Amiga Collections: MegaDisc/MegaDisc 36 (1993-11)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].zip/MegaDisc 36 (1993-11)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 1 of 2)[WB].adf/Tutes_&_CLI/Beginners_DiskUtes/Beginners_DiskUtes

Text File | 1993-10-22 | 38KB | 848 lines

                    A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO DISK UTILITIES

                                    by
                               Leigh Murray



    36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36 -+- 36


INTRODUCTION

Handy Helpers

   There is a huge range of disk utilities in the public domain, all aimed at
  making some aspect of disk management easier or more effective.  Many of
  these programs are top-class in quality, reliability and presentation, and
  they give their commercial counterparts a run for their money.

DiskStarter:  A One-Disk Kit

   To provide a one-disk introduction to these disk management goodies, I
  compiled a disk for MegaDisc, called DiskStarter.  It is one of the Starter
  series, START 7.

   The programs on DiskStarter include some of the best disk utilities,
  providing a cross-section of functions:  backup utilities, optimizers, file
  recovery utilities and file finders.

   All of these programs were originally published on Fish disks, and you may
  already have the ones you want.  The programs are:

  Backups

  . ABackup version 2.43, from Fish 871 (powerful backup utility); and
  . SuperDuper version 2.01, from Fish 590 (fast disk copier and formatter).

  Finders

  . FindFile version 1.01, from Fish 729 (file find utility for WB2+);
  . FindIt version 1.2, from its author (file finder, copy etc, WB2+) -
           an earlier version is on Fish 731; and
  . Whereis version 1.18, from Fish 321 (file finder, CLI-only).

  Fixers

  . BFormat version 4.0, from Fish 758 (formats disks that have errors);
  . DiskSalv version 1.42, from Fish 251 (disk recovery program);
  . DiskSalv2 release 11.27, from Fish 891 (disk recovery program, WB2+); and
  . FixDisk version 1.2, from Fish 403 (disk recovery program).

  Optimizers

  . Optimizer version 1.0, from Fish 519 (disk optimizer, easy but slow);
  . ReOrg version 1.1, from Fish 716 (fast disk optimizer, CLI-only); and
  . ReOrg version 2.31, from Fish 716 (fast disk optimizer, WB2+).

Tutorials

   There are two tutorials/articles on DiskStarter, both from MegaDisc 30:

  . Data Recovery by Paul McLachlan, and
  . Paths and Assigns by Leigh Murray.

   The first one covers the theory of recovering lost and damaged files, and
  the second describes Amiga file structures, paths, devices and assigns.

   There are many other tutorials/articles on previous MegaDiscs to help
  guide you in effective disk management.  For instance, check out

  . Disk Fragmentation and Disk Handling by Paul McLachlan on MegaDisc 30;
  . Hard Drive Software Installation by Adriaan Piels on MegaDisc 23;
  . Hard Drive Housekeeping by G. Frick on MegaDisc 31;
  . Hard Drive Set Up by Paul McLachlan on MegaDisc 31;
  . Hard Drive by Mitchel Hopping on MegaDisc 32;  and
  . Recovering Lost Files by John Knight on MegaDisc 21.

Brief Guide Notes to Programs

   Below are overviews and brief practical notes on all of the programs on
  DiskStarter, to give an idea of what they are like to use, and show a few
  easy options to select.  These notes are supplementary to, and in no way
  replace, the program documentation (in fact, some of the program
  descriptions are `lifted' straight from the program doc).

Workbench Compatibility

   Four of the programs on DiskStarter (BFormat, Whereis, and version 1 of
  both DiskSalv and ReOrg) can only be run from the CLI or Shell.  They are
  all excellent programs, and quite easy to use, especially if you use only a
  small subset of the available commands (as would most users).  I could find
  no suitable Workbench-initiated programs in these categories for users with
  Workbench 1.3 or 1.2 systems.

   Several of the other programs can only be used on systems with Workbench 2
  or higher.

Running Programs from the CLI

   You can open a Shell by clicking on the Shell icon in the main window of
  the Workbench disk.

   When running programs from the CLI or Shell, remember that you must either
  make the directory containing the program the current directory (by cd'ing
  to that directory) or give full path details so the system can find that
  program.

   For example, to run Whereis from DiskStarter in df1:,

  .  type   cd df1:finders/whereis   to make the directory (called Whereis)
     containing the Whereis program the current directory,

     then type the Whereis command (such as whereis df0: *.info).

  .  or each time you want to run the Whereis program, give full path info to
     the program, such as

          df1:finders/whereis/whereis df0: readme
             or
          DiskStarter:Finders/Whereis/Whereis df0: *.doc

No Prerequisite Libraries

   None of the programs on DiskStarter require special libraries to function.
  The only exception to this would be if you wish to use one of the optional
  data compression methods of ABackup.  In this case, you may need to install
  the xpkmaster.library in your libs: if you do not already have it.  (Libs:
  is the libs directory in the root directory of the Workbench disk you have
  booted from.)  The library and a script to copy it are in the ABackup
  drawer.

Wildcards

   Many of the programs support the standard AmigaDOS wildcard indicator #?.
  That is, the characters #? are specified in a name to indicate the variable
  part of the name.  Some of the programs also support the * as a wildcard
  indicator.

Look and Read

   You may find it helpful, for the programs which are not CLI-only, to start
  the program (by clicking on its icon), just so you can see what its screen
  layout looks like.  Then, without selecting any options, use the front/back
  gadget in the top right hand corner to swap back to Workbench, display
  these Guide notes and/or the program documentation, read a bit, then swap
  back to the program to see what is being described in the Guide notes or
  program doc.  Reactivate the window by clicking in it with the left mouse
  button.


EXTRA.HELP

Sample Scripts

   DiskStarter has a drawer called Extra.Help, containing sample scripts
  I provided to show how a few simple tasks can be set up to operate from an
  icon.  By using a script, where it is feasible, the operation of CLI-based
  programs can be made less error-prone.  The sample scripts can be used as
  supplied, or tailored to suit.

Format Scripts

   The two scripts for formatting a disk in df0: (Format0 for a full format,
  and Format0q for a quick format of a previously-formatted disk) were set up
  for my own use after a near disaster I had on one of my dopier days.  The
  scripts are designed so that only a disk in df0: will be formatted (not
  dh0:, as I nearly did, or df1:, or any other drive).  There is a message
  requiring confirmation, to force me to think carefully about whether I
  really do want to format the disk that is in df0:.  I've found these
  scripts very handy indeed, a real security blanket, so I put versions of
  them on DiskStarter in case others find them useful too.

   By the way, the near disaster of an unintended format of my hard disk
  happened (oh so easily...) because the icon for the hard drive was still
  selected (I'd just opened the main window) and I forgot to click on the
  df0: disk icon before selecting Initialise from the Workbench menu.  I was
  about to confirm that I wanted to format the disk when I realised, to my
  horror, that the message was asking me about dh0: not df0:!  After aborting
  the format, I tottered shakily off to have a reviving snack, and resolved
  to use a more foolproof method in future.  Hence the scripts.

Example Scripts

   The other scripts in the Extra.Help drawer are examples, to show how some
  of the CLI-only programs on DiskStarter could be operated from an icon.
  There are scripts for BFormat, and version 1 of ReOrg and DiskSalv.

XIcon

   Note that the scripts use XIcon (if you use Info or Information from the
  Workbench menu, you can see the Default Tool specified in the icon).  For
  these scripts to work, you must have XIcon in the c directory (such as on
  DiskStarter).  XIcon was used instead of the more normal IconX (which comes
  with Workbench) because it allows replies to questions in the script; in
  Workbench 1.3, IconX does not have this facility.  If you wish to use such
  scripts, you may want to copy XIcon into the c directory of your work copy
  of your Workbench disk (never change the original Workbench disk, and
  always work off a copy of it, write-protected).  Note that you will have to
  change the default tool to c:XIcon if you do this.

Programs Copied to RAM: First

   The scripts all copy the program and several AmigaDOS commands (copy, info
  etc) to RAM: first, to make operation suitable for Amigans who have only
  one drive.  (But `One-Drivers' should seriously consider buying another
  drive, either a floppy or, better, a hard drive.  Most Amiga tasks become
  much easier when you have a second drive.)

Saving Disk Swaps

   When executing the scripts, several disk swaps can be saved by copying the
  script to the RAM: disk first.  Just drag the icon for the script into the
  RAM disk window.  Then click on the icon in this window to execute the
  script from RAM:.

Editing the Scripts

   Using a text editor, such as Ed (which comes in the c directory of every
  standard Workbench disk) you can edit the script files.  Other suitable
  text editors include QED (the excellent editor I am using to prepare this
  document), AZ and Textra;  all of these text editors are available in the
  public domain (and I plan to put some of them on a later Starter disk, with
  guide notes).

   The Format and BFormat scripts are set up to format disks only in df0:.
  These scripts could be edited, for instance, so that they format disks in
  other drives, or to give the disks a different default name.

   The DiskSalv and ReOrg scripts are both set up to salvage/optimize from
  df0: to df1:.  That is, they refer to 2 floppy drives, at those addresses.
  The scripts could be changed, say, to DiskSalv to RAM: or a hard drive
  directory instead of df1:, or to ReOrg back on to the same disk in df0: or
  use a different floppy drive address.


BACKUPS

Overview

   It is important that you make backup copies of all files that you don't
  wish to lose.  These can be done on a file-by-file basis simply by copying
  the files from one floppy to another or from hard disk to one or more
  floppies.  You can also make copies of floppy disks, or backup all the
  files on a hard disk (and you should always backup a hard disk before
  partitioning or reformatting it).

   ABackup is a powerful utility for backing up hard disks, floppy disks or
  files.  SuperDuper is a fast disk copier and formatter which allows you to
  make multiple copies of a disk.  Both can be used from Workbench or the
  CLI.

ABackup

   ABackup can be used to make a backup of your hard disk or to archive files,
  with optional data compression.  It can do a full or partial backup and
  restore, and it allows file selection by name, date, and protection bits.
  There are options for verification, compression and report format, and the
  program can estimate the number of disks required and the time the backup
  will take.  You can use several disk drives for backup.

  .  ABackup can be run from the CLI, or started from Workbench by clicking
     on its icon.

  .  Click on `Backup an AmigaDOS Partition' (or Restore or Quit) on the
     opening screen.

  .  Click anywhere with the right mouse button on the next screen to display
     a list of devices, then click on the device or directory you wish to
     backup. (Make sure the selection window is active - the window title bar
     should be blue;  if not, activate it first by clicking in it with the
     left mouse button.)

  .  Select files for backup by clicking on the various Include and Exclude
     options or by selecting the files in the file list.  Use the Parent
     gadget to return to a higher directory level. The total number of files
     selected and their combined size will be displayed in the Selection box.

  .  Click on the Options button (or select Options from the menu), and
     choose the verification, report, compression etc by clicking on the
     buttons.  Type the full output path into the `Backup to' gadget (eg
     df0:).  To use multiple drives for backup, enter the drive addresses
     separated by a comma (eg df0:,df1:).

  .  Select Estimations from the menu to get an estimate of the number of
     disks needed and the time the backup will take.

  .  Click on the Start button (or select Start from the menu) to commence
     the backup.

SuperDuper

   SuperDuper is a disk copier/formatter.  It is fast - a disk is usually
  copied and verified in less than 100s, which is faster than DiskCopy.  With
  SuperDuper, you can make multiple copies at once (if you have multiple
  drives), and any number of duplications can be made after reading the
  source disk only once.  SuperDuper alerts the user with sound (and
  optionally voice) about the operations in progress.

   Note that no menu functions are available with SuperDuper - everything is
  controlled by gadgets or keyboard shortcuts.  Functions which have been
  selected (or are selected by default unless you deselect them) are
  indicated by highlighting their gadgets.

  .  SuperDuper can be started from the CLI or Workbench.

  .  Click on the Source gadget for the disk you want to copy (eg df0:).

  .  Click on one or more of the Dest(s) gadgets to select output addresses.

  .  Click on Format if you want to format a disk instead of copying one.
     Type the name you want to give the output disk into the Label gadget, or
     let it default to Empty.

  .  Leave the Verify and Date gadgets selected (especially the Verify - it
     is unwise to write to a disk without verifying).

  .  Click on Go to start the diskcopy or format.

  .  Click on the Close gadget to exit, or use Q or ESC.


FINDERS

Overview

   FindFile and FindIt are file find utilities for use under Workbench 2.04
  or higher;  both use many of the Workbench 2 features, and can be run from
  Workbench or the CLI.  Whereis is a CLI-only file finder, provided on
  DiskStarter for Workbench 1.2/1.3 users.

   FindFile, FindIt and Whereis can be used to search for particular file
  names. This is a function you need when you can't remember exactly where a
  file is stored (in which of 100 nested directories it resides!) or its
  precise name.

   FindIt can also be used to search for a specified text string within a
  file, and it has a number of features normally found in directory utilities
  - it can copy or delete files found in searches; if those files are text
  files, it can display them, and if they are pictures, it can show them.
  FindIt is quite a powerful program.

Directory Utilities

   Many of the newer directory utilities have functions for finding files
  and/or searching for a given text string.  SID2, Directory Opus and DirWork
  have those functions.  (Demos of these directory utilities are on the
  Directory Utility Starter disk, START 2, along with tutorials and notes to
  guide new users.)

FindFile

   FindFile is a file find utility for use under Workbench 2.04 or later.  It
  is very easy to use.

  .  Click on its icon to start it.

  .  Click on Browse and then Disks, Parent etc until the full top-level
     search path is detailed.

  .  Click in the Search For gadget, and type in the file matching details.

  .  Click on Go to begin the search.  Filenames which match the specified
     criteria will be listed in the lower part of the FindFile window.

  .  Click on any filename in that list to display its full path information.

FindIt

   FindIt is a powerful file finder whose features include searching multiple
  drives/directories, searching for file names starting with/not starting
  with given text, file names containing/not containing given text, file
  names ending with/not ending with given text, files created
  on/after/before/not-on given date, files containing given text, etc.  Found
  files can be copied, deleted, viewed, or printed.

  .  Click on the FindIt icon to start.

  .  Select the directories to search: click on Find and then Disks etc (use
     Clear first if you want to clear out all previous search paths, or
     Remove individual entries).  You can click on a particular disk name (to
     search a whole volume) or click on directories or subdirectories to
     limit the search to portions of a volume.  Click on Add to add search
     paths to your search list.

  .  Set the search criteria: cycle through the options and/or click in the
     gadgets beside Starts, Ends etc and enter the details.  For example,
     files which End in .info, Created Before 01 01 93, Search Files Only,
     Search Sub-Directories, New Search, Ignore Case.

  .  Click on the large Find It gadget to initiate the search.

  .  Click on the gadgets below to Copy, Move or Delete files.  You can Read
     text files or Show pictures by selecting the file and clicking on those
     gadgets.  Click on Info to display more details about files.

Whereis

   Whereis is a utility which searches for specified filenames on disk and
  shows you the paths to these files.   Although Whereis can be used to
  search floppy disks, it is particularly designed for use with hard disks,
  where it is very easy to forget which one of hundreds of subdirectories
  contains a given file. If, for instance, you don't know in which of them
  the program "DiskSalv" is, just type in: "whereis disksalv" and Whereis
  will search through your whole active volume.  Whereis has optional
  case-sensitive searching, can display the sizes of files found or the time
  and date last updated.  Whereis supports both #? and * wildcard patterns,
  and also has a ? wildcard (for a single character).

   For example,

     whereis df1: readme"   searches for readme on df1:

     whereis df0: #?.doc
        or
     whereis df0: *.doc     searches for all the files ending in .doc on df0:

     whereis df3:Backups ?B* -c -s   searches the Backups directory of the
                                     disk in df3: for files with B as the
                                     second character, and displays the size
                                     of found files.

   Whereis can be aborted at any time with CTRL-D (press the Ctrl key and D
  key together) or CTRL-C.


FIXERS

Overview

   The programs in the Fixers drawer of DiskStarter can be used for two main
  tasks:  salvaging files from physically damaged disks, and recovering files
  that have been accidentally deleted.  There is also a program for
  reallocating bad sectors on a disk.  If possible, read the Disk Recovery
  tutorial (on START 7 or MegaDisc 30) before using any of these programs for
  the first time.  See also Recovering Lost Files in the Articles drawer of
  MegaDisc 21 (or on MD.ArticlesII).

Salvaging Files

   The most important thing to remember when you accidentally delete a file
  or get a read/write error on a disk, is DO NOT WRITE TO THAT DISK (or hard
  disk partition) again until you have attempted to recover the file(s) on
  that disk.

   For safety, I prefer to salvage from one floppy disk to another, and then
  reconstruct a new copy of the damaged disk from the salvaged one on to a
  third disk.

   There are two programs on DiskStarter for salvaging files: FixDisk and
  DiskSalv (two versions).  If you try DiskSalv, and that fails to recover
  all your files, then it is worth also trying FixDisk.  Or vice versa
  (unless you have already tried to salvage back on to the same disk with
  FixDisk).

   For salvaging files, I have only ever used DiskSalv, and I've found it
  very satisfactory.  I noticed while testing version 1 of DiskSalv for
  DiskStarter that it seems to have a problem when run on a Workbench 1.3
  system with 1MB chip RAM and no fast RAM (DiskSalv gives repeated Out of
  Memory messages);  if you have a similar system, you may need to rely on
  FixDisk.

   DiskSalv has one feature that FixDisk does not:  it keeps track of loose
  blocks (those files without a file header).  What this means in practice is
  that with deleted files, FixDisk shows more of them without any directory
  organization, whereas DiskSalv shows their organization in directories
  called, for instance, LOOSE-BLOCKS/DIRBLK-900 (instead of the original
  directory name).  (Directory links are lost when you delete a file.)  Where
  you want to retain the original directory structure, it would be easier to
  reconstruct the disk with DiskSalv; just copy the disk to another disk, and
  rename the Loose-Blocks directories to their original names.

Undelete

   FixDisk and DiskSalv2 have a specific Undelete option.  This is very easy
  to use.  You don't need to remember the actual names - you can see them in
  the file requester, which can be scrolled back and forth.  For instance
  with FixDisk, just click on the names and click on Undelete or Copy, and
  the files are restored/copied.  With DiskSalv version 1 most of the names
  in a long file list roll off the screen, so you have to enter search
  criteria to narrow the search, and then type in the names of the files to
  be recovered.

   With FixDisk you can Undelete a file in situ, on the volume it was deleted
  from (or you can copy it to another disk);  with DiskSalv you can only copy
  it to another volume, and then copy it back.

Which is Best?

   FixDisk can be run from Workbench.  For Workbench 1.3 users, DiskSalv
  cannot;  with Workbench 2 or higher, DiskSalv2 can be run from Workbench.

   On a Workbench 1.3 system, I would choose DiskSalv for salvaging whole
  disks, and FixDisk for recovering a few accidentally deleted files.

   With Workbench 2 or higher, I would still choose FixDisk for undelete
  functions, and DiskSalv2 for salvaging disks because it makes use of many
  new features in the operating system.

Do a Simple Test

   Preferably before you get any disk problems and need to use one of these
  salvage programs, why not try them out to get a feel for how they operate
  and decide which suits you best?  Create a test disk (perhaps by copying
  another disk - you could try out SuperDuper for the copy!), then delete
  some or all files, and see how easy it is to recover a few files/salvage
  the whole disk.

DiskSalv v1

   Version 1 of DiskSalv can only be run from the CLI or Shell.  Those with
  Workbench 2 or higher should use DiskSalv2 (see below), which can be run
  from Workbench and has many new features.

   DiskSalv v1 will scan a bad disk volume for anything that can be recovered,
  and will restore these items to any AmigaDOS volume.  It does not make any
  attempt to fix the bad volume in place;  thus, any file that can't be
  restored with DiskSalv might possibly be restored with an alternative
  method.  DiskSalv can also be used to recover lost files, as long as the
  files have not been overwritten.

   To salvage a floppy disk:

  .  Slide the Write-Protect tag on the disk across so that you can see
     through the hole, as a precaution.

  .  Open a Shell (by clicking on the Shell icon in the main window of the
     Workbench disk).

  .  Type   copy DiskStarter:Fixers/DiskSalv/DiskSalv.v1/DiskSalv to RAM:

  .  To recover files from the bad disk in df0: and restore them on a good
     disk in df1:, type

          ram:DiskSalv from df0: to df1:

     or to restore them (temporarily) to RAM:, type

          ram:DiskSalv from df0: to RAM:


   To recover lost files:

          ram:DiskSalv dh0: FILE swan#? to RAM:

     DiskSalv will scan through all the blocks of dh0: (perhaps 143,000 or
     more) looking for any swan files;  pathnames are useless here - they
     make no difference.


   Loose Blocks:

   Any files or parts of files or directories which have had their directory
  structure partially destroyed will be salvaged into a directory called
  LOOSE-BLOCKS in the root directory of the target disk;  they may be within
  subdirectories with names such as DIRBLK-882.

   These files may be completely intact, with only their path details lost.
  All you need to do to recover such files is to recreate the directories
  that are missing, and copy the files from the LOOSE-BLOCKS directory/
  subdirectories into these directories.  (Refer to section 1.2 - line 98 -
  of the DiskSalv doc.)

DiskSalv 2

   This version of DiskSalv can only be run on Workbench 2 or higher.  It has
  two basic modes of salvage operation:  "Recover-by-Copy" (in which DiskSalv
  attempts to restore files and directories from a damaged disk to a good
  one) and "Fix-in-Place" (DiskSalv attempts to find faulty disk objects and
  remove them so that the disk can be validated).

  .  Select the Device for Scan.

  .  Cycle through the Mode options by clicking on the arrow gadgets.  Select
     Salvage or Undelete etc.  (Salvage relates to all files on the disk,
     Undelete only to deleted files still on the disk.)

  .  Select Scan.  (You can Set Filter first to restrict the scan.)

  .  Select Files or Directories that you want to recover;  they will be
     tagged in the Salvage List as you select them.  Select entries by using
     the Select gadgets and/or clicking once on filenames;  click twice on
     directories to display their contents for selection.  Files which are
     still on the disk but without their directory links will be listed in
     the Salvage List under a directory called DISKSALV-EXTRAS (its
     subdirectories will have names such as DIR-384).

  .  Click on Clear Directory or Clear Files to clear recovery tags from
     entries in the Salvage List, on Info to display information about files,
     or on Forget to remove those entries from the Salvage List - a handy way
     of pruning entries from a long browsing list for files you don't want to
     recover, making the list easier to read (the files remain on the disk).
     (If you mistakenly Forget entries for files you wish to recover, you'll
     have to start again by selecting New Device from the Project menu.)

  .  Select Output Path by typing in the path or by clicking on the disk
     gadget (or abort the salvage process by selecting the New Device or Quit
     menu items).

  .  Click on Salvage to salvage the files to the output device.

  .  DiskSalv will create a directory called DISKSALV-EXTRAS on the output
     disk;  it will place all recovered files which have lost their original
     directory structure into this directory.  If the disk already has a
     directory with that name, DiskSalv will create directories with -0, -1
     etc suffixes (DISKSALV-EXTRAS-0).  Files will be salvaged under the same
     subdirectories as in the Salvage List;  afterwards, you can rename those
     with names such as DIR-384 to their original names.

FixDisk

   FixDisk is a program to recover as much as possible from a defective disk.
  It has functions to check file integrity, to check the directory structure,
  and to undelete, copy or show (even defective) files and fix corrupted
  directory pointers.   A damaged file structure can be recovered by copying
  the data file by file to another disk (à la DiskSalv) or can be fixed in
  place (like DiskDoctor).  FixDisk can be run from Workbench or the CLI.
  FixDisk does not keep track of loose blocks (those files without a file
  header) as DiskSalv does.  And it doesn't process hard disk partitions
  bigger than 48MB.

   After starting FixDisk from the CLI or Workbench, a window will open, with
  17 gadgets on the right half.  Some of these gadgets are disabled at
  startup - those which let you write back onto the same disk.  If you want
  to enable them, choose "Write enable" from the Miscellaneous menu.

  .  Click on one of the drive gadgets in the top of the window (you can
     cycle through the list by clicking on the arrow keys).

  .  FixDisk will then read in the disk, cylinder by cylinder, searching for
     file/directory headers. You can abort this process with the Ctrl-C key
     combination.

  .  When the disk has been examined, a file requester in the left half of
     the window will show files and directories (highlighted) preceded by DEL
     for deleted files or '-->' for active files.

  .  Click twice on directory names (highlighted) to display their contents,
     return by clicking on the Parent gadget.  Select files and/or
     directories for copying etc by clicking on them;  shift-click for
     multiple selection.

  .  Use Check Files for checking to see if files are defective, and whether
     they can be undeleted etc.

  .  Use Copy Files to copy files to another device.  You will be asked:
     `Use links from file header or use block links ?'.
     Choose Header - this is the safer option.  You will then be asked:
     `Copy file "Drawer1" to', followed by a string gadget.
     Enter the full pathname of the output device, and click on DONE (or
     CANCEL to abort).

  .  Use Undelete to restore deleted files to the same disk (you may have to
     Write Enable the disk from the menu first).  You will be asked:
     `Undelete selected files directly on drive "df0:" ?'.
     Reply KEEP ON (or  STOP to abort).

Reallocating Bad Disk Sectors

   BFormat formats disks (both floppies and hard drives) that have media
  errors on them and allocates those areas as used, making the rest of the
  disk usable.

   This type of utility should not be used on disks which have been so
  damaged physically that you can see it just by looking at the disk.  But if
  a disk appears to be in good condition, and only has a read/write error or
  two, then it is probably safe to BFormat the disk, and use the remainder of
  the disk again.  However, should you do this, it would not be wise to use
  the disk for storing any very important files - just use it for work files,
  or as additional backup.

BFormat

   BFormat can be run only from the CLI.  To format a disk in df0: (giving it
  the name BF.Output), using the Old File System (the NOFFS option) and
  maximum verification (the SLOW option), type

          BFormat DRIVE df0: NAME BF.Output NOFFS SLOW

   Or, to run BFormat with these options, from an icon, click on the BFormat.X
  icon in the Extra.Help drawer.


OPTIMIZERS

Overview

   Drive Optimizer is very easy to use, but very slow.  It has a simple
  presentation.  It is a good optimizer for beginners because its
  documentation is short and it has few options, so there is less potential
  for confusion.

   ReOrg does a terrific job in optimizing disks;  it is fast and powerful.
  And floppy disks sound so smooth and quiet after they've been ReOrg'd that
  they almost seem to sing!  If you try it, you'll hear what I mean.  ReOrg
  has many options, and its documentation is voluminous (and excellent).  It
  is a beautifully presented program in its Workbench 2 form, but it is not
  ideally suited to an absolute beginner, simply because of its power.

   It is important to understand the many options available with ReOrg, so
  read the doc, and try to understand it - at least for the options you want
  to use.

Extra Help with ReOrg

   On DiskStarter, in the Extra.Help drawer (for Workbench 1.3 users) and in
  the ReOrgV2.31 drawer (for those with Workbench 2 or higher), I provided a
  couple of suggestions of the options you might wish to use for a safe
  ReOrg.  To use these, just click on the icon, insert the disks, and follow
  the prompts.

Warning

   Do not, unless you want to live dangerously, optimize back to the source
  disk without making a BACKUP copy first.  And when using ReOrg, it is best,
  if you have two drives, to optimize to a different disk.

Drive Optimizer

   This program is very easy to use, but very slow.  I have used it on floppy
  disks, with no problems, but it guru'd the only time I tried to scan a
  100MB hard drive with it.

  .  Click on the Opt icon.  To stop at any time, click on the STOP gadget.

  .  Click on the DRIVE button, then keep clicking while it cycles through
     the device addresses on your system, until it shows the device you wish
     to optimize (eg df0:).

  .  Click on the SCAN button.  Drive Optimizer will scan the disk and
     display the fragmentation in a diagram.

  .  When the scan is complete, click on START to begin the optimizing
     process.

  .  Take a Meal Break!  The process is very slow .....  (More than an hour!)
     And time estimates can best be described as imaginative.  Very.

  .  When Drive Optimizer has finished, click on STOP to exit.

   Disk accesses to your newly-optimized disk should now be much faster and
  smoother (the drive heads shouldn't have to move back and forth nearly as
  much).  Icons should be displayed more quickly, and when you click on one
  of the drawer icons, the window should open much faster.

ReOrg version 2 - for Workbench 2 or higher

   ReOrg is a powerful program, and it is important to understand options
  before using them.

  .  ReOrg version 2.3 (or later) can be run from the CLI or started by
     clicking on its icon.

  .  Cycle through the Format and Mode options by clicking on the arrow
     button beside each option field.

  .  Cycle through the Mode options to select one or two drives (choose two,
     if possible).  Select the FROM and TO drive addresses by clicking on one
     of the entries in each of the Drive lists.

  .  Click in the small gadgets beside Write Verify, Workbench Mode and
     Graphical Sector Display;  a tick in any of these fields indicates you
     want that option.

  .  Click in the Advanced Options gadget if you want to change any of these
     options (which is unlikely unless you happen to want to optimize a disk
     to suit Workbench 1.3 systems instead of Workbench 2).

  .  Click on Start to commence the optimization process.

  .  Help is available to explain the various functions.  Select Help from
     the menu (a question mark is appended to the mouse pointer), then click
     the left mouse button on the various gadgets you want explained.  Select
     Help from the menu again to turn off the Help function.

  .  Suggested options:

     Format All Tracks  Formats output disk (or Off for pre-formatted disk)
     Write Verify On    Always recommended
     Workbench On       Optimizes to speed up the display of icons
     Graphical On       For an interesting graphical display while optimizing
     Two Drives         Safest

  .  If you have virus checkers running all the time (and you should, for
     safety), then they will check the new disk after optimization.  Allow a
     minute or so for this before removing the disk when ReOrg tells you to
     do so (otherwise you might start to remove the disk while the virus
     checker is reading it).

   In the ReOrgV2.31 drawer of DiskStarter, I provided an icon for reorg'ing
  a disk in df0: to a disk in df1:, optimized for Workbench 2 or higher, with
  Write Verify on (always use this option, if possible), Graphical Sector
  Display on (because it is interesting to see the display showing how
  fragmented the disk is), and Workbench Optimization (a good choice if there
  are a lot of icons on the disk to be optimized).  If you want to run ReOrg
  with these options, just click on the ReOrg.Suggested icon, insert the disk
  to be optimized in df0: and the output disk in df1:, and then click on
  Start.

   Or you could modify the options to suit you, and use Save Prefs to save
  them for future use.

ReOrg version 1 - for Workbench 1.3

   This version of ReOrg can only be run from the CLI.  On DiskStarter, I
  provided a sample script file called ReOrg.X in the Extra.Help drawer;
  this can be run from Workbench by clicking on its icon.

  .  Always make a backup copy before optimizing any disk.  This is
     particularly important if you are optimizing a disk back on to the same
     volume (say, the same floppy disk).

  .  ReOrg is a powerful program, and it is important to be aware of the many
     options available, so read and try to understand the doc.

  .  See Suggested Options above (in the ReOrg V2.31 notes), and the note
     following it about removing the disk after ReOrg finishes.

  .  To run ReOrg with these options, either use the ReOrg.X script (by
     clicking on its icon), or open a Shell, and type

          copy DiskStarter:Optimizers/ReOrg/ReOrgV1.1/ReOrg to RAM:
          ram:ReOrg -f2 -v1 -w1 -d1 -e0 df0: TO df1:

  .  Use Ctrl-C to interrupt ReOrg at any time during optimization.


FINALLY

   Try to learn as much as you can about disk management;  this is a critical
  area of computing.  And good disk utilities can make management of your
  disks much more efficient and effective;  seek and use the ones that suit
  you best.



© Leigh Murray
  Queanbeyan NSW

  September 1993


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