Monster Media 1993 #2

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SCOPY for OS/2 DISKETTE to FILE / FILE to DISKETTE / FILE TO FILE COPY and ARCHIVE UTILITY Written by Craig Gaumer and Ed Bachman For C.E.Gaumer Software P.O. Box 383 Laurys Station, PA 18059-0383 Copyright (C) 1990,1991,1993 All Rights Reserved DISCLAIMER It is the sole resposibility of the user to determine the suitability and fitness of SCOPY for the user's particular needs, uses and hardware. C.E. Gaumer Software assumes no responsibility for any difficulties, problems or loss of data resulting from the use of SCOPY, even if C.E. Gaumer Software has been informed of the possibility of such difficulties, problems or losses. Purpose: SCOPY is a full featured Diskette Archiver. SCOPY will create a file which contains the necessary data to create an exact duplicate of the original diskette. SCOPY can compress this file and include a user specified remark for reference. When creating the diskette SCOPY can format the diskette and write the information to it in one pass. The diskette created by SCOPY is an exact duplicate of the original. In addition SCOPY can create an OS/2 "DOS image" file identical to that created by the VMDISK utility supplied with OS/2. It can also recreate a diskette from an image file. To our knowledge no other utility provides this function. History: SCOPY was originally created as a DOS program and was first released in 1990. Compression, CRC checking and other enhancements were added as the product matured. The files created by the OS/2 version are completely compatible with the DOS version. The 32 bit OS/2 version, however, is NOT the DOS version of SCOPY ported to OS/2. The OS/2 version was written from scratch with full support for multi-threading and the OS/2 2.x 32 bit API. Use: SCOPY has four basic modes of operation. It can copy from a diskette to a file, from a file to a diskette, from one file to another, or can provide information about and/or verification of a single file. The proper mode is automatically selected by SCOPY based on the source and destination specified. Quick Start: SCOPY will perform its function quite well with no command line switches. Creating a SCOPY file called MYFILE.SCP from the diskette in drive A is a simple as: SCOPY A: MYFILE To create a new diskette from that file the command is: SCOPY MYFILE A: The command line switches provide the user with additional control and access to extra features but SCOPY with only the source and destination specified as shown above will efficiently perform the storage and retrieval of diskette data. General Syntax: For all modes the syntax of the SCOPY command is: SCOPY <source> <destination> [/switches] Either the source or destination can be a drive letter (e.g. A:) while the other is a file, or both can be files. For information or verification of a single file the destination is omitted. For further information see the individual descriptions of Diskette to File, File to Diskette, File to File, or Single File and switches below. File Names: The files created by SCOPY can have any filename which is valid on the operating system on which the file will be used. SCOPY fully supports long filenames under OS/2. To ensure full compatibility with the DOS version, SCOPY presently makes no use of Extended Attributes. The filename can be specified as it would be to an OS/2 command like COPY including the drive and path, if desired. Wildcards are NOT permitted. If no period appears in the filename SCOPY adds .SCP to the specified filename. We suggest that SCOPY files have the '.SCP' extension since we plan a PM based version that will allow the user to 'drag and drop' a file onto a SCOPY icon on the desktop and a common extension will prove advantageous for OS/2 associations at that time. Upper and lower case in filenames are preserved by SCOPY. Spaces in filenames are permitted. As elsewhere in OS/2, filenames which contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes. The drive specifier must be a single letter followed by a colon. Diskette to File: To SCOPY a diskette to a file the syntax is: SCOPY d: destfilename [/switches] Valid switches are: O I R 0 1 2 C T File to Diskette: Syntax is: SCOPY srcfilename d: [/switches] Valid switches are: O I N F V R File to File: Syntax is: SCOPY srcfilename destfilename [/switches] Valid switches are: O I R 0 1 2 C Single File: Syntax is: SCOPY filename [/switches] Valid switches are V I R Switches: When specifying switches they may be listed separately or together and with or without individual slashes. The switches are not case or order sensitive. For example the following switch sequences are all identical: /o /r /O/R /or /OR /R/o The following switches are supported: V VERIFY: Test the integrity of a SCOPY file or destination diskette. Valid for single file or file to diskette. Although verification of the CRC checksum is done automatically during actual copying, the 'V' switch used with file to diskette will cause the entire diskette to be read after the write is finished. SCOPY will then compare this information to the file data. With a single file verification of CRC and decompression information will be performed. O OVERWRITE: Instructs SCOPY not to prompt the user if the destination file already exists or if the diskette contains data. SCOPY will write the output erasing the previously existing file or diskette data. If this switch is not specified, the user will be asked permission to overwrite an existing file or a diskette which contains data. R REMARK: Prompt the user for a remark to be embedded in the destination file. This remark will be displayed when SCOPY accesses the file for verification or copying. NOTE: For a file to file copy the default is to copy the source file REMARK to the destination file. Using the 'R' switch in a file to file copy results in the user being prompted for a remark which will be used in the destination file in place of the remark in the source file. In file to disk or a single file operation this switch causes the remark to be written to the file SCOPYLBL.TXT in the current directory. The remark is appended to the file if the file exists, otherwise the file is created. This file can then be used as the data for printing labels. Of course, 'R' is not valid if the destination of an operation is an image file. I IMAGE: Indicates to SCOPY that an OS/2 DOS image file is involved in the operation. An image file is a bootable file created with the OS/2 VMDISK command. SCOPY can access these files in the same way it accesses its own files. Note that the standard extension for SCOPY is still .SCP, so it is wise to specify an extension. (or put a period at the end of the filename if you prefer no extension) When the 'I' parameter is specified on an operation involving only one file (any operation except file to file) SCOPY assumes the file involved is (or is to be) an image file. For file to file operations, if the source file is not a SCOPY file it is assumed to be an image file. If the source file is a SCOPY file an image file is created as the destination. If the source file specified with the I parameter is not an image or a SCOPY file the result of the operation will be incorrect. This provides for all possibilities except image to image copy which can be done without SCOPY by using the normal OS/2 COPY command. Although diskettes could be stored in the image format the SCOPY file format is preferred since the image file has no verification information and is not compressed. 0,1,2,C These are the compression level switches. They are used to specify the method of compression used when a SCOPY file is being created. When none of these switches is specified 'smart compression' is used. Since it is the default, the 'C' switch is really never needed. Level 1 compression compresses only empty sectors and is best for diskettes which contain files which are already compressed. The '2' switch enables LZ compression on a track by track basis. The '0' switch causes the file to be totally uncompressed and is provided only for compatibility with the original (version 0.x) DOS SCOPY. The 'C' switch (or no compression switches) enables 'SMART COMPRESSION' and tests levels 1 and 2 and uses the level which provides the smaller output file. N,F These are the diskette formatting switches No format and Force format. If neither of these switches is specified SCOPY inspects the target diskette and formats the diskette if the diskette is unformatted or if the format differs from that required by the source file. The 'F' switch causes SCOPY to format the target diskette even if the existing format is correct. This switch should be used if the diskette was formerly the target of a SCOPY, DISKCOPY or FORMAT command that was aborted before completion since such a diskette may be only partially formatted causing SCOPY's format detection to be confused. The 'N' parameter will cause the diskette not to be formatted. If 'N' is specified and the diskette is not formatted SCOPY will abort. If the format is incorrect SCOPY will inform the user and present an option to abort or write the data to the existing format. Note that if the existing format is equal to or larger than the required format in number of heads, number of cylinders and sectors per track the file may be written to the diskette and the diskette will function correctly. This is useful for making a low density diskette for use on a machine with high density drives since many 1.44Meg diskette drives do not properly recognize (or may not properly create) a 3.5" diskette with a 360K or 1.2Meg format. By formatting the diskette to 1.44Meg and then writing the lower density data to the diskette with the 'N' switch the sector spacing and timing of the higher density is maintained while the operating system recognizes the lower density and the diskette will function correctly. Note that no testing is done by SCOPY to see that the existing format is larger than the required format and if the size requirements are not met errors will occur during the diskette write. (SCOPY will properly report these errors) T Test diskette size: This switch instructs SCOPY to test the physical diskette for heads, cylinders and sectors per track before reading the diskette data. Only the following sizes are detected at this time: 2.88Meg, 1.44Meg, 1.2Meg, 720K, 360K, 320K, 180K, 160K. This makes it possible to SCOPY diskettes with an invalid or non standard boot sector (1.44 Meg UNIX and Macintosh diskettes, RISC6000 diskettes, normal diskettes with bad boot sectors and probably others) It is recommended that /F is used to format the target diskette when writing these files back to diskette. Note that while the feature to read non-standard diskettes is not currently available in the DOS version of SCOPY the DOS versions can create diskettes from these files. Prompts: Various user prompts are presented to the user when SCOPY encounters situations where additional information is required. Of course the user is prompted for a REMARK when /R is supplied and a SCOPY file is being created. This prompt is always presented before any others so that the REMARK can be redirected from the command line or from a REXX procedure. If the /O switch is not specified and the destination file exists or the destination diskette contains files the user is asked permission to overwrite the target. In the case of a diskette, selecting "d" will display a listing of the first ten entries in the root directory of the diskette and again request permission to overwrite. When /N is specified and the diskette format does not match that required by the source file the user is asked if the diskette data should be written anyway. See the 'N' and 'F' switch description above for more information on writing to an unmatched diskette without format. Problems: No one likes bugs, however in a program as complex as SCOPY they are bound to exist. No known bugs currently exist in SCOPY. The 2.88 Meg diskette functions have not been tested since we have no access to a 2.88 Meg drive. The information for 2.88 Meg diskettes has been gathered from reliable sources and should function correctly. We would appreciate any feedback on how well (or how poorly) SCOPY works with 2.88 Meg diskette drives. Any reports of any problems with any part of SCOPY will be greatly appreciated. Bug reports are accepted from anyone, registered or not, no questions asked. REPORT THE BUGS... THEY WILL GET FIXED! Address correspondence to: C.E.Gaumer Software P.O. Box 383 Laurys Station, PA 18059-0383 Registration: SCOPY is NOT public domain software. It is copyrighted software and all rights are reserved by C.E.Gaumer Software. SCOPY is distributed as shareware which means: You are granted permission to use the software for personal use for a trial period of 30 days. Continued use beyond the trial period by a private individual or ANY use in a business, institutional or governmental agency requires registration. Single user registration is $20.00 U.S. for either the DOS or OS/2 verion or $25.00 for both. Contact the author at the address above for site license or volume pricing. See the file REGISTER.FRM for a registration form or send payment in U.S. funds to the address above including your address, preferred diskette format, which operating system you use and the version and release date of SCOPY you are currently using. (Displayed when SCOPY is run) Registration includes a printed manual and the latest version of SCOPY. (Pennsylvania residents must add 6% sales tax) Technical Information: SCOPY was written in C and compiled with IBM C Set/2. It takes full advantage of OS/2 2.x multi-threading capabilities and 32-bit API. At some time during the execution of SCOPY as many as five threads can be in operation. As strange as it seems, multi-threading is not always the best solution to a given situation. For instance, SCOPY does not write data to the SCOPY file while it performs other functions. Although it easily could (and during testing early unreleased versions did) we found that the few seconds it takes to write the file after other processing is complete is a small price to pay for having the hard drive totally available to other processes when SCOPY is switched to the background. Writing the file after other processing is complete also tremendously speeds up execution when the source is a diskette and the destination SCOPY file is on another diskette drive. (maybe some day someone will actually need to write the SCOPY file directly to diskette). We have noted that OS/2 doesn't seem to like accessing both floppy drives simultaneously if one of them is involved in a format operation. We have also used SCOPY as a data recovery tool. By using SCOPY to read a diskette with a defective sector and then writing the data back to a good diskette, read errors which stop many programs will be eliminated. While the data from the defective sector will be replaced with zeros, in many cases the original program can read the file with the loss of a small amount of data instead of the loss of the entire file. One of the main criteria during the development of SCOPY for OS/2 was complete compatibility of files with the DOS version. At the present time the DOS and OS/2 version data files are 100% compatible, except that the DOS version does not support 2.88Meg diskettes. SCOPY files written by SCOPY for DOS can be read by SCOPY for OS/2 and vice versa. Since the DOS version presently has no '/T' switch it cannot read UNIX or MAC diskettes, however, the DOS version can write UNIX or MAC diskettes from SCOPY files created with the OS/2 version of SCOPY. It should be noted that earlier releases of the DOS version (through 2.02) had a severe speed problem writing diskettes on some 386 and 486 systems. This problem does not affect the OS/2 version. A new version of the DOS SCOPY is being released at this time to overcome the speed problem mentioned above. The new DOS version is 2.03. Because of the limits of the operating system, the error checking and available features in the DOS version will never reach the level of the OS/2 version. Note that diskettes created with SCOPY are EXACT duplicates of the original diskette. DISKCOPY from DOS 4.0 and above, OS/2 DOS and OS/2 does not make an exact copy of the original diskette. DISKCOPY assigns a new volume serial number to the new diskette. DISKCOMP ignores the serial number during its compare. This means that that two diskettes that compare as identical with DISKCOMP may create SCOPY files that do not match. Also, since information about the SCOPY program that created a SCOPY file is included in the SCOPY file header for reference, SCOPY files created by different versions of SCOPY from the same diskette will show mismatches if the files are compared. We suggest using the /V switch when creating diskettes. Although this takes longer, we have experienced a few cases where SCOPY did not report errors during the diskette write that were discovered during the diskette verify. When writing to the diskette SCOPY can only report errors to the user if the errors are reported to SCOPY by the operating system. On rare occasions the diskette write returns no error when the sector written is actually unreadable. These errors will be found by the verify routines. Also, be aware that SCOPY is a pure copy of the original diskette at the sector level. This means that no relocation of data is possible, even if the target diskette has defective sectors. If the target diskette has any bad sectors the SCOPY operation will error. Registration form for SCOPY LIMIT OF LIABILITY SCOPY is distributed as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied. The author will assume no liability for damages either from the direct use of this product or as a consequence of the use of this product. Name: ___________________________________________________ Company: ___________________________________________________ Address: ___________________________________________________ City, State, Zip: ___________________________________________________ Country: ___________________________________________________ Daytime Phone: _________________ Evening Phone: _________________ Signature: ________________________________ Date:_____________ Current Version of Current Version of OS/2 SCOPY: ______________ DOS SCOPY: ______________ Diskette Size and Product: 3.5(OS/2)___ 5.25(OS/2)___ 3.5(DOS)___ 5.25(DOS)___ If registering more than five users write for volume discounts! Number of Individual Users(DOS SCOPY) :________ X $20.00 = $_________ Number of Individual Users(OS/2 SCOPY):________ X $20.00 = $_________ Number of Individual Users(BOTH SCOPY):________ X $25.00 = $_________ Pennsylvania residents add 6% sales Tax $_________ Total Enclosed $_________ Payment must be in U.S. funds payable to: C.E.Gaumer Software Send to: C.E.Gaumer Software P.O.Box 383 Laurys Station, PA 18059-0383 *****************BUG REPORT TO:******************************************* For product defect report and responce please send e-mail to: John Heater Private Netmail Fidonet: 1:2607/112 Or on the OS/2 Product Support Echo at the OS/2 Shareware BBS..