═══ 1. PMDSKCP ═══ █▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀███▀███▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█ █ █████ █ ██ ██ █ █████ █ █████▄█ ██▀▄███ █████▄█ █████ █ █ ▄▄▄▄▄█ █ ██ █ ████ █▄▄▄▄▄ █ ▄▄▄▄ █ ██████ ▄▄▄▄▄█ █ ██████ █ ██ █ ████ █▀████ █ ████ █ ████▀█ ██████ █▄▄██████▄▄█▄██▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄▄████▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄▄██████ the PM - Diskette - Copier Version 1.10 A new Program of Markus Noller * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ═══ 2. About PMDSKCP ═══ PMDSKCP Version1 . 10 (c) 1992, M. Noller Fido-net 2:244/45 ═══ 3. Introduction ═══ This program serves for the copying and comparing of diskettes and image files under PM (Presentation Manager) of OS/2. Image-files are 1:1-images of diskettes safed for later use on the hard disk. You may send it later by modem or create a copy days later. Images from diskettes containing a bootable DOS can be used for booting virtual DOS machines in OS/2 2.0 if you write the VMDISK format. The user interaction is handled completely in a small window and is very clearly arranged therefore. An additional window is used for configuration of several options. This configuration is saved and restored at every start of the program. The program generates the volume id automatically for disks formatted first time; it is preserved on disks which were formatted before. In addition to that the user will receive a warning if the target disk contains data already. ═══ 4. NOTE ═══ NOTE PMDSKCP is not supplied with any sort of guarantee. You use PMFORMAT at your own risk. The following names are trademarks of companies used only for reference purpose in this document. o IBM und OS/2 - IBM Corporation ═══ 5. Start ═══ The program is started by simply typing PMDSKCP on the command line. If you only want to compare Disks, give the Paramter "/m". Additionally you may give the source drive (A: or B:) or the file name (including path) for the image file to read or create. ─────┬─────────┬─────┬────────┬─── PMDSKCP ───┬────┬── └─ drive ─┘ └─ path ─┘ └─/m─┘ ──┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬────┤ ├────────────────────────────────── drive ────┤ └──┬─────────┬─────┬────────┬─── imagefile ───┘ └─ drive ─┘ └─ path ─┘ The program can be inserted very easily into a group of the PM program starter. It can be invoked from there with a single "Double-Klick". A second entry with parameter /m gives you a PM-Disk-Compare. "Drag and Drop" function with image files could be realized by an additional "%*" in the "parameters" field. ═══ 6. Usage ═══ The usage of this program is rather simple. You only have to insert the source diskette and to select the drive where it is has been inserted. After that you press the "READ" button to read the data from the diskette into memory. The "READ" button will disapear then, together with the "WRITE" button to make room for a "STOP" button, which enables you to abort the reading action at any time. The end of the reading action is indicated with a bell tone. If the reading was successful and not aborted the "WRITE" button is displayed selectable now. Insert the target diskette and press the "WRITE" button to write the data to it. If you selected "Image" instead of "A:" or "B:" so you will see a file dialog window after pressing the "READ" or "WRITE" button. You may select an image file there or enter a new image name (including drive and path). The user will be informed by a message window when an error occures during the reading action if the cluster, the bad sector belongs to, is not already marked bad. The message box tells whether the cluster is allocated by a file or not. The user has to decide then whether to continue or not. In any case bad sectors from the source diskette will be copied to "unused" clusters on the target diskette. After the data has been read into memory it could be written to a new diskette. In the normal case the target diskette is the same type as the source (size/capacity). But in some cases it is possible to copy between different types of diskettes. Necessarily they must have the same density (HD oder DD). Additional the target diskette must have at least that capacity that all data from the source diskette fits on it. But if the data is spread on the source diskette in an unfavourable way it is possible that the copying between different types may fail although the capacity of the target diskette is sufficient. If you press the "WRITE" button after inserting the target diskette and selecting the drive (if different from the source drive) the writing of the target diskette is started. If the target diskette isn't already formatted, PMDSKCP will do it automatically. If the diskette is already formatted, this is shown to the user. An additional window is opened; it shows the volume-id and the diskette name if present. You can decide now to proceed with your write or abort it. The popup of this window is connected to a bell tone also. This is for the case you changed to a full screen session right after pushing the button; so you won't wait for the end of the writing action for a very long time. If there occurres a system error during write, the program will show it in an additional popup window too. The error number supplied with the text could be used for reference in the HELP command on the command line. If this is a write error you decide whether to continue, retry or abort. Is the write aborted by a system error or by user in the system menu, there will be no problems according the drive (Locking or something like that), but the diskette is inoperable and should at least be formatted before used as a storage medium. The current version of PMDSKCP is capable of storing the position of the window on the desktop. You can do this, as usual in PM, by selecting "System / Save" in the system manager menu. Additional to that you may select "Save Position" in the sytem menu of the program, which is the small button on the left side of the title bar. In this case only the current position of the PMDSKCP window is saved. ═══ 6.1. Options ═══ The menu item "Options" below "Save" in the system menu activates a dialog box containing a selection of several modes or compare operations: Exact-Mode: The Source Diskette will be copied sector by sector, independent whether they contain data or not. Images will be exact copies of the diskette too. Fast-Mode: Only those tracks containing at least one sector filled with valid data will be copied. When generating images all unused sectors will be filled by a standard fill byte to provide maximum compression factor when the image is compressed for transmission by modem. No Compare: Writing is done with maximum speed without any verification. Standard Compare: Every track is compared immediately after writing. Extended Compare: The target diskette is compared as a whole with the data in memory after the write has been completed. VMDISK Image: Diskette image identical to that generated by VMDISK of OS/2 2.0. Images in this format could be used to boot virtual DOS machines if the source disk was a bootable DOS disk. OS2Image Image: Diskette image identical to those generated by the program "Os2Image" by Klaus Piemont. Images in this format are to be used for exchange with partners using OS2IMAGE. Note: The image selection covers only the write action. During read it is recognized automatically what kind of image, if any, is contained in the file. ═══ 7. Registration ═══ This program is released as SHAREWARE. You recognize that when You see the registration request popping up right after the program start. The only difference between the shareware version and the registered version is this window; it appears only in the shareware version. The whole rest of the program is exactly the same. But the test period ends after thirty days (You see a count-down in the shareware remembering window). This limitation was necessary because of the bad registration moral with PMFORMAT !! So I ask everybody who is willing to continue the use of this program in the future to send the filled registration form as soon as possible back to me. Of course, I want only VERY LITTLE MONEY (not worth talking about). So the INTERNATIONAL version (there exists a German version as well) can be received for the prize of: $ 10.-- (in words: ten) as bank note (bill) in Your letter. This offer is valid for all "normal users" (ask for company licenses). You get the registered version on a diskette of your choice 5 1/4 inch or 3 1/2 inch and a note, if there is an upgrade because of a bug (I don't hope so) or because of user requests. Note: Please do NOT send any cheques. Send bank notes, please ! There is a rather high fee for discharging foreign cheques at German banks (about $ 8 - for a $ 10 cheque). So letters containing cheques go directly to /DEV/NULL (if the cheque is not $ 20 or above ) Once more: Please register this program. You show interest on my hobbiists work and I will shurely write some more programs for OS/2 then, what can be very useful for You then (I have some more interesting ideas on further projects.) ═══ 7.1. Registration form ═══ _____________, ___ __th __ Markus Noller Tannenstrasse 18 D - W7153 Weissach im Tal West Germany According: Registration PM-Disk-Copy Yes, I want to register PMDSKCP. I know that this program is released without any kind of guarantee what is caused by its concept (shareware) and its very low prize. I enclose the registration fee of $10 to this letter as a bank note. (Again: No cheques please ! Thank you) I would like to receive the software on a o 5 1/4 inch diskette o 3 1/2 inch diskette. Please send it to the following address: Name, First Name: _______________________________ Street, No. : _______________________________ Postal Code, Town: _______________________________ Country: _______________________________ __________________________________ (signature) V 1.10 ═══ 8. Update ═══ If you have already registered an erlier version of PMDSKCP you can update it very simple using the UPDATE program. You only have to call UPDATE with drive, path and name of the old version as parameter. ─────┬─────────┬─────┬────────┬─── UPDATE ─── └─ drive ─┘ └─ path ─┘ ─────┬─────────┬─────┬────────┬─── PMDSKCP.EXE ───┤ └─ drive ─┘ └─ path ─┘ Note: The UPDATE program should be called from a drive you can write to (No write protected disk !). Likewise, the File PMDSKCP.EXE should also NOT have the R/O flag set. In those cases the UPDATE would not function properly. ═══ 9. Versions ═══ 1.10 Image file support included 1.02 Small bug with defective, already formatted target disks fixed 1.01 First public international version ═══ АА А А   ═══ Externalcommand-Parameter :drive ,path Drive and path for the command to execute. External commands are stored in form of program files on your disk. If you give an external command the system looks first in the actual directory of the standard drive for this command. If the command is not found there, the system continues to search along the directories noted in the PATH statement. ═══ А   ═══ PMDSKCP-Parameter :drive This parameter decides which drive is read first (A: or B:). The selection could be changed in the program window. The following command selects drive B: as the "default" drive. PMDSKCPB : ═══ АА   ═══ PMDSKCP-Parameter :drive ,path Drive and path for the image file which is to be read, written or created later. The following command gives the file DISK0.IMG in the directory DISKS on drive C as source or destination for image operations. PMDSKCPC : \ DISKS \ DISK0 . IMG ═══ А   ═══ PMDSKCP-Parameter :imagefile The name of the image file which is to be read, written or created. The following command gives the file DISK0.IMG in the directory DISKS on drive C as source or destination for image operations. PMDSKCPC : \ DISKS \ DISK0 . IMG ═══ А А   ═══ UPDATE-Parameter :drive ,path This parameters give the path to the PMDSKCP program, which is to be updated. The following command will update the PMDSKCP program in the directory TOOLS on drive C. UPDATEC : \ TOOLS \ PMDSKCP . EXE