image files. This option can make writ- ing of image files faster at the expense of file size on very slow machines; little time is saved when read- ing a non-compressed file. NOEMS (NOE) specifies that expanded memory (LIM or EMM) should not automatically be used for overflow data storage. When NOEMS is specified, expanded memory is assumed not to exist. _________________________________________________________________ 20 Command Line Syntax NOPAUSE (NOP) specifies that CopyQM should not pause for a keystroke after the last copy of a set is written. Nor- mally CopyQM pauses to allow the status of the last copy to be evaluated. NOXMS (NOX) specifies that extended memory (as managed by HIMEM.SYS) should not be used for overflow data storage. If NOXMS is specified, extended memory is as- sumed not to be present. PLAYBACK (PL) requires a file name as a value and indicates that the master data is to be read from an image file, rather than from a diskette. The image file must previ- ously have been created by CopyQM using the RECORD op- tion. "Wildcard" characters of "*" and "?" may be used to specify more than one image file; each image file is read in succession and the data used to create a set of diskette copies. For example, PLAYBACK=MYFILE indicates that image data is to be taken from the file MYFILE. PROTECT (PR) specifies that the master diskette must be write protected before it will be read. This option ensures that master diskettes aren't confused with blank diskettes. QUICK (Q) specifies that the area of a copy diskette that lies after the last track used for data not be for- matted. Normally, unused tracks are formatted by CopyQM. This option can result in a great increase in speed if the master diskette contains little data. There are drawbacks to this option that are discussed in the section on Quick Mode copying. RECORD (REC) requires a file name and indicates that data read from the master diskette be written to a file, rather than to diskette copies. This image file can be used later with the PLAYBACK option to create diskette copies without first reading a master diskette. The "wildcard" character "?" can be used in the file name _________________________________________________________________ Command Line Syntax 21 and is processed by CopyQM as follows: The file name is scanned from right to left, each occurrence of "?" is replaced by the digit "0". Before each image file is written, the number formed by the substituted digits is incremented by one. For example, a name specified by RECORD=A?B?C?D would result in the creation of image files named A0B0C1D, A0B0C2D and so on. REPEAT (REP) specifies that the copy count should be re- quested only once and taken as the number of copies to be made of all master diskettes. This option allows quick duplication of a set of diskettes. When perform- ing serial numbering, each set of diskettes will be num- bered with the same set of serial numbers as other sets. RETRIES (RET) requires a numeric value and specifies the num- ber of times unsuccessful diskette write operations should be repeated until the diskette being written to is considered to be unusable. Normally, three retries are performed. Thus, specify RETRIES=10 specifies that failed write operations will be repeated up to 10 times. SIDES (SID) requires a numeric value of either 1 or 2 and is used in conjunction with BLIND to specify the number of sides to be copied. Normally CopyQM checks for data on both sides of diskette, SIDES=1 can be used to force single-sided copying. SILENT (SIL) disables all audible tone production by CopyQM. Normally, CopyQM produces tones indicating success or failure each time a diskette is read or written. SMART (SM) indicates that CopyQM is to assume that diskettes used for copying are pre-formatted. If no format is detected, or a error in writing occurs, the remainder of the diskette is formatted by CopyQM. _________________________________________________________________ 22 Command Line Syntax SNFILE (minimum SNF), SNPATTERN (minimum SNP) and SNTYPE (minimum SNT) all require values and are used to per- form insertion of serial numbers on diskette copies. SNFILE is used to specify a text file containing a list of serial numbers, one per line. SNPATTERN is used to specify an ASCII string for which to search; each occur- rence of the pattern is replaced with the current serial number. SNTYPE may be given the value BINARY or ASCII (default) and specifies how the serial number file is to be interpreted. Up to 150 occurrences of a serial number on a single diskette is supported by CopyQM. For example, the terms: SNFILE=MYSNS SNPATTERN="XXXXXX" SNTYPE=ASCII specify that the starting serial number is to be taken from the file "MYSNS" and that all occurrences of "XXXXXX" are to be replaced with ASCII serial numbers. After a set of copies has been completed, the serial numbers that have been written are appended to the serial number file. SOURCE (SO) specifies the drive to be used to read the master diskette. This drive may or may not be one of the drives used to write copies. Thus, SOURCE=A: specifies that master diskettes are to be read in drive A:. STATUS (ST) requires a numeric value which specifies the period between status checks on other drives performed during writing. The default is to status between dis- kettes only. For example, setting STATUS=8 specifies that statusing will occur every 8 cylinders while writ- ing a copy. There is a degradation in performance if this option is specified that depends on the number of diskette drives in use and the frequency of statusing. TRACKS (TR) requires a numeric value and is used in conjunc- tion with BLIND to specify the number of cylinders to be copied. Normally, this value is either 40 or 80, depending on the diskette format and drive type, but _________________________________________________________________ Command Line Syntax 23 some special formats may require non-standard values. Thus, TRACKS=77 specifies that 77 tracks are to be copied. VERIFY (V) specifies how copies are to be checked. VERIFY=DATA is the default and indicates that written data should be tested for readability; any unused area of copies are not checked. VERIFY=ALL specifies that the entire diskette is to be checked for readability. VERIFY=NONE specifies that no checks for readability are to be made. For a variation on the type of verification performed, consult the COMPARE keyword. Here are a few examples of CopyQM command lines: COPYQM A: Read master diskettes and write copies using drive A:. COPYQM SOURCE=B: I: NAG V=ALL Read master diskettes in drive B:, write copies in drive I:. Performs readability verification over the entire diskette. Enables 20-second inactivity audible alert. COPYQM SOURCE=G: RECORD=C:\IMAGES\MYFILE BLIND Read master diskette in drive G: in "blind" mode, write a diskette image file called MYFILE in the \IMAGES subdirec- tory of drive C:. COPYQM A: PLAY=F:\TEST* CONV=1.44M COMPARE Read diskette images from drive F:, using files matching the file specification TEST*. Convert the images to 1.44M, write copies on drive A:, verify by comparing data from the copies with the master. COPYQM A: B: PL=C:RELEASE SNFILE=C:SERIALS SNPAT="XXXX" _________________________________________________________________ 24 Command Line Syntax Read a diskette image file on drive C: called RELEASE, write copies on drives A: and B:, insert 4-byte ASCII serial num- bers in the place of the ASCII pattern "XXXX" using the serial number file C:SERIALS. COPYQM A: CHECK Read master diskettes in drive A:, verify, but do not write the data on copies using drive A:. Changing Operating Defaults CopyQM standard operating defaults can be changed by assigning command line option values to the environment variable COPYQM. For example, to set the 20 second inactivity alarm as a default, the following DOS SET statement could be used: SET COPYQM=NAG However, one problem arises--the DOS SET command does not allow the equal (=) sign within value strings. To get around this problem, CopyQM allows substitution of the equal sign by a semi- colon (;). For example: SET COPYQM=VERIFY;ALL Any options permitted on the CopyQM command line can be assigned to the COPYQM environment variable. If a conflict aries between the options given in the COPYQM environment variable and those given on the CopyQM command line, the command line variable takes precedence. For example, SET COPYQM=VERIFY;ALL COPYQM A: VERIFY=NONE would result in VERIFY=NONE operation. An environment variable also controls the placement of the hard disk overflow file. Consult the section titled Memory Usage for details. _________________________________________________________________ Command Line Syntax 25 Status Messages CopyQM displays the following status messages during the process of reading and writing diskettes: DRIVE NOT READY Meaning: The drive has become not ready during reading or writing. This is usually the result of opening the drive door or removing the diskette from the drive. The current read or write operation is canceled and the operation is retried from its beginning. INSERT MASTER DISKETTE Meaning: CopyQM is awaiting insertion of the master dis- kette. If there is a diskette already in the diskette drive, the diskette should be removed and re-inserted into the drive to signal that the correct diskette has been in- serted. INSERT BLANK DISKETTE Meaning: CopyQM is awaiting insertion of the next blank copy diskette. This message persists after the blank dis- kette has been inserted and is changed only when writing has begun on the drive. INSERT COPY Meaning: This message occurs only when CopyQM is being run with the CHECK option. The next diskette copy to be verified should be inserted. This message is not removed until verification of the copy has actually begun. ANALYZING Meaning: CopyQM has begun reading the master diskette and is evaluating its structure and contents. _________________________________________________________________ 26 Status Messages READING Meaning: The structure of the master diskette has been determined and data is being read and stored for later writ- ing. WRITING Meaning: CopyQM is in the process of writing a copy. RECORDING Meaning: A diskette image file is being written to disk. CONVERTING Meaning: Diskette data is being converted to the requested format. CHECKING Meaning: This message occurs only in CHECK mode. CopyQM is reading a diskette copy and comparing the data with the master. REMOVE MASTER DISKETTE Meaning: CopyQM has finished reading the master diskette. The diskette should be removed from the drive. READ ERROR - TRY AGAIN Meaning: The master diskette did not read without errors. Reading of the same diskette can be attempted again, or a new master diskette may be inserted. _________________________________________________________________ Status Messages 27 NOT A DOS DISKETTE Meaning: The boot sector on the master diskette does not conform to any DOS standard layout. If the diskette is not a standard DOS format, it may be possible to copy the dis- kette by specifying the BLIND option. This message may also occur if the diskette contains a computer virus in its boot sector. Diskettes infected with the so-called "Stoned" virus will cause this message to be displayed. NOT ENOUGH MEMORY Meaning: Not enough memory and hard disk storage could be located to contain the data from the master diskette. It may be possible to avoid this message by explicitly specify- ing the location of the overflow hard disk file. FILE READ COMPLETE Meaning: The specified diskette image file has been read. A blank diskette can be inserted into the drive for copying. NOT WRITE-PROTECTED Meaning: The PROTECT option has been specified and the master diskette is not write-protected. COPY COMPLETE - REMOVE Meaning: A diskette copy has been successfully completed and can be removed from the diskette drive. DISKETTE IS UNUSABLE - DISCARD _________________________________________________________________ 28 Status Messages Meaning: Writing the diskette failed because of an un- recoverable error. Either the wrong media type (high den- sity instead of low density) has been used or the diskette contains a permanent flaw. CHECK OKAY - REMOVE Meaning: This message occurs only when CopyQM is being run with the CHECK option. The diskette copy has been success- fully verified and may be removed from the drive. WRITE PROTECTED - TRY AGAIN Meaning: Writing has failed on a diskette because the dis- kette was write protected. The diskette should be re- inserted after the diskette has been write-enabled. PLAYBACK FILE CORRUPT Meaning: CopyQM has detected an error in the diskette image file being read. No recovery from the error is possible. This message can occur if a version of CopyQM prior to 2.10 was used to create the image file. FILE WRITTEN, REMOVE MASTER Meaning: The requested diskette image file has been written and the master diskette can be removed from the drive. NO DISK SPACE FOR FILE Meaning: There was not enough hard disk space to success- fully create the requested diskette image file. This mes- sage also occurs when there is insufficient hard disk space to hold temporary files when format conversion has been re- quested. _________________________________________________________________ Status Messages 29 TARGET DISKETTE TOO SMALL Meaning: After the requested format conversion was per- formed, CopyQM determined that the data from the master dis- kette would not fit on a single diskette of the requested format. _________________________________________________________________ 30 Status Messages Specifying a Diskette Configuration Normally, CopyQM can determine a system's configuration without intervention. However, there are cases where add-on diskette adapters make it impossible to accurately sense the system setup. To determine if CopyQM has correctly sensed your system's con- figuration, use the VIEWCONF command that is included with CopyQM. If necessary, a text file, named DISKETTE.CFG can be prepared using any text editor or word processing program in non-document mode. This file can be placed anywhere in the DOS command search path and will be automatically located by CopyQM. The layout of the configuration file is straightforward. Each line in the file begins with the letter of the diskette drive being described, followed by a colon (:). The rest of the line contains keywords and numeric values which specify the configura- tion for that drive. Each item on the line is separated by one or more spaces. In most cases, keywords can be abbreviated. A configuration file line can contain any of the following keywords. The minimum abbreviation for each keyword is shown in parentheses: 360K (3) specifies a 5.25" 360K drive. 720K (7) specifies a 3.5" 720K drive. Most utilities also support the less common 5.25" 720K quad-density drive. 1.2M (1.2) specifies a 5.25" 1.2M drive. 1.44M (1.4) specifies a 3.5" 1.44M drive. 2.88M (2.8) specifies a 3.5" 2.88M drive. 8INCH (8) specifies an 8" drive. Note that the drive type must be specified. _________________________________________________________________ Specifying a Configuration 31 BIOS (B) specifies the BIOS drive number for the drive. The word BIOS is followed by a a number between 0 and 127. This number is also the same one used for the /D: parameter when DRIVER.SYS is used to support the drive in the system's CONFIG.SYS file. PORT (P) specifies the base I/O port of the adapter con- nected to the drive. The first or primary adapter is always described by the number 3F0H (observe the "H" at the end of a hexadecimal number.) Secondary adapters are usually ad- dressed by the number 370H and sometimes by 360H or 3E0H. If not specified, a PORT value of 3F0H is assumed. UNIT (U) specifies the physical unit number of the drive on the adapter. This unit number must be within the range of 0 to 3 and should not be confused with the BIOS unit number. DMA (DM) specifies the Direct Memory Access channel which services the adapter. If omitted, DMA channel 2 is assumed. INTERRUPT (I) specifies the system interrupt which services the adapter. If omitted, interrupt 6 is assumed. SEEK (S) specifies the track-to-track stepping time of the drive in milliseconds. If omitted, 6 milliseconds is as- sumed. CHANGE (CH) specifies that the drive possesses diskette change detection circuitry. If this term is omitted, the drive is assumed not to support change detection. Usually, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88M drives have change detection cir- cuitry; 360K, 720K and 8 inch drives do not. DUAL (DU) is applicable for 1.2M 5.25"drives only. Some inex- pensive secondary adapters require that 1.2M drives be con- figured for dual-speed operation in which the spindle motor spins at 360 revolutions per minute for high-density opera- tion and 300 revolutions per minute for low-density opera- tion. If omitted, normal single-speed operation is assumed. _________________________________________________________________ 32 Specifying a Configuration COMPATICARD (CO) specifies that the drive is connected to a MicroSolutions Compaticard Itm or Compaticard IItm adapter. If the Compaticard IVtm is being used, this term should not be specified. DAA (DA) indicates that the drive is connected to an IBM PS/2 Diskette Adapter/A. This adapter is present on external drives on Microchannel systems only and is assumed not to be present. A number is required to follow the following words: BIOS PORT UNIT DMA INTERRUPT SEEK A number is assumed to be a decimal value unless suffixed by the letter "H" which indicates a hexadecimal quantity. Thus, 1000 and 3E8H refer to the same quantity. Here is an example of a DISKETTE.CFG file: A: BIOS 0 UNIT 0 1.44M CHANGE B: BIOS 1 UNIT 1 1.2M CH Q: BIOS 4 PORT 370H UNIT 0 360K There are two other items which may start a configuration line. DEFAULT: initializes the configuration to the values that would be obtained if automatic configuration sensing were to be per- formed. Use of DEFAULT is useful if automatic sensing has cor- rectly sensed all but one or two drives. For example, suppose that the configuration given above is correctly sensed, with the exception of drive Q:. The DISKETTE.CFG file could be stated as: DEFAULT: Q: BIOS 4 PORT 370H UNIT 0 360K DEFAULT must appear as the only item on a line. _________________________________________________________________ Specifying a Configuration 33 NOTE: causes the remainder of a line to be ignored. Comments may be inserted into the DISKETTE.CFG file in this manner. For ex- ample: NOTE: Automatic sensing gets everything but NOTE: drive Q: connected to a special second NOTE: adapter. DEFAULT: Q: BIOS 4 PORT 370H UNIT 0 360K NOTE: This is the end of the configuration file. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Certain terms used in this document are trade marks of one or more of the following companies: Microsoft Corporation, Interna- tional Business Machines Corporation, Quarterdeck, Inc., Microsolutions, Inc., Digital Research Inc., The Software Link, Inc. _________________________________________________________________ 34 Specifying a Configuration