***¢ DOS WIZARD¢ by Gary C. Crider¢ For XL/XE-use TRANSLATOR progam before¢ running DOSWIZ.OBJ on this OHAUG disk!¢ PART A of DOCS! ¢ ¢ DANGER! IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU¢ UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE DOING BEFORE¢ YOU USE DOS WIZARD. ¢ DOSWIZ was written to accomplish¢ several tasks that no other disk¢ utility seemed to address. Some of¢ these are listed below. Some¢ knowledge of DOS file structures is¢ assumed. There are many good tutorials¢ on DOS available . It may become one¢ of your handiest utilities, but also¢ most potentially dangerous if you¢ don't understand what you are doing!¢¢ PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENTATION¢ THOROUGHLY!¢¢ VANISHING SECTORS?¢ 1. RECOVERING THE SECTORS THAT JUST¢ SEEM TO VANISH FROM DOS DISKS. When a¢ directory listing is produced, the sum¢ of all file sectors plus the remaining¢ free sectors should total 707. You¢ have probably noticed that this is not¢ always true. The primary cause for¢ this is pressing SYSTEM RESET while a¢ file is open for output. This leaves¢ the directory entry marked open and¢ the file and its associated sectors¢ are forever lost to DOS.¢ Prior to DOS WIZ the only way to¢ reclaim the sectors was to copy all¢ good files to another disk, reformat¢ the bad disk and selectively copy each¢ good file back to the reformatted¢ diskette.¢ DOS WIZ will read all files while¢ noting the sectors used by the files.¢ Any sector not referenced by a file¢ entry will be freed into the available¢ sectors pool and all open file¢ directory entries will be released for¢ reuse.¢¢ ERROR's 144, OR 164?¢ 2. You probably have received the¢ notorious ERROR 164 or ERROR 144 at¢ one time or another when trying to¢ read a disk file. Sometimes you can't¢ even delete a file because DOS wants a¢ valid file chain before it will¢ delete. ¢ All sectors used by a DOS file are¢ chained together, that is, a sector of¢ data has a pointer to the next sector¢ belonging to that file. Also on each¢ sector is a reference to the file¢ which owns it. ERROR 164 indicates¢ that a sector was pointed to by a¢ prior sector, but the two sectors do¢ not reference the same file. This¢ means that somehow another file used a¢ sector belonging to the file in¢ question.¢ ERROR 144 generally indicates that¢ a sector has for some reason become¢ unreadable. This can also be the¢ indicated by some other error codes. ¢ In either case, the integrity of the¢ file chain is lost and DOS will not be¢ able to read the file. Usually there¢ is nothing that can be done because a¢ binary load file or a tokenized BASIC¢ file that is not complete will not be¢ usable in any fashion. ¢¢ FILE RECOVERY?¢ However, recovering a portion of a¢ data file can be very useful at times.¢ It can prevent a lot of re-entry of¢ data. DOS WIZ allows recovery of any¢ file up to the point where the chain¢ is broken. This then becomes a valid¢ DOS file and can once again be¢ accessed. ¢ BAD SECTOR?¢ 3. A bad sector on a disk is often¢ a big headache even when your file is¢ backed up. It means that all good¢ files must be copied and the disk¢ reformatted and the good files copied¢ back. Only then can you restore your¢ file from the backup.¢¢ ANOTHER WAY?¢ DOS WIZ allows another approach¢ that is very often successful. You¢ can analyze the disk to get the¢ location of the bad sector and it's¢ associated file name. You can then¢ write zeros to that sector and the¢ odds are very good that you will then¢ be able to read it again. If you can't¢ you haven't lost anything since the¢ sector was unreadable. You may then¢ recover the file up to the point of¢ the zero sector and then delete the¢ file. Now you can recover the sectors¢ used by the file and then rewrite your¢ backup file to the disk. It sounds¢ complicated, but is really quite¢ simple and much easier than the¢ alternative discussed earlier. ¢¢ COME BACK LITTLE FILE!¢ 4. Occasionally a file gets deleted¢ by mistake. If the sectors used by¢ that file have not been overwritten,¢ DOS WIZ will allow easy recovery of¢ the file.¢¢ TOO MANY NAMES?¢ 5. Sometimes you end up with two or¢ more files of the same name. If you¢ delete or rename one with DOS, all¢ files with that name are deleted or¢ renamed. DOS WIZ lets you delete or¢ rename by file number. There are¢ never duplicate file numbers.¢¢ HANDLING ALLOCATED SECTORS!¢ 6. DOS WIZARD provides a¢ translation of the sector bit map from¢ the VTOC that is easily readable. It¢ allows you to "hide" sectors from use¢ by DOS by marking them as allocated. ¢ You can also free allocated sectors.¢¢ FULL DIRECTORY LISTING!¢ 7. DOS WIZARD's directory listing¢ lists ALL entries including deleted¢ and open files. It allows you to¢ perform many DOS functions on those¢ files by simply referencing the file¢ number. This does however eliminate¢ the use of wild cards. The directory¢ listing also tells you at a glance¢ whether any sectors are unaccounted¢ for.¢¢ FLAGGING SECTORS!¢ 8. DOS WIZARD will allow you to¢ flag sectors as allocated and¢ effectively hide them from DOS so that¢ they will be reserved for your use.¢¢ SPEEDUP!¢ 9. DOS WIZARD can be used to clear¢ unused sectors of data. This will¢ speed up the disk duplication process¢ when FASTDUP (Copyright 1982 by Gary¢ C. Crider) is used.¢¢ HEX OR ATASCII?¢ 10. DOS WIZARD will display sectors¢ in hex and ASCII on the same screen.¢ It also gives much valuable¢ information about that sector such as¢ the file to which it belongs.¢¢ LISTING CONTIGUOUS SECTORS!¢ 11. DOS WIZARD will list all¢ extents by sector range which are¢ occupied by a given file. An extent¢ is a set of contiguous sectors. ¢¢ PRINTING THE DOSWIZ DOCUMENTATION!¢ Running the DOSWIZ.PRT program¢ using BASIC will print the DOSWIZ.DOC¢ file in 1.75 width letters on a STAR¢ (tm) GEMINI series printer. It may¢ work on other printers as well.¢ Another way to print it would be to¢ use the COPY feature of your DOS or¢ DUP.SYS utility, specifying P: as the¢ output file name. It can also be¢ printed from most word processors.¢ This should work okay on the EPSON¢ (tm) printers. ¢¢ A DISKETTE ANALYSIS¢¢ This MENU option performs a two-¢ stage analysis of the contents of a¢ DOS format diskette. Either stage may¢ be interrupted by pressing the ESC¢ key, but any statistics will only be¢ valid up to the point where the¢ interrupt occurred.¢ Stage 1 reads all DOS files which¢ are not marked as deleted or open and¢ verifies that the chain is intact. All¢ chain errors are reported with the¢ sector number where the violation¢ occurred and the file name for the¢ chain being validated. A chain error¢ is reported if:¢ a) The file number in the sector¢ does not reflect the file being¢ validated;¢ b) The next sector pointer does¢ not point to a valid sector number;¢ c) The sector is not marked as¢ allocated in the VTOC;¢ d) A read error occurs while¢ trying to read the sector;¢ e) The byte count in the sector¢ is less than 1 or greater than 125.¢¢ Stage 1 reports the following¢ counts:¢ 1. VALID FILES - the number of¢ files which are accessible by DOS and¢ contain no chain errors.¢ 2. DELETED FILES - the number of¢ directory entries flagged as deleted.¢ 3. OPEN FILES - the number of¢ directory entries flagged as open.¢ 4. BAD CHAINS - the number of¢ files which were found to have invalid¢ chains.¢ 5. SECTORS ALLOCATED - the¢ number of sectors which are marked as¢ allocated in the Volume Table Of¢ Contents (VTOC).¢ 6. FREE SECTORS - the number of¢ sectors marked as not allocated in the¢ VTOC.¢ 7. DEAD SECTORS - the number of¢ sectors allocated less the number of¢ sectors validated while verifying¢ chains. These sectors cannot be¢ referenced by DOS.¢¢ Stage 2 reads every sector on the¢ diskette and reports the count of¢ sectors containing no data (ZERO¢ SECTORS) and the count of sectors¢ which could not be read (BAD¢ SECTORS).¢ Stage 2 will list by sector number¢ the first 64 bad sectors encountered. ¢ If there are more than 64 and you need¢ to know where they are, consider using¢ FASTDUP.¢¢ "C" CHANGE DISKETTES¢ This function must be performed¢ before processing a different diskette¢ since the VTOC and directory are read¢ into core only once by DOS WIZARD.¢ "D" DISPLAY DIRECTORY¢ This MENU function lists all¢ directory entries currently in use or¢ formerly used on this diskette. It¢ also gives access to many functions¢ which may be performed on a file. ¢ The directory listing provides the¢ following for each file:¢ a) FILE#- This is the number of the¢ directory entry. They are numbered¢ from 0-63;¢ b) NAME- This is the file name¢ contained in this directory entry ¢ Files which are recognizable and¢ accessible by DOS are in REVERSE¢ VIDEO. These would appear in a DOS¢ directory listing;¢ c) START- The starting sector¢ number for this file;¢ d) COUNT- The number of sectors¢ used by this file;¢ e) STATUS- Will contain "D" if the¢ file has been marked deleted, "O" if¢ it is marked as open, and "L" if the¢ file is locked.¢¢ DEAD SECTORS?¢ The display trailer contains the¢ number of free sectors and the number¢ of sectors accounted for which should¢ equal 707. If this number is other¢ than 707, there are dead sectors on¢ the disk. However there could still be¢ dead sectors even if there are 707¢ sectors accounted for. DISKETTE¢ ANALYSIS can be used to reveal this¢ condition.¢¢ DISPLAY DIRECTORY allows the following¢ functions to be performed:¢ a) UNLOCK - unlock file by¢ specifying file number.¢ b) LOCK - lock file by specifying¢ file number. ¢ c) DELETE - delete file by file¢ number. This will delete the entry¢ and free all sectors up to¢ encountering any chain error. This¢ can be used when DOS delete will not¢ work due to errors. If a file will¢ not delete with DOS WIZ, do a RECOVER¢ FILE (R) against the file and then¢ delete it.¢ d) RENAME - rename a file by¢ specifying a name for a file number. ¢ e) LIST FILE EXTENTS - obtain a list¢ of all areas of contiguous sectors¢ occupied by a file.¢ f) RECOVER FILE - recover a deleted¢ file or a portion of a file with a¢ broken chain. If the file is an open¢ file, an extender will be used of Xnn¢ where nn is the file number. This¢ prevents duplicate file names due to¢ having recreated a file that was open¢ and thought to be lost. File recovery¢ makes a valid file out of the portion¢ of the file that can be read up to the¢ point of an error being encountered,¢ thus to DOS it is now a good file but¢ it may still be useless to you. You¢ can salvage portions of a data (LIST¢ format) file but BINARY LOAD AND¢ CSAVEd FILES CANNOT BE USED AFTER¢ RECOVERY except by the DELETE function¢ of DOS WIZ or DOS.¢ M) SECTOR MAP - This MENU function¢ displays a translation of the sector¢ bit map from the VTOC. Each sector¢ from 0-719 is represented by either a¢ period (free sector) or an asterisk¢ (allocated sector). Since sector 0¢ does not exist, it is always shown as¢ allocated. Sector 720 is not¢ recognized by DOS and is not shown on¢ the map.¢ To obtain the sector number of a¢ position on the map, add the numbers¢ from the scales on the left and top of¢ the screen.¢ There are three functions available¢ from this screen:¢ a) ALLOCATE SECTOR(S) - specify¢ starting and ending sector numbers¢ (inclusive). These sectors will be¢ marked as allocated and will be¢ unavailable to DOS. If the ending¢ sector is not specified, it will¢ default to the starting sector so only¢ one sector will be allocated.¢ b) FREE SECTOR(S) - same as above¢ except sectors are marked as free. ¢ These sectors become available for use¢ by DOS when new sectors are needed.¢ c) RECLAIM LOST SECTORS - This is¢ the powerful recovery utility¢ discussed in the INTRODUCTION. It¢ chases all non-deleted and unopened¢ file chains and remembers the good¢ sectors. Any sectors that are¢ allocated but not on a valid chain are¢ zeroed and released for use by DOS. ¢ If a chain error is encountered, a¢ message is displayed indicating the¢ sector and file. A file recovery¢ should be done on that file (see¢ DISPLAY DIRECTORY) and then redo the¢ reclaim function. It is not always¢ necessary, but can't hurt anything.¢ S) DISPLAY SECTOR(S) This MENU¢ function is used to read a given¢ sector and display it. The left¢ portion of the screen displays hex¢ representation of the sector data¢ while the right portion displays most¢ of the pertinent ASCII characters¢ represented by the sector data. The¢ bottom of the screen has valuable¢ information about the sector. ¢ Information is displayed only when¢ pertinent to the sector being¢ displayed.¢ ¢ Read "CDOSWIZB.TXT" for rest of the¢ DOSWIZ DOCS!¢
