home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
Text File | 2008-03-15 | 189.2 KB | 3,553 lines |
- +--------------------------------------+
- | Partition Saving |
- | |
- | http://www.partition-saving.com |
- | Copyright (c) 1999-2008 D. Guibouret |
- +--------------------------------------+
-
- Manual
-
- Table of contents
- -----------------
-
- 1- Preface
- 2- Introduction
- 3- System Requirements
- 4- Interface features/functions
- a) Textual windows interface
- b) Command line interface
- 5- Using the program
- 6- Saving an element
- a) Support choice:
- b) Source element choice:
- c) Part to save:
- d) Swap files directory:
- e) File choice:
- f) File size choice:
- g) Compression choice:
- h) Saving window:
- i) Options file creation:
- j) Examples:
- 7- Restoring an element
- a) Backup file choice:
- b) Destination element choice:
- c) Restoring window:
- d) Examples:
- 8- Copying an element
- a) Support choice:
- b) Source element choice:
- c) Part to save:
- d) Destination element choice:
- e) Copying window:
- f) Examples:
- 9- Copying a backup file
- 10- Verifying a backup file
- 11- Updating Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry
- a) Support choice where Windows is installed:
- b) Element choice where Windows is installed:
- c) Directory where Windows is installed:
- d) Disk choice where partition to update is:
- e) Partition to update choice:
- f) Drive letter of partition to update:
- g) Confirmation:
- h) Example:
- 12- Updating Windows Vista boot configuration
- a) Bootable support choice:
- b) Bootable element choice:
- c) Disk where partition to update is choice:
- d) Partition to update choice:
- e) Boot entry to update choice:
- f) Confirmation:
- 13- Updating BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file
- a) Support choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is:
- b) Element choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is:
- c) Confirmation:
- 14- Fixing disk physical definition into boot sector
- a) Support choice where fixing boot sector:
- b) Element choice where boot sector is:
- c) Correction of first sector value:
- d) Choice of new physical definition:
- e) Giving manual values:
- f) Confirmation:
- 15- Replacing a boot sector or a superblock by its copy
- a) Support choice where copying boot sector/superblock:
- b) Element choice where boot sector/superblock is:
- c) Choice of copy to use:
- d) Exploring partition:
- e) Confirmation:
- 16- Simulating an element
- a) Use of driver:
- b) Simulating an element:
- c) Remarks:
- 17- Creation of files on NTFS drive
- 18- Reset bad sectors in filesystem
- a) Support choice where bad sectors shall be removed:
- b) Element choice where bad sectors shall be removed:
- c) Confirmation:
- d) Execution:
- 19- Explore a partition
- a) Choice of support where partition to explore is:
- b) Choice of partition to explore:
- c) Exploration window:
- d) View window:
- e) Edit window:
- f) Copy destination:
- g) Copy execution:
- 20- Explore a backup
- 21- Options file contents
- 22- Mounting a partition
- 23- Notes on what elements can be saved
- a) The complete disk:
- b) The Master Boot Record (MBR):
- c) First sectors of disk:
- d) Partitions table:
- e) Partitions (all sectors):
- f) Partitions (only occupied sectors):
- g) FAT (12, 16 and 32) partitions (DOS/Windows):
- h) Ext2fs/ext3fs partitions (Linux):
- i) NTFS partitions:
- j) Boot sector/superblock:
- k) Floppy disks:
- l) DOS/Windows devices:
- 24- Differences between DOS and Windows versions
- a) All versions of Windows:
- b) Windows before Windows 95:
- c) Windows 95/98/Me:
- d) Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/...:
- e) Windows 64 bits:
- 25- What is not supported
- 26- What cannot be tested
- 27- Acknowledgments
-
-
- 1- Preface
- ----------
-
- This program may be copied and freely redistributed. It may not be sold in any
- way, either alone or included in another program. All that is in this package
- must be kept together in its original form.
-
- This program is offered as-is without any guarantee. No pursuit can be engaged
- against its author in case of damages due to this program.
-
- This file is the complete version of manual and has many details. If you begin
- to use Partition-Saving, you can read the HOWTO before to see how to use it,
- then come back to this file if you need further details.
-
- All remarks are welcome.
-
-
- 2- Introduction
- ---------------
-
- The goal of this program is to achieve saving, restoring and copying of disk
- elements (whole disks, Master Boot Record, partitions table, partitions). This
- permits saving hard disk contents to restore it later in case of a problem,
- without losing time reinstalling and reconfiguring software.
- This program allows running the following tasks:
-
- - saving an element (hard disk, partition, floppy disk, device).
- - restoring an element that was saved before.
- - copying an element.
- - copying a backup file created by this program, modifying its size or
- compression rate.
- - verifying created files.
- - updating partition definition in Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry.
- - updating BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file.
- - exploring a partition.
- - simulating elements with created files.
- - creating files on a NTFS drive under Windows for use in saving.
- - cancelling bad sectors information of a filesystem.
- - correcting disk physical definition (heads and sectors per track numbers)
- into a FAT and NTFS boot sector.
- - replacing a FAT or NTFS boot sector or ext2/ext3 superbloc by its copy in
- case original one is damaged.
-
- For detailed information about partitioning and this program, please read
- additional information.
-
-
- 3- System Requirements
- ----------------------
-
- Hardware:
-
- - 386 or better.
- - 4 Mb of memory (could work with less, but data compression might not
- work). Free DOS memory must be at least 300 Kb.
-
- Software:
-
- - DOS (version >= 3.3).
-
- This program does not work under Windows (see chapter 4 of additional
- information) and using it with an emulator is not recommended(especially if it
- runs in a multitasking environment).
- This program shall be used after a boot of computer without leaving any OS
- into some hibernation mode because in this case modification made by this
- program can disallow this OS booting back or OS can undo what program does.
- You will need also a FAT, NTFS or ext2 partition (or any other filesystem for
- which you have a DOS driver that allows access to it) to create backup file
- (this is not needed if you merely want to copy a partition, since no file is
- created).
-
-
- 4- Interface features/functions
- -------------------------------
-
- Two interface types are available:
-
- - a textual windows interface that presents information in windows that can
- be navigated with the keyboard or mouse.
- - a command-line interface that presents information in a basic way and can
- be used only with the keyboard.
-
- The default interface is the first one. The second one is here to resolve some
- incompatibility issues on some computers.
- To decide which interface to choose, please read chapter 5.
-
- a) Textual windows interface
-
- Interface can be used with keyboard or mouse. Keys common to all windows are:
-
- - Tab, bottom arrow or right arrow to go from one item to another inside a
- window.
- - Shift+Tab, up arrow or left arrow to go from one item to another inside a
- window (in reverse order compared to Tab).
- - Ctrl+Tab to go from one window to another.
- - Alt+Tab to go from one window to another (in reverse order compared to
- Ctrl+Tab).
- - Key assignments are defined to associate moving keys to a combination of
- keys using the Control key:
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Moving keys | Combination |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Home | Ctrl+B |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | End | Ctrl+E |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Down | Ctrl+D |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Up | Ctrl+O |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Right | Ctrl+K |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Left | Ctrl+L |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Page Down | Ctrl+N |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Page Up | Ctrl+P |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | BackSpace | Ctrl+H |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Delete | Ctrl+J |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Insert | Ctrl+Y |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Return | Ctrl+M |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Tab | Ctrl+F |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Shift+Tab | Ctrl+G |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Alt+Tab | Ctrl+T |
- +-------------+-------------+
- | Ctrl+Tab | Ctrl+W |
- +-------------+-------------+
-
- If no item seems to be selected, press one of these keys to select first or
- last one.
- In general, Enter key activates Ok button (if no other button is selected) and
- Escape key activates Cancel button.
- Various features of windows are presented below:
-
- - Command buttons: to activate them, you have to press Enter key when they
- are selected, or press Alt+<red letter in button name> (even if button is
- not selected).
- You can also activate them by clicking on them.
- A button is selected if it has a black background and is flanked by ">"
- and "<", otherwise it has a green background.
- - Entry lines: this is an item that permits entering data. Just press a key
- to add the character where the cursor is. Delete and BackSpace keys are
- used to erase characters (respectively, character that cursor is on, and
- character before cursor). Right and left arrows are used to move cursor
- and Home and End keys are used to go to begin or end of string. Holding
- down the shift key while using moving keys will select text that will be
- erased when you will press a key other than the moving one. By pressing
- Ctrl+A you select all the text.
- Finally, Insert key is used to switch from insert mode (default mode:
- cursor is underlined cursor) to replacement mode (cursor is block-cursor)
- and back again.
- With the mouse, you can move the cursor by clicking where you want it to
- be, scroll the text by clicking on arrow on left or on right, select the
- text by keeping button pressed when moving mouse and select all the text
- by double clicking on it.
- An entry line is selected when it has the cursor that appears in it.
- - Listboxes: they are used to choose an item from a list. Up and bottom
- arrows are used to move from one item to another, Page-Up and Page-Down
- keys are used to go to begin and end of list.
- If right column is a different color and contains a # character, it is
- because all elements cannot be seen and the # character is used to locate
- the currently selected item in the list.
- If last line is a different color and contains a # character it is because
- there were some columns that cannot be seen and the # character is used to
- locate columns that are displayed.
- With the mouse, you can select an element. If scroll bar appears on right,
- you can change list position by clicking where you want to be, or by
- clicking arrows on up or bottom. By double clicking on selected element
- you will activate command associated to the list (generally Ok button).
- A selected item has a grey background if its listbox is not selected, and
- has a black background if its listbox is selected.
- In case list allows selecting several items, you can select/unselect items
- either by range with keeping the shift key pressed with a mouse click or
- moving keys or by individual item selection with keeping the ctrl key
- pressed with moving and mouse click or space to select/unselect an item.
- You can use Ctrl+A to select all items.
- - Checkboxes: these items allows activating/deactivating an option. To
- change the state of a checkbox, click on it or press Space key when it is
- selected. A checkbox is activated when an 'X' appears between square
- brackets, it is deactivated otherwise.
- A checkbox is selected when its text is white, is not selected when its
- text is grey.
- - Directory trees: this item allows selecting a directory on a partition. It
- functions similarly to a listbox. The first line ("\") is the root
- directory of the partition, subsequent lines are directories on this
- partition displayed with a tree view in alphabetic order. Directories that
- have "+- " before their name have some sub-directories that can be
- displayed by selecting this directory and pressing '+' key or by clicking
- the "+" before name. Directories that have their sub-directories displayed
- and that have "-- " before their name can be collapsed by selecting this
- directory and pressing '-' key or by clicking the first "-".
- Example:
- \
- -- displayed sub-directories
- | |- sub-directory 1
- | `- sub-directory 2
- |- no sub-directory
- +- sub-directories not displayed
- `- terminal directory
-
- b) Command line interface
- This interface is more basic and can only be used with the keyboard. Pressing
- the Escape key at any time stops execution of the program.
- Various features are:
-
- - Lists: a list is displayed with numbers on the left. Enter the item number
- when you are asked to choose. If the list is bigger than screen size, you
- will have to press a key to scroll.
- - Entering information: you must enter the required information (for example
- a filename). Delete key allows removing last character (what you have
- already entered is displayed on next line without the last character and
- you can continue to enter characters). It is not possible to move the
- cursor.
- - Choices: they have the form of a question with possible responses given in
- parentheses (sample: (Y/N)). You must answer by selecting from these
- choices. It is not case-sensitive.
-
-
- 5- Using the program
- --------------------
-
- Usage: savepart.exe [-l en|fr|fr_2] [-cm|-nm|-pm] [-f <options file>] [-ncd]
- [-ncs] [-nvd] [-nvf] [-cui|-tui|-tuix|-bui|-buix]
- [-a|-b|-c|-d|-e|-i|-k|-m|-n|-r|-s|-t|-u|-v|-w|-z]
-
- -l: this option allows you to select which language to use. You only have to
- use this option if the automatically recognised language is not correct. If an
- error occurs before this option is analysed, the error message will be written
- with the automatically detected language. Recognised languages are:
-
- * en: English.
- * fr: French.
- * fr_2: French with others code pages.
-
- Detection of language sets language to French when detecting France, French
- Canada, French Guyana, French Antilles or French Polynesia settings, otherwise
- it is set to English.
- fr_2 is to be used in case accents are not well displayed. I don't know for
- which setting it was (and I am not sure there was a DOS setting for it), it is
- accents as Windows and Linux code them (ANSI). It is not automatically
- detected.
-
- -cm: this option is the default way the mouse is utilised.
-
- -pm: this option is another way to utilise the mouse that can be used in
- case the first one does not work (it is default method when using DOS version
- on Windows NT/XP). Using this method may prevent detecting some double clicks.
- This option is equivalent to -cm into Windows version.
-
- -nm: this option disables the mouse. You would have to use it only if mouse
- use seems to pose a problem with 2 previous methods.
-
- -f <options file>: this option allows you to use batch mode. To understand
- the contents of this file, please read chapter 21.
-
- -ncd: this option disables the check that created/read file is not on
- saved/restored element. It is generally recommended only if DOS drive letter
- attribution is wrong. This option has no influence in Windows version (this
- check cannot be disabled).
-
- -ncs: this option disables the check on free size on drive where backup file
- is created. This is a workaround in case the driver report a wrong free size,
- but you have to be aware when using this option to not provide a too big
- maximum file size else saving will fail.
-
- -nvd: this option disables the check that sectors are correctly written.
- This speeds up restoring, but may prevent detecting bad sectors on the disk.
- The check that sectors are correctly written is always disabled in Windows
- version (less for floppy disks in Windows 9x).
-
- -nvf: this option disables the check that files are correctly written and
- that sectors are correctly written when using DOS devices access. This speeds
- up saving (and/or restoring), but created files or restored devices may be
- incorrect because the disk where they are written is damaged The check that
- files are correctly written is always disabled in Windows version.
-
- -cui|-tui|-tuix|-bui|-buix: this option allows you to select the user
- interface:
-
- * -cui: command line interface.
- * -tui: textual window interface.
- * -tuix: same as -tui but with using extended display mode (43 or 50 lines
- instead of 25).
- * -bui: textual window interface using BIOS calls to write on the screen.
- This ensures better compatibility but goes slower. This option is the
- same than -tui in Windows version.
- * -buix: same as -bui but with using extended display mode (43 or 50 lines
- instead of 25). This option is the same than -tuix in Windows version.
-
- If this option is not given, textual window interface is used. This option has
- to be used only if this interface poses a problem (for example nothing appears
- when the program begins). In this case, you can first try the -bui option, and
- if it still does not work, use the -cui one.
-
- -a|-b|-c|-d|-e|-i|-k|-m|-n|-r|-s|-t|-u|-v|-w|-z: this option allows
- selecting which action to do:
-
- * -a: fix disk physical definition into boot sector.
- * -b: update BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file.
- * -c: copy an element.
- * -d: copy files created by this program to modify it (compression rate,
- maximum size, extract occupied sectors only, ...).
- * -e: explore a partition.
- * -i: get information from driver.
- * -m: simulate an element with backup files.
- * -n: create files on NTFS partition when you are running from Windows NT,
- 2000, XP or Vista.
- * -r: restore an element.
- * -s: save an element.
- * -t: verify a backup file.
- * -u: update Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry.
- * -v: explore a backup file.
- * -w: update Windows Vista boot configuration data.
- * -z: cancelling bad sectors information of a filesystem.
-
- If none of these options are given, the program asks what you want to do. For
- information about each action, please read subsequent chapters.
-
- Return code of program can be one of the following:
-
- - 0 if no error has been detected.
- - 1 if en error has appeared.
- - 2 if user cancels execution.
- - 3 if no error has been detected, but there were some bad sectors.
- - 255 if some exception has been raised.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - -f <option file> cannot be used when copying a partition or files.
- - copying or checking file can be executed under Windows (in this case it
- will certainly run faster than with DOS).
- - exploring a partition can only be used with a textual windows interface
- (it cannot work with -cui option).
-
-
- 6- Saving an element
- --------------------
-
- This is the part executed when you use the -s option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below (if not in batch mode):
- Support choice
- |
- V
- Source element choice
- |
- V
- [Part to save]
- |
- V
- [Swap files directory]
- |<------------------------+---+
- V | |
- File choice | |
- | | |
- V | |
- File size choice | |
- +-------------------------+ |
- V |
- [Compression choice] |
- | |
- V |
- Saving window |
- +-----------------------------+
- V
- Options file creation
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice:
- You have to choose the disk, floppy drive or DOS device where the element to
- be saved is located.
- Disk access modes are:
-
- - standard access: with this access mode disk is accessed with its physical
- definition (cylinder, sector, head). With this access mode sector size
- cannot been known (it is assumed to be 512 bytes which is most common
- value) and disk size is at most of 8 Gb.
- - extended access: this is a new access mode, which has become the standard
- one. In this case the hard disk is seen as a unique track (it does not
- care about physical definition). This mode allows use of more than 8 Gb
- hard disk. Nevertheless size reported can be wrong (without any
- consequence). Sector size can be different from 512 bytes (but this value
- is still the most common).
-
- For floppy drive, access is always standard access and for DOS devices it
- appears as extended for Partition Saving, but as it is the DOS driver that
- accesses the device, it is this last one that choose access mode.
-
- b) Source element choice:
- This window allows you to select what part of the disk to save.
- Support tells you whether the element is directly related to the disk or to a
- partition. In the case of a partition, support is specifies whether it is a
- main partition or if it is a partition defined in the extended partition.
- Partition number is the number as given under Linux.
- Drive name is the DOS drive name that corresponds to the partition (if it is a
- DOS partition). This can be wrong because some new partition type can be
- defined (for example with Windows95, several new partition types have been
- defined for VFAT16 and FAT32 partitions).
- In the case of an element related to the disk, element type identifies the
- element: it can be the whole disk, the master boot record (first sector of
- disk), sectors that are before first partition and partitions table. In the
- case of an element related to partition, element type is partition type: this
- is used to identify the OS installed on it. As this type is not normalised,
- the list is not exhaustive.
- Size gives element size. By default, it is expressed in Mb, except in cases
- where it is followed by Kb.
- Partition name is the label (or volume name). It is given when it can be
- found. If, for a DOS drive, there seems to be incoherence between drive letter
- and partition name, this last one is certainly correct and drive letter wrong.
- For floppy drive, this window does not appear.
- For DOS devices, you can choose the device to save from the list given you
- which DOS understands as having a sector access and having a FAT filesystem.
-
- Remark:
- -------
-
- - If you save a main partition of extended type, you will save all
- partitions defined inside this extended partition (all that have "Extended
- n <extended partition chosen>" as support).
- - If you have only one partition with type 42 (dynamic disk) or 8e (Linux
- LVM), disk is used with new dynamic partition scheme that is not supported
- by Partition Saving, so you cannot save it.
- - If you have a partition with type 44 (GoBack), it is because you use
- Norton GoBack that has its own partition mechanism. You have to deactivate
- it in order to be able to save a partition.
-
- c) Part to save:
- This window only appears if chosen partition is of a type which permits saving
- only occupied sectors. In this case, it proposes the following choices:
-
- - "All sectors": With this choice, all sectors of the partition are saved
- without considering if they are occupied or not. This makes saving need
- more space than in following choices, but allows saving a partition even
- if it is heavily damaged (for example, to save it before trying some
- radical way to repair it). Constraints are that this partition can only be
- restored onto a partition with the same format (hard disk must have the
- same size and physical definition, and partition must have the same size
- and be at the same place).
- - "Occupied sectors": with this choice, only occupied sectors are saved.
- This has the advantage that saving need less space and allows restoring
- this partition onto a different partition (it can be on another disk, at
- another place and have another size), but there are still some size
- constraints. Disadvantages are that it needs more memory and saving can
- fail if your partition is damaged (for example, if important sectors are
- damaged).
- - "Element on itself": this choice appears for FAT, NTFS and ext2
- partitions. It is the same as preceding choice but allows creating a
- backup file on the saved partition (which must NOT be done for the 2
- previous choices). You can choose this option only if you use the internal
- program feature to access FAT, NTFS and ext2 partitions (by using
- partition mounting), not if you have another way to access these
- partitions. If you choose this option, partition is automatically mounted
- to be able to access it if that is not already the case. Constraints are
- that it needs more memory, and you will have to do a scandisk on the
- restored partition (after having restarted your computer) to correct some
- potential errors on the size of created files (those you have used for
- restoration are correct, those on the restored partition are not). For
- FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and ext2 partitions, this check is automatically
- activated the next time you boot. For FAT12 partitions, you have to do the
- check by yourself.
- For FAT and ext2 partition it is better to not overwritte an existing file
- because it can lead to more errors than creating new files. For NTFS
- partition there is no such constraint (moreover there is no choice).
- - "Occupied sectors without swap files": this choice appears only for FAT
- and NTFS partitions. With this choice only occupied sectors are saved and
- the swap files contents are not saved (Windows will reset them at first
- boot after doing restoration). Swap files can be "win386.swp",
- "vmmhiber.w9x", "pagefile.sys" and "hiberfil.sys" on a FAT partition and
- "pagefile.sys" and "hiberfil.sys" on a NTFS partition. This option allows
- reducing backup file size, but need more memory than saving occupied
- sectors only.
- - "Element on itself without swap files": this choice is a combination of
- the two previous choices.
- - "Boot sector" (FAT/NTFS partition) or "Super bloc" (ext2/ext3 partition):
- this allows saving sectors that describe file system (first one for
- FAT/NTFS partition, the 2048 first bytes for ext2/ext3 partition). This
- option is not very useful unless to prevent against a boot virus.
-
- If partition to save is not a partition for which saving only occupied sectors
- is available or if you have chosen an element that is related to disk, this
- window will not appear and all sectors will be saved.
- To have more information on saving only occupied sectors, please read chapter
- 23.
-
- Remark:
- -------
-
- - a window informing you of searching for last occupied sector is displayed
- between maximum filesize choice and saving window. If you chose one of the
- two options where only occupied sectors are saved, this window might be
- displayed for a long time. If you save all sectors, you will certainly not
- see it because it is displayed too briefly.
-
- d) Swap files directory:
- This window appears only if you chose "Element without swap files" or "Element
- on itself without swap files" option in the previous window. It allows telling
- the program which directory contains the swap files. In addition to the
- directory you choose here, the program also searches for them in the root
- directory (you can obviously give the root directory here also). As a general
- rule, swap files are either in the root directory or in the Windows directory.
- To select the directory you have to go into the tree (with displaying
- subdirectories of a directory by pressing the '+' key when it is selected if
- necessary) until you reach it, then press Enter or click the Ok button.
-
- e) File choice:
- In this window you can choose the name and location of the file in which to
- save partition data. For this purpose you can type into "File" line the name
- of the file (with possibly its path) or select one from the files list or
- select another directory with drives and directories lists. By default "*.*"
- is displayed which means that all files are shown. You can also create some
- directory (this shall NOT be done on the saved partition even if you chose to
- save it on itself) or mount a partition. Mounting a partition allows you to
- access a partition that cannot be used by DOS, such as an NTFS partition you
- want to write a backup file on. For have more details on mounting a partition,
- please read chapter 22.
- A second window gives you the option to use automatic naming. With automatic
- naming, the program will generate a file names automatically for following
- files if several files are needed. To accomplish this purpose, the program
- uses the first filename and changes (or adds) the two last characters of file
- extension (last three if more than 100 files are needed) by file number (with
- using 0 for number of first file). For example if your first file is called
- "disk_c.par", the second one will be "disk_c.p01", the third "disk_c.p02",
- ..., the hundred and first "disk_c.100".
- A third window gives you the list of DOS drives with free space and the full
- size of the partition (without taking into account the fact that only occupied
- sectors might be saved and whether compression is used).
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - If a drive does not appear in the drives list, it is because it can't be
- detected. Nevertheless, you can enter its letter into the file name line
- (in which case the drive list would not give the right name, but there is
- no consequence).
- - if the selected file already exists, a window is opened to confirm
- selection (if file is read-only, the window will inform you that it cannot
- be removed).
- - if you save a whole disk, a FAT, NTFS or ext2 partition, you should NOT
- create the file on the disk or partition you save unless you chose
- "Element on itself" or "Element on itself without swap files" option in
- the saving window and you try to access it through mount mechanism. If you
- have not chosen this option and try to create a file on the partition to
- be saved, a warning window informs you of this potential problem. It is
- not displayed if you used the "-ncd" option.
- - same remark than previous one for directory creation, but it shall not be
- used on the disk or partition you save even if you choose to save an
- element on itself.
- - when using automatic naming, file existence is not checked except for the
- first file, so files will be removed if they exist (for example, avoid
- calling the first file <name>.<letter>01 because it will be erased when
- creating second one).
-
- f) File size choice:
- This window permits you to choose the maximum size you want for the file. If
- more space is needed to save the element, a new file will be asked of you when
- this one is full. If free space on the drive is less than 10 Mb, asked size is
- in kb, else it is in Mb. This maximum size cannot be bigger than drive free
- space or 2047 Mb, whichever is smaller. If you used the "-ncs" option, drive
- free space is not checked.
- If you enter 0, you go back to the file choice window.
-
- g) Compression choice:
- If you have enough memory, a window asks which compression level you want to
- use to compress data. The level goes from 0 (no compression) to 9 (maximum
- compression). Level generally used by the compression routine is level 6. The
- higher the compression level, the longer the execution time will be (but only
- a small change when expanding).
- If you do not have enough memory, a window will inform you of this. In this
- case no compression is done (<=> 0 level).
- This window will be displayed only for the first file (for subsequent files
- the same compression rate is used).
- The compression algorithm used is the gzip algorithm.
-
- h) Saving window:
- This window shows the backup progress.
- The upper progress bar shows progress for element being saved. The lower
- progress bar shows progress for file in relation to its maximum size.
- Consequently, it is not unusual for this progress to not reach 100% when
- saving ends.
- Remaining time is an estimate of remaining time. Its accuracy is strongly
- influenced by compression, or saving of only occupied sectors.
- Errors list is the list of errors detected when reading sectors on the disk.
- If you have the same errors when restoring and if, when you use a disk
- checking program (like surface checking with scandisk), bad sectors appear,
- these errors have no consequence (if there was no data on these sectors before
- saving, but that is a rule of the OS).
- If the maximum file size you have given is not enough to save the entire
- element (progress bar for file reaches 100%), a new file name is asked of you
- with a new maximum size (if you use automatic naming, this happens
- automatically, with the same maximum size as the first file).
- While saving is running, you cannot activate the Ok button (only cancel button
- can be activated to stop saving). When saving is finished, the Ok button
- becomes active, the cancel button inactive, and line marked "State" changes
- from "Running ..." to "Ended.".
-
- i) Options file creation:
- If you do not use batch mode (or if some options have been added to those
- given in batch mode), a window will ask you if you want to create an options
- file that will allow you to use batch mode for future save/restore of this
- partition. If you answer "yes", a window will ask you to give its name. This
- file will contain all the options you have used.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - The contents of this file remain valid only as long as you do not change
- the partitioning of your hard disk.
- - The names of files used to save data are absolute path names.
- Consequently, if you move these backup files, you will have to modify this
- options file.
- - You can create this file manually.
- - The DOS naming convention (8.3: 8 characters maximum for file name and 3
- characters maximum for extension) must be used for file names in the
- options file unless using a file through mounting.
-
- j) Examples:
- Suppose you have 2 hard drives partitioned as described below (next to
- partition type are <DOS>|<Linux> drive names):
- Disk 1 Disk 2
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 1: | | Main partition 1: |
- | DOS FAT 32 (C:|hda1) | | DOS FAT 32 (D:|hdb1) |
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 2: | | Main partition 2: |
- | DOS extended ( |hda2) | | DOS extended ( |hdb2) |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 1 of | | | | Extended partition 1 of | |
- | | main partition 2: | | | | main partition 2: | |
- | | DOS FAT 32 (E:|hda5) | | | | DOS FAT 32 (G:|hdb5) | |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 2 of | | +-------------------------------------+
- | | main partition 2: | | | Main partition 3: |
- | | DOS VFAT 16 (F:|hda6) | | | Empty ( |hdb3) |
- | +--------------------------------+ | +-------------------------------------+
- +------------------------------------+ | Main partition 4: |
- | Main partition 3: | | Linux swap ( |hdb4) |
- | Linux extfs2 ( |hda3) | +-------------------------------------+
- +------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 4: |
- | Empty ( |hda4) |
- +------------------------------------+
-
- If you want to save the partition containing the D: drive, you execute
- savepart.exe -s, then:
-
- - choose the second disk,
- - select the first partition,
- - choose to save all sectors or only occupied ones (this second option will
- require less space),
- - choose to compress file or not,
- - choose path and file name to create (taking into account free space on the
- various drives, but preferably a drive on the first disk so the savings
- will go faster, hence on C:, E: or F:), for example c:\disk_d.par.
- - if you want to burn the file on a CD you will have to choose a maximum
- file size of 620 Mb.
-
- From this point, saving proceeds. If 620 Mb is not enough to store all data,
- you will have to give a path and file name for a second file, then its maximum
- size, etc. Once saving ends, you can decide to create the batch file or not.
- If you create a batch file and burn files onto CD, put the batch file with the
- first backup file and don't forget to change the path of the backup file in
- the batch file.
-
- If you want to save the Linux partition, you must:
-
- - select the first disk,
- - choose the third partition
-
- and then continue as in previous example (since the Linux partition is on the
- first disk, it is better to create the backup file on the second disk).
-
-
- 7- Restoring an element
- -----------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use the -r option or select it when
- the program asks you.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below (if not in batch mode):
- Backup file choice
- |
- V
- Destination element choice
- |<------------------------------+
- V |
- Restoring window |
- +-----> Backup file choice -----+
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Backup file choice:
- This is the same window as the one used for file choice when saving. The
- selected file header is verified and an error is displayed if it is incorrect.
- Automatic naming can be selected for subsequent filenames to be generated
- automatically (filenames must follow rule described in chapter 6.e). You can
- also mount a partition if the backup file is on a partition that DOS is not
- able to access.
-
- b) Destination element choice:
- This window gives a list of elements that are compatible with what is saved in
- the file. You must choose one of the elements in this list to do a
- restoration.
- At the top of the window is a description of the saved element. Below is the
- list of compatible elements.
- "Dis" column gives disk number on which element is located.
- "Support" column gives support type on which element is located.
- "Num" column is the partition number as it is known with Linux, if the element
- is a partition.
- "L." column gives DOS drive letter of the element, if it is a DOS partition.
- "Id." column indicates whether an element is identical to the one saved. If
- so, an "X" will appear in this column, otherwise it is empty.
- "Size" gives element size. By default, it is expressed in Mb, unless it is
- followed by Kb.
- Partition name is the label (or volume name). It is given when it can be
- found. If for DOS drive, there seems to be incoherence between drive letter
- and partition name, this last one is certainly correct and drive letter wrong.
- In case support where you want to restore backup does not appear, you can
- choose last item in list to choose this support and see why it is not
- compatible.
- For more details on element compatibility, please read chapter 23.
- If no compatible element is found, a message tells you this and the program
- ends.
-
- !!!!! Warning !!!!!:
- --------------------
- Restoring erases all data currently present on the chosen element.
- Moreover, you must NOT choose the disk (when restoring a whole disk) or the
- partition on which the file used for this restoration is located (indeed it
- would be erased during restoration and thus would no longer be accessible,
- causing an error and stopping the restoration).
- A warning window informs you if the selected file is located on the disk or
- partition to be restored. This window is only displayed for the first file
- (for subsequent files, you must NOT access the disk or partition you are
- restoring) and is not displayed if you used the "-ncd" option.
-
- c) Restoring window:
- This window permits you to watch the restoration progress.
- The upper progress bar shows file progress.
- The lower progress bar progress for the chosen element.
- Remaining time is an estimate of remaining time. Its accuracy is strongly
- influenced compression, or saving of only occupied sectors.
- Errors list contains list of errors that were detected when writing sectors on
- disk. If errors are the same as those on saving, there is no consequence (if
- they are not the same, or if they are fewer or more, you can have lost data:
- run a program like scandisk to try to resolve this problem).
- If the element has been saved into several files, you must give them when they
- are asked of you.
- While restoring is running, you cannot activate Ok button (only cancel button
- can be activated to stop restoring). When restoring is finished, Ok button
- becomes active, cancel button inactive, and line marked "State" changes from
- "Running ..." to "Ended.".
-
- !!!!! Warning !!!!!:
- --------------------
-
- - When choosing subsequent files, you must not access the drive
- corresponding to the disk or partition being restored (if it is a DOS
- partition). Indeed this drive is being written and so the file allocation
- table is wrong (as if you want to access a file when a drive is being
- formatted).
- - Once the element is restored, restart your computer if you have restored a
- DOS partition (or a partition that can be accessed under DOS). This is
- needed for DOS to update information about this partition.
- - If you cancel a running restoration, you must reformat the destination
- element (or do a new restoration).
- - If when saving, you had created the backup file on the saved partition,
- after having restarted your computer you have to run scandisk on the
- restored partition to remove errors on the size of the backup file. This
- check is now needed only for FAT12 partitions (for FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and
- ext2 partitions, this check is automatically enabled).
- - If you restore a partition onto a partition other than the one that was
- saved and you have Windows 2000, XP or Vista, you have to update the
- registry for this partition. For this, please read chapter 11.
- - If the partition you restore is the boot partition that is launched using
- the Windows XP/Vista multiboot feature and you restore this partition onto
- a partition other than the one that was saved, you have to update the
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file for this partition. For this, please read
- chapter 13.
- - If the partition you restore is a system partition that is launched using
- the Windows XP multiboot feature and you restore this partition onto a
- partition other than the one that was saved, you have to update the
- BOOT.INI file. For this, you have to boot with the Windows XP CDROM, use
- console mode and use the bootcfg command. You can also use element
- exploration to edit the file.
- - If the partition you restore is a system partition that is launched using
- the Windows Vista boot feature and you restore this partition onto a
- partition other than the one that was saved, you have to update the boot
- configuration data file. For this, you have to boot with the Windows Vista
- DVD, use repair mode and use the bootrec /RebuildBcd command if automatic
- repair was not done. You can also use the dedicated option of program. For
- this, please read chapter 12.
- - If the partition you restore is a partition used with Linux and you
- restore this partition onto a partition other than the one that was saved,
- you have to update the /etc/fstab file and the boot loader if it is a
- system partition. For this you have to boot with the Linux CD, use the
- rescue mode and update mount point and boot loader.
-
- d) Examples:
- Consider the same partitioning presented in the above examples for saving
- partitions, and now you want to restore the partitions previously saved.
- In the case of restoring the D: drive, you execute savepart -r and:
-
- - choose the file name where D: was saved,
- - choose the partition that you want to restore. If you saved all sectors,
- only partition that contains D: drive will be listed (if the 2 hard-
- drives have the same format and C: and D: drives have the same size, C:
- drive can be also listed).
- If you have saved only occupied sectors, partitions containing C:, D:, E:
- and G: drives might be listed depending on their size (partition
- containing F: drive won't be listed because it doesn't have the same
- filesystem type). In this case, the partition that contains D: drive will
- have an "X" in the "Id." column but others won't (if the 2 hard drives
- have the same format and C: and D: drives have the same size, C: drive can
- also have an "X").
- - once the partition is chosen, restoring begins. If saving was done into
- several files, the second file will be asked for when the first one is
- finished, etc.
-
- Once restoring ends, reboot your computer for DOS to take into account
- modifications done onto the D: drive.
-
- If you want to restore the Linux partition, you do the same things as above.
- In this case only the third partition of the first disk will be listed as it
- is the only Linux partition (the Linux swap partition does not have the same
- filesystem).
-
-
- 8- Copying an element
- ---------------------
-
- This is the part executed when you use the -c option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice
- |
- V
- Source element choice
- |
- V
- [Part to save]
- |
- V
- Destination element choice
- |
- V
- Copying window
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice:
- Please refer to the same description in the "saving element" chapter (chapter
- 6.a).
-
- b) Source element choice:
- Please refer to the same description in the "saving element" chapter (chapter
- 6.b).
-
- c) Part to save:
- Please refer to the same description in the "saving element" chapter (chapter
- 6.c).
-
- d) Destination element choice:
- Please refer to the same description in the "restoring element" chapter
- (chapter 7.b) replacing all references to "file" by "element to copy".
-
- e) Copying window:
- This window permits you to follow copying progress.
- Upper progress bar is progress for the element being copied.
- Lower progress bar is progress for the destination element.
- Remaining time is an estimate of remaining time. Its accuracy is strongly
- influenced by whether all sectors or only occupied sectors are copied.
- Errors list is the list of errors that were found when reading sectors on the
- element to be copied or when writing sectors on the destination element. If
- some errors appear, it is advisable to use scandisk or an equivalent program
- on the faulty element.
- As long as the copy is running, you cannot press Ok button (only cancel button
- is active to stop copying). Once copying is finished, Ok button becomes
- active, cancel button inactive and line marked "State" changes from "Running
- ..." to "Ended.".
-
- !!!!! Warning !!!!!:
- --------------------
-
- - Once the element is copied, restart your computer if you have restored a
- DOS partition (or a partition that can be accessed under DOS). This is
- needed for DOS to update information about this partition.
- - If you cancel a running copy, you must reformat the destination element
- (or do a new copy or restoration on it).
- - Please read chapter 7.c remarks to know what shall be performed after copy
- in some cases.
-
- f) Examples:
- Take the same partitioning presented above in the examples of saving a
- partition, and now you want to copy the partition containing the D: drive onto
- the partition containing the E: drive (assuming that size is compatible).
- For that purpose, you run savepart -c and:
-
- - select the second hard drive,
- - select the first partition,
- - choose to copy only occupied sectors (for the copy to be possible on a
- partition that has a different format from the original),
- - choose the destination partition. The partitions containing C:, E: and G:
- drives will be listed if their size is compatible. Partition containing D:
- drive will not be listed, as it is the partition to be copied. Partition
- containing F: drive will not be listed, since it does not have the same
- filesystem type.
-
- From this point, copying begins. Once this is ended, reboot your computer.
-
-
- 9- Copying a backup file
- ------------------------
-
- This is the part executed when you use the -d option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This part allows you copying files, modifying their compression rate or
- maximum size. In case backup files contains all sectors of a disk or a
- partition, you can copy only a partition or occupied sectors of the partition
- (such as you can restore obtained files on another partition than the source
- one).
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- First file choice
- Contains all sectors | Contains occupied sectors
- +------------------+------------------+
- V |
- Ask for extraction |
- | No extraction |
- +------------------------+ |
- Extraction | | |
- V | |
- Source files check | |
- | | |
- V | |
- Part to copy choice | |
- | | |
- +------------------+-----+------------+
- |
- V
- First destination file choice
- |
- V
- Copy
- |
- V
- End
-
-
- Program begins with asking you the source filename (please read chapter 7.a).
-
- If file contains a backup of all sectors, program asks if you want to extract
- a partition (in case of a disk backup) or occupied sectors (in case of
- partition, floppy disk or DOS device backup).
-
- If you choose to extract a part of the file, program asks all backup files to
- check them. For the remaining part of execution, all these files shall be
- accessible simultaneously. It is better to avoid using this option in case the
- saving signaled some bad sectors. Once files are checked, program asks what
- you want to copy (this is similar to chapters 6.b to 6.d), then performs copy
- with simulating a saving (as into chapters 6.e to 6.h).
-
- In case you do not choose to extract a part of the file, or if you have no
- choice, program asks the name and maximum size of the destination file and its
- compression rate (please read chapters 6.e, 6.f and 6.g), then copy begins.
- The copying window displays progress for the source file with the upper
- progress bar and progress for the destination file with the lower progress
- bar. If several source or destination files are necessary, they will be asked
- of you when they are needed.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - Only files created by this program can be used with this feature.
- - The program checks that the destination file does not have the same name
- as the source file to avoid the source file being erased before being
- copied. Nevertheless, it cannot check that the destination file erases
- another source file other than the one in use, so be careful not to
- confuse source and destination file.
- - You can use any other compression program to do this, but you will have to
- decompress the files before being able to use them with this program, that
- is not the case for this option.
-
-
- 10- Verifying a backup file
- ---------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use the -t option or select it when
- the program asks you.
-
- This permits verifying that backup files are valid. This verification consists
- of checking file headers, size and checksum of data (once they are expanded if
- they were deflated). If a saving was done in several files, you are obliged to
- check all files. No data is written on disk or is modified inside the files.
-
- Execution begins with asking source filename (please read chapter 7.a). The
- checking window shows in the upper progress bar the state of the check for the
- current file. If saving was done in several files, subsequent files will be
- asked of you.
-
-
- 11- Updating Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry
- -------------------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use the -u option or select it when
- the program asks you.
-
- Windows 2000 and followings store partition position in the registry in order
- to preserve association between a partition and its corresponding driver
- letter. Partition position is composed of two parts: disk number that is
- stored into MBR (4 bytes) and offset of first byte of partition on disk (8
- bytes).
-
- So if you copy a partition onto another disk (without copying MBR) or if you
- move the beginning of a partition, you have to update the information in the
- registry for each partition that you moved for Windows to be able to still use
- the same drive letter. In the case of restoring a partition which has not been
- moved, this is not necessary.
-
- Execution is composed of 2 parts: first, to designate where Windows is
- installed so that the program can find the registry file; second, to give the
- partition to be updated in this registry. If you copy the Windows
- 2000/XP/Vista partition, the Windows installation that should be updated is
- the one that was the destination of the copy.
-
- It shall be noticed that this option does not allow to create a new drive
- letter into registry: you can only assign an already existing drive letter.
- This is not a problem as the need for this option is to set the drive letter
- of a source partition to the destination partition when restoring/copying to a
- destination partition that is not the same than source one.
- In case you need to create a new drive letter, you can either use the Windows
- disk management tool (if it is not for the system partition) or edit registry
- with booting with a WinPE or BartPE CD.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice where Windows is installed
- |
- V
- Element choice where Windows is installed
- |
- V
- Directory where Windows is installed
- +--------------------->|
- | V
- | Disk choice where partition to update is
- | |
- | V
- | Partition to update choice
- | |
- | V
- | Drive letter of partition to update
- | |
- | V
- | Confirmation
- | |
- | V
- | Change another drive letter ?
- | yes |
- +----------------------+
- | no
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice where Windows is installed:
- You select the disk or DOS devices list where the Windows installation whose
- registry should be updated is located.
-
- b) Element choice where Windows is installed:
- You select the partition (if a disk has been chosen in the first window) or
- the DOS device (if DOS devices have been chosen in the first window) where the
- Windows installation whose registry should be updated is located.
-
- c) Directory where Windows is installed:
- You select the Windows installation directory. As a general rule, this
- directory is called "WINDOWS", unless you specified another name when
- installing it. If you give a wrong directory name, or if the installed Windows
- version is not correct, you will get an error message telling you that the
- registry file has not been found.
-
- d) Disk choice where partition to update is:
- You choose the disk which has the partition whose registry definition you want
- to update.
-
- e) Partition to update choice:
- You choose the partition for which you want to update the definition in the
- registry.
-
- f) Drive letter of partition to update:
- This window shows a list of driver letters that can be modified with their
- current definition. The first column is the drive letter, the second is the
- disk identifier where the corresponding partition is located, and the third
- column is the first byte of the partition on the disk. The last column
- displays the two previous columns as given by regedit.
- You must choose from this list the drive letter you want to be associated with
- the partition selected with two previous windows. The program will modify the
- corresponding definition for this letter with the values defined at the top of
- the window.
-
- g) Confirmation:
- The program asks you to confirmation the registry modification. It gives you
- the key name that will be modified, its previous and new values. The value is
- composed of 12 hexadecimal digits, the first four being the disk number, last
- eight the offset of the partition on the disk (it is the same format as the
- last column of previous window).
-
- h) Example:
- Disk 1 Disk 2
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 1: | | Main partition 1: |
- | Windows XP (C:) | | Windows XP (D:) |
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 2: | | Main partition 2: |
- | Extended partition | | Extended partition |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 1 | | | | Extended partition 1 | |
- | | of main partition 2: | | | | of main partition 2: | |
- | | Data (E:) | | | | Data (G:) | |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 2 | | +-------------------------------------+
- | | of main partition 2: | |
- | | Swap file (F:) | |
- | +--------------------------------+ |
- +------------------------------------+
- You have copied the Windows XP partition from disk 1 to disk 2. In this case,
- drive letter of Windows XP on disk 2 shall be C: for this Windows to be able
- to boot. So, you have to modify registry of Windows XP on disk 2 to swap drive
- letters.
- For this, you have to launch Partition Saving, choose the update registry
- option, choose disk 2 and first partition as partition where Windows is
- installed. Then you select first partition of first disk and give it the D:
- letter. Then you launch Partition Saving again, again select first partition
- of second disk as Windows partition, then select first partition of second
- disk to give it the C: drive letter. If you copied also the data partition,
- you have to perform the same thing for second partitions with drive letters E:
- and G:.
- Once you have performed this, if you boot with the first disk Windows XP, you
- still have the same configuration as above (this one has not been modified).
- But if you boot with the Windows XP on second disk, you get (considering you
- also swap data partitions drive letters):
- Disk 1 Disk 2
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 1: | | Main partition 1: |
- | Windows XP (D:) | | Windows XP (C:) |
- +------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+
- | Main partition 2: | | Main partition 2: |
- | Extended partition | | Extended partition |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 1 | | | | Extended partition 1 | |
- | | of main partition 2: | | | | of main partition 2: | |
- | | Data (G:) | | | | Data (E:) | |
- | +--------------------------------+ | | +---------------------------------+ |
- | | Extended partition 2 | | +-------------------------------------+
- | | of main partition 2: | |
- | | Swap file (F:) | |
- | +--------------------------------+ |
- +------------------------------------+
- Note: once you done this, it can be a good idea to give partitions a different
- name to not mix them.
-
-
- 12- Updating Windows Vista boot configuration
- ---------------------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -w option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- In order to manage boot, Windows Vista store into a file which partitions are
- bootable and where they are on disk following a way near the one used to
- associate a drive letter to a partition. This is similar to the way BOOT.INI
- works on Windows XP, but file cannot be edited because it is binary.
- This option allows you modifying information in case you moved a system
- partition (either it is copied onto another disk, or its beginning position is
- modified on disk) and you have Windows Vista installed on your computer.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Bootable support choice
- |
- V
- Bootable element choice
- |
- V
- Disk where partition to update is choice
- |
- V
- Partition to update choice
- +-------------------------->|
- | V
- | Boot entry to update choice
- | |
- | V
- | Confirmation
- | |
- | V
- | Change another entry
- | yes |
- +---------------------------+
- | no
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Bootable support choice:
- This window permits you to choose on which support is file containing boot
- configuration data. In most cases this file is on bootable partition of the
- computer that is on first disk. This file is named "\Boot\BCD", you can check
- for this file existence to know which support to choose (note: this file can
- be hidden).
-
- b) Bootable element choice:
- This window permits you to select partition on which boot configuration data
- are.
-
- c) Disk where partition to update is choice:
- This window permits you to select disk that contains partition that was moved
- and that need an update of its boot information.
- In most cases, only system partitions (those having a Windows installation as
- Windows does not manage others systems) need such an update, those containing
- only data do not need it.
-
- d) Partition to update choice:
- This window permits you to select partition that was moved.
-
- e) Boot entry to update choice:
- This window shows a list of boot entries that are defined with their current
- configuration. Above list is the description of chosen partition: displayed
- values will replace the ones in list for the selected entry.
-
- The mostly encountered entries are the following:
-
- - Microsoft Windows Vista (Windows boot loader or any other name you chose):
- the Windows Vista installation. Normally this entry shall reference the
- partition where you installed Windows Vista.
- - Windows resume application: load of Windows when it is in hibernation
- mode. Normally this entry shall reference the partition where you
- installed Windows Vista.
- - Earlier version of Windows: managing another Windows version through
- multi-boot. Normally this entry shall reference the partition where the
- boot of other Windows installation is.
- - Windows boot manager: this is program managing computer boot and potential
- multi-boot configuration. Normally this entry shall reference the bootable
- partition (the one you chose into 12.a and 12.b chapters).
- - Windows memory diagnostic: this is program managing memory test. In most
- cases, this program is installed with boot manager, so this entry shall
- reference the same partition than this one.
-
- As it is described above, several entries can reference the same partition. So
- if you moved the corresponding partition, you have to update all these entries
- one by one. What is described is a typical installation, you have to look at
- current value of entries to know which ones are linked to the same partition.
-
- If an entry appears with all its data to 0, this means there was incoherence
- into its data or program gets a problem to read them. You have to be careful
- when updating it, it can lead to some others incoherence.
-
- If an entry appears with a name between "{...}", it means program was not able
- to find its name and it uses the default one depending on entry type. If name
- is "{Unable to get name}", it is that even entry type cannot be found.
-
- If a window is shown before, informing you that all entries were not read,
- these entries are not displayed and you cannot update them.
-
- Example:
- --------
- The screenshot shows the case where Windows Vista was not installed on the
- bootable partition (this can be deduced because two identifiers appear). If
- you move the Vista partition, you have to update the 2 first entries, and if
- you move the bootable partition, you have to update the 3 last entries.
- If Windows Vista had been installed on the bootable partition, the 5 entries
- would have the same identifier and you would have to update all of them if you
- move the partition.
-
- f) Confirmation:
- This window requests you if you confirm the modification of entry you chose.
-
-
- 13- Updating BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file
- -------------------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -b option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- In order to manage multi-boot with another DOS or Windows version, Windows
- XP/Vista saves the boot sector of other Windows versions into BOOTSECT.DOS or
- BOOTSECT.BAK file on the same partition and modifies this boot sector to set a
- new one (this one asks for the Windows version to run depending multiboot
- configuration). If you choose to launch previous Windows version, it reads the
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK content and run it. Consequently, if you copy to
- another disk or move the begin of the partition where the other Windows
- version is, this file needs to be modified to reflect that. This option is for
- that purpose.
-
- Warning: This option only modifies some parameters in
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK to take into account changes that may have been made
- in the boot sector; it does not allow creating or completing a
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file.
-
- Execution allows choosing the partition on which BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK
- file is located to update it according to the current boot sector of this
- element. Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is
- |
- V
- Element choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is
- |<-------+
- V |
- Confirmation |
- | |
- +--------+
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is:
- You have to choose disk, floppy disk or DOS devices list on which is the
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file to modify.
-
- b) Element choice where BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is:
- You have to choose the partition (if a disk has been chosen in first window)
- or DOS device (if DOS devices has been chosen in first window) on which is the
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file to modify.
-
- c) Confirmation:
- The program asks you to confirm the BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file
- modification. If you confirm, it will be modified to update some parameters
- according to those in the current element boot sector.
- This confirmation is requested for each file to update (first BOOTSECT.DOS
- then BOOTSECT.BAK). If one of them does not exist or has wrong format, you
- will get an information or error message. As these files depends on which
- Windows versions are installed, it is not always an error for one of these
- files to not exist.
- If you want to modify files others than default ones, you can give name of
- file to modify by using "file=" option of options file.
-
-
- 14- Fixing disk physical definition into boot sector
- ----------------------------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -a option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This option permits you to change number of heads and number of sectors per
- track that are stored into FAT and NTFS boot sector.
- This can be needed in case you have a problem as "NTLDR missing" or "IO.SYS
- not found" when booting and when you explore this partition you see these
- files (if you do not see them, you need to copy them with using SYS program in
- DOS/Windows 9x case or with using recovery console for Windows NT/2000/...).
- This error can be generated because physical definition of disk into boot
- sector is wrong (note: SYS and recovery console allow fixing this error also).
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice where fixing boot sector
- |
- V
- Element choice where boot sector is
- |
- V
- [Correction of first sector value]
- |
- V
- Choice of new physical definition
- | Using predefined value
- +-----------+-------------------------+
- | |
- V |
- Giving manual values |
- | |
- +-----------+-------------------------+
- |
- V
- Confirmation
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice where fixing boot sector:
- You have to choose disk, floppy disk or DOS devices list on which is the
- partition, DOS device for which boot sector shall be modified.
-
- b) Element choice where boot sector is:
- You have to choose the partition (if a disk has been chosen in first window)
- or DOS device (if DOS devices has been chosen in first window) on which is the
- boot sector to modify.
-
- c) Correction of first sector value:
- This window is displayed only if program finds that first sector value is
- wrong in boot sector. This value gives number of sectors on disk that are
- before the partition. In case this value is wrong, it can disallow the
- partition to boot if it is a bootable one. If it is not a bootable one, this
- has no consequence. In case you want to correct this value, you have to
- confirm it. The change will be effective only if you do not cancel execution
- in following windows.
-
- d) Choice of new physical definition:
- This window displays current values of boot sector and a list of predefined
- values. Content of this list depends on the support and the OS (some values
- can be missing) and it is normal that these values are different (this is the
- reason why fixing them in boot sector is needed).
- These values can be:
-
- - Default numbers: these are values that Partition-Saving uses when it
- restores a backup on a partition different from the source one. For the
- DOS version, it is the standard values, for the Windows version, it is
- values defined through partitions table.
- - Standard numbers: for the DOS version, they are numbers that are used when
- accessing disk through standard BIOS access (it is often the values used
- when booting). For the Windows version, they are either the standard BIOS
- numbers, either the default numbers used by Windows (it depends on Windows
- version).
- - Extended numbers: for the DOS version, they are numbers that are used when
- accessing disk through extended BIOS access. For the Windows version, they
- are either the extended BIOS numbers, either the default numbers used by
- Windows (it depends on Windows version). These values are often wrong for
- a boot sector.
- - Numbers from partitions table: they are numbers that can be deduced from
- reading partitions table. These values can often be used for a boot sector
- (because of multiple ways to detect a disk, these values are often used as
- reference values when an OS cannot get the ones from BIOS).
-
- This list ends with an option to enter manual values (see below) and an option
- to keep current values (if you want to update first sector value without
- changing heads/sectors numbers).
-
- Note: using values different from standard numbers for a disk using standard
- access is certainly a bad idea, because only these numbers shall be correct.
-
- e) Giving manual values:
- These windows are displayed in case you choose last option into previous
- window. They allow you to enter numbers you want in case no predefined value
- seems correct. Giving bad values will in most cases not result in lost of data
- (partition will not boot), but it is better to be cautious. Often correct
- values are power of 2 (16, 32, 64, ...) or power of 2 less 1 (63, 255, ...).
-
- f) Confirmation:
- The program asks you to confirm the boot sector modification. If you confirm,
- boot sector and its copy (if there is one) will be modified.
-
-
- 15- Replacing a boot sector or a superblock by its copy
- -------------------------------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -k option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This option permits you to replace a boot sector for a FAT/NTFS partition or a
- superblock for an ext2/ext3 partition with its copy. FAT32, NTFS, ext2 and
- ext3 filesystems define a copy of these sectors in order to be able to repair
- a partition if origin sector is corrupted. You can try to use this option if
- your partition appears suddenly as of "RAW" type instead of "FAT" or "NTFS" in
- Windows.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice where copying boot sector/superblock
- |
- V
- Element choice where boot sector/superblock is
- |
- V
- Choice of copy to use
- |
- +-----------+-------------------------+
- | |
- V |
- Exploring partition |
- | |
- +-----------+-------------------------+
- |
- V
- Confirmation
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice where copying boot sector/superblock:
- You have to choose disk, floppy disk or DOS devices list on which is the
- partition, DOS device for which boot sector or superblock shall be replaced by
- its copy.
-
- b) Element choice where boot sector/superblock is:
- You have to choose the partition (if a disk has been chosen in first window)
- or DOS device (if DOS devices has been chosen in first window) on which is the
- boot sector or superblock to replace.
-
- c) Choice of copy to use:
- This window gives list of boot sector or superblock copies that seem valid. In
- most cases, this list is either empty (no found copy) or has one item only. If
- several copies are found, it is better you explore partition (see next window)
- for each of them to check which one is the correct one.
- When choosing a copy, if it is identical to current sector, program stops its
- execution as it does not need to update it. It shall be noticed that it is not
- unusual to have a superblock copy different from current one (even if current
- one is valid) because this one contains data that are updated with use (as
- number of free blocks) and ext2/ext3 Linux driver does not always maintain
- copy up-to-date.
-
- d) Exploring partition:
- This window requests you if you want to explore partition with using the copy
- of boot sector/superblock. This permits you to check if its content is valid
- with using this copy. Exploring runs as described into chapter 19, partition
- being mounted read only. When you exit exploration, you come back to this
- execution.
- Note: exploring partition being not available with command line interface
- ("-cui" option), this window does not appear in this case.
-
- e) Confirmation:
- The program asks you to confirm the boot sector/superblock modification. If
- you confirm, boot sector/superblock is replaced by its copy.
- In ext2/ext3 case, as superblock copy can be not up-to-date, partition
- checking is forced for the next time it will be mounted for the superblock to
- be corrected.
-
-
- 16- Simulating an element
- -------------------------
-
- This section covers the use of the driver (DRVPART.SYS) and the options "-m"
- and "-i" for savepart. The purpose of this driver is primarily to allow access
- to a partition contained in a backup file in order to recover some files.
- Note:
- -----
- Because of option to explore a backup (see chapter 20) that has more capacity,
- this part is deprecated and will not be maintained in case of major change in
- backup file format.
-
- a) Use of driver:
- DRVPART.SYS is a DOS driver that allows simulating that a new drive letter is
- present. This drive is simulated with a backup file created previously.
- As with all DOS drivers, DRVPART.SYS must be loaded into memory with the help
- of CONFIG.SYS. This text file is on the boot disk (either C: or A: depending
- on whether you boot from hard disk or floppy disk). For the driver to be
- loaded you have to add at the end of this file the line:
- DEVICE=<path>\DRVPART.SYS <options>
- where <path> is the directory where DRVPART.SYS is located. Once this line has
- been added, the next time you boot your computer, you will have a new drive
- (the drive letter is defined by DOS and is the next letter following those of
- your last drive).
- DRVPART.SYS can have 2 parameters:
-
- - the first gives sector size in bytes. It must be between 512 and 32768 and
- must be a multiple of 512. If this option is not given, a default size of
- 512 bytes is used (that is the most common size).
- - the second gives the memory size in Kb that is allocated for running this
- program. This must greater or equal to 1024. If this option is not given,
- a size of 1024 Kb is used. If you want to use this option, you must give
- the sectors size.
-
- Examples:
- ---------
- DEVICE=C:\DRVPART.SYS
- Driver is loaded with default values of 512 bytes for sectors size and 1024 Kb
- for memory.
- DEVICE=C:\DRVPART.SYS 512 4096
- Driver is loaded with values of 512 bytes for sectors size and 4096 Kb for
- memory.
-
- Memory allocated by the driver is a memory block which allows temporarily
- storing sectors requested by others programs. As needed, this size can
- dynamically be increased/decreased (but never goes bellow the size defined
- when loading). The worst case of memory use is certainly when a program wants
- to know free space on the drive (as when you do a "dir").
- Memory used by the driver is XMS or EMS memory (depending on what is present).
- These are standard memory types (you do not need specific hardware) called XMS
- or EMS depending on the way it is managed. XMS memory is managed by HIMEM.SYS
- driver (a DEVICE=<location>\HIMEM.SYS line has to be present at the beginning
- of the CONFIG.SYS file) and EMS memory is managed by EMM386.EXE driver (or
- some other that does the same thing) (a DEVICE=<location>\EMM386.EXE line has
- to appear in CONFIG.SYS file just after the one containing HIMEM.SYS). If
- neither of these two types of memory is present, driver will not be loaded.
- Note that using EMS memory can limit useful memory size to 32 Mb.
- Driver can generate following messages when loading:
-
- - "Driver has been initialised. It simulates drive <letter>:.": The driver
- has been correctly loaded and it simulates a drive having letter <letter>.
- - "Parameter for size of sectors is not correct: it must be between 512 and
- 32768 and be a multiple of 512.": You must modify the first parameter in
- the line from CONFIG.SYS file to give a correct value.
- - "Parameter for allocated memory size is not correct: it must be bigger
- than 1024.": you have to modify the second parameter in the loading line
- from CONFIG.SYS file to give a correct value.
- - "Memory cannot be allocated: you need XMS or EMS memory.": The driver did
- not find EMS or XMS memory. You have to add into your CONFIG.SYS file at
- least the line that allows loading XMS memory.
-
- If one of the last three messages is displayed, the driver is not loaded.
-
- b) Simulating an element:
- Once the driver is loaded into memory, "-m" and "-i" options of savepart can
- be used (or associated actions appear in lists of actions if you do not
- specify an action option).
- The first option ("savepart -m") or the choice "Simulate an element" in
- actions allows you to give the list of files to use in order to simulate the
- element they contain. Execution is done in the same way as when testing a
- backup file (chapter 10). Once execution has correctly ended, you will be able
- to use the added drive through the driver as if it is the partition that is in
- the backup file (If no element is simulated, accessing this drive returns an
- error).
- The second option ("savepart -i") or the choice "Get information from driver"
- in actions allows getting information from driver (drive simulated, sector
- size and files used if an element is simulated) and stopping simulating an
- element if there is one simulated.
- When simulating an element, more EMS/XMS memory can be needed by the driver.
- Unfortunately running savepart when only XMS memory is available means that
- savepart uses the whole memory and it is not possible to allocate more memory
- for the driver. In this case you will certainly get a "You do not have enough
- EMS or XMS memory: <n> Kb free memory are needed." error. In this case you
- have to use the ALLOCXMS.COM program giving it <n> as a parameter in order for
- memory to be allocated before running savepart, then you can run savepart
- again (example: ALLOCXMS.COM 1024 will allocate 1024 Kb memory). As this size
- depends on the partition simulated, it cannot be be known (and so allocated)
- sooner. ALLOCXMS can display following messages:
-
- - "Memory allocated": memory has been allocated and you can run savepart
- again.
- - "DrvPart driver cannot be found": you have forgotten to load the driver
- into your CONFIG.SYS file (note: in this case, options to manage drive
- simulation are not available into savepart).
- - "DrvPart driver into memory has not the same version as AllocXMS":
- versions of DRVPART.SYS and ALLOCXMS.COM are not the same. You must use
- programs having the same version (it is true also for savepart).
- - "An element is currently simulated": you have to stop simulating the
- element by using "Stop simulating element" button into the window giving
- information on driver into savepart.
- - "XMS memory driver cannot be found": you do not have loaded a XMS driver
- into your CONFIG.SYS file, so you cannot use XMS memory.
- - "Parameter is not correct": given parameter is not correct: it must be a
- positive integer.
- - "Such an amount of memory cannot be allocated": XMS driver does not allow
- allocating such an amount of memory. If this size is not over memory
- available into your computer, using a more recent driver or not using EMS
- memory can solve this problem.
-
- c) Remarks:
-
- - This driver allows simulating only FAT elements or elements where all
- sectors were saved. In this last case, the fact that it is a FAT element
- is not checked, but DOS will certainly refuse to access it if that is not
- the case.
- - Files used for simulation must not be compressed.
- - All files used have to be always accessible to avoid an error (example: if
- files are on several CDs, you must have either several CDs readers or copy
- the files on your hard disk for them to be read simultaneously). First
- files will be used more often than last file, so put them on the faster
- support.
- - simulated element is set as read-only. So all attempts to write on them
- will generate an error. If you get an error like "Unable to write on drive
- <letter>" with letter equal to the simulated drive, you have to answer
- "Fail".
- - This driver can be run only in DOS mode. If Windows is started, it frees
- used memory and deactivate itself. Under Windows you will get a new drive,
- but you cannot use it.
- - Using the driver will slow your computer and use memory. So it is better
- to use it only when you need it (so modify your CONFIG.SYS file each time
- or better yet use a special floppy disk).
- - Accessing a simulated drive is a lot slower than accessing other drives.
- - The driver will run correctly only for programs that use peripherals in a
- standard way. Naturally, some specific programs generate errors.
- - If a program terminates in an abnormal way, it can leave the driver in an
- incorrect state (trying to access simulated drive generates an error). In
- this case, you just have to run and quit any program for the simulated
- drive to be accessible again.
- - The driver can increase memory use depending on its need. If a program
- uses all available memory (savepart is one when only XMS memory is
- present), you can get errors when accessing the simulated drive. In this
- case try increasing the permanently used memory size with the second
- parameter on the loading line of DRVPART.SYS in the CONFIG.SYS file.
- Obviously this will take effect only at the next boot of the computer.
- - When using savepart, access to simulated drive is deactivated.
- - If you want to simulate an element other than the one being simulated, you
- don't need to run savepart a first time to stop simulating the element,
- then a second time to simulate a new one. You can directly choose to
- simulate the new one (it will stop simulating the first one). This implies
- that it is not possible to simulate several elements simultaneously (even
- with loading driver several times).
- - You cannot run a program that is on the simulated drive. You have to copy
- it onto another drive first.
- - Driver, savepart and allocxms versions must be the same. This is why they
- all have the same version number. This version number is checked when
- these programs work together and they do not communicate if versions are
- not the same.
- - Because a new drive is created, the letter assigned to your CD reader can
- be changed.
- - DRVPART.SYS is not needed to run savepart. You only need to use it if you
- want to use options to simulate an element.
-
-
- 17- Creation of files on NTFS drive
- -----------------------------------
-
- This option appears only when you are running the program under Windows NT and
- following. It allows you to create a file on a NTFS partition which can be
- used as a backup file by using partition mounting once you are running from
- DOS. This is due to fact that the program is not able to create files on a
- NTFS partition (only to read/write and resize) when it runs from DOS, so files
- you create here serve as a base. This option asks you names of files to be
- created until you hit the 'Cancel' button. If you use automatic naming,
- instead of asking you several files, it asks number of files you want to
- create.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - You need to create enough files to be able to store saving result. To have
- an idea of how many files are needed, take the partition size (only
- occupied part in case you want to save occupied sectors only), divide it
- by 2 in case you use compression, divide it by maximum size you want files
- to do then round result up and add 2 to it (3 in case you think you will
- create the option file).
- - Created files are only between 4 Kb and 64 Kb, so do not be afraid to
- create too much files.
- - You can use files that were created elsewhere (as long as they do not use
- internal NTFS encrypting and compression feature) without using this
- option. Their content will obviously be erased when performing saving.
- - Remaining free size on drive is given as information. It is wrong in case
- more than 970 Mb is available on drive.
-
- Example:
- --------
- You want to save a partition with 4 Gb data into 680 Mb files (to be able to
- burn them) with using partition. In this case you will have to create: 4*1024
- / 2 / 680 = 3.011 => 6 files.
-
-
- 18- Reset bad sectors in filesystem
- -----------------------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -z option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This option allows removing that sectors are marked as wrong on a filesystem.
- It does not allow correcting bad sectors, it shall only be used in case you
- restore/copy a partition with bad sectors on another hard drive. This is
- automatically done by program when restoring but in case where source and
- destination disks and partitions are identical: in this case program thinks it
- performs restoration on the saved partition and so does not reset bad sectors
- information.
-
- So this option shall only be used in one case: the one where you got an "X"
- into the "Idem" column on restoring/copying even when disk is not the same as
- the source one.
-
- Notes:
- ------
-
- - This option is obviously useful only in case you have some bad sectors on
- a partition.
- - In case you restore partition on a disk that still has some bad sectors
- (as when restoring after resizing a partition), you have to perform a
- surface test to update bad sectors list of partition.
-
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Support choice where bad sectors shall be removed
- |
- V
- Element choice where bad sectors shall be removed
- |
- V
- Confirmation
- |
- V
- Execution
- |
- V
- end
-
-
- a) Support choice where bad sectors shall be removed:
- You have to choose disk, floppy disk or DOS devices list where filesystem to
- modify is.
-
- b) Element choice where bad sectors shall be removed:
- You have to choose partition (if a disk was selected into first window) or DOS
- device (if DOS devices list was selected into first window) on which bad
- sectors information shall be removed.
-
- c) Confirmation:
- Program asks for you confirmation of filesystem modifications. If you confirm,
- all bad sectors will be marked as valid back.
-
- d) Execution:
- Filesystem modification is running. Depending on filesystem type and partition
- size this can need more or less time (faster being for ext2 partition and
- slower for FAT partitions).
-
-
- 19- Explore a partition
- -----------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -e option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This option allows you navigating into a partition to copy or edit some of its
- files.
- Execution follows the diagram below:
- Choice of support where partition to explore is
- |
- V
- Choice of partition to explore
- |
- V
- +---------------> Exploration window
- | |
- | +------------------+----------------------+
- | | | |
- | V V V
- | View window Edit window Copy destination
- | | | |
- | | | V
- | | | Copy execution
- | | | |
- +-----+------------------+----------------------+
-
-
- a) Choice of support where partition to explore is:
- You have to choose disk, floppy disk or DOS devices list where filesystem to
- explore is.
-
- b) Choice of partition to explore:
- You have to choose partition (if a disk was selected into first window) or DOS
- device (if DOS devices list was selected into first window) you want to
- explore.
-
- c) Exploration window:
- This window is the explorer window. It contains following items:
-
- - on top: current explored directory name.
- - on left: directory tree of the partition. You can click on '+' or '-'
- characters (or hit the '+' or '-' key) that are before a directory name to
- expand or collapse it. In case you double click or hit Enter on a
- directory name, it becomes the current explored directory.
- - on right: content of current explored directory. This is the list of all
- files that are part of this directory. This part contains 4 columns:
-
- * filename without its extension.
- * file extension.
- * file type or file size in case of standard file. File type can be:
-
- + <DIR>: directory.
- + <LINK>: symbolic link.
- + <BLOCK>: block device.
- + <CHAR>: character device.
- + <PIPE>: named pipe.
- + <SOCK>: socket.
- + <UNKNOWN>: unknown file type (it shall not appear).
-
- * file modification date.
-
- In case you double click (or hit Enter) on a directory, it becomes the
- current explored directory. In case it is on a file, it is edited.
- - on bottom left: buttons that can be used to perform something. Number
- before button name is the corresponding function key that can be used to
- activate it (1: F1, 2: F2, ...). Buttons are:
-
- * help: it displays some help.
- * sort: it allows selecting which column is used to sort displayed files.
- * select: it allows selecting file with using some matching pattern (as
- "*.exe" to select all files with "exe" extension). Selection can be done
- with ignoring or taking into account case and with keeping current
- selected files to be able to select several files sets.
- * view: it displays selected file into a hexadecimal viewer. Only one file
- shall be selected to enable this action. In case file contains several
- streams, it requests which stream shall be viewed.
- * edit: it edits selected file with a simple editor. In case file contains
- some binary content or is too big to fit in memory, the hexadecimal
- viewer is used instead. Only one file shall be selected to enable this
- action. In case file contains several streams, it requests which stream
- shall be edited.
- * copy: it copies selected files to some other directory. In case only one
- file is selected, it allows renaming it.
- * exit: to exit program.
-
- - on bottom right: it displays number of selected files and number of files
- into current directory.
-
- d) View window:
- This window is a simple hexadecimal viewer to view file content. It does not
- allow performing anything else. To exit and return to exploration window you
- can click on the exit button on bottom or hit the F10 key.
-
- e) Edit window:
- This window is a simple text editor. You can modify a file then save changes
- you made. This window is composed of:
-
- - on top: edited filename with selected stream name between '{' and '}' in
- case you do not edit default stream.
- - on middle: editing window.
- - on bottom left: buttons that can be used to perform some specific actions.
- - on bottom right: there are three indicators and current cursor position.
- Indicators are:
-
- * if file has been modified since last save: first '-' is set to 'M'.
- * if some undo action can be performed: second '-' is set to 'U'.
- * if some redo action can be performed: third '-' is set to 'R'.
-
-
- Actions that can be performed in this editor are:
-
- - edit the text.
- - toggle from insertion mode (underline cursor, default) to overwrite mode
- (block cursor) (and vice-versa) by pressing the Insert key.
- - select some text either with mouse or with pressing Shift key with moving
- keys.
- - copy selected text into clipboard by using Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Insert (last
- copied text remains into clipboard when editing another file).
- - cut selected text into clipboard by using Ctrl+X or Shift+Delete.
- - paste text from clipboard by using Ctrl+V or Shift+Insert.
- - undo last change by using Ctrl+U.
- - redo last change by using Ctrl+R.
- - save the file by using F2. The filename where to perform save will be
- requested each time (so it is a "save as" action). In case file contains
- several streams, it requests stream where file shall be saved.
- - go to a specific line by using F3.
- - search for some text by using F4. Search can be performed with ignoring or
- taking case into account and with searching from beginning or from current
- cursor position.
- - search next occurrence of latest searched text from current cursor
- position by using F5. Search does not wrap, so it ends at last occurrence.
- - exit editor by using F10. In case file has been modified without being
- saved, it requests if you want to save it before.
-
- f) Copy destination:
- This window permits you to choose where to copy selected files. In case you
- have selected one file that is not a directory, you can give it another name,
- else you can only give the directory where all files will be copied.
-
- g) Copy execution:
- This window shows files being copied and encountered errors.
- Above the "->" line is the source file name in relative from source directory
- and below this line is the destination file name in relative from destination
- directory. In most case these two names are the same unless you copy from a
- partition with long filenames to a partition that does not support them (by
- using DOS access): program will use short names from corresponding long names
- to be able to perform copy, but it does not ensure that on destination
- partition this short name corresponds to the same file as the one from source
- partition. In this case it is better to use mounting mechanism to access FAT
- partition with enabling long names.
- List of errors program gets is below the copied file names.
- In case program found you try to copy a file to an existing file it asks if
- you want to overwrite it. A second check is done in case file is read-only.
- When copy ends, the "Ok" button becomes active and the "->" line is changed
- into a message to signal if copy ends or was cancelled before (either because
- you cancel it or because of some fatal error).
- Notes:
- ------
-
- - copying to a NTFS partition does not allow creating files, so only already
- existing files have their content modified (all streams are modified).
- Files permissions (less basics one coming from DOS) are not modified.
- - copying to an ext2 partition set files permissions to those of source user
- in case copy source is an ext2 partition, else it is destination directory
- permissions (less execution flag for standard files) that are set.
- - when copying a sparse file from a NTFS or ext2/ext3 partition, destination
- file does not keep the information that file is sparse, so it occupies
- more space than on source partition.
-
-
- 20- Explore a backup
- --------------------
-
- This is the part that is executed when you use -v option or select it when the
- program asks you.
-
- This option allows you navigating into the content of backup files such as you
- can extract some files. It does not allow modifying file content.
-
- Files that can be explored are all those containing either a disk (you have to
- select a partition), or the backup of a partition with a FAT12/16/32, NTFS or
- ext2/3 filesystem. If backup was made in several files, all files shall be
- readable at the same time. Files can be compressed or not.
-
- Execution is the same as for chapter 19 but with the a) and b) steps replaced
- with ask and check of all backup files (similar to chapter 10).
-
- Notes:
- ------
-
- - When exploring compressed files, a lot of memory is used to index them to
- improve access time. More memory you have, better it is. It shall be
- noticed that available memory can be limited in DOS (as no more than 32 Mb
- with some EMM386 versions), so it is better to run this option from
- Windows.
- - If you get an "Error: could not allocate page table memory" error, it
- means that program tries to use too much memory. You can try increasing
- the free DOS memory size with not loading unneeded drivers, and at least
- resort use the "max_mem_size" option (see chapter 21).
-
-
- 21- Options file contents
- -------------------------
-
- The options file allows you to restore (or save again) element you have saved.
- When using savepart with the -f <options file name> option, the various
- parameters are read from the file instead of being asked of you. Contents of
- this file can be partial (not covering all the options, in which case missing
- parameters will be asked), but in this case some rules described below must be
- followed.
- The options file is a text file that allows options to be specified. Each
- option must be alone on a line.
- If the line begins with ";", its a comment line (it is not analysed).
- Option content can be defined with an environment variable. In that case, the
- environment variable must be given between % (example: file=%CONF%.PAR, %CONF%
- will be replaced by the content of the CONF environment variable). If the
- environment variable does not exist, an error will be generated. To be able to
- give the % character inside option contents, you have to double it (example:
- file=WITH%%.PAR, the file name would be WITH%.PAR).
-
- Options have <option name>=<option value> format. Name and value of each
- options are the following:
-
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | Option | Values | Default value |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | mouse | yes|no|poll | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Choice of the method of using the mouse (same as |
- | | -cm|-nm|-pm option on command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | check_drive | yes|no | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Verification that created/read file is not on |
- | | saved/restored element is disabled when set to "no" |
- | | (same as -ncd option on command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | verify_free_size | yes|no | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Verification of free remaining size on destination |
- | | drive is not done when set to "no" (same as -ncs |
- | | option on command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | verify_disk_write | yes|no | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Verification that sectors are correctly written is |
- | | disabled when set to "no" (same as -nvd option on |
- | | command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | verify_file_write | yes|no | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Verification that files are correctly written is |
- | | disabled when set to "no" (same as -nvf option on |
- | | command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | lang | en|fr|fr_2 | see command line |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Language choice (same as -l option on command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | user_interface | console|text|text_bios| | see command line |
- | | text_ext|text_bios_ext | |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | User interface choice (same as |
- | | -cui|-tui|-bui|-tuix|-buix option on command line). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | disk | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the disk number to use. This number must be |
- | | between zero and the number of disks minus one. When |
- | | saving, this option replaces the first window. When |
- | | restoring, this option restricts the search of |
- | | elements to be restored, to elements of the given disk |
- | | (otherwise, the element is searched for on all the |
- | | disks). When updating Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry |
- | | or updating boot configuration data, this option |
- | | replaces the choice of the second disk (the one that |
- | | contains partition to update). When updating |
- | | BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK files, this option replaces |
- | | the choice of support where these files are. |
- | | This option cannot be given if "floppy" or "device" |
- | | option is given. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | floppy | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the floppy drive number to use. This number must |
- | | be between zero and number of floppy drives minus one. |
- | | When saving, this option replaces the first window. |
- | | When restoring, this option restricts the search of |
- | | elements to be restored, to elements of the given |
- | | floppy drive (otherwise, the element is searched for |
- | | on all floppy drives). When updating |
- | | BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK files, this option replaces |
- | | the choice of support where these files are. |
- | | This option cannot be given if "disk" or "device" |
- | | option is given. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | device | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the DOS device letter to use. When saving, this |
- | | option replaces the first two windows. When restoring, |
- | | this option restricts the search of elements to be |
- | | restored, to elements of the given DOS device |
- | | (otherwise, element is searched for on all DOS |
- | | devices). When updating BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK |
- | | files, this option replaces the choice of support |
- | | where these files are. |
- | | This option cannot be given if "disk" or "floppy" |
- | | option is given. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | main_part | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the number of the main partition to use. This |
- | | number must be between 1 and 4. If the element to |
- | | save/restore is directly related to a disk, this |
- | | option must not be given. |
- | | For this option to be used, "disk" option must be |
- | | given. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | ext_part | <number> | asked to user if "main_part" |
- | | | is not given, 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the number of the extended partition to use. |
- | | This number must be between 1 and the number of |
- | | extended partition corresponding to main partition. |
- | | For this option to be used, "main_part" option must be |
- | | given. You do not have to give this option if you want |
- | | to save a main partition. |
- | | The pair of options "main_part" and "ext_part" replace |
- | | the second window when saving, and the set "disk", |
- | | "main_part" and "ext_part" replace the second window |
- | | when restoring. When updating Windows 2000/XP/Vista |
- | | registry or updating boot configuration data, |
- | | "main_part" and "ext_part" replace the choice of the |
- | | second partition (the one to update). When updating |
- | | BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK files, these options replace |
- | | the choice of partition where these files are. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | def_level | <number> | asked to user if "file" not |
- | | | given, 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the compression level to use. This number must |
- | | be between 0 and 9. When saving, this option replaces |
- | | the third window. When restoring, this option is not |
- | | used (hence can be omitted). If this option is not |
- | | given and a file name is given (see "file" option |
- | | below), compression level used is level 0 (no |
- | | compression). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | file | <file name> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the file to use to save/restore element. This |
- | | option can be given several times in case |
- | | saving/restoring need several files. In this case, |
- | | options must be given in order you want files to be |
- | | used. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | max_size | <number> [kb|Mb] or max | asked to user if "file" not |
- | | | given, 2047 Mo else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the maximum size that a file can be. If kb|Mb is |
- | | not given, size is in Mb. If size is in kb, it must be |
- | | between 1 and 9999 kb, if it is in Mb it must be |
- | | between 1 and 2047 Mb. If "max" is used as value, the |
- | | program will use minimum between drive free space and |
- | | 2047 Mb. This option can be given several times if |
- | | saving/restoring needs several files. In this case |
- | | this option must be given in the same order as file |
- | | names are given. If this option is given less time |
- | | than number of file names, the last option will be |
- | | used for all remaining files. If this option is given |
- | | more times than number of file names, remaining |
- | | options will not be used. If this option is not given |
- | | and some file names are given, maximum size of 2047 Mb |
- | | is used. When restoring this option is not used (hence |
- | | can be omitted). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | filesystem | no|fat12|fat16|fat32| | asked to user if no "disk", |
- | | ext2|ntfs|MBR| | "device" or "floppy" option, |
- | | firstsect|parttable| | "no" else |
- | | fat12mem|fat16mem| | |
- | | fat32mem|ntfsmem| | |
- | | ext2mem| | |
- | | fat12swap|fat16swap| | |
- | | fat32swap|ntfsswap| | |
- | | fat12memswap| | |
- | | fat16memswap| | |
- | | fat32memswap| | |
- | | ntfsmemswap | |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the filesystem type to use when saving. If this |
- | | parameter is equal to "no", all sectors are saved |
- | | without considering filesystem that is on the |
- | | partition. If this parameter is equal to one of the |
- | | others possibilities, the program checks that |
- | | partition to save corresponds to the filesystem of the |
- | | asked type. If this is the case, only occupied sectors |
- | | will be saved. Otherwise, an error is displayed. |
- | | The options fat12mem, fat16mem, fat32mem, ntfsmem and |
- | | ext2mem allow saving only occupied sectors, while |
- | | authorizing that the backup file created can be on the |
- | | saved partition. |
- | | The options fat12swap, fat16swap, fat32swap and |
- | | ntfsswap allow saving only occupied sectors without |
- | | saving the swap files contents. |
- | | The options fat12memswap, fat16memswap, fat32memswap |
- | | and ntfsmemswap put together the features of both |
- | | <xxx>mem and <xxx>swap options. |
- | | When restoring, this option is not used (the value |
- | | defined inside the backup file is used). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | swap_dir | <path name> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This option allows giving the directory where swap |
- | | files are located. It is used only when saving and |
- | | when requesting to not save swap files. <path name> |
- | | must be the path name from the partition root |
- | | directory without a drive letter (example: "\" for |
- | | root directory, "\WINDOWS" for WINDOWS directory). As |
- | | with the window which requests this information, the |
- | | program searches for swap files in the root directory |
- | | also. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | quit | yes|no|nobadsector | no |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This options permits to exit program automatically. If |
- | | it is equal to "yes", program exits at end of |
- | | saving/restoring/copying (be aware that in the case of |
- | | saving, if one of the options used from option file |
- | | has been modified, the window asking if you want to |
- | | create options file will still appear). It this option |
- | | is equal to "nobadsector", program will exit only if |
- | | no bad sectors have been found (otherwise, user can |
- | | read errors list on screen, then click "Ok" button). |
- | | If this option is equal to "no" or is not given, user |
- | | has to click "Ok" button to exit. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | reboot | yes|no | no |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This option allows rebooting computer automatically at |
- | | end of program execution. It is active only when |
- | | saving or restoring a partition (copying does not take |
- | | an option file and it is not useful to reboot computer |
- | | in others cases). If the "quit" option is equal to |
- | | "no", or "nobadsector" with some errors, or is not |
- | | given, program will reboot only after the user has |
- | | clicked on the "Ok" button. If the "quit" option is |
- | | equal to "yes", or "nobadsector" without any errors, |
- | | reboot will be done immediately. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | automatic_naming | yes|no | asked to user if "file" not |
- | | | given, "no" else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This options allows using automatic naming. If no |
- | | "file" option is given, this will only cause the |
- | | automatic naming checkbox to be checked when asking |
- | | for the first file name. If one or more "file" options |
- | | are given, all these options will be first used and if |
- | | more files are needed, the program will use the last |
- | | file name, changing its extension with the file number |
- | | following rules described in chapter 6.e (it does not |
- | | verify whether the file already exists or not). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | nb_files | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This option allows giving number of files to create |
- | | when creating files on an NTFS drive with using |
- | | automatic naming. Number must be between 1 and 1000. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | windows_disk | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the disk number where Windows is installed. This |
- | | option is equivalent to the "disk" one but is used in |
- | | the case of update of Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry |
- | | to give disk number where Windows is installed (see |
- | | chapter 11.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | window_main_part | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the main partition number where Windows is |
- | | installed. This option is equivalent to the |
- | | "main_part" one but is used in the case of update of |
- | | Windows 2000/XP/Vista registry to give main partition |
- | | number where Windows is installed (see chapter 11.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | window_ext_part | <number> | asked to user if |
- | | | "window_main_part" not |
- | | | given, 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the extended partition number where Windows is |
- | | installed. This option is equivalent to the "ext_part" |
- | | one but is used in the case of update of Windows |
- | | 2000/XP/Vista registry to give extended partition |
- | | number where Windows is installed (see chapter 11.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | windows_floppy | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the floppy drive number where Windows is |
- | | installed. This option is equivalent to the "floppy" |
- | | one but is used in the case of update of Windows |
- | | 2000/XP/Vista registry to give floppy drive number |
- | | where Windows is installed (see chapter 11.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | window_device | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the DOS device letter where Windows is |
- | | installed. This option is equivalent to the "device" |
- | | one but is used in the case of update of Windows |
- | | 2000/XP/Vista registry to give DOS device where |
- | | Windows is installed (see chapter 11.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | window_dir | <string> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the directory where Windows is installed (see |
- | | chapter 11.c). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | part_letter | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives drive letter that should be modified in the |
- | | registry for the chosen partition (see chapter 11.f). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_disk | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the disk number where Windows Vista boot |
- | | configuration data are. This option is equivalent to |
- | | the "disk" one but is used in the case of update of |
- | | Windows Vista boot configuration data to give disk |
- | | number where these data are (see chapter 12.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_main_part | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the main partition number where Windows Vista |
- | | boot configuration data are. This option is equivalent |
- | | to the "main_part" one but is used in the case of |
- | | update of Windows Vista boot configuration data to |
- | | give main partition number where these data are (see |
- | | chapter 12.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_ext_part | <number> | asked to user if |
- | | | "boot_main_part" not given, |
- | | | 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the extended partition number where Windows |
- | | Vista boot configuration data are. This option is |
- | | equivalent to the "ext_part" one but is used in the |
- | | case of update of Windows Vista boot configuration |
- | | data to give extended partition number where these |
- | | data are (see chapter 12.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_floppy | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the floppy drive number where Windows Vista boot |
- | | configuration data are. This option is equivalent to |
- | | the "floppy" one but is used in the case of update of |
- | | Windows Vista boot configuration data to give floppy |
- | | number where these data are (see chapter 12.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_device | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the DOS device letter where Windows Vista boot |
- | | configuration data are. This option is equivalent to |
- | | the "device" one but is used in the case of update of |
- | | Windows Vista boot configuration data to give device |
- | | letter where these data are (see chapter 12.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | boot_entry | <string> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the name of boot entry to update when updating |
- | | Windows Vista boot configuration data (see chapter |
- | | 12.e). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | source_disk | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the disk number where element to copy is. This |
- | | option is equivalent to the "disk" one but is used in |
- | | case of copying an element to give source of copy (see |
- | | chapter 8.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | source_main_part | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the main partition number to copy. This option |
- | | is equivalent to the "main_part" one but is used in |
- | | the case of copying an element to give source of copy |
- | | (see chapter 8.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | source_ext_part | <number> | asked to user if |
- | | | "source_main_part" not |
- | | | given, 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the extended partition number to copy. This |
- | | option is equivalent to the "ext_part" one but is used |
- | | in the case of copying an element to give source of |
- | | copy (see chapter 8.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | source_floppy | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the floppy drive number to copy. This option is |
- | | equivalent to the "floppy" one but is used in the case |
- | | of copying an element to give source of copy (see |
- | | chapter 8.a). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | source_device | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the DOS device letter to copy. This option is |
- | | equivalent to the "device" one but is used in the case |
- | | of copying an element to give source of copy (see |
- | | chapter 8.b). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | dest_disk | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the disk number where to copy element. This |
- | | option is equivalent to the "disk" one but is used in |
- | | case of copying an element to give destination of copy |
- | | (see chapter 8.d). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | dest_main_part | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the main partition number that is destination of |
- | | copy. This option is equivalent to the "main_part" one |
- | | but is used in the case of copying an element to give |
- | | destination of copy (see chapter 8.d). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | dest_ext_part | <number> | asked to user if |
- | | | "dest_main_part" not given, |
- | | | 0 else |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the extended partition number that is |
- | | destination of copy. This option is equivalent to the |
- | | "ext_part" one but is used in the case of copying an |
- | | element to give destination of copy (see chapter 8.d). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | dest_floppy | <number> | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the floppy drive number that is destination of |
- | | copy. This option is equivalent to the "floppy" one |
- | | but is used in the case of copying an element to give |
- | | destination of copy (see chapter 8.d). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | dest_device | A-Z | asked to user |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Gives the DOS device letter that is destination of |
- | | copy. This option is equivalent to the "device" one |
- | | but is used in the case of copying an element to give |
- | | destination of copy (see chapter 8.d). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | mount | <drive number>:<disk | asked to user |
- | | number>/<main partition | |
- | | number>,<extended | |
- | | partition number> or | |
- | | <drive number>:<device | |
- | | letter> | |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | Allows defining mounting options of a partition or a |
- | | device. |
- | | In first syntax, the first number is the drive number |
- | | used to identify mounted partition, it must be between |
- | | 0 and 2147483647. The second number is the disk number |
- | | on which partition to mount is, it must be between 0 |
- | | and number of disks - 1. The third number is the main |
- | | partition number of partition to mount, it is between |
- | | 1 and 4. The last number must not be given for a main |
- | | partition (if it is omitted, the colon before must be |
- | | also) and is the extended partition number where the |
- | | main partition is a logical partition, it must be |
- | | between 1 and 255. |
- | | In second syntax, disk and partitions numbers are |
- | | replaced with the drive letter of the device to mount. |
- | | The drive number must be unique and a partition can |
- | | only be mounted with one number. When a mount is |
- | | defined, the "file" option can use this number to |
- | | define a file name. |
- | | Example: |
- | | mount=0:0/1 mounts as 0: the first main partition of |
- | | the first disk, |
- | | mount=10:3/2,2 mounts as 10: the second extended |
- | | partition in the second main partition of the forth |
- | | disk, |
- | | file=0:\DISK_C.PAR defines a file that is on the |
- | | partition mounted by the first mount. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | gmt | <hours>h<minutes> | 0 |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This option permits setting difference between your |
- | | hour and GMT hour (example: 1h00 in France in winter). |
- | | It is used when writting file to NTFS partition |
- | | because this one stores file modification time in GMT |
- | | time. This option is not mandatory, it only avoids |
- | | having some file modification time in future or past. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | ask_first_media | yes|no | yes |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | When saving to a removable media, program asks for |
- | | next support for each file even first one. With |
- | | setting this option to "no", program will create the |
- | | first file on current media without requesting |
- | | anything. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | max_mem_size | <number> [kb|Mb] | available memory |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This options allows reducing memory usage by program. |
- | | It shall be used only when getting the "Error: could |
- | | not allocate page table memory" error (mostly when |
- | | exploring compressed backup). This limit is not |
- | | absolute (program will use more memory than that in |
- | | case of need), but allows reducing biggest buffers |
- | | size. If you do not get the error, you do not need to |
- | | use it, if you get the error, try with giving half the |
- | | memory you have (reduce it or try to free some DOS |
- | | memory if it is not enough). |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | empty_files | yes|no | no |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | When saving, this option allows program to empty the |
- | | files it does not use in case "file" or "nb_files" |
- | | (with automatic namming) are given. It does not |
- | | request any confirmation before doing that and stop |
- | | when all files are treated or at first error. This |
- | | option allows knowing which files are used by saving |
- | | and which are not. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | heads_sectors | standard|extended| | asked to user unless |
- | | parttable|<heads | fix_first_sector is used |
- | | number>/<sectors | |
- | | number> | |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | When fixing physical definition of a disk on a boot |
- | | sector, this option permits to choose which values to |
- | | use. Three first options (standard|extended|parttable) |
- | | are to use predefined values, the last option is to |
- | | give your own values (the number of heads and the |
- | | number of sectors per track). In case this option is |
- | | not used and fix_first_sector option is used, program |
- | | updates first sector value only. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | fix_first_sector | yes|no | asked to user unless |
- | | | heads_sectors is used |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | When fixing physical definition of a disk on a boot |
- | | sector, setting this option to true permits to correct |
- | | the first sector value if it is wrong. In case this |
- | | option is not used and heads_sectors option is used, |
- | | program updates heads/sectors numbers only. |
- +-------------------+-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | stdaccess | <number> | detection of type of access |
- | +-------------------------+------------------------------+
- | | This option allows forcing use of standard access for |
- | | disks that support both access modes (disks of less |
- | | than 8 Gb). The <number> allows giving disk number for |
- | | which access mode shall be forced (see "disk" option). |
- | | This option can be given several times with different |
- | | disk numbers. |
- | | This option shall be carefully used and only in case |
- | | of a disk found as using extended access but that does |
- | | not support it (case of very old disks). Before using |
- | | this option, it is better to check disks with |
- | | partinfo.exe with and without "-s" option, then to try |
- | | exploring a partition to check what program sees. |
- | | This situation is in most cases bad. It shows that |
- | | disk is badly recognised and that can lead to some |
- | | loss of data, overlapping partitions, ... (moreover in |
- | | case of using disk with several OS). It can |
- | | potentially be corrected with changing disk parameters |
- | | into BIOS, but this can lead to the loss of all data |
- | | of this disk (it is better after such a change to |
- | | destroy all partitions and create them again to be |
- | | sure they are correctly defined). |
- +-------------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - When using batch mode, no confirmation is asked when a file must be
- erased, when element is restored, when registry or
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file is modified.
- - If you do not give enough file names (for example, you give only one file
- name when restoring, and two files were created when saving), or a file is
- wrong (for example, the files are given in the wrong order or a file name
- is bad), missing or incorrect file names will be asked, as in normal mode.
- - If an option is not valid, the program ends. To verify your option file
- you can use savepart with "-t" option.
- - When restoring, if several files are needed and are stored on removable
- media (and the program is able to detect this), the program asks to change
- media instead of displaying an error and asking for next filename.
-
- Examples:
- ---------
-
- If we again take the partitioning presented in the example of saving a
- partition, and look at the batch file created when saving drive D:, we will
- have (assuming that all sectors were saved and two files are needed):
- ;-------------------------------
- ; Parameters for D: drive
-
- ; On the first disk
- disk=0
-
- ; Main partition 1
- main_part=1
-
- ; No compression
- ; (remark: in this case this option can be omitted)
- def_level=0
-
- ; Files:
- file=c:\driv_d_1.par
- file=c:\driv_d_2.par
-
- ; Same size for all files
- ; (remark: in this case the second line can be omitted)
- max_size=620
- max_size=620
-
- ; All sectors are saved
- filesystem=no
-
- ; End of file
- ;-------------------------------
- If you name this file drive_d.cfg, you will have to enter "savepart -s -f
- drive_d.cfg" to save the partition or "savepart -r -f drive_d.cfg" to restore
- it. Your are not obliged to give the -s/-r flag in which case you will be
- asked what you want to do, and then the option file will be taken into
- account.
-
- The file below will permit you to save/restore the Linux partition (all
- sectors of this partition):
- ;-----------------------------------
- ; Parameters for Linux partition
-
- ; On the first disk
- disk=0
-
- ; Main partition number 3:
- main_part=3
-
- ; Standard compression:
- def_level=6
-
- ; File:
- file=c:\linux.par
- max_size=2047
-
- ; All sectors are saved
- filesystem=no
-
- ; End of file
- ;-------------------------------
- If you change filesystem parameter from "no" to "ext2" in above file, only
- occupied sectors of partition will be saved.
-
- If you have two disks where the first one has a partition format that is not
- recognised by savepart, you can use the following file to force the program to
- only use the second hard drive:
- ;-------------------------------
- ; Partition format of the first disk not recognised
- ; => we force using only the second one
-
- disk=1
-
- ; End of file
- ;-------------------------------
-
- To modify the registry automatically, you have to give all the options which
- define the element to be modified and the element where Windows is installed.
- As an example:
- ;-----------------------------------
- ; Modification of registry for logical partition on second disk while
- ; Windows is installed on the first partition of first disk.
-
- ; Parameters for Windows installation
- windows_disk=0
- windows_main_part=1
- windows_dir=windows
-
- ; Parameters for partition definition to be modified in the registry
- disk=1
- main_part=2
- ext_part=1
- part_letter=G
-
- ; End of file
- ;-----------------------------------
-
-
- 22- Mounting a partition
- ------------------------
-
- Mounting a partition allows accessing partitions that cannot be used from DOS.
- Instead of using a drive letter as for DOS, mounted partitions get a drive
- number that can be used in the same way as drive letter. As an example, to
- access DISK_C.PAR file that is on first mounted partition (that has the 0:
- number), you have to use "0:\DISK_C.PAR".
- Mounting process is similar to saving partition choice process: you have to
- first choose the disk where partition to mount is, then partition itself. Once
- this is done, and if filesystem on this partition is recognised, this
- partition gets a drive number that is unique. If you try to mount a partition
- several times, you always will get the number it was mounted under at first
- time.
- Recognised filesystem are NTFS, FAT and ext2/3 filesystems. Mounting a NTFS
- partition allows modifying its files, but does not allow creating or erasing
- files. Mounting a FAT or ext2/3 partition allows creating files on them (not
- for ext2/3 partitions using binary tree sorted directories). Mounting a
- damaged partition allows accessing it in read-only mode. On ext2/3 partitions,
- symbolic links are displayed as files, but cannot be read or followed.
- When you mount a partition to modify its files, you must let the program end
- by itself for it to be able to synchronise the filesystem with modifications
- you perform. For example, do not reboot immediately when saving has ended, but
- click on 'Ok' button, create (or not) the configuration file and wait for the
- program to end.
-
- Notes:
- ------
-
- - Mounting a partition that is available to DOS by another way is not
- advised unless you reboot computer after program exiting, especially if
- you wrote something on it (this can lead to some errors or data lost
- because DOS is no more coherent with disk content).
- - The more partitions you mount the more memory you need. So if you have
- barely enough available memory, try to avoid mounting partitions
- unnecessarily.
- - When restoring with an options file, this file must be on a drive that was
- accessible by DOS because when it is read, no mounting has been done.
- - For files used on mounted partition, the option to disable write checking
- is not "-nvf" but "-nvd" because writing is performed via the program
- internal mechanism and not by using DOS.
- - On ext2/ext3 partitions, created files take ownership and rights of
- directory where they are created. On ext3 partitions, journal is not
- updated.
-
-
- 23- Notes on what elements can be saved
- ---------------------------------------
-
- This chapter describes some points specific to each type of element that can
- be saved. It describes in particular restrictions that are checked by program
- when restoring an element.
-
- a) The complete disk:
- This is about saving/restoring the whole disk without taking into account its
- organisation.
-
- When saving you should not create the backup file on one of the partition of
- the disk, else you are likely to have incoherencies when restoring.
-
- When restoring you should not use files that are on this disk as it is
- entirely rewritten and so files would be erased before they were completely
- read (so restoring will end with an error and files will be lost). Restoring
- is possible only on a disk with a compatible physical definition. For that, it
- must have the same access type, the same number of heads, of sector per track
- and have sectors that have the same size. It must equally have the same number
- or more cylinders (so the disk will have the same size or be bigger). If it
- has more cylinders, the last cylinders will be not allocated (consequently
- left empty) and you will have to create a new partition or increase the last
- one to use them.
-
- If disk size seems to be incorrect (for example it is displayed as 8 Gb when
- the disk is 20 Gb), you should not save this disk because the backup will not
- be complete (in this example, the last 12 Gb will not be saved). This comes
- from a bad detection of the disk (for example in the way it is accessed). The
- use of a disk manager program may solve this problem.
-
- b) The Master Boot Record (MBR):
- This sector is the first one on the disk. It contains:
-
- - boot code used when computer is started.
- - main partitions declaration.
-
- When saving it, this sector is fully saved, but when restoring only the part
- corresponding to the boot code is restored. The part corresponding to the
- partitions table is not modified else you would loose all partitions of disk.
- It should be noted that the disk identification used by Windows NT and
- following to distinguish the disks is restored also.
-
- When restoring, the only constraint on destination disk is that it must have
- the same sector size.
-
- It can be useful to save the Master Boot Record to restore it on another disk
- or in case of a boot virus. This is the same as doing "fdisk /mbr" if you have
- a boot sector written by Windows 9x/Me. This also allows you to restore a boot
- loader in case you install an operating system that modifies the boot sector
- without notice.
-
- Boot code is restored as-is, so if it contains some code specific to the disk
- format, this format is not updated even if this sector is restored on another
- disk.
-
- You cannot save the MBR if it is not considered valid (in which case this
- choice will not be displayed).
-
- c) First sectors of disk:
- These are the sectors that are before the first partition. This includes
- Master Boot Record, which is restored as described above (only boot code is
- restored).
-
- When restoring, the destination disk must have the same sector size and have a
- valid partitions table. If the number of sectors before the first partition is
- not the same between the saved and restored disks, only the common part (the
- minimum number of sectors) will be restored.
-
- You may need to save all sectors before first partition rather than just the
- MBR in the situation where you have a boot loader that uses these sectors to
- store its program. If this is restored onto a disk other than the original one
- or on a disk with different partitions, restored sectors will not be modified
- to take into account this new definition.
-
- You will not see this option if MBR or partitions table is not valid.
-
- d) Partitions table:
- These sectors describe the partitions table. They include MBR and all sectors
- that describe extended partition.
-
- When saving, the sectors are fully saved but, when restoring, only the part
- corresponding to the partitions table is restored (so boot code is not
- modified). Constraints on the destination disk are the same as when
- saving/restoring whole disk.
-
- When restoring partitions table, you will lose the whole contents of the disk,
- not because it is overwritten (only sectors of the partitions table are
- written), but because the way it is organised is modified. It is recommended
- that the backup file is not on the destination disk because there is a risk
- that it can be erased (it is a low risk because the file should be too big to
- be stored in memory and one of the sectors of the partitions table would be
- where the file is stored).
-
- e) Partitions (all sectors):
- In this case all sectors of a partition are saved without taking into account
- if they are occupied or not.
-
- When saving be aware to not create backup file on saved partition (for same
- reasons as when saving whole disk). This is equally true when saving only
- occupied sectors except when choosing to save a partition on itself.
-
- When restoring you should not use backup files that are on the restored
- partition (for same reasons as when restoring whole disk). This is equally
- true when restoring only occupied sectors. Restoring will be available only on
- a partition that is on a disk that has the same constraints as when restoring
- whole disk. Moreover partition must be on the same place on disk (it must
- begin and end at the same place as the saved one). Finally, partition type has
- to be compatible with type of saved partition. For this, here is the array
- giving compatibility between partition types:
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | Type | Number | Designation |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x01 | DOS FAT-12 |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | FAT 12 | 0x11 | DOS FAT-12 hidden |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0xc1 | DR-DOS FAT-12 |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x04 | DOS FAT-16 < 32Mo |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x06 | DOS FAT-16 >= 32Mo |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x14 | FAT-16 < 32Mo hidden |
- | FAT 16 +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x16 | DOS FAT-16 hidden |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0xc4 | DR-DOS FAT-16 |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0xc6 | DR-DOS,NT |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x0e | Win95 VFAT-16 |
- | VFAT 16 +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x1e | Win95 VFAT-16 hidden |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x0b | Win95 FAT-32 (b) |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x0c | Win95 FAT-32 (c) |
- | FAT 32 +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x1b | Win95 FAT-32 hidden(b) |
- | +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x1c | Win95 FAT-32 hidden(c) |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x07 | QNX,OS/2,NT,Unix |
- | NTFS +--------+------------------------+
- | | 0x17 | OS/2,NT hidden |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- | ext2 | 0x83 | Linux ext2fs/xiafs |
- +---------+--------+------------------------+
- So if you save a partition of type Win95 FAT32 (b), you can restore it on a
- Win95 FAT32 (c) partition (theoretically, difference between the 2 is hard
- disk access (CHS or extended), but Windows seems not to check partition type
- and check access type when booting). Please note that partition type is not
- modified in the partitions table (so if you restore a Win95 FAT32 (b)
- partition on a Win95 FAT32 (c) partition, this last one will still be a Win95
- FAT32 (c) partition in the partitions table).
-
- Saving all sectors of a partition can be useful in the case of a partition for
- which saving only occupied sectors is not available or in the case where the
- filesystem is too much damaged for saving only occupied sectors to work or if
- you do not have enough memory.
-
- f) Partitions (only occupied sectors):
- This part describes how saving only occupied sectors works for partitions that
- are known by this program. The following will describe some specific things
- for each partition type (FAT, ext2fs, NTFS).
-
- When saving/restoring occupied sectors of a partition, it is necessary to know
- how data are stored on it to know if a sector is occupied or not. For this
- reason, this option is not available for all filesystem, but only for those
- where I found documentation and that I have, to perform tests. For those
- filesystems, some checks are done to verify that it will be correctly
- recognised (if it is not, the window asking you if you want to save only
- occupied sectors will not be displayed).
-
- Saving/restoring of occupied sectors allows saving space (backup file is
- smaller), to save time (less data are read) and to do restore on a partition
- with a different size or that is on a hard disk different from those where was
- source partition or at a different place. Further constraints are that disk
- must have the same sector size as the original one and partition types must be
- compatible. The partition also needs to respect some minimal and maximal sizes
- (they are described below for each filesystem type). Remarks on where
- created/read file are located are the same as for a partition where all
- sectors are saved.
-
- Saving/restoring of occupied sectors keeps data sectors structure as it was
- defined when saving. If the partition is restored on a partition with a size
- different from original one, filesystem sectors can be modified to take into
- account this size change.
-
- Example:
- --------
- With a FAT partition, suppose there was the following structure (each letter
- is a sector with its content, number of sectors given is not representative of
- a true FAT structure):
-
- RRRRRRFFFF R: reserved sectors (boot sector and others)
- FFFFDDDD.. F: FAT sectors (sectors that allow to know if clusters,
- DDDDDDDD.. that are groups of sectors, are occupied)
- ........DD D: data sectors
- DDDDDDDDDD .: empty sectors
- DD....DDDD
-
- This partition is 60 sectors long. If you want to restore it on a partition
- that has 120 sectors, you will get following result:
-
- RRRRRRFFFF
- FFFFFFFFFF
- FFDDDD..DD
- DDDDDD....
- ......DDDD
- DDDDDDDDDD
- ....DDDD..
- ..........
- ..........
- ..........
- ..........
- ..........
-
- The number of reserved sectors has not been modified, the number of FAT
- sectors has grown because there was more accessible data sectors. The number
- of data sectors has grown, but their organisation has not been modified (only
- empty sectors have been added at end).
- In this example, it is not possible to restore this partition on a smaller
- partition because the last sector of partition is occupied. To avoid this
- problem you have to use a defragmenter before saving in order to get following
- structure:
-
- RRRRRRFFFF
- FFFFDDDDDD
- DDDDDDDDDD
- DDDDDDDDDD
- DDDD......
- ..........
-
- In this case, the partition can be restored on a partition with 44 sectors
- (certainly less, as number of data sectors is reduced and so number of FAT
- sector will be reduced, and a partition with 42 sectors can certainly be
- used).
-
- To know minimum and maximum partition size you can use when restoring a
- partition where only occupied sectors were saved, you can:
-
- - either create the batch file, in which case these sizes are written at
- beginning of the file into description.
- - or run savepart -r with choosing the backup file. When the window where
- you have to choose the partition to restore is displayed, it will contain
- a line with minimum and maximum sizes allowed for partition. Then you can
- cancel restoring to avoid doing it uselessly.
-
- g) FAT (12, 16 and 32) partitions (DOS/Windows):
- All FAT12 and FAT16 partitions are recognised. FAT32 partitions are recognised
- only for version 0 of this filesystem (I did not know other version). FAT
- partitions group data sectors into groups called clusters. When restoring this
- type of partition, cluster size is not modified and FAT type is not modified.
- Because of FAT structure, partitions of this type have to respect some size
- constraints that are summarised into following table:
- +---------+-------+--------+---------+--------+--------+-------+---------+
- |Clusters | 512 |1 Kbytes|2 Kbytes |4 Kbytes|8 Kbytes| 16 |32 Kbytes|
- | size | bytes | | | | |Kbytes | |
- +---------+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+---+----+----+
- |Partition|Min|Max|Min|Max |Min |Max |Min|Max |Min|Max |Min|Max|Min |Max |
- | size | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
- +---------+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+---+----+----+
- | FAT12 | 2| 2| 4|4 Mb|8 Kb|8 Mb| 16| 16| 32| 32| 64| 64| 128| 128|
- | | Kb| Mb| Kb| | | | Kb| Mb| Kb| Mb| Kb| Mb| Kb| Mb|
- +---------+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+---+----+----+
- | FAT16 | 2| 32| 4| 64|8 Mb| 128| 16| 256| 32| 512| 64| 1| 128|2 Gb|
- | | Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| | Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Gb| Mb| |
- +---------+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+---+----+----+
- | FAT32 | 32|128| 64| 256| 128| 512|256|1 Tb|512|2 Tb| 1| 4|2 Tb|8 Tb|
- | | Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| Mb| | Mb| | Tb| Tb| | |
- +---------+---+---+---+----+----+----+---+----+---+----+---+---+----+----+
- So with this table, you see it is not possible to define a FAT16 partition
- with less than 16 Mb and more than 256 Mb if its cluster size is 4 Kb. When
- restoring, only partitions that respect these constraints are listed as
- compatible partitions.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - As has been said before, to restore a partition on a smaller partition,
- the last sectors of partition must not be occupied. For this purpose you
- have to use a defragmenter in full defragmentation mode. You have to check
- that the defragmenter put all files at the beginning of the partition
- (some files are sometimes left at the end, for example the image.idx file
- created by Norton Image. It can be erased before doing save (be sure to
- remove its system and hidden attributes), then created again once the
- saving is done).
- - If you restore the partition containing C: drive on a different partition,
- it may be necessary to make the partition active if it is not already to
- set it bootable (with FDISK, choose "Activate partition" option). You may
- also have to update the MBR (either with copying original MBR or with
- using "fdisk /mbr"). If this partition is the bootable partition and is
- used with Windows 2000/XP/Vista multiboot, you have also to update the
- BOOTSECT.DOS/BOOTSECT.BAK file. It may also be necessary to use a bootable
- floppy disk with SYS.COM on it, to install system files on the partition
- (by running "sys c:" from floppy disk).
- - If you restore a partition on a different partition, references in the
- Windows registry that point to the saved partition will be wrong. In case
- of Windows 2000/XP/Vista, you can update registry with keeping the same
- drive letter. For others Windows version, this cannot be done.
- - If bad sectors are found under FAT (or boot sector copy for FAT32) when
- saving, their content is replaced by the content of their copy in the
- backup file to avoid problems when restoring this partition if it is done
- on one that doesn't have these bad sectors.
-
- h) Ext2fs/ext3fs partitions (Linux):
- Ext2fs/ext3fs partitions that are recognised are 0 and 1 version.
- Similar to FAT filesystem, ext2 filesystem groups data sectors into groups
- called blocks. As for FAT, block size cannot be modified when restoring a
- partition. To switch this blocks size, you will have some size constraints.
- These size constraints are for a different reason than for FAT partition. They
- define only a maximum partition size switch that size of the saved partition
- (there was no minimum size).
- +------------------------+----------+----------+----------+
- | Block size | 1 Kbytes | 2 Kbytes | 4 Kbytes |
- +------------------------+----------+----------+----------+
- | | 256 Mb | 2 Gb | 16 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 512 Mb | 4 Gb | 32 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 1 Gb | 8 Gb | 64 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 2 Gb | 16 Gb | 128 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | Maximum partition size | 4 Gb | 32 Gb | 256 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 8 Gb | 64 Gb | 512 Gb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 16 Gb | 128 Gb | 1 Tb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 32 Gb | 256 Gb | 2 Tb |
- | +----------+----------+----------+
- | | 64 Gb | 512 Gb | 4 Tb |
- +------------------------+----------+----------+----------+
- For example, if you have a 3 Gb partition with 2 Kb blocks, you would not be
- permitted to restore it on a partition that has more than 4 Gb (but you can
- restore it on a partition having a size between 0 and 4 Gb, lower limit will
- be determined by the number of the last used block).
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - I did never try a Linux defragmenter and I am not sure it will do a full
- defragmentation. Because of the way files are managed, it is highly
- probable that only files will be defragmented (they are moved so that all
- their data is stored on adjacent sectors, but are not put at the beginning
- of the partition). Hence it is very difficult to get a Linux partition
- with their last sectors unoccupied (so it will be difficult to restore a
- Linux partition on a smaller partition).
- - If you restore the root partition ("/") on a different partition (or if
- you have compiled a new kernel between saving and restoring), you will
- need a rescue disk to install your boot loader. Once the rescue disk has
- booted, create /mnt/disk directory if it does not exist, mount the
- partition with "mount -t ext2 /dev/<partition> /mnt/disk", then change
- your boot loader file (e.g. /mnt/disk/etc/lilo.conf) and install it back
- with "chroot /mnt/disk <boot loader command>" (<boot load command> = lilo
- for example).
- - If you restore a partition onto a different one, don't forget to modify
- your /etc/fstab file (the file that gives partitions with their mount
- directory) to take into account this change.
- - Ext3fs partitions are recognised as ext2fs partitions if journal is on the
- same partition. If journal is on a self contained partition, base
- partition can be saved as an ext2fs one, partition containing journal must
- be saved with all sectors (it is not important as journal partition is not
- very big and is swiftly full). Moreover in this last case, you must
- maintain coherency between the two partitions.
-
- i) NTFS partitions:
- NTFS partitions are recognised for versions 1.1, 1.2, 2, 3.0 and 3.1 (this
- number is not NT version but filesystem version (1.1, 1.2, 2 <=> NT, 3.0 <=>
- Windows 2000, 3.1 <=> Windows XP)). As Microsoft did never release a NTFS
- specification, this filesystem is not fully known and there still were some
- unknown parts. Nevertheless, parts concerning sector use is known and so can
- be used. But there was some feature of NTFS that I did not cover (it is the
- case of partitions that have heavily fragmented filesystem).
- Unlike FAT and ext2 partitions, there was no size constraint: only size limit
- is linked to last allocated sector for lower limit and for upper limit to
- limit of filesystem or too much fragmentation. So it is not possible to give a
- size constraint as in others cases.
-
- Remarks:
- --------
-
- - As for Linux, NTFS defragmenter certainly does not group occupied sectors
- at the beginning of the partition. So it can be difficult to restore/copy
- a partition on a smaller one.
- - In some cases, the program may report that it cannot restore the partition
- onto another one because of a size problem. In this case, you have to try
- to restore it on a smaller partition (if it can be done) or bigger. This
- case will be unusual, involving some full or heavily fragmented
- partitions.
- - Saving/restoring a NTFS partition needs more memory than for others cases.
- If you have the "not enough memory" error and if you have more than 32 Mb
- memory and use EMM386, you can get more memory by disabling EMM386 (it
- limits memory size to 32 Mb). To perform this, you have to add a "rem " at
- the beginning of the line concerning EMM386 in C:\CONFIG.SYS file (or
- A:\CONFIG.SYS file if you use a floppy disk to boot), then restart your
- computer. Once saving/restoring is done, you can remove the "rem " so that
- EMM386 will be activated again at next boot.
- - If you restore a partition on a different partition, references in the
- registry that point to the saved partition will be wrong. In the case of
- Windows 2000/XP/Vista, you can update the registry while keeping the same
- drive letter. For others Windows version, this cannot be done.
- - If you save your system partition, then restore it onto another partition,
- you have to update the registry. You may also need to update your boot for
- this new location to be taken into account (the BOOT.INI file or boot
- configuration data). You can either use Partition-Saving with choosing to
- explore the partition and edit BOOT.INI file (XP) or to update boot
- configuration data (Vista), or boot with your Windows CDROM (or the 6
- floppy disks which are downloadable on the Microsoft website for XP) and
- choose the repair option. If CD does not perform an automatic repair,
- tools to use are fixmbr, fixboot and bootcfg for XP and bootrec with
- /fixmbr, /fixboot and /RebuildBcd option for Vista. The first one is to
- update the first sector of the disk (in case this one was never used as a
- system disk), the second one is to update the boot sector of the partition
- (this is theoretically not needed), the last one is to configure your boot
- options (BOOT.INI file). You can type "help <command>" for XP or
- "<command> /?" for Vista to get more information on these commands. But
- despite all this, because of protection mechanism that are set and due to
- a lack of knowledge about this system, it may not work (but only in the
- case of a restoring onto another disk, in the case of restoring on a
- previous version, there should be no problem). A last option that can be
- tried in this case is to download the "sysprep" utility on Microsoft
- website and use it before doing the save.
-
- j) Boot sector/superblock:
- This option appears only for partitions, floppy disks and devices for which
- filesystem is recognised. It allows saving first sector for the FAT and NTFS
- filesystems and the first 2048 bytes for the ext2 and ext3 filesystems (this
- is 4 sectors in most cases). In ext2/ext3 case it means there is more sectors
- than superblock are saved as there is also sectors before it.
- When restoring, only partitions having the same physical definition are given
- (boot sector having information on its localisation). It shall be noticed that
- the boot sector/superblock copy (if it exists) is not updated on restoration.
-
- k) Floppy disks:
- 360 Kb, 720 Kb, 1.2 Mb, 1.44 Mb and 2.88 Mb floppy disks can be saved. But
- only floppy disks that are correctly formatted and have 512 bytes sectors can
- be saved.
- Floppy disk size cannot be known (knowing its type 5"1/4 or 3"1/2 is possible,
- but for a given type, size cannot be known). So the program searches the last
- sector of the disk to get its size. If this last sector is damaged, the
- program will be wrong and the whole floppy disk will not be saved/ restored.
- In this case it is better to save using DOS devices. To find out which size
- the program has found, you can use the window asking you if you want to save
- all sectors or occupied ones only (if it is displayed) or remaining size when
- window asking you backup filename is displayed.
- If you save all sectors, the same remarks as for saving a whole partition
- would apply, if you save only occupied sectors, refer to previous chapters
- referring to the filesystem.
- If you restore a floppy disk for which you have saved only occupied sectors,
- onto a floppy disk with a different size, it will work. But this floppy disk
- will no longer have a standard format so it can cause mistakes with some
- programs.
- After you have restored a floppy disk, you have to eject it then reinsert it
- so DOS can take changes into account. Otherwise, you can get incoherence on
- the disk.
-
- l) DOS/Windows devices:
- This method allows you to save all devices that DOS accesses using sector
- notation and that have a FAT (and NTFS for Windows NT/2000/...) filesystem.
- For example, it is not the case for CD or network mapped drive, but it is the
- case for large removable disks like Zip.
- This obviously allows accessing to FAT(/NTFS) partitions of hard disks or
- floppy disks, but for both cases it is better to use direct access as
- described in previous chapters. The only case where this is not true is in the
- case where the floppy disk size is incorrectly recognized.
- Device to save/restore must be correctly formatted for it to be correctly
- recognized.
- Same remarks as for saving floppy disks would apply in this case.
-
-
- 24- Differences between DOS and Windows versions
- ------------------------------------------------
-
- Because of differences between DOS and Windows, the two Partition Saving
- versions are not exactly the same. Major differences are given here with
- taking DOS version as reference.
-
- a) All versions of Windows:
- Windows does not allow protecting a drive that is in use to avoid that several
- programs access it simultaneously. So these drives cannot be saved or restored
- from Windows. The most notable case is the system partition or partition with
- the swap file. If you want to save these partitions with the Windows version,
- you have to do it either from a second Windows installation, or from a WinPE
- or BartPE CD, or from Windows Vista recovery console.
- If drive letter assignment on each partition seems wrong, do not use the
- program because it means it cannot disallow other programs to access the
- partition when saving/restoring (so data will be corrupted).
- The whole disk, the partitions table and main partitions of extended type (the
- main ones, not logical inside them) cannot be saved because I do not find a
- way to protect against other program accessing drive in a satisfying way.
- Following options and corresponding ones into options file have described
- behaviour:
-
- - -bui: becomes "-tui".
- - -buix: becomes "-tuix".
- - -pm: becomes "-cm".
- - -ncd: drive assignment is always done (so option is ignored).
- - -nvd: checking disk write is always disabled less for floppy drives in
- Windows 95/98/Me (it is as if option is always used).
- - -nvf: checking file write is always disabled (it is as if option is always
- used).
-
- Files created from Windows version can be used with DOS version (and
- vice-versa less in cases described into this chapter). But program can
- consider restoration destination is different from what was saved because
- physical definitions can be different (this can be a problem when saving all
- sectors as it needs to have the same physical definition). It shall be noticed
- also that in case of saving a NTFS device from Windows, this one can be
- restored in DOS, but device will become unavailable from DOS. Moreover
- restoring a NTFS device on a FAT device (or vice-versa) does there is an
- incoherence between partition type set into partitions table and filesystem
- (it is better either to avoid this type of handling or to fix the partition
- type into partition tables with program like XFDISK).
-
- b) Windows before Windows 95:
- I do not think the Windows version can be executed on these Windows versions.
- But if it works, it is better you do not use it and you use the DOS version in
- DOS mode.
-
- c) Windows 95/98/Me:
- These versions of Windows do not allow direct access to disk. So you can only
- save floppy disk or devices. So it is better to use the DOS version in DOS
- mode.
-
- d) Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/...:
- These versions of Windows allow accessing NTFS drives, so it is not needed to
- create backup files on NTFS partition before as it is the case for DOS
- version. But, in case you save a NTFS partition on itself, you will still need
- to create these files because they will be used with the mount mechanism
- instead of with Windows.
- Partitions on dynamic disks can be saved/restored with using Windows device
- access.
- In these versions, you can need to have administrative rights to be able to
- perform backup.
-
- e) Windows 64 bits:
- I cannot test program with a 64 bits Windows, so I cannot say if it works or
- not. So be very cautious with these versions: check that drive assignment is
- correctly done to partitions, try with using the option to explore a partition
- before performing a backup to check that program is able to correctly access
- disk.
-
-
- 25- What is not supported
- -------------------------
-
- The following situations are not supported for this program:
-
- - partitions for OSes that do not follow partition format as it is described
- (notably Solaris x86).
- - disk manager programs (not to be confused with boot manager programs that
- are supported). These programs allow access to disks of more than 8 Gb
- with standard mode (if you use one, you will probably know it). If only
- one partition is detected when you know that there were several, there is
- a good chance that such a program is present.
- Francisco Miranda has reported to me that he has successfully run
- Partition Saving with Samsung disk manager. Thanks to him for having tried
- it and for returning this information back to me. Nevertheless this is
- only valid for this disk manager, consequently I prefer to let stand this
- warning for others disk manager.
- - extended partition with OS2 cannot be all detected: into extended
- partition chain, generally only two partitions per node are defined (the
- two others contain invalid information), but OS2 seems to use all four
- partitions.
- - partitions managed with LVM (Logical Volume Management, also known as
- dynamic disk). Windows version allows accessing them through devices.
-
-
- 26- What cannot be tested
- -------------------------
-
- The following situations cannot be tested:
-
- - disk with a sector size other than 512 bytes.
- - partitions for OSes other than DOS, Windows (9x, XP) and Linux.
- - creating backup file on partition which is saved, unless using dedicated
- option.
-
- If someone uses this program with one of above situations, I will be pleased
- to know the results and any problems encountered. For people wishing to make
- these tests, I want to say:
-
- - savepart.exe -s only reads the disk physically (writing is done in a file
- with standard DOS features) unless mounting some partition.
- - savepart.exe when used with "-t" option does not write anything on the
- disk.
-
-
- 27- Acknowledgments
- -------------------
-
- - my father for having asked me for this program (without whom it would
- never have been written), for having read this document (the French
- version, any mistakes in this one is due to my poor English) and being the
- first to test this program.
-
- - DJ Delorie for the DJGPP environment (http://www.delorie.com/djgpp). This
- includes equally everyone who has helped him create that environment.
-
- - Jean-Loup Gailly and Mark Adler for the zlib compression library
- (http://www.zlib.net).
-
- - Ralf Brown for all the documentation that he has gathered on interruptions
- (http://www.pobox.com/~ralf).
-
- - Simon P. Bullen for fortify (a library to permit checking memory
- allocation).
-
- - Chris Lattner for his Website "The Operating System Resource Center" where
- you can find a lot of information on hardware and software
- (http://www.nondot.org/sabre/os/articles).
-
- - Régis Duchesne and Richard Russon (and everyone that helped them) for all
- the documents they gathered regarding NTFS
- (http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net).
-
- - Markus Oberhumer and Laszlo Molnar for the executable packer UPX
- (http://upx.sourceforge.net), and Serge Delbono for having pointed out it
- to me.
-
- - All people that have participated into development of MinGW
- (http://www.mingw.org).
-
- - Brett Stevenson and Richard Ross-Langley for the correction of the English
- version of the FAQ and the web site homepage.
-
- - Ralph Ball for the correction of the English version of the manual. I have
- got several offers for this (thanks to those having done this offer), but
- Ralph is the one that had courage to end it !
-
- - B.D. for having searched and given the format of registry files (I cannot
- find the whole name of the author).
-
- - Will Rickards for pointing to me that when restoring a partition on a new
- disk, bad sectors information can be resetted.
-
- - Giorgos Kostopoulos for pointing to me problems that can occur in case one
- of used OS is set into hibernation mode and its filesystem is modified.
-
- - Bob Supansic for the correction of the English version of the HOWTO and to
- have given me some advice on its presentation.
-
- - Fred Lumsden for the correction of the English version of the additional
- information.
-
- - bug finders for reporting them to me and helping me to resolve them:
-
- * Charles M. Tilden (problem on bad detection of hard drive).
- * Daniel Lagunes (bug on reading partitions table for standard access disk
- with at least two logical partitions).
- * Thibaud Fontanet (failure of detection for some hard disks in V2.21 and
- hang up of computer when rebooting, the first problem had been reported
- by Juergen and Ray Schmitz)(for V2.22 bad attribution of DOS drive
- letter when there was several main DOS partitions on the same disk).
- * Ray Schmitz (problem about accessing the wrong disk in the case of a
- drive before it is not detected as a hard disk).
- * Volker Beck (the forgetting of code to allow saving NTFS partition with
- batch mode).
- * Frode Ingebretsen (screen problems with some computers (incompatible
- BIOS ?)).
- * Brian Bell (the inability to restore FAT partitions that have bad
- sectors when saving).
- * Menno Schoone (the unnecessary asking for option file creation when
- saving with an option file using the automatic_naming option).
- * Patrick Barny (the first who has helped me with very fragmented NTFS
- partition, followed by Peter Newman and Kamil Wicher).
- * Sébastien Willemijns, Gershwin Luhur and popfulmail (the unnecessary
- asking for option files creation when saving with an option file in
- which given file names were not full pathname). Sébastien Willemijns
- gives me also some points of amelioration of the interface.
- * Ian Stuart Turnbull (some NTFS files cannot be found in case partition
- goes in a lot of stress and files get allocated into a part that I
- considered as reserved for filesystem files). He has also confirmed me
- that the Windows 2000 registry update works, as I cannot test it.
- * Jorge Cesario (a regression in V3.00 and V3.01 versions that does that
- removable media were no more detected and so files name were asked
- instead of requesting for media change).
- * Wu Chaowei (bad setting to occupied of clusters that are after MFT0 when
- restoring a NTFS partition to a different one but with a similar size).
- * Thijs van der Kraan (missing setting of one modification date when
- modifying a file on a NTFS partition). He also gives me the idea of the
- "empty_files" option into the configuration file.
-
- - All the people who have sent me emails of encouragement, comments, and
- suggestions for improvements.
-
-
- Hoping this program will be useful,
-
- D. Guibouret <damien.guibouret@partition-saving.com>
-
- ------
- All trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective
- holders.
-