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1989-04-06
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*=============================================================================*
** FLOORMAT! **
The Ultimate Disk Formatter
(Second Release)
(c) 1989 D&W Associates
Program by S. Orandi and S. Tringali
Manual author: S. Tringali
GE Mail: S.TRINGALI CIS: 74030,2615
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
This program is shareware. It may be freely copied as long as the
original source code remains unchanged. If you like the program and use it
often, please send whatever you think it is worth to this address:
D&W Associates
P.O. Box 626
Mount Sinai, NY 11766
Please make any checks out to "Cash."
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
The first release had some bugs. These have been fixed and now work fine:
- Save Config
- Abort format on unrecoverable disks (information not rewritten)
- and other real minor things, like spelling errors, which you don't care
about in the first place, so we won't say anything about it.
- And now Floormat works on all STs, we previously had some bug reports from
people who owned STs that were made on February 30th.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
CONTENTS (manual revision B)
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
1. Why Another Formatter?
2. Setting Up
3. The Main Screen
A. The Status Window
B. The Select Buttons
C. The Directory Button
D. The Options Button & Menu
1. Buffer Size
2. Seek Time
3. Verify
4. Save Config
5. FAT Table Size
6. Directory Entries
7. Sectors Per Cluster
8. The Exit Button
E. The Info Button & Menu
1. Instructions
2. Keyboard Commands
3. Program Info
F. The Exit Button
G. The Format Button
4. Formatting the Disk
5. Floormat vs. Others
6. The Error Screen
A. The Error Graph
1. The Display Button
2. The Magnification Buttons
3. The Flip Button
B. The Track Buttons
C. The Print Button
D. The Reformat Track Button
E. The Error Status Window
F. The Help Button
G. The Exit Button
7. Acknowledgements
8. D&W Associates
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
1. WHY ANOTHER FORMATTER?
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
You may be asking, "Why do I need another formatter?" You probably
have about 40 of them laying around somewhere.. Fast-Format.. Fred Deutsch's
Format.. DC Format.. just to name a few. Well, we noticed a major similarity
between all of these: They're ugly. They all use neat little GEM boxes,
which, quite frankly, we're pretty sick of by now. So with this is mind, we
set out to create the best looking formatter there ever was. But we didn't
stop there! We put in every feature anyone could ever want in a formatter. We
even polled the GEnie ST RoundTable for what people wanted. We're happy to say
we got almost everything in.
What can Floormat do that the others can't? Well, the big one is that
it can unformat a disk. How many times have you gone to format a disk and found
out that you stuck the wrong disk in the drive? The only way to abort it is to
shut your ST off: and then your data is gone. If you find yourself formatting
the wrong disk, simply hit Undo, and your data will be saved.
Besides that, you can control the seek time, FAT table size, directory
entries, cluster size, verify, tracks up to 200, sector layout, do multiple
formats, and even get a 3-D layout of errors.
Floormat is also totally user-configurable. Any parameter you set can
be saved so you don't have to reset them each time. Standard formats are kept
in the function keys, so you can call up frequently used ones with one key.
Floormat is user-friendly. The large buttons are easy to find and all
events follow a logical sequence. There is a status window which lets you know
what the formatter is doing every moment and an extensive error reporting
system. Everything is in plain English. Online help is available for every
area of the screen.
With this in mind, we created what we believe is the best formatter
ever. However, if there is something that you think we missed, let us know, and
we'll attend to it right away!
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
2. SETTING UP
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Most likely you will have received this file in archived form. The
only files necessary to run Floormat are FLOORMAT.PRG and FLOORMAT.RSC. They
may be in any path, provided they are both in the same one.
The file you are reading, FLOORMAT.TXT, contains very important
information concerning the program. When you pass this program on to other
people, please make sure this file is included with it.
Once you begin using the program, you will probably want to save your
personal configuration. In that case, FLOORMAT.CNF must appear in the same
path. That's all there is to it! Just double-click on FLOORMAT.PRG to run.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
3. THE MAIN SCREEN
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
When you use Floormat, you will be working with two screens: The
main formatting screen and the error screen. If you are lucky, you won't see
the error screen pop up often, but it is there and fully functional.
Now, a tour of the main screen:
A. The Status Window
The status window is located in the top left-hand corner of the
screen. It contains everything you need to know about the format that isn't
shown in the buttons. Before formatting, "Tracks" will show the amount of
tracks the disk will be formatted to. This is usually set from 80-82, but you
can set it anywhere from 1-200. During formatting, "Tracks" will show you the
track it is currently formatting. If you are doing a double side format, the
track will be shown in white for side A, and grey for side B.
"Sectors" displays the layout of the sectors that will be formatted.
It is usually 9 or 10, but you can set it anywhere from 1-10.
Under drive capacity, there are two windows marked "Expected" and
"Virtual." The expected capacity is the estimated number of bytes available.
After formatting, "Virtual" will display the real number of free bytes on the
disk. This will always be less than "Expected" because of the system data which
is located in the first few sectors of the disk.
"Messages" will display anything that you need to know, whether during
formatting or not. Any errors that occur, changes to the configuration, or
something that requires verification will scroll through here.
B. The Select Buttons
The select buttons are four buttons located in the lower-left hand
portion of the screen. These control what type of format you want.
The Drive Select button can be set to either Drive A or Drive B.
The Side Select button can be set to either Single or Double sided. If
you have a double-sided drive you may select which one you want.
The Track Select buttons will change the amount of tracks from 1-82 in
the status window above. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to change this. If you
have an external disk drive capable of more than 82 tracks, double click on the
button "Tracks." This will raise the limit from 82 to 200. Note that when you
go above 82 the track are displayed in red to warn regular ST drive users.
The Sector select will change the sector layout from 1-10 in the status
window. 9 is standard, 10 results in increased storage but reduced transfer
speed. Lower values than 9 may increase speed, but not in any appreciable
amounts. Use the (+) and (-) buttons next to "Sectors" to change this.
C. The Directory Button
We noticed that it would be nice if you could check the directory
before you format a disk. But no formatters had it! So click on the "Directory"
button to get one. It will read the disk shown on the Drive Select button.
When the directory appears, the statistics of the disk will be shown in the
info bar of the window. Press the mouse button to exit.
D. The Options Button & Menu
The button labeled "Options" will bring up a small menu in the center
of the screen, and the media options on the bottom of the screen. Appropriately
enough, this is the options menu.
D-1. Undo Buffer Size
In the center of the screen, you have four buttons. The top button is
the Undo buffer size. Set this to however many tracks you want the computer to
remember while formatting. You can select between 5, 10, 15, tracks, or no
buffer at all. While formatting, if you press the Undo button before the track
exceeds the buffer capacity, chances are you will be able to recover your
disk. If it has already passed it, Floormat will write back as much as possible
giving you a good chance of recovering some data that would normally be lost.
If the buffer is off, Floormat will write back the boot sector, directory, and
FAT tables, also giving you a good chance of recovering data on the disk.
Even if the Undo buffer has been exceeded, it still can be a life saver
because it will write back the boot sector, directory, and FAT tables. When
another formatter starts formatting, these are the first things to go; no
matter how quickly you turn off the computer they're gone forever. Since
Floormat saves this information, you have a very good chance of recovering your
data. Although the data between the last buffered track and the last track you
formatted will be gone, the rest of the disk will be still there.
The Undo buffer might not work on protected disks, disks with errors,
incompletely formatted disks, strange formats (i.e. 11 sector), or unformatted
disks. But we hope you'll find normal use of it beneficial.
D-2. Seek Time
The seek time is the time that the computer waits for the drive head
to move to the requested track before I/O. In essence, it then must be the
minimum time for the head to move from end to end. The standard time is 3ms for
the Atari disk drives, and the minimum is 2ms. You can select 2, 3, 6, and 12.
6ms is standard for 5.25" floppy disk drives.
D-3. Verify
After writing a sector, the Atari disk drive normally checks it for a
bad write, which is rare. If this is disabled, the write speed to disk will
improve about 50%. Be warned that if a bad sector is written it will not be
detected until the computer attempts to read it next. Press the "Verify" button
to change between "On" and "Off."
D-4. Save Config
There are many parameters that Floormat uses to format your disk. You
will probably want to use the same ones most of the time, so after you set them
to your taste, press "Save Config" to save them to disk. A file select box
will appear and you must set the path to where FLOORMAT.PRG and FLOORMAT.RSC
are, otherwise the configuration file will not load. Selecting a filename is
not necessary, because Floormat will save it as FLOORMAT.CNF no matter what.
If, at any time, you wish to revert to the parameters you have set in the file,
press the Insert key.
The media options are the group of buttons on the bottom of the screen
when the Options menu is selected.
D-5. FAT table size
The FAT table size is the amount of sectors for the File Allocation
Table. This tells the computer which sector is 'owned' by which file. Press the
(+) and (-) buttons next to "FAT Table Size" to change it from 1-20 sectors.
The standard size is 5 sectors. Note that TOS has two copies of the FAT table,
the number specified is the size of each one. Therefore the total space taken
up would be two times the amount in sectors.
D-6. Directory entries
The directory entries is the maximum amount of filenames allowed by TOS
in the root directory. Folders do not have a maximum. Press the (+) and (-)
buttons next to "Max Directory Entries" to change it from 1-999 entries.
D-7. Sectors per cluster
The sectors per cluster is the amount of sectors each cell in the FAT
table represents. A cluster therefore is the smallest size a file can be. If
you have a lot of files on a disk, space at the end of a cluster is often
wasted because the data doesn't always fill it up entirely. To remedy this,
change the cluster size to 1. This will give each sector a cell in the FAT
table, and cut down on wasted space. For tracks over 82, you may have to
increase the FAT table size should you change the cluster size to one. The
standard is 2. Press the (+) and (-) buttons next to "Sectors per Cluster" to
change it between 1-299.
D-8. The Exit Button
Press the "Exit" button to return to the main menu.
E. The Info Button & Menu
Pressing the Info button button will open a 'flip-up' menu on the
bottom of the screen. You can select any of these by pointing and clicking. If
you want to exit the menu, click on "FloorMat."
E-1. Instructions
To get on-line help, click on the button labeled "Instructions." The
mouse will change to a "Help" icon with an arrow under it. Point to the area
you need assistance with and click. A window will pop up explaining the area
you selected. If you need further assistance, consult the manual or contact us.
Note that pressing the Help key when in the main screen does the same.
E-2. Keyboard Commands.
Some functions of Floormat may be accessed with the keyboard. Pressing
this button will bring up a list of all the keyboard commands and what they do.
Here is the list:
Undo: (During format only) Will abort the format and rewrite
the undo buffer plus the directory, FAT tables, and boot
sector.
Help: This will bring up the on-line Help icon. This is the exact
same as hitting the "Instructions" button under the Info menu.
Esc: This key acts just like pressing the Exit button.
Insert: Will restore all parameters to how they are in the current
config file. Note that this doesn't reload them from disk.
Clr/Home: This restores all parameters to their default. (Single sided,
drive A, 9 sectors, 80 tracks, Display on, Magnification 0,
Seek 3ms, Buffer 10 tracks, Verify on, FAT size 5 sectors,
Directory entries 112, Sectors per cluster 2.)
F1: Standard Atari single-sided format. (9 sectors, 80 tracks,
FAT 5, Entries 112, S.p.cluster 2, Seek 3ms.) Others, such as
buffer and display, remain unchanged.
F2: Standard Atari double-sided format. Same as F1 except double
sided.
E-3. Program Information
Pressing the button labeled "Program Info" will display the program's
info with version number, authors, and how to contact us.
F. The Exit Button
Press the exit button to return to the Desktop or parent program. You
will be asked to verify this.
G. The Format Button
See next section, Formatting the Disk.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
4. FORMATTING THE DISK
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
The "Format" button works in two ways: you can format one disk or a
group of disks at once. To do a regular format, press the left mouse button on
top of "Format." The Message window will say "Format?" To format a group of
disks with the same parameters, double click the left mouse button on "Format."
The message window will say "Multiple Format?" After each format is complete,
insert the next disk, and press OK to continue, or Cancel to stop formatting.
If you really know the structure of the Atari disks, you'll know that
each disk has an eight-byte serial number. The Atari system, (as well as
emulated PC and Mac systems) sometimes depend on the serial number for
detecting disk changed. For your convenience, Floormat will always write a
random serial number to avoid this.
Once you hit OK, Floormat analyzes the disk to see if it is recoverable
or not. If the format is incomplete, unformatted, or a strange format the word
"Unrecoverable" will appear in the Message window. In this case, an unformat
would probably not work. Most of the time, however, you will see "Recoverable,"
and pressing undo will restore it.
Floormat accomplishes this by storing each track in a buffer before
formatting it. Because this is a custom format routine, we can control every
step of the format. Should you have to hit Undo, Floormat simply writes back
each track backwards, down to track one. This will work even if you change the
amount sides, sectors, tracks, or anything in between formats. This can be done
because each track has its own sides, sectors, etc. It is just a convenience to
the user to make the entire disk the same. (It also doesn't confuse TOS as
much!)
As Floormat churns quietly at your disk, you will notice that the Track
display sometimes flashes. This only occurs during double-sided formats. When
the track is written in white, side A is being formatted. If it is written in
grey, side B is being formatted.
Should an error come up (heaven forbid!), you will be the first to know
about it. We thought it was kind of rude of the other formatters to just break
the rhythm for a second and leave you wondering about the disk. As soon as it
is detected, "Error Detected" will display in the Message window. This is to
let you know that something is not kosher. All errors will be displayed at the
end, however.
Floormat also knows stupid errors. It won't bomb out on you or display
some cryptic error if you just left the disk drive open! You won't have to wait
a year either because Floormat picks it up right away and tells you.
If no errors have occurred at the end of the format, the virtual disk
capacity will be displayed. This is the actual amount of free bytes you have to
work with. The time that it took to format is also shown. Floormat is no speed
demon, but it's faster than TOS, and it won't "forget" an error occurred.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
FLOORMAT vs. THE OTHERS
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Well, we better put the money where our mouth is. We tested Floormat
against a bunch of others that we had laying around. If you have a formatter
that tests better than us, tell us about it! We'll test it. Here are our
results:
Disks: Sony 3.5" MFD-2DD Double sided micro floppy disk, 135 TPI
Parameters: 80 tracks, 9 sectors per track, 2 sides, 3ms seek time,
verify on, FAT 5 sectors, maximum entries 112, sectors per
cluster 2. (All standard.)
Hardware: Atari 1040ST with internal double-sided disk drive.
Software: Original version TOS, 100K Ramdisk, no desk accessories.
Normal disk w/Hard errors Result
---------------------- ------------- -------------------------------------
Fast Format 0:35.0 0:35.0 No errors.. doubt it even checked
DC Format 1:07.5 1:07.5 reported "Format Successful" Huh?!
Floormat 1:37.6 1:39.8 picked up all errors and continued
TOS 1:42.5 0:00.0 detected an error, would not continue
Fred's 1:57.3 0:00.0 detected an error, would not continue
As you can see, Floormat is the only program that picked up the errors
and kept on formatting. It's also faster than TOS and Fred's. DC Format even
said "Format Successful!" If you're wondering what kind of "hard error" we are
talking about, we scratched off the magnetic coating on a portion of the disk.
This hole was so big you could see through it! We can't figure out how DC
Format couldn't pick it up.. but we know it didn't. We didn't expect Fast
Format to even bother checking, but that's what you get for a 35 second format.
Although DC and Fast Format left us in the dust, they didn't tell the
user that there was a huge error on the disk! That is REALLY unsafe.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
6. THE ERROR SCREEN
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
The Error Screen is the second of the two screens you are working with.
If you do come across an error during formatting, Floormat will finish
formatting and then jump to the error screen.
And now, a tour of the error screen:
A. The Error Graph
The error graph shows you exactly where the errors are located on the
disk surface. If the disk is double-sided, both sides are shown, and if single
sided, only side A is shown. Each track is a concentric circle, starting from
one, all the way on the edge, to 80, all the way on the inside. Each track is
divided up into sectors, with a small gap in between. The first three are
marked. After that, you can get the gist of where the rest are.
The tracks are colored different shades of grey so they don't seem to
all "run together." What you are concerned with, the error tracks, are shown as
red lines. These are drawn a little bit longer to make them easier to spot.
A-1. The Display Button
There is a button that looks like an eye. This is the display button.
If you prefer not to have the error graph drawn, click on it. This toggles the
graph on and off. Note that this is saved in the config file.
A-2. The Magnification Buttons
There are two buttons with magnifying glasses on them. These are the
magnification buttons. Pressing the magnify up button will spread the tracks
upward. If it was curved downward, the curve will become gentler, and
vice-versa for the down button. Floormat curves the drawing so the tracks are
easier to see.
A-3. The Flip Button
The button labeled "Flip" will invert the error graph enabling you to
see any blocked off portions.
B. The Track Buttons
Pressing the buttons labeled (+) or (-) will find the next errored
track in that direction. If there are no more errors in that direction, it will
stop at the last formatted track on the disk.
When you reach a sector with an error in it, Floormat will display the
layout of that sector. The sector numbers will be grey, but the error sectors
will be a flashing red and next to the appropriate side. If the disk is single
sided, the numbers next to side B will be dark grey.
The errors on this track, explained in English, will scroll through the
Error window.
C. The Print Button
The "Print" button will print out all of the errors on the entire disk.
It will also print out the vital statistics of the disk like tracks, sectors,
sectors per track, sectors per cluster, free bytes and the like. If the printer
is not on or ready, an alert box will ask you to check the printer.
D. The Reformat Track Button
The button labeled "Reformat" gives your disk a second chance _without_
having to reformat the entire disk! Click on this to format only the track you
have selected. You will be presented with an alert box that asks you which side
you wish to format. If the disk is single sided, then the side B icon will be
shaded in, and you cannot select it.
E. The Error Status Window
See sections A and B, the Error Graph and the Track Buttons.
F. The Help Button
Pressing the button with a question mark on it will bring up the "Help"
icon. Point to the area you need information on and click.
G. The Exit Button
The exit button returns you to the main screen of Floormat.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
We wish to thank James "Rexfelis" Ancsanyi for all the tireless
betatesting for Gyro as well as Floormat. We see Floormat every day and
missed so many obvious little things it almost seemed unreal. Thanks for a
fresh perspective, Rexy.
Thanks to Steve Cohen and Jim Thompsen as always for their support,
problem remedies, and "services."
We also would like to thank all the users on the GEnie ST RoundTable.
We captured all of your ideas, printed them, and put as much in as we could!
It was a great way of getting to know what YOU wanted. Don't be afraid to give
us your comments just as quickly!
Anything else? We'd love to hear from you. And we'll put them in just
as soon as we can. Who knows, you might have the next ground-breaking idea!
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
8. D&W ASSOCIATES
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
We can be reached at:
D&W Associates
P.O. Box 626
Mount Sinai, NY 11766
Phone: (516) 331-4195 - until September 1989
GE Mail: S.TRINGALI
Compuserve Easyplex: 74030,2615
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
Also available from D&W Associates:
Werty?'s House of Horror!
Unpsave Gyro 7.1
All are available as shareware on the GEnie ST RoundTable.
Or send $5 check for CASH (per title) for copying, mailing, and disk fees.
*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*
About the authors of Floormat:
Shahram Orandi attends the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he
is majoring in Computer Science and Biochemistry, where he enjoys long weekends
and parking illegally in faculty spots. He purchased the ST primarily for
word processing and he later began programming in GFA basic. His first release
was Gyro 7.1.
Scott Tringali attends The Crane School of Music, part of Potsdam College of
the State University of New York. He is majoring in composition, and has found
ST useful for writing music-- but more so for printing up fake ID's. His first
programming release, Werty?'s House of Horror, has enjoyed widespread popularity
throughout the world. Scott does most of the graphics and text in our programs,
including Floormat.
*------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
By the way, we were kidding about the STs built on February 30th, if you
couldn't tell by now. The real problem was from the STs made on February 31st.
*=============================================================================*
