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Text File | 1998-06-02 | 25.2 KB | 540 lines

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRNFAT <Alt-F4> Parses the cluster chain of all Directories and Files, in the logged drive, comparing their cluster chain with the FAT (File Allocation Table). And locating all clusters that are Strays (not associated with any file) or that are Cross-Linked (two files are sharing the same clusters). As the cluster chain of each Directory or File is parsed, it is displayed as the "Current File". You will see the prompt below. Choose the printer option by pressing "Y" or "N" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over the "Y" or "N". To abort, press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a right mouse click. If "Y" is chosen, and the printer is not On Line, and you press ESC (to abort the print-out), the session will continue. [F1=Help] Do you wish to have the output sent to the printer (Y/N) ? Pressing "F1" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "[F1=Help]", will pop-up the help screen below: +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | This session parses all Directories, | | along with the FAT (File Allocation | | Table), locating all clusters that | | are Strays (not associated with any | | file) or that are Cross-Linked (two | | files are sharing the same clusters). | | All output is sent to the screen and | | optionally the printer. | | ESC = abort this session. | +---------------------------------------+ After selecting the printer option, the prompt below will appear. The "Current File" display, at the top left-hand corner of the screen, will show the Directory or File that is currently being parsed. To abort this session, before it is finished, press ESC. >>>> Locating Stray and Cross-Linked clusters in the FAT. <<<< If there are Stray and/or Cross-Linked clusters found, the 2 examples below show the format of what you would see. NOTE: This is the only session in this program that is not yet complete. But will at least detect, show the information on the screen, and send the information to the printer. Once completed, will be able to unCross-Link the found files. As a side note, if you have instances of both, then more than likely at least some of the Stray clusters belong to one of the Cross-Linked files. Page 37 STRNFAT <Alt-F4> (cont.) +------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------------- | Find stray clusters in the FAT for drive A: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Stray clusters : None. | | | | Cross-Linked clusters: Eh Fh 10h 11h 12h | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------------- Press any key to continue... +------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------------- | Cross-Linked file(s) 1 of 1. | | A:CLINK1.FIL | | Files directory sector : 7 (7h) | | File entry in this sector: 6 (Offset: A0h) | | Starting cluster number : 14 (Eh) | | A:CLINK2.FIL | | Files directory sector : 7 (7h) | | File entry in this sector: 2 (Offset: 20h) | | Starting cluster number : 13 (Dh) | | Files are Cross-Linked at clusters: Eh Fh 10h 11h | | 12h | | | | | | | | | | | +------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------------------- Press any key to continue... NOTE: In order to limit the file size of DE, it uses memory allocation to perform this test. If in running this session with the least amount of memory required, there would still not be enough free memory, you would see see the message below. Press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "ESC", to end the StrNFAT session. +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | SORRY: There is not enough free memory| | to run the Stray cluster session! | +---------------------------------------+ Page 38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- FNDNFAT <Alt-F5> Parses the FAT (File Allocation Table), of the logged drive, to find any clusters that are marked as BAD (FF7h for a 12-bit FAT or FFF7h for a 16-bit FAT), clusters that are marked as RESERVED (FF0-FF6h for a 12-bit FAT or FFF0-FFF6h for a 16-bit FAT), or cluster numbers that exceed the maximum cluster number allowed for the logged drive. FYI. The following are the cluster values, so to speak, that indicate that there are no more clusters in the file cluster chain (FF8-FFFh for a 12-bit FAT and FFF8-FFFFh for a 16-bit FAT; FFFh or FFFFh are the most commonly used values). You will see the prompt below. Choose the printer option by pressing "Y" or "N" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over the "Y" or "N". To abort, press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a right mouse click. If "Y" is chosen, and the printer is not On Line, and you press ESC (to abort the print-out), the session will continue. [F1=Help] Do you wish to have the output sent to the printer (Y/N) ? Pressing "F1" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "[F1=Help]", will pop-up the help screen below: +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | This session locates all clusters in | | the FAT (File Allocation Table) that | | are marked as Bad, Reserved by DOS, | | or that exceed the maximum cluster | | number that is allowed for this drive.| | "Value" = the hexidecimal value that | | is stored at that "Cluster" number; | | each cluster in the FAT is actually | | a pointer to the next cluster! | | All output is sent to the screen and | | optionally the printer. | | ESC = abort this session. | +---------------------------------------+ After selecting the printer option, the prompt below will appear. >>>> Locating special clusters in the FAT. <<<< The output, which doesn't take long, will look something like this: Find special FAT clusters for drive C: ------------------------------------------------------------------ Clusters marked as bad: xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh Cluster Value Cluster Value ------- ----- ------- ----- Clusters marked as reserved by DOS: xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh xxxxh Invalid cluster numbers in the FAT: None. <---- If none found. Page 39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CMPFATS <Alt-F6> Compares both copies of the FAT (File Allocation Table), of the logged drive, for any differences. Both copies are supposed to be identical. If there is only 1 FAT on the disk, will just beep the PC speaker. FYI. DOS instituted there being a second copy of the FAT around DOS v2. The intension was that if the first (or master) FAT were to be corrupted, there would be a backup copy. The problem with this is that when DOS performs file handling, both copies of the FAT are updated. Meaning that the second copy is really useless. It is not a DOS requirement that a disk have 2 FAT's, but RAMDISKS are all that I've ever seen that have only 1 FAT. You will see the prompt below. Choose the printer option by pressing "Y" or "N" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over the "Y" or "N". To abort, press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a right mouse click. If "Y" is chosen, and the printer is not On Line, and you press ESC (to abort the print-out), the session will continue. [F1=Help] Do you wish to have the output sent to the printer (Y/N) ? Pressing "F1" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "[F1=Help]", will pop-up the help screen below: +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | This session compares the two copies | | of the FAT (File Allocation Table). | | The FAT contains the Cluster numbering| | layout (or Chain) of all files on the | | disk. If any differences are found, | | they are reported to the screen and | | optionally the printer. | | ESC = abort this session. | +---------------------------------------+ If there are no differences found, you will see the message below. No errors found in comparing the 2 FAT's. If there are differences found, the output (which doesn't take long), will look something like this: FAT compare for drive C: ------------------------------------------------------ > Error reading FAT's at hex offset: xxxxh <-- 0 based offset with- Byte value in FAT #1, Sector xxxxx = xxh in the sector(s). Byte value in FAT #2, Sector xxxxx = xxh Page 40 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTEST <Alt-F7> Performs a test read of all sectors on the logged drive, to determine the integrity of their contents (data). You will see the prompt below. Choose the printer option by pressing "Y" or "N" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over the "Y" or "N". To abort, press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a right mouse click. If "Y" is chosen, and the printer is not On Line, and you press ESC (to abort the print-out), the sector test will continue. [F1=Help] Do you wish to have the output sent to the printer (Y/N) ? Pressing "F1" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "[F1=Help]", will pop-up the help screen below. Please note that older hard drives will be a bit slow. This is because of the hard drives ciruitry, not DE. +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | This session performs a physical read | | of all sectors on the disk. | | All read errors are reported to the | | screen and optionally the printer. | | Time frame of test: | | Floppy disk = 1 minute (+/-). | | 2 GB hard disk = 20 minutes (+/-). | | ESC = do not perform the Sector Test. | +---------------------------------------+ After selecting the printer option, the prompt below will appear. n/a = we are not in the DATA sectors yet (where the cluster scheme begins). xxxx = the cluster number (in hexidecimal) that is currently being tested. The "Cluster: xxxx" display may seem to be skipping clusters, but it is not. Since most clusters (groups of sectors) on a disk will be good, this program takes advantage of DMA (Direct Memory Access) by reading large groups of sectors at once. If an error occurs during one of these reads, the program backs up, reads each set of clusters from that group in order to isolate the bad cluster (aka, sectors within that cluster), and then goes to the next large group of sectors. If the "Cluster: xxxx" is skipping along just fine, and then starts to crawl through the cluster numbers, you'll know that DE received a sector read error. If no read errors are reported to the screen, and the "Cluster: xxxx" display starts to skipping along again, then the magnetic field (called: flux) of the errant sector is probably getting weak. A trick I learned a few years ago, with bad floppy disks, was to put the disk in the drive bay, close the door, and leave it there for about 5 or 10 minutes. The heat generated within the computer case seems to energize the magnetic field (flux) on the disk. Then is a good time to copy its contents to a fresh disk. If in doing so, DOS brings up its infamous "<A>bort, <R>etry, <I>gnore" message, choose <I>gnore. DOS will attempt to read a bad disk sector 3 times before you see this message. And since DOS will always assume a worse case scenerio, choosing anything but <I>gnore would be fruitless. NEVER use DISKCOPY to transfere files from a bad disk to a good disk. You will end up with a duplicate of the bad disk. Use COPY instead. To abort the sector test, before it is finished, press ESC. Page 41 SECTEST <Alt-F7> (cont.) Performing >> READ SECTOR TEST <<..please wait..[ESC to abort] Cluster: n/a or Performing >> READ SECTOR TEST <<..please wait..[ESC to abort] Cluster: xxxx The below is a sample of what you would see. With some sector read errors thrown in. Please note that the sector numbers are displayed in decimal and the cluster numbers in hexidecimal. The number that appears after the sector number is the 1 or 2-digit error code that was returned by the operating system. On a color moniter this error code will be yellow and on a monochrome moniter, high intensity (real bright). If the print-out option is chosen, the error code will be enclosed in brackets: [ 4]. NOTE: This session tests ALL sectors on the disk, whether the area they are in is marked as bad in the FAT (File Allocation Table) or not. If you have an older computer, it would be a good idea to run <Alt-F5> FndNFAT, with the print-out option, the first time around. This will give you a print-out of any clusters that are marked as bad in the FAT (this prevents DOS from using these clusters). Reading BOOT sector(s): OK Reading FAT #1 sectors: OK Reading FAT #2 sectors: Error reading SECTOR 1234567890 4 Reading ROOT DIRECTORY sectors : OK Reading DATA clusters & sectors: Error reading CLUSTER---> FFFFh SECTOR 1234567890 4 The message below will appear once the sector test is complete. To exit the sector test, press "ESC" on the keyboard. Or a left mouse click over "ESC". To view the Sector Error Code Definition screen, press "F1" on the keyboard. Or left mouse click over "F1". ...Press F1 for help, ESC to exit... Below is the Sector Error Code Definition screen. To exit this screen, press "ESC" on the keyboard. Or left mouse click over "ESC". To send its contents to the printer, press "P" on the keyboard. Or left mouse click over "P". NOTE: A sector error code of 4 does not necessarily mean that the sectors magnetic field (flux) is about to fail. But if the sector test reports a great number of these, its probably a good time to perform a complete backup, and then low-level format the drive. This will restore the magnetic field of the disk. Now if any other of the error codes are reported (6, 7, 8, 11, or 12), and the clusters that they are in are not marked as bad in the FAT, then it would be very wise to have a professional PC technician examine the circuitry of the drive. And if necessary, replace the drive. Page 42 SECTEST <Alt-F7> (cont.) +-|ESC|------------------------------------------------| P |-+ | Error codes returned by the operating system if a sector | | read or write error occured. | | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | 0 = Disk is write-protected. | | 1 = Invalid drive number. | | 2 = Drive not ready (drive door is open). | | 4 = Bad CRC (data read is usually valid; not guaranteed). | | 6 = Couldn't access track. | | 7 = Unrecognizable disk format. | | 8 = Sector not found (corrupted sector/media). | | 10 = Write error. | | 11 = Read error. | | 12 = General unknown error (corrupted sector/media). | +------------------------------------------------------------+ NOTE: In order to limit the file size of DE, it uses memory allocation to perform this test. If in running this session with the least amount of memory required, there would still not be enough free memory, you would see see the message below. Press "ESC" on the keyboard, or a left mouse click over "ESC", to end the SecTest session. +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | SORRY: There is not enough free memory| | to run the Read Sector Test! | +---------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISCELLANEOUS - Disk read or write error messages. You would see the below message if you attempted to save sector changes to a floppy disk with the write-protect tab enabled. To abort saving the sector changes, press "ESC" or "N" on the keyboard. Or a left mouse click over "ESC" or "N". To continue with the sector changes, disable the write- protect tab and press "Y" on the keyboard. Or left mouse click over "Y". +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Unable to write sector changes to the | | disk! Write protect tab is enabled. | | Disable and press Y if you wish to | | save changes. Press N or ESC to abort.| | | | Continue <Y/N> ? | +---------------------------------------+ You would see one of the combinations of these messages for a sector read or write error. Press "ESC" on the keyboard to continue. Or left mouse click over "ESC". Page 43 MISCELLANEOUS - Disk read or write error messages. (cont.) +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error reading sector: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error reading disk boot sector: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error reading FAT sectors: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error reading directory sector: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error writing sector changes: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error writing FAT sectors: | +-|ESC|---------------------------------+ | Error writing directory sector: | | Invalid drive number. | +---------------------------------------+ | Unknown error. | +---------------------------------------+ | Bad CRC (data read is usually valid). | +---------------------------------------+ | Couldn't access track. | +---------------------------------------+ | Unrecognizable disk format. | +---------------------------------------+ | Sector not found (corrupted media). | +---------------------------------------+ | Write error. | +---------------------------------------+ | Read error. | +---------------------------------------+ | General error (corrupted sector/media)| +---------------------------------------+ Page 44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISCELLANEOUS - Printer messages. Printer is not ON LINE!! Press ESC to quit. Any other key to continue... Please insert a new sheet. Then: ESC to quit. Any other key to continue... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other programs by the author. DAT2BIN.EXE Converts an ASCII text file into an ASCIIZ binary file that may be used to hold messages for Pop-Up Help screens, etc. NOTE: DAT2BIN.ZIP includes DAT2BIN.EXE, TESTD2B.EXE, and TESTD2B2.EXE with accompanying source code. EDITENV.EXE A general purpose utility that allows one to edit, delete, or add Enviroment Variables. This utility also expands the maximum length of an Enviroment Variable from 127 characters to 255 characters! Pressing F1 while in the Variable or Editing Window will pop-up a help screen. GMENU.EXE A general purpose utility that is used to create custom "menu and shell" programs for games, utility programs, or whatever. LISTDEV.EXE v2.0 displays the Device Driver Chain and the contents of each Device Header. Redirection to a file or the printer is allowed. Source code included. LISTIVT.EXE v2.0, short for List the Interrupt Vector Table, provides a simple way to obtain the Segment:Offset addresses from the IVT in the first 1024 bytes of computer memory. A brief explanation of each Interrupt is also shown. For ease of use, the bottom most line is highlighted, showing the allowable key presses. An option for a print-out of the current screen or the entire IVT listing is provided via the F2 function key. A complete print-out is 10 pages. MEMSPY.EXE A general purpose utility that is used to peek and poke around in memory. Output can also be sent to: [1] a file (binary image) or PRN > file or [2] to the printer, with options that accom- modate the capabilities of the printer being used. PMENU.EXE Displays a menu of choices for printer configuration. Press the appropriate key that is shown to the left of the wanted selection. In all cases, an uppercase letter = "Set" and where applicable, a lowercase letter = "Cancel". PMENU_E.EXE Is identical to PMENU.EXE except it adds an additional EPSON-specific command that allows the printer to be set to extended ASCII printing without physically changing a dip-switch. Page 45 Other programs by the author. (cont.) SEC2FILE.EXE A general purpose utility that is used to copy the contents of of an absolute sector (or sectors) to an output file for viewing or editing. It is compatiable for any 12 or 16-FAT, with DOS versions 2.xx through 7.xx. TESTATTR.EXE A general purpose utility that allows a programmer to see the colors that different "character attributes" generate, the easy way! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE END JOB 28:28 ROMANS 1:16-20 Page 46