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1988-07-08
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FORMATQM - QUICK MULTIPLE FORMAT/VERIFY FOR DISKETTES
Copyright 1988, Chuck Guzis and Sydex
All Rights Reserved
Version 1.4 July, 1988
Sydex
153 North Murphy Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 739-4866
NOTICE
THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE! If you paid a "public
domain" vendor for this program, you paid for the ser-
vice of copying the program, and not for the program it-
self. Rest assured that nothing ever gets to the
originators of this product from such a sale. You may
evaluate this product, but if you make use of it, you
must register your copy.
We offer several inducements to you for registering.
First of all, you receive the most up-to-date copy of
the program that we have - and we do update the product
on a regular basis. You also receive support for FOR-
MATQM - which can be quite valuable at times. And
finally, we include a few utilities not included in the
evaluation package. Make no mistake however - we do not
"cripple" our evaluation software - our sample programs
are fully functional and complete.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The non-commercial single-user registration fee for FOR-
MATQM is $10.00 US. The commercial and multisystem site
fee is $40.00 for FORMATQM.
Send a check or company P.O. for the appropriate amount
to:
SYDEX
153 North Murphy Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
Please indicate what product you are ordering and if you
have a requirement for 3.5" media. We normally ship
5.25" 360K diskettes, but will furnish 3.5" 720K media
upon request.
DISTRIBUTION NOTICE
This is "user-supported" software. You are hereby
granted a license by Sydex to distribute this evaluation
copy of FORMATQM and its documentation, subject to the
following conditions:
1. FORMATQM may be distributed freely without charge
in evaluation form only.
2. FORMATQM may not be sold, licensed, or a fee
charged for its use. If a fee is charged in con-
nection with FORMATQM, it must cover the cost of
copying or dissemination only. Such charges must
be clearly identified as such by the originating
party. Under no circumstances may the purchaser be
given the impression that he is buying FORMATQM it-
self.
3. FORMATQM must be presented as a complete unit, in-
cluding this documentation. FORMATQM's documenta-
tion may be not amended or altered in any way.
4. In granting you the right to distribute the evalua-
tion form of FORMATQM, Sydex does not acknowledge
you as the owner of FORMATQM in any form.
Any other use or distribution of FORMATQM is expressly
forbidden without the written consent of SYDEX.
WHAT IS FORMATQM?
FORMATQM is a utility written to allow you to format a large num-
ber of diskettes in a single session with no keyboard interac-
tion. FORMATQM will make use of more than one disk drive and
produces formatted and verified diskettes in any of the standard
DOS formats.
FORMATQM will work with any PC-compatible and can produce the
following formats, given the corresponding media and drive:
1. 160K single-sided, 8 sector, 40 track, 5.25". This for-
mat was produced by Version 1 of DOS and is not in
general use now.
2. 180K single-sided, 9 sector, 40 track, 5.25". This is
the standard single-sided DOS diskette.
3. 320K double-sided, 8 sector, 40 track, 5.25". This for-
mat was produced by Version 1 of DOS and is not in
general use now.
4. 360K double-sided, 9 sector, 40 track, 5.25". This is
the standard double-sided DOS diskette.
5. 1,200K double-sided, 15 sector, 80 track, 5.25". This
is the high- density PC-AT format.
6. 720K double-sided, 9 sector, 80 track, 3.5". This is
used by the PS/2 machines as the standard interchange
format. PC-AT or -XT compatibles with 3.5" drives can
also use this format.
7. 720K double-sided, 9 sector, 80 track, 3.5", modified
format. This format is used on some of the older 3.5"
machines running MS-DOS 2.0 through MS-DOS 3.1. Sys-
tems using DOS 3.2 and later can also read and write
this format.
8. 1,440K double-sided, 18 sector, 80 track, 3.5". This is
used by the PS/2 Model 50 and 80 as high-density media.
The PC-AT with the proper BIOS and 3.5" drive can also
use this format.
The diskettes produced are non-system diskettes. That is, they do
not contain a copy of DOS as part of the format data. If a dis-
kette is "booted", a message will be displayed requesting a sys-
tem diskette and the boot process will be repeated, just as with
a standard non-system diskette.
Page 1
A diskette produced by FORMATQM has had each track written and
verified, with any flawed tracks recorded in the diskette's File
Allocation Table (FAT). Entire tracks, rather than sectors are
marked as flawed for maximum reliability.
HOW TO USE FORMATQM
FORMATQM is invoked at the DOS prompt by a command of the follow-
ing form:
FORMATQM drive: format
"drive:" specifies the diskette drive to be used; at least one is
required. If more than one drive is specified, FORMATQM will
"rotate" or "ping-pong" drives with each copy. Usually, drive:
is either A: or B:; on four drive computers, C: and D: may also
be used.
If you have added an external drive to your machine and access it
by means of a device driver called out in the CONFIG.SYS file,
you should use the physical unit number of the drive, rather than
the drive letter. For example, suppose that you had a 720K 3.5"
drive attached to your PC-XT clone and you declared it with the
following line in your CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE = DRIVER.SYS /D:1
Although this drive would be referred to as drive D:, you would
use a specifier of 1: for FORMATQM.
Note that PC-AT-type computers are limited to a maximum of two
diskette drives by BIOS convention.
"Format" refers to the type of diskette format desired, and may
be one of the following:
160K 180K 320K 360K 720K M720K 1200K 1440K
The M720K selection is for the older two-sector-per-cluster 720K
"modified" format. If you are distributing software on 3.5" dis-
kettes, this format is readable on more versions of DOS than the
"standard" DOS 3.2 and later 720K format.
The correct drive and media must be present for a format to be
performed. On PC-AT type machines, FORMATQM will check for com-
patibility between the specified format and the drive type
declared in your configuration SETUP procedure. No checking is
done for drives declared with unit numbers rather than drive let-
ters.
The following are examples of FORMATQM command lines:
Page 2
FORMATQM B: 160K Drive is B:, DOS 1.X 160K format
FORMATQM A:B: 360K Use drives A: and B:, 360K format
FORMATQM 1: 720K Format 720K on drive unit 1.
During the operation of FORMATQM, you will be directed to insert
blank diskettes in the specified drives. When you have formatted
as many diskettes as you require, simply press the ESCape key.
You may press ESCape at any time to cause FORMATQM to terminate
execution.
In normal operation, FORMATQM checks the format mode specified
against the drive type. Since there is no information regarding
drive type on XT-class machines, it is assumed that all drives on
such machines are 360K 5.25" or 720K 3.5" drives. Occasionally
it may be necessary to override the checking done by FORMATQM; an
example is the case of a 1.2M diskette drive and controller in-
stalled on an XT-class computer. This "forcing" of a particular
format may be specified by prefixing the format on the FORMATQM
command line with the letter "F". Thus,
FORMATQM B: F1200K
would force FORMATQM to treat drive B: as a 1.2M drive.
FORMATQM works by periodically examining the specified drives; it
attempts to determine when a diskette has been inserted or
removed. Normally, you should not need to touch the keyboard ex-
cept to terminate FORMATQM; just insert and remove diskettes as
required.
If a diskette contains flaws (unwritable areas), FORMATQM will
issue an error message showing the number of bad tracks after the
entire diskette has been formatted. These bad tracks are
processed in the same manner as they would be by DOS FORMAT; that
is, they are marked as flawed in the File Allocation Table (FAT)
contained on the diskette. If, however, the first track on the
diskette contains flaws, it will be rejected as unusable by FOR-
MATQM.
How much storage a bad track represents varies according to the
type of formatting performed:
On 160K and 320K diskettes, each track is 4,096 bytes.
On 180K, 360K and 720K diskettes, each track is 4,608 bytes.
On a 1.2M diskette, each track is 7,680 bytes.
On a 1.44M diskette, each track is 9,216 bytes.
Page 3
Observe that FORMATQM is sensitive to changes in diskette drive
status. When you start FORMATQM, you will need to insert your
first blank diskette in the indicated drive, even though you may
have already placed a blank in the correct drive before typing
the FORMATQM command. Simply "popping" the diskette out and then
in again will do.
If you run FORMATQM on a diskette-only system, be sure to write-
protect the diskette containing FORMATQM. Thus, even if you mis-
takenly insert the FORMATQM program diskette or "pop" the drive
door, you will avoid destroying your copy of FORMATQM.
24K of memory should be sufficient for execution of FORMATQM.
WHAT'S NEW IN VERSION 1.4
We incorporated several new features in FORMATQM for version 1.4:
* A better drive statusing method; this was done in
response to problems reported with Version 1.3 and the
Toshiba 3.5" diskette drives.
* The "Force" option for accomodating machines like the
AT&T 6300 Plus that are not quite PC-AT compatible.
* An audible signal when a diskette has been formatted.
If the format operation was successful, a short high-
pitched "warble" is sounded; if unsuccessful, a low-
pitched "boop" is generated.
* The modified 720K (M720K) format option. Users with
Toshiba laptops running DOS 2.11 cannot read the stan-
dard DOS 3.3 format.
Page 4
THE SYDEX PRODUCT LINE
SHAREWARE
22DISK - Transfer files, format, examine and erase files on
"foreign" CP/M diskettes on your PC. ASCII diskette
description file allows "roll your own" specifications for
really hard-to-find systems. Includes tips on supporting 8"
and 5.25" single-density diskettes. Bundled with 22NICE.
$15.00 Shareware registration fee.
22NICE - A CP/M 2.2 emulation package. Supports the NEC
V-series chips or performs emulation by software for both
the 8080 and Z80 processors. Includes terminal emulation
and diskette handling for Osborne, Kaypro, Morrow,
Heath/Zenith and Actrix. Allows use of CP/M utilities in-
terchangeably with DOS programs. Includes 22DISK. $30.00
Shareware registration fee.
ANADISK The compleat diskette utility. Nothing like it
anywhere else; scan, edit, repair and copy just about any
kind of diskette. $15.00 Shareware registration fee.
TELEDISK - Turn any diskette into a compressed data file and
vice-versa. Allows you to send and receive entire diskettes
via modem. Great for those bootable game diskettes and for
diskettes with subdirectories. Works with most "copy-
protected" diskettes. $20.00 Shareware registration fee.
COPYQM - Copy a single master diskette to multiple blank
diskettes with FORMATQM-type interaction. The ideal low-cost
diskette duplicator. $15.00 Shareware registration fee.
RETAIL SOFTWARE
SIMCGA 4.3 - Color Graphics Adapter simulation on monochrome
(Hercules-compatible) graphics-equipped machines. Available
from better software retailers and distributed by CSS, ABCO
and American Software Distributors.
SIM-EMS - A "must" for AT users -- emulates Lotus/Intel/
Microsoft Expanded memory using your machine's extended
memory. Allows sharing with VDISK and has extremely simple
installation.
Page 5