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MEDIC.HLP
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1993-07-25
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Diamond Edge Extendible Help System
File: MEDIC.HLP
Topics covered:
∙ Testing Your Disk Structure
∙ Disk Medic Report
∙ Mapping Bad Sectors on Your Disk
∙ Map Bad Report
∙ Creating Validation Files
∙ Validating Files
∙ What to do if a Validation Error is Identified
∙ Partitioning Your Hard Drive
∙ Partitioning Options
∙ Partitioning Actions
∙ Testing Your Disk Structure
As with all of Diamond Edge's functions, the Disk Medic
can be performed on either floppy disks or hard disk partitions.
We strongly recommend that you perform run Disk Medic on ALL or
your hard disk partitions at least once a week.
There are several basic options, selectable through the
Medic Menu, that control the action of Disk Medic. If you select
Auto-Fix errors, then Diamond Edge will automatically correct all
disk errors found during the Disk Medic evaluation of the active
drive. It will log all errors found in a error file MEDIC_X.ERR
where X is the active drive. Disk Medic Error files are saved to
the directory specified for Validation files in the Preferences
menu. After the Disk Medic pass, you may view the error file for
information on what errors were found and fixed.
If you decide not to Automatically fix errors. You may
then view the error file from the Disk Medic Report to find out
what errors were found and what files are effected. At this point
you may either cancel without fixing the errors or instruct the
Disk Medic to fix the errors.
When you fix the disk errors you may select to either discard
the data in the lost clusters or to save the data in the lost
clusters to a file. When you select Save Lost Clusters from the
Medic Menu, any lost clusters will be saved to a file LOSTCLUS.DAT
when the active drive is fixed. If LOSTCLUS.DAT already exists on
the active drive, then LOSTCLU0.DAT, LOSTCLUS1.DAT etc. will be
created in succession.
To begin the Disk Medic Pass of the active drive, select
Test Disk from the Medic Menu. Remember that the drive you are
testing is the Active drive. If you want to test more than one
drive in a single pass select Test Multiple from the Medic Menu.
The Test Multiple selection dialog will then be displayed. Select
all of the drives that you want to run Disk Medic on and then
select Test Drives.
The Disk Medic pass then proceeds to examine the entire
disk structure looking for errors. As the Disk Medic pass proceeds
the location of the disk being examined is displayed in the graphic
window. Areas where errors are detected are displayed in
Red(cross hatch in monochrome). When the Disk Medic pass is
complete the Disk Medic Report screen is displayed.
∙ Disk Medic Report
This screen gives the total number of each type of disk
error, described above, that was found on the active drive.
If Auto-Fix was selected, any errors detected were corrected
during the Disk Medic pass. This is indicated by the Disk
Errors Have Been Fixed message in the Report Screen.
If Auto-Fix was not selected and errors were detected this
would be indicated by the message Disk Errors Need To Be Fixed
and the appearance of a Fix Now button on the Disk Medic
report screen.
Any errors detected and the files they effect can be viewed
from the Medic Report screen by selecting View. If Auto-Fix was
not selected and you want to fix the disk errors, then selected
Fix Now from the Medic Report screen. This will launch another
Disk Medic pass that will fix all of the disk errors. If you do
not want to fix the errors now, then select Cancel. If no errors
were found or after Disk errors have been fixed, select Continue.
∙ Mapping Bad Sectors on Your Disk
You may either Map Bad sectors on just the active drive or
on Any multiple drives. The status of the Auto-Fix option in the
Medic menu effects whether bad sectors are automatically marked bad
or just recorded for review. When you select Map Bad Sectors from
the Medic Menu the Bad Sector Mapping Preferences Dialog is
displayed. There are three types of Bad Sector Mapping available:
∙ Read - Read Non-destructive: This method of mapping bad
sectors reads each sector of the active drive twice and compares
the data. If the information read is not the same then that
sector is identified as bad. The data already existing on your
hard drive is not effected.
∙ Read - Write - Read Non-destructive: This method of mapping
bad sectors reads each sector of the active drive and writes it
back to the hard drive. The sector is then read in again and
compared to the data originally read. If the information is
not the same then that sector is identified as bad. The
existing data on the active drive is not effected.
∙ Write - Read Destructive: This method of bad sector mapping
writes a random bit pattern to each sector on the active drive
and then reads that sector back. If the information read back
is not the same as the random bit pattern that was written then
that sector is marked as bad. This is a destructive mapping and
all data existing on the drive will be destroyed.
The effectiveness of all methods can be increased
by performing multiple bad sector mapping passes. The number of
passes that you want to perform is entered in the Mapping Bad
Sectors preferences dialog. The time it takes to complete the
process increases with the number of passes. When you are ready
to begin mapping bad sectors, select Map Bad Sectors Now.
The Map Bad Sector pass then proceeds to examine the
entire disk surface looking for errors. As the Map Bad pass
proceeds, the location of the disk being examined is displayed
in the graphic window. Areas where errors are detected are
displayed in Red(cross hatch in monochrome). When the Map Bad
pass is complete the Map Bad Report screen is displayed.
∙ Map Bad Report
The logical sector numbers of each bad sector found is
displayed in the Map Bad Report screen. If Auto-Fix was not
selected and errors were detected this would be indicated by the
message Disk Errors Need To Be Fixed and the appearance of a
Fix Now button on the Map Bad Report screen.
∙ Creating Validation Files
To create a CRC validation file from the active drive,
select Create CRC File from the Medic Menu, to create a Checksum
validation file for the active drive select Create Checksum File.
The validation file will automatically be created and stored in
the path designated in the user preferences. Validation files
are named VALIDY_X.VLD where Y is the validation type
(C=Checksum and R= CRC) and X is the active drive.
∙ Validating Files
To perform a validation of the active disk select Validate
Files from the Medic Menu. A standard GEM file selector will
appear and ask you for the reference validation file to use.
When you have selected the validation file you will be
asked what action to take when the program encounters a file
that is not in the reference validation file. You have the
option of either automatically adding the new file to the
existing validation file, skipping all new files, or being
prompted for action each time a file not contained in the
reference file is encountered.
At anytime during the creation of a validation file or
the validation of files you may pause the process to study the
screen by selecting Control-S. To restart the process, select
Control-Q. You may abort the entire process by selecting
Control-C.
∙ What to do if a Validation Error is Identified
A file validation error occurs when the calculated
CRC/Checksum value does not match the value stored in the
reference validation file. Each time this occurs you will be
notified on the screen and the effected file will be recorded
in a file named VALID_X.ERR where X is the active drive.
If a validation error is recorded DON'T panic. After the
validation is complete, view the effected files recorded in the
validation error file. Even though a validation error is
observed, you may not actually have a corrupted file, refer to
your manual foradditional information..
∙ Partitioning Your Hard Drive
It is strongly suggested that the reader consult
Section 8 of this manual before attempting to use this function.
This will give the reader the basic understanding of disk and
partition structure necessary to fully utilize this function.
After selecting Partition SCSI Disk, the existing
partitioning information will be read off the disk. If valid
partitioning information exists on the disk it will be displayed
as the basis to begin the partitioning session.
There are three basic editing modes: Start/End sectors,
Size, and Partition Type. The current editing mode is displayed
at the bottom of the partition window. To change fields within
an edit mode, you may use the usual Arrow and Tab keys or point
the mouse and click the left button. To change edit modes click
on the object that you want to edit with the left mouse button.
As you edit your partitions there are two basic rules
regarding the sizes and locations of partitions: 1) Partitions
must be sequential i.e. the start of partition #2 is after the
end of partition #1 and 2) You cannot create partitions whose
total size exceeds the size of your hard disk.
∙ Disk Partitioning Options
The following partitioning aids are provided to expedite
the task of partitioning your disk:
∙ Display Size Mode: You can select to have the disk and
partition size information displayed in either Sectors or Megs.
Diamond Edge displays Megs consistent with the ICD definition
Meg = 1,000,000 bytes. Note that this is different than the
traditional definition of a Megabyte = 1,048,576 bytes used by
Atari.
∙ Split: Selecting split will split your hard disk into a number
of partitions of equal size. You will be prompted for the
number of partitions to split. An easy way to partition your
hard disk into one large partition is to split the disk into
1 partition.
∙ Maximum: Selecting this option will create as many GEM
partitions of the maximum allowable size, for the Rom Version
you have selected, that can fit on your disk. An additional
partition will be created with any excess disk space.
∙ Clear: Selecting this option will clear all entered
partitioning information.
∙ Reset: This option will reset the displayed partitioning
information to the original information read off the hard disk.
∙ Atari/ICD: Selecting this button will toggle the state of the
extended partitioning mode. If Atari is selected then extended
partitions, (more than 4 partitions on the same hard disk) will
be laid out in accordance with the Atari extended partition
standard. If ICD is selected, extended partitions will be laid
out in accordance with the ICD/Supra extended partition standard.
Please see section 8.2 for a complete description of extended
partitions.
∙ TOSxxx: Selecting this button will toggle the state of the
Rom dependence mode. If TOS1.02 is selected, then partitions
whether GEM or BGM will be limited to 32,767 clusters. These
disks will be able to be read on any ST regardless of ROM
version. If you have TOS 1.4 or above you can specify that
partitions may include up to 65,535 clusters. These disks
cannot be accessed by machines with TOS1.02 or 1.00.
∙ Save: You can save the hard disk partitioning information
currently displayed to a file for future reference or
installation. This option creates a SCSI disk information
file equivalent to those created by the Save SCSI Information
function of the Archive menu.
∙ Load: You can load previously saved partition information
files by selecting this function. This is useful for
partitioning a new disk "just like" another disk. The loaded
information is fully editable.
∙ Print: Selecting this option will print a copy of the currently
displayed partition information to your printer. The use of
this option is HIGHLY recommended. Having the partitioning
information in physical sector 0 wiped out is a more frequent
occurrence than most people might imagine. You should always
have a printout of your partition parameters and a SCSI
information file saved to floppy disk.
∙ Recalculate: At any time during your editing session you can
recalculate the amount of available space on your disk. You can
either click on the Recalculate button or press the Return key to
update the available information. All of the currently selected
options are taken into account and some of the partitions may
begin in a slightly different place after recalculation. This is
due to changes in the control sector requirements of the different
extended partitioning protocols.
∙ Active: Remember to specify which drives you want to be active.
Diamond Edge allows up to 64 different partitions installed on
each disk. However, GEMDOS only allows a total of 14 active
partitions on all your hard drives. Changing the Active status
of extra partitions and using the Install Information Only option
is a convenient way to create "Secret" partitions on your hard
drive not accessible unless you reactivate it.
∙ Disk Partitioning Actions
After you are satisfied with the partitioning information
currently displayed you have four action options:
∙ Install Only: Select this option if you only want to install
the current partition information without rebuilding any
partitions. This is used to change the activation status of
hidden partitions or to reinstall the partition information
after a hard disk crash without changing any of the data on
the hard drive.
∙ Install and Rebuild One: This option will install the
displayed partition information and rebuild one specified
partition. Rebuilding a partition involves the creation of
a boot sector, FAT sectors, and Root Directory sectors of the
appropriate size on the specified partition and then zeroing
them. All data in the area effected will be lost.
∙ Install and Rebuild All: Use this option to repartition your
entire hard disk. The current disk partitioning information
will be installed and all partitions will be rebuilt. All
existing data on the entire hard disk will be lost.
If you Accidently Rebuild a partition and need information that
was previously in that area you can recover the information by
reinstalling the old partitioning information and reinstalling the
disk structure from an archived Disk Information File.
See Archiving Disk Information for instructions on how to perform
these life saving actions.
∙ Cancel: If you have not performed any other action, then
Selecting Cancel will return you to the Diamond Edge Basic
Window. If you have installed partition information or rebuilt
one or more partitions, then selecting Cancel will perform a cold
reboot of your system. This is required for the operating system
to become aware of the new disk structure.