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REPAIR.ARJ
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1991-12-17
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"REPAIR.EXE" WAS WRITTEN IN EBL AND COMPILED. THERE ARE NO COPY RIGHTS OR
ANY STRINGS OF ANY KIND ATTACHED TO IT, AND THE SOURCE CODE IS NOT PROVIDED
BECAUSE NOT TOO MANY OF YOU OUT THERE EVEN KNOW WHAT EBL IS.
One of these days, you are going run into problems with "Cross-Linked"
files on your hard drive. I'm not going to go into a discussion of what
they are or how they occur, but they are the result of DOS getting confused;
and they are dangerous.
Suddenly, you won't be able to access a data file, or a word process-
ing file, or a program refuses to run. You get all kinds of error messages.
You run CHKDISK and you receive list of files that are Cross-Linked. You
don't even know what Cross-Linked files are let alone what to do. (CHKDSK/F
won't help.)
The situation can be corrected manually, but it's tedious; and there is
nothing in the DOS manual that even addresses the subject. Each Cross-Linked
file must be copied to a different location on the drive and to a different
name, the original file must be erased, and the new copy with a different
name then renamed back to the original file. When this procedure is performed
on a program file, i.e., *.com or *.exe file, it may still not run; but this
procedure must be performed before copying a backup of the program on to
your drive or else DOS will Cross-Link it again. (You can also run a defrag-
menter but, this is the one instance when a defragmenter could kill some of
those files forever. Well-written defragmenters will refuse to work on
Cross-Linked files.)
"REPAIR.EXE" will make this job a lot easier by automatically doing all
the steps above in one operation and checking to make sure that the opera-
was successful and that you typed in the correct file names. (Sorry, but I
don't have enough time to write a program that reads the CHKDSK output and
automatically goes to each directory and performs the corrections.) This
will have to do until someone out there decides to write it or wants to
write it. I don't know why MicroSoft hasn't done something about this matter
before. A number of computer consultants have been made wealthy by Cross-
Linked files because they scare the hell out of all novices and even most
knowlegible users.
*** SO ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH CROSS-LINKED FILES IS TO
RUN CHKDSK, PRINT THEM OUT OR COPY THEM DOWN, GO TO THE DIRECTORY IN WHICH
THOSE FILES RESIDE , AND RUN "REPAIR." ***
You may never need this utility, but chances are that sooner or later
you will; so keep it tucked snuggly away on your drive in the utility dir-
ectory. If ever you run a CHKDSK and receive a readout of Cross-Linked Files,
use this utility first and then a defragmenter.
Marvin Cohn
2645 Stamford Dr.
Vestal, NY 13850
(607)729-3180
12/18/91
P.S. If you run "REPAIR" on a file that is not Cross-Linked, no damage
will be done. In fact, it will defragment that file.