The CIA World Factbook 1992

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Enclosed is a pre release version of OPTune, Gazelle's new hard disk optimizer. The software is about 98% complete. Keep in mind that this is a pre-release version, add is meant to be used for trial purposes only. The licensed version of OPTune is one of excellent quality, offering a utility to defragment, un-format ajust interleave, perform extensive check disk functions, and much more. This version will give you all the performace of the disk utilities, but you will have to purchase the real thing to get the rest. Our beta testers raved about the speed of OPTune. Not only were their initial defragmentation times unbelievably fast, they were excited to be able to defragment their hard-disk daily in 2 to 10 seconds. Micro managers across the country that I have spoken with estimate that 75% of the PC's they are responsible for have incorrect interleave settings. OPTune allows them to properly adjust the interleave through a low level non-destructive format which provides their users a permanent increase in access time. OPTune is reasonably priced at $99.95. Our site license program provides substantial discounts for major software users. A Licensee is provided two copies of software and documentation which may be duplicated up to the licensed number of copies. The price of the site license is determined by the number of copies needed (minimum of 50). Toll-free technical support is provided at no extra charge. Additional manuals are available. A maintenance agreement which provides for upgrades is also available. The maintenance fee, prepaid annually, is 10% of the initial site license fee. I would like to inform you of a potential problem with older 10 mega-byte hard-cards from Plus Development Corporation. Tunedisk will not run on these cards. This caution DOES NOT apply to the Optimize, Check-Disk, or Verify/Fix-Disk functions. These functions will work properly on these older hard cards. OPTune users should also be aware that on the final version there will be a program to install OPTune onto a hard disk (OPSTART.EXE). Also to be included is a program to recover from a power outage during the safe mode of the Verify/Fix Disk option when a bit test is in progress. OPTune: The Gazelle Optimizer FOR A LICENSED VERSION OF OPTUNE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL SOFTWARE DEALERSHIP. FOR CORPORATE SITE LICENSING OR OTHER SALES INFORMATION CONTACT: Gazelle Systems 42 North University Avenue, Suite 10 Provo, Utah 84601 1-800-233-0383 (within Utah 801-377-1288) OPTune Version 1.0 Copyright Gazelle Systems 1988 INTRODUCTION TO OPTune What is OPTune? OPTune is an extremely fast and reliable software utility that can dramatically improve the performance of your hard disk by ensuring the most efficient operation of your mass storage system. OPTune offers you complete hard-disk optimization. This includes: DOS Optimization OPTune optimizes your disk's DOS structure by sorting and squeezing your file and directory entries. This will speed- up directory operations, and allow programs to load much faster. This will also greatly reduce wear-and tear on your drive and will decrease the time spent in searching your disk's directories. File Defragmentation OPTune defragments all the files on your disk, and will not stop before the job is finished (unless, of course, you tell it to). It will physically realign the different segments of files that DOS has scattered throughout your disk. By organizing your files, OPTune will make data accessing much faster, and your system will be more efficient. (DOS will only have to go to one location to read a file, rather than moving all over the disk to find the various parts of fragmented files.) OPTune will completely defragment every file on your disk, unlike some competing products that stop the optimization process before it is completed. Interleave Optimization OPTune allows you to modify the low-level format (see Glossary) of your disk, ensuring that your computer system communicates with your disk as efficiently as possible. Complete integrity verification. OPTune checks the complete DOS file and directory structure before each optimization, and can fix any problems that surface. In addition, the program can search for and repair problem spots on your disk, even if those spots are currently being used by files. OPTune can also predict and prevent DOS errors before they damage your files. Any part of your hard disk that is even marginally bad can be permanently blocked out so that DOS will never again use that section of the disk. Safety and Reliability. OPTune actually makes your disk more reliable. In addition to preventing disk errors and recovering damaged files, OPTune can also strengthen the magnetic fields on your disk, thereby reducing the probability that you will ever see the "Abort, Retry, Ignore?" message resulting from disk problems. Compatibility. OPTune is the only optimizer that is completely compatible with Q-DOS II. When you run Q-DOS II after using OPTune, it will automatically rescan your optimized drive, so that it will properly understand your new, optimized directory structure. Why OPTune is the Best OPTune is faster. OPTune combines the features and benefits of the best optimizers available into one package that offers increased speed and flexibility. OPTune performs its tasks up to 10 times faster than competing optimizers. Generally, OPTune will initially take from 4 to 5 minutes to optimize a 20 MB hard-disk (other products spend an average of 30 minutes). Thereafter, daily optimization will take from 20 to 30 seconds (OPTune will not "re-optimize" a disk unnecessarily--it will organize only those files that require optimization). OPTune is the most comprehensive optimizer. OPTune's unique combination of features handles all phases of disk optimization. Other products, while producing very good end results, can take over an hour to optimize a 32 MB disk, while the faster competitors will sometimes leave portions of the disk still fragmented. These competing programs cannot support larger hard disks, and they will not work with the newer, more-sophisticated versions of DOS. OPTune is safer. By researching all of our competitors' products we discovered that most of them, under the guise of "making sure that your disk's sensitive areas are always correct," spend up to 40% of the optimization process updating the file allocation tables and directory entries. THIS IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. On the other hand, OPTune generally spends a maximum of 10% of its time updating the File Allocation Table (usually only 20-25 seconds). If a power failure were to occur during OPTune's optimization process, the worst that would usually happen is that your disk would not be totally optimized. In the event of damage, OPTune's built-in Check-Disk command could help recover any lost data. FEATURES 3 TYPES OF OPTIMIZATION OPTune is the only optimizer available that offers all phases of disk optimization. It will perform DOS optimization, file defragmentation, and permanent tuning of your hard disk. SPEED OPTune offers the fastest optimization available (from 2-10 times faster than competing products)! In addition, it can permanently adjust your hard disk so that it runs from 20% to 300% faster. FLEXIBILITY OPTune can handle unusual disk formats such as: 1) All disk structures created and supported by Compaq's latest DOS 3.31 and higher 2) Disks having more than 2 file allocation tables 3) Disks with root directories holding 1,024 or more entries 4) Disks created using special hard-disk partitioning schemes requiring special device drivers. SAFETY AND RELIABILITY We have done everything possible to ensure that your hard disk will perform faithfully, while at the same time producing the safest product possible. Our safety features include: o A Check-Disk function. OPTune is the only product with its own built-in Check-Disk function that improves on all elements of the DOS "CHKDSK" command. Check-Disk is run every time you use the optimizer; if there is anything wrong with your disk's DOS structure, the optimizer will not allow you to proceed until the problem is corrected. o A Verify/Fix-Disk function. OPTune is the only product with its own built-in verification function that can actually predict and prevent DOS errors before they destroy your data. Our sensitive bit-pattern testing subjects your disk to the most rigorous media verification possible. This will flush out sectors that are starting to go bad long before they would ever be detected by other means. The program will support any hard disk or any DOS partition of any size, given these constraints: 1) The DOS sector size is 16,384 bytes or smaller (most disks use 512 bytes per sector), and the cluster size does not exceed 64K 2) No single file is greater than 2,147,483,647 bytes 3) There are no more than about 15,000 total files and directories on the hard disk being optimized (this is due to the 640K memory constraint in DOS) 4) There is at least one unused cluster (see Glossary) on the disk being optimized (if not, simply erase one file) 5) The Tune-Disk command requires that the hard disk's physical sector size be 512 bytes; all other commands (Optimize, Verify/Fix-Disk, and Check-Disk) operate with all sector sizes up to 16,384 bytes. 1) You must not use OPTune on an active network or in a multi-tasking environment. If you try to optimize a disk under these conditions, the whole disk may crash. OPTune should only be used on network disks before the network is activated. 2) OPTune will not work on a Novell disk server, or on other network systems that do not allow direct sector reads or that utilize non-standard directory formats. 3) OPTune should generally not be used when disk- caching software is active (see below). Specifically, disk caching programs that provide "intelligent-write" or "delayed- write" capabilities may cause your hard disk to fail. OPTune tests for these features and warns you if disk caching will affect the function you wish to use; OPTune will refuse to run Tune-Disk, for example, if disk caching software is detected. Please refer to the "Using OPTune" section for information on the safest way to use this utility. About Disk Caching Recently, many software companies have introduced products known as "disk caching" programs. This software is uniquely designed to increase computer processing speed by keeping data that is frequently accessed from a hard drive in RAM. By eliminating the need to access the drive, many operations can be made faster -- sometimes even hundreds of times faster. Such an increase in performance is usually very desirable. However, eliminating actual disk accesses can cause severe problems for products like OPTune. For example, a disk cache can prevent an actual disk access from occurring during Verify/Fix-Disk. The cache will cause Verify/Fix Disk to see information as it is in RAM, rather than as it actually is on the hard disk. This will prevent accurate detection of hard disk problems. Disk caching software can also cause serious problems when Tune-Disk is altering the interleave of a hard disk. Many cache programs eliminate disk accesses whenever they recognize that data which is about to be written to an area of a disk is identical to the data which was last read from that area of the disk. If the cache is not intelligent enough to recognize that the disk has been reformatted since data was last read, then data will not be written to the disk and will therefore be lost. OPTune will detect most types of disk caching, and depending on the type of caching detected and the OPTune function you are using, will either warn you about the disk caching or will prevent the function from operating if it would damage your disk. For best results, we highly recommend that your caching software be deactivated prior to using OPTune. NOTE: One of the side effects of caching is that it sometimes slows down disk operations. This is the case with the OPTune Verify/Fix-Disk command in the Read Only mode, which never reads the same part of the disk more than once. OPTune Safety Tips OPTune is a specialized program that manipulates the most critical and sensitive parts of your hard disk-the directories, the file allocation tables, and the actual programs and data. Because of this, there are certain risks involved. For increased safety, we recommend that you consider the following: Most of the warnings and cautions that we mention apply to all programs you use, since DOS itself manipulates these same sensitive areas of the disk and is also adversely affected by power failures and other unforeseen disasters that happen "at the wrong time." To remedy this, we recommend using an Uninterruptable Power Supply. This will safeguard all of your equipment against the effects of unexpected power loss. We recommend that you backup your hard disk before using OPTune (if you do not have a high-speed backup, we recommend you look into Gazelle Systems' Back-It, available through your local dealer). If a power failure or some other unforeseen disaster occurs, your data will be recoverable. A Note About Copy-Protected Software: You should be aware that some copy-protected software programs will not allow manipulation of certain files. In most cases (in programs manufactured by Lotus, Ashton-Tate, and a few other large companies), these files are specially marked as hidden and/or system files. OPTune will not move these files, and your copy-protected programs will be unaffected. Other programs may use "non-conventional" protection schemes that OPTune does not know about. You may want to consult with the software manufacturer before optimizing disks with copy-protected files. OPTune is not copy-protected, and therefore can be installed using the DOS COPY command. However, the following procedure is recommended for installing OPTune on your hard-disk. You may skip step 3 if you wish; however, the routines used in step 3 test your hard disk to make sure that the installation of OPTune will be successful. 1) Make a copy of your OPTune disk. To do this, type the command "DISKCOPY A:B:" and then follow the instructions on your screen. Store your original OPTune disk in a safe place and use the copy for the rest of the installation process. 3) Before placing OPTune on your hard disk, it is a good idea to make sure that your hard disk is 100% safe that it will reliably hold all of the information that you want to store on it. The best way to do this is to run OPTune's CheckDisk and Verify/Fix-Disk routines. This is a simple process: A) Place your working copy in drive A. Enter the command "A:OPTUNE" and press RETURN. (This will run the OPTune program.) B) Select the Check-Disk command by pressing the letter "C" (This program is the equivalent of the DOS "CHKDSK" program. It will check the integrity of all of the DOS files and directories on your disk.) C) Now, select the Report Only command by pressing the letter "R". Enter the letter of your hard disk as prompted and press RETURN. If any errors are reported, you must re-do the Check-Disk routine as described above; and select the Fix (and Report) command (by pressing "F") instead of the Report Only command. This will correct any DOS related problems on your disk. D) Next, select Verify/Fix-Disk by pressing "V". This routine will check the physical integrity of the actual sectors on your hard-disk. E) Select the Start Verify command, and then enter the letter of the drive onto which you will install OPTune (as prompted). This will begin the Verify/Fix- Disk routine. This routine will perform a complete test of your hard-disk and will fix any errors it encounters. F) Next, select Quit by pressing the FlO key (or use the standard exit by pressing "Q" twice). CUSTOMIZING COLOR FOR OPTune OPTune supports most monochrome CGA, EGA, VGA, and Hercules graphics cards and monitors. If you use a color or composite-video monitor, or if you simply want to alter the way OPTune looks on your screen, use the "OPCOLOR" program included on your distribution disk. (If you use Q-DOS or Back-It, you may already know how to use this program.) To modify the colors in the OPTune program, follow these steps: 1) Exit the program you may be using. You must run "OPCOLOR" from your DOS prompt. 2) If you are modifying OPTune on a floppy diskette, insert the diskette into drive A, type A: and press RETURN. If you are modifying OPTune on your hard disk, type C: and press RETURN. Then type CD\OPTUNE and press RETURN. (This assumes that the "OPSTART" program was used to install OPTune on drive C in the \OPTUNE directory. If OPTune was installed in another subdirectory, you must change to the subdirectory in which OPTune was installed.) OPCOLOR actually modifies the OPTUNE.EXE file on the disk. To do this, the program expects to find the OPTUNE.EXE program in the current directory of the current drive. The above instructions ensure that this is the case. 3) Type OPCOLOR and press RETURN. This starts the color modification program. A menu listing sections of the screen that can be changed will appear in the lower right-hand corner. 4) To select the default colors, press C. If you would like to modify the screen colors, select a number (from 1-5) from the menu. Press the number until the color of your choice appears. The colors "rotate" in one direction. To change this direction, simply press the UP or the DOWN arrow key. To return to the default colors, press C (or M if using a monochrome monitor). To read OPTune's current color setting, press Fl. 5) When you have finished modifying the colors, simply press RETURN to save them. To exit without saving the colors, press ESC. USING OPTune UNDERSTANDING OPTUNE'S MENU-LINE OPTune uses a simple menu-line structure which has 3 levels. These include COMMANDS, FUNCTIONS, and OPTIONS. Place Screen 1 Here SELECTING COMMANDS To choose any command, move the cursor with the LEFT or RIGHT arrow key until it highlights the desired command and then press RETURN (pressing the DOWN arrow key has the same effect). Commands may also be selected with a single key-stroke by pressing the First letter of the desired command. These key letters are bolder than the other characters on the command line. SELECTING FUNCTIONS When a command is selected, a "pull-down menu" will then be displayed. To select any function on the menu, move the cursor with the UP or DOWN arrow key until it highlights the desired function and then press RETURN. As with commands, functions may also be initiated by pressing the first letter of the desired command. Again, these letters are bolder than the other characters on the pull-down menu. The RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys can always be used to select commands, even if you have already "pulled down" a command menu. (In this case, pressing the RIGHT or LEFT arrow key will "pull- down" the next menu. This is an excellent way to view the functions available under each command, and can also save you time if you accidentally select the wrong command.) SELECTING OPTIONS In some cases, when a function is selected, a menu which displays possible options will appear in the center of the screen. You can specify certain aspects of the selected command by using the UP and DOWN arrow keys. Option settings may be changed by highlighting them and pressing the SPACE BAR or by typing in the appropriate response. Once the settings have been adjusted, you may return to the command's pull-down menu by pressing RETURN or ESC. ESCAPE At any time you may press ESC to cancel the current selection and return you to the previous level in the command structure. The ESC key will also cancel any command while in progress. This allows you to recover from commands that were executed improperly and gives you more control over OPTune. HELP As each command, function, and option is selected, a brief explanation appears in the box located at the bottom of the screen. For more information, please refer to the appropriate section of this manual. TO QUIT By pressing the FlO key once you can immediately exit OPTune from any command level. This bypasses the "Park" feature, and immediately returns you to the DOS prompt (see the section on the QUIT command for more information). OPTIMIZE PURPOSE Optimize performs two very important services: 1) it defragments files (by gathering all the information contained in a file into one physical location), and 2) it reorganizes your DOS structure so that it is more efficient. By using the Optimize command on a regular basis, you increase the speed at which files can be accessed and reduce wear-and-tear on your hard disk by eliminating unnecessary movement of your hard disk's read/write head. We recommend using this command daily to insure that your disk is consistently running as quickly and efficiently as possible. Optimize has three very important functions: 1) It checks the integrity of your disk. Before entering the actual disk-optimization phase, Optimize performs a complete Check-Disk analysis of your disk, ensuring that the DOS integrity of your disk is intact; if there are any problems, you are instructed to run the Fix option of the Check-Disk routine. 2) It reduces the wear and tear on your disk's read/write-head positioning mechanisms. Optimize arranges the files on your hard disk so that minimal head movement is required for file access. This significantly reduces the chance that your hard disk will break down prematurely. Optimize will also save you valuable time, since an optimized disk operates .fast.er than one that is not optimized. 3) It protects your valuable data. OPTune, unlike some other optimizers, makes all of your files 100% contiguous. This is extremely important in the event that critical files are inadvertently. erased. If a file is contiguous, you should be able to successfully "unerase" it by using one of the various file recovery programs on the market. If it is not contiguous. there is a possible that part or all of the file will be lost. We recommend that you use Optimize daily. In fact, you can insure that you start the day with an optimized disk if you include an OPTune command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. (See the section on COMMAND LINE PARAMETERS. Be sure to execute the Optimize command BEFORE you load network, multitasking, or other memory resident software.) SUMMARY The Optimize commands can be used to "defragment" your hard disk, thereby increasing its speed of operation. Several options are available. The following description of these commands will explain how to effectively optimize your hard disk. The following is a complete explanation of each of the Optimize sub-commands. OPTIONS PURPOSE These options give .you control over certain aspects of the Optimize command. You can turn directory sorting On or Off. When sorting is On, you can specify how directories should be sorted (by Name, Extension, Date, or Size, in Ascending or Descending order). You can also specify whether to use verification during the optimization, or whether to simulate an optimization of your current disk's structure. TO USE When Options is selected, a menu will appear in the middle of your screen which displays certain options. These commands are selected with the UP and DOWN arrow keys and are toggled with the SPACE BAR (once you have highlighted an option, simply press on the SPACE BAR until the selection of your choice appears in the box). When you have made your selections and are ready to continue, press either RETURN or ESC. Each of these commands is described below: Sort Directories: You can decide if you want your directories sorted. Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between Yes and No. Directory sorting is performed during all types of optimization (Normal, Packed, and Realigned). Sorting subdirectories and files makes working in DOS much easier. However, there may be situations where you will not want to change the order of your directories. For the most part, we recommend that you keep the Sort function activated. Sort on Field: This function determines how directories will be sorted. You can choose sorting according to Name, Extension, Size or Date. Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between the different fields. NOTE: In all cases, when sorting is ON, OPTune always places the subdirectory entries before any file entries in each directory. Sort Direction: The directory can be sorted in Ascending or Descending order. Use the SPACE BAR to toggle between the two options. NOTE: All sorting is actually done with at least two fields: Name sorts by name then extension; Extension sorts by extension then name, Size sorts by size, then name, then extension, and Date sorts by date, then time, then name, then extension. Simulation Mode: You can turn Simulation On or Off. When it is On, no changes are made to the disk and the Check-Disk function automatically verifies that the optimization process will work properly on your disk. Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between the two options. Verification: You can turn verification On or Off. Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between Yes and No. When verification is On, OPTune will perform read-after-write verification of all disk writes. OPTune offers three different types of optimization. These are as follows: NORMAL PURPOSE Normal optimization is extremely fast, leaves your files 100% defragmented, sorts all files according to your sorting options, and squeezes erased files out of your directories. When completed, none of your files will be stored in multiple pieces on your disk each file will be stored as one contiguous "chunk". Normal will not always move files toward the beginning of your disk, and will not always pack all the files end-to-end as Packed does, but will leave some empty spaces between some of the files. Normal optimization takes only a few seconds and can easily be used daily. TO USE Highlight Normal on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "N"). Enter the letter of the drive you wish to optimize (as prompted). [The default drive is either the "current" drive or the last drive you specified. If you wish to optimize the default drive, simply press RETURN. If you wish to optimize another drive, enter the drive letter.] PACKED PURPOSE Packed offers better end results than Normal, although it can take 50% longer to finish. Like Normal, this option also sorts all files according to your sorting options, squeezes erased files out of your directories, and completely defragments your files. Packed, however, also arranges the files on your disk so that they are end-to-end. Since there is no empty space between files on your hard-disk, chances are that new files will be written to the disk without being fragmented. Packed optimization ensures that your hard-disk stays optimally arranged for as long as possible. TO USE Highlight Packed on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "P"). Enter the letter of the drive you wish to optimize (as prompted). [The default drive is either the "current" drive or the last drive you specified. If you wish to optimize the default drive, simply press RETURN. If you wish to optimize another drive, enter the drive letter.] NOTE: The first time that you perform a Packed optimization, it will probably take from 4 to 5 minutes (Normal optimizations are up to 50% faster). If you optimize once a day, subsequent optimization should take only 20 to 30 seconds. FILE REALIGNMENT PURPOSE This is by far the most thorough of any of the optimization methods available. Like Normal and Packed, this option also sorts all files according to the sorting options that you select and squeezes erased files out of your directories. It then performs a "packed" optimization, but also physically arranges files on the disk in the same order as the sorted (or unsorted) directory entries. File Realignment takes longer, but it increases effeciency when many files are usually accessed in a sequential order. TO USE Highlight File Realignment on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or press "F"). Enter the letter of the drive you wish to optimize (as prompted). [The default drive is the "current" drive or the last drive you specified. If you wish to optimize the default drive, simply press RETURN. If you wish to optimize another drive, enter the drive letter.] TUNE-DISK PURPOSE Just as a tune-up for your car ensures that your engine is running as smoothly as possible, Tune-Disk ensures that your hard disk is in synchronization with its controller and the speed of your computer's CPU. This increases efficiency and creates a permanent enhancement to your disk. This command has two very important functions: 1) Optimizes low-level format Tune-Disk tests your hard disk to make sure that its low- level format is working at peak performance with your computer system and that information is being retrieved as quickly as possible. If Tune-Disk determines that your hard disk's speed can be improved, it will non- destructively re-format your disk. This will ensure that your disk will permanently run much faster than ever before. 2) Strengthens magnetic signals. Over time, the magnetic signals on your hard disk fade. As these signals fade, it becomes progressively more difficult for your computer to read them. Weak signals often result in disk errors. The Tune-Disk command, however, can strengthen all the magnetic signals on your disk. By reformatting your hard disk, your disk's media is strengthened by ensuring that all magnetic signals are strong. This can prevent parts of your disk from becoming error prone, and can even restore some marginal parts of your disk. Tune-Disk should be used at least twice a year on each hard disk. It should also be used any time you change your computer's microprocessor or microprocessor speed (if you purchase and install a 386- or 286-speedup board in an AT or PC/XT computer, for example, or if you install a new hard disk controller). It will take about 10 minutes to run Tune-Disk on an AT with a 20 MB disk, and about 25 minutes on a PC/XT. SUMMARY Tune-Disk makes sure that your hard disk is properly formatted to run as efficiently as possible. If Tune-Disk's initial testing shows that your hard disk's performance can be improved, Tune-Disk will non-destructively re-format your disk so that it operates faster and more efficiently. This allows the format of the disk to be strengthened, thus preventing disk-errors. OPTIONS PURPOSE The Tune-Disk options allow you to choose the mode (Safe or Quick) in which this function is executed and also allow you to start Tune-Disk at a specific point on your hard disk. TO USE Highlight Options on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "0"). When Options is selected, a menu displaying the Tune-Disk options will appear in the middle of the screen. Options are selected (highlighted) with the UP and DOWN arrow keys and toggled with the SPACE BAR (once you have highlighted an option, simply press the SPACE BAR until the selection of your choice appears in the box). When you have changed the options and are ready to continue with the TuneDisk command (or if you simply want to exit from this command), press either RETURN or ESC. Options include: Operation mode: Tune-Disk can run in Safe mode or in Quick mode. Safe: Safe mode is the default mode. During the Safe mode, the information on your hard disk is constantly protected. When you use the Safe mode, you can always recover from a power failure in the middle of Tune-Disk (the RECOVER.EXE program included on your master disk will be able to fix your disk; the RECOVER.EXE program will NOT be able to recover information lost during the Quick mode). The Safe mode requires a reliable, formatted floppy disk. Quick: Quick mode is almost twice as fast as Safe mode. During the Quick mode, however, important safeguards which protect your data are bypassed. This means that if a power failure occurs during Tune-Disk, your data will be lost. If there is no power failure, all will be fine. WARNING: IF YOU OPERATE TUNE-DISK IN QUICK MODE, YOUR DATA WILL NOT BE SAFEGUARDED. WE STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU BACKUP YOUR DISK BEFORE USING THIS MODE. Starting point: You have the option of telling Tune-Disk which cylinder to begin with. Tune-Disk usually starts at the beginning of your disk. If you must interrupt Tune-Disk while it is running, you can note the cylinder number at which Tune-Disk stops and then resume at a later time by. using this option. Test PURPOSE This function will determine and report the best interleave setting on your hard disk without making any changes in your disk's performance. TO USE Highlight Test on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "T"). This test takes less than one minute on most hard disks. Start Tune-Disk PURPOSE This command will determine the best interleave setting for your hard disk and tune it (by nondestructively reformatting it) so that it is functioning at maximum efficiency. TO USE Highlight Start Tune-Disk on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "S"). NOTE With a 20 MB hard disk, you should expect TuneDisk to take about 20 minutes on an AT and about 50 minutes on a PC or XT in Safe mode; it will operate about twice as fast in the more- risky Quick mode. PURPOSE Check-Disk performs the same function as the DOS "CHKDSK" program. It verifies the DOS File Allocation Table (FAT) structure on your hard-disk and all directory and subdirectory file entries, reports problems, and fixes certain types of errors. This command has several advantages over t.he "CHKDSK" program that came with your version of DOS: 1) This command works with all disks utilizing any version of DOS (2.00 or higher). 2) This command is 3 to 5 times faster than its DOS equivalent. 3) This command works on all disks or partitions of any size (up to 2 gigabytes). (The DOS "CHKDSK" program cannot be used on most larger hard disks). This command can be used as often as you wish, and it will work on any DOS disk. If you are running the Optimize command on a daily basis, then you will use this feature only if a problem on your disk surfaces or if you need to be certain that your disk has not become corrupted (Optimize always runs Check-Disk prior to optimizing your disk). SUMMARY Check-Disk analyzes the integrity of the file and directory structure of your hard disk. It makes sure that directory sectors are readable, that directory entries are valid and legal, and that files are not cross linked. This function will also correct problems so that DOS can function properly on your disk. Check-Disk will work on size disk or DOS partition, whereas the DOS "CHKDSK" program fails on larger disks. And, Check- Disk is 3-5 times faster than its DOS counterpart! The Check-Disk command has the following options: REPORT ONLY PURPOSE This selection will perform Check-Disk routines and report any problems it encounters without making any changes on your disk. In addition, this will report available disk space and will indicate the number of files and directories on your disk. It will also inform you of total memory and free memory. [This is the option that Optimize uses before each optimization.] TO USE Highlight the Report Only command on the pulldown menu and press RETURN (or simply press "R"). Enter the drive letter as prompted. [The default drive is either the "current" drive or the last drive you specified. If you wish to use CheckDisk on the default drive, simply hit RETURN. If you wish to use Check-Disk on a drive other than the default drive, then enter the drive letter.] FIX PURPOSE This selection duplicates all functions of Report Only but also fixes DOS structure problems. Fix will change unallocated (or lost) clusters to files in the root directory. [Fix is similar to the "CHKDSK/F" function in DOS.] TO USE Highlight the Fix command on the pull-down menu and press RETURN (or simply press "F"). Enter the drive letter as prompted. [The default drive is either the "current" drive or the last drive you specified. If you wish to use Check- Disk on the default drive, simply hit RETURN. If you wish to use Check-Disk on a drive other than the default drive, then enter the drive letter.] NOTE You should use Check-Disk periodically to make sure that the DOS structure of each of your disks is functioning properly. Both Optimize and Verify/Fix-Disk automatically perform this Check- Disk function. If there are any problems, they will tell you to run Check-Disk. The Check-Disk routine, however, can be used separately at any time on any DOS drive. VERIFY/FIX-DISK PURPOSE This program checks the physical integrity of your hard disk. It reads each sector and tries to find bad or marginal areas. If faulty areas are discovered, Verify/Fix-Disk will lock them out, preventing your disk from using unreliable sectors. Verify/Fix-Disk has four very important functions: 1) Error detection. Verify/Fix-Disk hunts down marginal areas on your disk and prevents DOS from ever putting data in them. 2) Data protection. This command retrieves data from damaged files and moves it to a safe location on your disk. Verify/Fix-Disk will then block out the marginal areas on your disk so that DOS does not try to use them again. 3) Error prevention. Like Tune-Disk, Verify/Fix-Disk strengthens magnetic signals on your disk. This will prevent parts of your disk from becoming marginal. 4) Crash prevention. Perhaps the most important benefit of this command is that it can actually predict and prevent hard disk before they occur. This will save you time, money, and headaches. You should perform a "quick" verification of your disk once every couple of weeks. And, at least 3 or 4 times each year, you should perform a "bit-pattern" verification of your hard disk. This will find any parts of your disk that are starting to wear out and will also strengthen the magnetic signals on your disk. SUMMARY Verify/Fix Disk performs a read-only test of your hard disk's media, identifying parts of the disk which have gone bad, and moving files to safe locations on the disk. In addition, this function can perform a bit-pattern test on your hard disk which will flush out potential media failures and prevent disk errors from occurring on the marginal parts of your disk. OPTune's Verify/Fix-Disk function is purposely less tolerant of errors than DOS. DOS will retry a read or write operation 3 to 5 times when it finds an error. Many times this "error retry" logic makes DOS believe that marginal areas on your disk are perfect. When this happens, DOS will continue to store your valuable data on questionable media. Verify/Fix-Disk will hunt down marginal spots that DOS would normally never find, and will prevent these spots from destroying data on your disk when they fail completely. OPTIONS PURPOSE The Verify/Fix Disk Options enable you to determine how many times to verify your disk and whether errors will be fixed automatically. These options also allow you to specify the level of testing (deeper testing levels take more time, but may be more effective in detecting bad or marginal sectors on the disk). TO USE Options are selected with the UP and DOWN arrow keys and are toggled with the SPACE BAR (once you have highlighted an option, press the SPACE BAR until the selection of your choice appears in the box. If a number is required, type in the number). When you have selected your options and are ready to continue with Verify/Fix-Disk (or if you simply want to exit from this command), press either RETURN or ESC. Options include: Verification type: Read-Only, Bit-Test 1, 2, or 3 You may select which type of verification to perform by pressing the SPACE BAR to toggle through the options. The following is a description of those options: Read-Only: This is the quickest type of testing. It simply reads each part of the disk in large chunks (several clusters at a time). Upon encountering an error, Read-Only will attempt to fix the disk and recover any file data currently residing on the bad spot on your disk. The default (and only) verification mode is Safe, which, for Read-Only, is the same as Quick. [Note: Read-Only verifications are extremely safe because nothing on the disk is changed unless an error is encountered and fixed.] Bit-Test: Three levels of testing are possible (1, 2, and 3). Each level duplicates the functions of lower-numbered tests in addition to performing tests of its own. An important side benefit of this option is that in addition to finding and blocking out bad spots on the disk, it actually refreshes the magnetic signals of all data areas. The default mode for the Bit-Test option is Safe, which requires a floppy disk. The Quick mode may also be used. The Bit-Test option performs a read-only test first. If it finds no errors, it then performs the additional tests you select. After testing, your original data is rewritten to the disk. The following is a description of the Bit-Test levels: Level 1. This test writes a unique bit pattern 512 bytes long that reverses the magnetic polarity of each bit on the disk and then tests it. This quick test catches most weak spots on a disk about to go bad. This test takes 15-20 minutes on a 20 MB disk. Level 2. This level performs test 1 and then tests 8 unique bit patterns (32 bytes in length) developed by hard disk manufacturers. This level then tests 4 other unique bit tests proprietary to Gazelle Systems. This tests takes 2-3 hours on a 20 MB disk. Level 3. This level performs test 1 then tests 16 unique bit patterns developed by hard disk manufacturers. It then tests 8 other bit patterns proprietary to Gazelle Systems. This test takes 5-6 hours on a 20 MB disk. Verification Mode: You can select Quick or Safe. [For the Read-Only test, you may only select Quick, which is the same as Safe for this verification type.] For Bit-Test mode, the Quick mode is faster than Safe, but is more risky: If the power fails during bit testing, you generally will lose file data. If you have previously backed up your disk, you should restore it. Or, if you were using the Safe mode, simply run the RECOVER program from your OPTune disk. Report to printer: Users have the option of having the results of the Verify/Fix- Disk printed. Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between Yes and No. Report to disk: The results of Verify/Fix-Disk can also be sent to a disk drive in addition to being displayed on the screen. If the results are sent to a disk drive, Verify/Fix-Disk creates a file in the root directory on your disk called "VERIFY.RPT". Press the SPACE BAR to toggle between Yes and No. Drive letter: When you send the Verify/Fix-Disk results to a disk drive, you can specify which drive these results are sent to. Enter the drive letter as prompted. You must specify a drive other than the one being verified. If you select the same drive, Verify/Fix-Disk will still operate, but the report file "VERIFY.RPT" will not be generated. Number of times to verify. The Verify/Fix-Disk routine can run up to 99 complete verification cycles. The default is 1 cycle. On a 20 MB hard-disk, one "read only" cycle will take from 2-4 minutes, whereas the deepest bit-pattern test can take over 5 hours. Fix errors automatically. Verify/Fix-Disk will also fix errors automatically. If this option is selected, Verify/Fix-Disk will report errors to the screen and attempt to fix any problems. If this routine identifies a marginal area that is not being used by any file, Verify/Fix-Disk will simply block the area out and continue to verify the rest of the disk. If this routine finds a marginal area which currently contains a file, Verify/Fix-Disk will try to read the disk up to 30 times. (DOS will retry each of these attempts 3-5 times. This means that in automatic mode, for example, Verify/Fix-Disk actually tries up to 90-150 times to salvage your files.) If Verify/Fix-Disk fails to read the file, a message will appear on the screen informing you that it cannot fix the problem. If you do not select Fix errors automatically, the program will give you the option to correct errors or to let them remain. When you select error correction, Verify/Fix-Disk will make 10 attempts to read the disk and DOS will repeat each of these attempts 3-5 times. This means that Verify/Fix- Disk will try at least 30-50 times to salvage your files. If it can't get the information, this sequence is repeated. With both automatic error correction and user initiated error correction, if the disk is successfully read, then the bad clusters will be blocked out and the file data will be written to a reliable part of the disk. NOTE Many times sectors deteriorate gradually. If you run Verify/Fix- Disk at least one time per month, you will identify problems before they cause data loss and crash your hard disk. QUIT PURPOSE To exit the program, or to prepare the hard-disk to be moved. Obviously, the Quit command is used to terminate the program. (You can also exit OPTune from any menu level by pressing the FlO key.) However, there is another extremely important feature available with OPTune's Quit command you can park your hard disk. The Park option is used to prepare your hard disk to be moved or shipped. We recommend that you park your hard disk's read/write heads at the end of each day's use. This retracts the physical read/write heads to a safe part of the disk. When the read/write heads are properly parked, your disk can be moved without sustaining any damaGe. If the heads are not parked, when your hard disk is moved the read/write heads may scratch your disk and destroy parts of files. TO USE When the main command line is displayed, highlight Quit and press RETURN (or simply press "Q"). If you desire to park your hard disk, press "P". If not, press any other key. When the disk has been "parked," you may "unpark" it by simply pressing the ESC key. Disks that are self-parking do not need to be parked by this command. COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS When you type "OPTUNE" from the DOS prompt and press RETURN, you are running OPTune in the MENU mode. This means that you use the menu on the main screen to command OPTune to perform any of its features. This is the way that most people will initially use OPTune. When you become familiar with OPTune, you will want to set up batch files that will take advantage of OPTune's COMMAND-LINE mode. The following is a description of the command-line parameters that OPTune understands. Most of the OPTune commands can be accessed via command-line parameters when you start the program. You can also easily run OPTune from batch-file commands, if you wish. (For example, you could tell OPTune to optimize your hard disk each time you turn your computer on.) Only one command at a time can be invoked from the command line; to perform multiple functions (such as optimizing more than one drive) you must use multiple commands. The following is a description of the various commands and how to use them. OPTune checks your computer system to see whether disk caching software is active. For some of OPTune's functions (Tune-Disk and Verify/Fix-Disk), disk caching may cause problems. OPTune's internal safe guards will not allow it to operate in situations where your disk data may be endangered. Usually, OPTune has no difficulty in properly sensing disk-caching software. However, some systems utilize hardware caching that cannot be turned off, and which also will not negatively affect OPTune. In this case, in order to let OPTune proceed with the desired command, you need a way to deactivate OPTune's automatic check for disk-caching software. To turn off the disk-cache detection, use the -I command on the command line. This -I may be inserted anywhere on the command line, and may be used whether you operate OPTune in the command- line or in the menu mode. For example, to run OPTune in the MENU mode, simply type "OPTUNE - I" and then press RETURN. To run OPTune in the COMMAND-LINE mode, simply add the -I command at the end of your command. Command: /0 - Optimize the drive in NORMAL mode, sorting by name in ascending order Optimize the drive in SIMULATION mode, without making any changes to the disk Optimize the drive in SIMULATION mode (in NORMAL); then, if there were no errors, proceed with a NORMAL optimization, sorting by name in ascending order The basic format for OPTIMIZE is as follows: OPTUNE [drive:] /[command][option] [S[sort field][order]] [V] Options: N - Do NORMAL optimization (default) P - Do PACKED optimization F - Do FILE REALIGNMENT optimization Example: .OPTUNE C: /OP" on the command line or in a batch file will optimize drive C in PACKED mode. Example: "OPTUNE D: /SF" on the command line or in a batch file will simulate a File Realignment optimization of drive D without making any changes to drive D. Example: "OPTUNE C: /ZP" on the command line or in a batch file will first simulate a PACKED optimization of drive C. Then, if there were no errors, drive C will then undergo an actual PACKED optimization. You may also specify sorting options with the following format: S[sort field][sort order] Sort field: N - Name (default) E- Extension/Name S - Size D - Date/time X - No sorting Sort order: A - Ascending (default) D - Descending Example: "OPTUNE D: /ON SSD" on the command line or in a batch file will optimize drive D in NORMAL mode, and will sort all directories by SIZE in DESCENDING order. You may also turn on verification during optimization with the command-line parameter V at the end of the command line. Example: "OPTUNE C: /ZF SX V" on the command line or in a batch file will first simulate a FILE REALIGNMENT optimization on drive C with no sorting. If there are no errors, then OPTune will proceed with the actual FILE REALIGNMENT optimization, with no sorting of directory entries, and with VERIFICATION turned on. CHECK-DISK Command: /C - Run Check-Disk on the drive, reporting any errors and summarizing the disk statistics The basic format for CHECK-DISK is as follows: OPTUNE [drive:] /C[option] Options: R - Do Report only (default) F - Do Fix (and report) Example: "OPTUNE C: /CF" on the command line or in a batch file will check drive C and report any errors, and will also fix the errors that it encounters. Command: /V - Run Verify/Fix-Disk on the drive, fixing any errors automatically and reporting all errors on the screen only The basic format for VERIFY/FIX-DISK is as follows: OPTUNE [drive:] /V [type [mode]] [P] [D [drive]] [# cycles] [auto-mode] [-I] Options: Type: 0 - Read-Only test (default) 1 - Bit-Test 1 2 - Bit-Test 2 3 - Bit-Test 3 Mode: Q - Quick mode (default) S - Safe mode P Send output to printer D[drive] Send output to disk file on drive indicated ### Number of cycles to perform Auto-mode options: A - Fix errors automatically (default) M - Fix errors manually Example: "OPTUNE D: /V P DG 20 A" on the command line or in a batch file will verify drive D (in "Read- Only" mode, since no type was specified) and fix errors automatically, cycling through the verify process 20 times, and sending the results to the printer and to the file "\VERIFY.RPT" on drive G. Example: "OPTUNE C: /V2 S 20" on the command line or in a batch file will verify drive C using the "Bit-Test 2" type of disk verification in the "Safe" mode (which requires another floppy diskette), and will cycle through this verification 20 times. Command: /P - Park all physical hard disks attached to the computer Options: None Example: "OPTUNE /P" will park all drives. TUNE-DISK Because of the extreme sensitivity of this function, and because it is used infrequently, the Tune-Disk function may only be accessed from the menu in the OPTune program. ERROR-LEVEL CODES OPTune knows how to inform DOS of the success of the commands that were executed. The batch-file "errorlevel" command can be used to determine if OPTune was successful or if errors occurred while the program was running. The file SAMPLE.BAT on your master disk gives a detailed example of the power and flexibility of this "errorlevel" command. OPTune sends the following "errorlevel" codes to DOS upon program termination: 0 - The function was successful 1 - There was an error in the disk's FAT or directories 2 - The specified drive was not available 3 - A bad cluster was detected (use Verify/Fix-Disk to solve this problem) 4 - There was not enough memory for this function 5 - The disk is not a standard hard disk (this applies to Tune-Disk only) 6 - A fatal error occurred 7 - There are not enough free clusters on the disk (delete one or more files and repeat the command) 8 - There may be unallocated clusters or OPTune detected a problem with the disk's directory structure (use Check- Disk to solve the problem) 10- Disk caching was detected and should be deactivated before repeating the command 13- The GAZELLE_.SAV file was corrupted 26- An invalid command was specified on the command line 27- The user pressed ESC to terminate the program prematurely USING OPTUNE IN BATCH FILES Because OPTune is so fast, most users prefer to optimize their disks each time they turn their computers on. This section explains how to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that this is an automatic process. From within any batch file you can tell OPTune to optimize, check, verify, or fix any drive. The batch file can then know (via the error-level codes) whether the operation that you selected was successful. When you have determined which OPTune command(s) you wish to run, you are ready to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. OPTune must first be properly installed on a drive that your computer can access when it boots up. You will need a text editor on this drive (such as the one included with Q-DOS) to modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. To modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, do the following: 1) Start your text editor, and tell it to read or load the file named "\AUTOEXEC.BAT" (which should be in the root directory of your bootup drive). 2) Insert the appropriate OPTune command in the file. We suggest that the OPTune command come early, if not first, in the command line. (Consult the section in this manual entitled .Command-Line Parameters" for a listing of the commands.) For example, if you wish to have OPTune optimize drive C using normal optimization, enter the command C:\OPTUNE\OPTUNE C: /N (using your editor), and press RETURN at the end of the line. (This assumes that OPTune exists in the \OPTUNE directory on drive C.) 3) Save the file using your editor's save command. The next time your disk boots up, it will run OPTune on drive C. OPTune can optimize (or check, or verify) just one drive at a time. If you have multiple drives in your computer system, you must use multiple OPTune commands (one specifically for each drive) in your batch files. NOTE: If you do not have an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on your disk and would like to create one that runs OPTune, follow these instructions. (These instructions assume that drive C is your boot up disk and that OPTune has been installed onto it; if this is not the case, then substitute the correct drive letter for C.) 1) From the DOS prompt, type COPY CON C:\AUTOEXEC.BAT and then press RETURN. Your DOS prompt will disappear and the cursor will be at the left side of your screen. DOS will put whatever you type in at this point into the AUTOEXEC.BAT file in the root directory of drive C. 2) Type C:\OPTUNE\OPTUNE C: /N and press RETURN. 3) Type Ctrl-Z (hold the CTRL key, and press the "Z" key). Then, press RETURN. 4) DOS will indicate that one file was successfully copied. If it doesn't, then repeat this procedure. BATCH FILES FOR POWER USERS Advanced computer users may want to study the "errorlevel" codes that OPTune returns (see the end of the "COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS" section). These codes can be interrogated by the DOS "if errorlevel" command to know whether OPTune encountered any errors during any function initiated by a batch-file command. For example, you may wish to setup a sequence of commands that will optimize your disk; and, if an error is encountered, will use OPTune's Check-Disk function to correct the problem, and then run OPTune again. You may wish to examine the contents of the batch file SAMPLE.BAT which is included on your master diskette. PLEASE NOTE: The batch-file commands in SAMPLE.BAT are intended to help "power" computer users get the most out of OPTune. If you don't understand the commands in this file, don't worry. OPTUNE DAILY USE Using OPTune is the fastest and easiest way to ensure that your disk operates as efficiently and reliably as possible. Daily Use For most users, the Normal optimization in OPTune will provide the quickest way to make sure that your disk is fast and that it has no DOS errors (OPTune always runs its internal Check-Disk command before each optimization, and will let you know if any problems exist). We suggest that you install a command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (one command line for each of your disk drives) so that OPTune can optimize your disk(s) before you start your work for the day. If you do a lot of work with data bases, or use applications that create or modify large files, you will get better results by using the Packed optimization option. This ensures that your disk will stay defragmented for as long as possible. This type of optimization takes only a little bit longer than the Normal optimization. We do not recommend the File Realignment option for daily optimizations, as it takes longer than either Normal or Packed. However, if you use applications that use many files in a given directory (such as computerized bulletin boards), you may consider using this option at least every other day, if not on a daily basis. Weekly Use At least once a week, you should use the Packed option to remove any free spaces between files. You should also use the Check-Disk command periodically, although the Optimize command always runs this internally before performing any optimization. In addition, you should consider performing a Read-Only verification of each of your disks every week to see if any parts of the disk have become blatantly unusable. Monthly Use Some users may want to run the File Realignment option to optimize their disks on a monthly basis. However, most users will not see much improvement with this type of optimization (as opposed to a Packed optimization). It is also a good idea to perform one of the bit-test patterns in the Verify/Fix-Disk command to see if any parts of your disk are starting to become bad. Quarterly Use You should run either level 2 or level 3 bit testing on each of your disks (using the Verify/Fix-Disk command) to eliminate any bad spots on your disk. Yearly Use At least once a year, you should use the Tune-Disk command to strengthen the format on your disk. You should also perform the deepest bit testing (level 3) of the Verify/Fix-Disk command to thoroughly test your hard disk. This will ensure that you have many years of trouble-free use of your hard disk. TECHNICAL INFORMATION The following section contains more detailed explanations of some of the OPTune commands. TUNE-DISK Tune-Disk ensures that your hard disk runs as efficiently as possible. This command performs two important functions: 1) It checks to make sure that the low-level format (interleave factor) is optimized for your hard disk and microprocessor. Before you can use your hard disk, it has to go through a process known as low-level formatting. This function puts addresses (magnetic marks) on your hard-disk. These marks enable your hard disk controller to know where parts of your disk are. The low-level format creates a physical map of your hard-disk (in cylinders, heads and sectors) that allows your computer to read and . write information from or to your disk. By using this map, your computer is able to retrieve the information that you store. Almost all low-level format routines make several basic assumptions about your hard-disk. One assumption that most of these routines make is that all systems are the same. These routines choose one of many possible formats for your hard-disk. All of the formatting processes are equally reliable, but only one of them is right for your hard-disk. If your computer is using the wrong format, it will still work. However, if your disk has been formatted with a "non- optimal" interleave, the hard disk controller may sometimes have to wait 3-5 times longer than necessary to access the data on the disk. TUNEDISK will determine the best setting for your hard disk so that it is calibrated to match your system as closely as possible, making your computer run as fast and as efficiently as possible. 2) It strengthens the magnetic signals on your hard disk. Over time, the magnetic signals on a disk fade. As these signals fade, it becomes harder and harder for your computer to read them. After a period of time, weak magnetic signals will result in disk errors. TUNE-DISK strengthens the magnetic signals on your hard-disk by reformatting the entire disk. After using TUNEDISK a few times, you may find that previously marginal parts of your disk become good again. Check-Disk is the functional equivalent of the DOS "CHKDSK" program, but with two differences: it will work on ANY disk that DOS will recognize (regardless of disk or partition size), and it is up to 5 times faster than "CHKDSK". Check-Disk performs a very thorough inspection of your disk. First it verifies that the vital areas of the disk are readable. Then, it makes sure that all directories are valid, legal directory entries (if not, Check-Disk will convert them to files). Next, Check-Disk makes sure that each cluster listed in the File Allocation Table (FAT) is either empty, used and valid, or "bad" (and blocked out so that DOS will not use it). Any invalid cluster is corrected. Then, each cluster is checked to make sure that it belongs to only one file; if it belongs to more than one file, Check-Disk will display a "cross-linked file" error message and indicate the files involved. Check-Disk next makes sure that each file's size matches the FAT entries for that file, and adjusts the file size in cases where they don't match. Next, Check-Disk sweeps up any unallocated clusters and attaches them to files (starting sequentially with "FILEOOOO.CHK") so that you can inspect them. Check-Disk has two modes of operation. The Report mode completely analyzes the integrity of the DOS information and structure of your hard disk and reports any and all problems encountered. Report, however, does not actually correct any of these problems or make any changes to your disk. The Fix (and Report) mode completes the same analysis as the Report mode. In addition to reporting errors and problems, Fix (and Report) corrects these errors so that DOS can again function properly on your disk. If Check-Disk reports major problems on your disk, you should suspect that your computer has some hardware problems (your RAM could be going bad, the hard disk itself or its controller could be bad); a single power glitch could have caused the problem. You could have a "buggy. program somewhere on your disk that is causing DOS to misbehave. There is one type of error that Check-Disk will not correct by itself: cross-linked files. In the event that files on your disk become cross-linked, you must first copy them to another disk, then erase the original files and then run Check-Disk again. One or both of the cross-linked files will be bad. You must either delete them both or try to determine for yourself which file is good. VERIFY/FIX-DISK This command allows you to do a read-only test of your hard disk, quickly identifying any parts that have gone bad and preventing DOS from using them. If a file happens to be using a marginal area on your hard disk, Verify/Fix-Disk will attempt to recover the data from this area, move it to a good area, and then block out the marginal area so DOS can no longer use it. In addition, Verify/Fix-Disk will do a thorough test of each part of your disk, subjecting each sector to a vigorous multi-level "bit-pattern" test that will flush out every potentially bad sector. This bit-pattern testing will actually predict which clusters are about to go bad then prevent disk errors from occurring on those clusters! (Because of this, we strongly suggest that you perform this bit-pattern test at least once each month). Because Verify/Fix-Disk is very thorough and generates a lot of information, we included a feature which allows you to send the verify report to a printer, to a disk file, or both. This makes it possible for you to initiate a complete verification of your disk at night and come back the next morning with a complete report of any problems encountered and any marginal areas blocked out. There are 4 levels of testing that Verify/Fix-Disk can perform: 1) read-only testing (2-4 minutes on a 20 MB disk 2) level 1 testing, which performs the read-only test and then a single proprietary worst-case bit-pattern test (30-50 minutes) 3) level 2 testing, which performs the read-only test and then tests 8 bit-pattern tests used by hard-disk manufacturers and 4 other proprietary tests (2-4 hours) 4) level 3, which performs the read-only test and then performs 16 bit-pattern tests used by hard disk manufacturers and 8 other proprietary tests (3-6 hours this is the most rigorous test that your controller can perform) Each of these test levels can be completed from 1 to 99 times. NOTE Unlike other hard-disk test programs, OPTune uses the same bit- pattern tests developed and used by hard-disk manufacturers to find defective sectors. In addition, Gazelle has developed other proprietary tests which ensure that all defective parts of your disk are detected and blocked out. ERRORS IN OPTIMIZE ERROR: "Bad cluster -- Use Verify/Fix" EXPLANATION: The optimizer has encountered a cluster that it cannot successfully read. This error will interrupt the optimizer. If Verify/Fix is able to block out the bad cluster, the optimizer will run with no problems. SUGGESTED ACTION: Run Verify/Fix-Disk immediately. ERROR: "Bad sector encountered in ROOT directory!" EXPLANATION: The optimizer encountered a bad sector in the ROOT directory area of the disk one which it could not successfully read. This is a fatal error for OPTune, and will cause serious problems for DOS. SUGGESTED ACTION: Back up all data on the drive. Then, either perform a low- level format of the disk (in an attempt to fix the bad areas) or repartition the disk so that the drive does not use the cylinder which has a defective sector. Another alternative is to replace or repair the hard disk. ERROR: "Drive was not available" EXPLANATION: This error is reported if the optimizer is unable to read the boot sector of a valid logical DOS drive. It usually indicates that a removable drive was not available when OPTune tried to access it. SUGGESTED ACTION: Make sure that a disk or cartridge is inserted into the drive. ERROR: "Not enough free clusters" EXPLANATION: There are not enough empty clusters on the drive being optimized for the optimizer to work correctly. SUGGESTED ACTION: Delete an unwanted file from the drive, and then run OPTune again. ERROR: "Please use Check-Disk first!" EXPLANATION: The optimizer has detected an error in the DOS structure of the drive being optimized (either in the File Allocation Table (FAT) or in a directory entry). SUGGESTED ACTION: Run Check-Disk in its Fix mode. This function will give you a complete listing of the errors encountered and it will correct them, if possible. ERRORS IN TUNE-DISK ERROR: "A fatal error occurred!" EXPLANATION: This error may be caused by one of two problems: 1) Tune-Disk was unable to alter the interleave of a particular track, or, 2) the drive being tuned did not support a standard IBM BIOS operation such as seek, reset, etc. SUGGESTED ACTION: Run Verify/Fix-Disk to see if an unmarked bad sector caused the error. ERROR: "Error detected: Cyl xxxx Head xx" EXPLANATION: Tune-Disk has detected an error on a sector. This function will report whether the error might result in data loss. SUGGESTED ACTION: If Tune-Disk reports possible data loss, run Verify/Fix-Disk. ERROR: "Not a standard hard drive" EXPLANATION: This error occurs most frequently when someone attempts to tune a floppy drive. If the specified drive is a hard drive, this error message will occur if the drive is nonstandard. A non-standard drive has 1) a physical sector size greater than 512 bytes, 2) more than 64 heads per cylinder, or 3) more than 40 sectors per head. SUGGESTED ACTION: None. The drive you tried to tune cannot be tuned. CHECK-DISK ERROR: "### clusters found in ### chains" EXPLANATION: The File Allocation Table (FAT) indicates that there are clusters which contain valid data, but which do not belong to a valid file chain. This error means that the FAT was not correctly updated. SUGGESTED ACTION: Run Check-Disk in Fix mode. ERROR: "Allocation error, size adjusted" EXPLANATION: The specified size of a file does not match the number of clusters allocated for the file in the File Allocation Table (FAT). SUGGESTED ACTION: Run Check-Disk in Fix mode. ERROR: "Cross-linked files --" EXPLANATION: Check-Disk has discovered one or more clusters which the File Allocation Table (FAT) indicates are assigned to more than one file chain. This error is caused when (for whatever reason) the FAT is not correctly updated or becomes corrupted. SUGGESTED ACTION: Copy the cross-linked files to another location, and then erase the original files. Then run Check-Disk in Fix mode. ERROR: "Invalid subdirectory -- converted to a file." EXPLANATION: Check-disk found a directory entry whose current (.) pointer or parent (..) pointer was an invalid FAT entry. It then converted the directory entry into a file of size 0. SUGGESTED ACTION: Delete the file that Check-Disk created and then try to create the subdirectory again. If unallocated clusters are detected, they are most likely files that belonged to the defective directory. You should immediately inspect the Filexxxx.chk files that were created, and rename, remove, or keep those that you need. ERROR: "Invalid first cluster in file -- truncated." EXPLANATION: Check-Disk found a file whose first cluster entry is an invalid File Allocation Table (FAT) entry. The file was then truncated to a length of 0. SUGGESTED ACTION: If the file was backed up, delete the truncated file entry, and then restore the file. ERROR: "Invalid cluster (###) in FAT -- truncated." EXPLANATION: Check-Disk found an illegal entry in the File Allocation Table (FAT) and truncated the file chain that the entry belonged to at that point. SUGGESTED ACTION: The truncated portion of the file may either be located and restored manually (by someone with sufficient technical background), or, if the file was backed up it can be completely restored. ERROR: "Root directory is full -- unable to create .CHK files" EXPLANATION: When Check-Disk is run in its Fix mode, it will convert any lost file chains it encounters into files. These files will have the extension .CHK, and will be written to the root directory of the current drive. If the root directory is full, Check-Disk will be unable to create any more .CHK files. SUGGESTED ACTION: Delete any unneeded files from the root directory, or move them temporarily to another directory. Then, run Check- Disk in Fix mode again. ERRORS IN VERIFY/FIX-DISK ERROR: "Bad cluster encountered... couldn't find it!" EXPLANATION: When doing a Read-Only verify, OPTune reads several clusters at a time. If an error is detected, Verify/Fix-Disk will re-read each cluster in order to determine which cluster caused the error. If the error is not repeated, OPTune will be unable to block out the bad cluster. SUGGESTED ACTION: Repeat the Read-Only test several times, or run Verify/Fix-Disk in one of its bit-pattern testing modes to catch the error. ERROR: "Can't send output file to same disk." EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk will not allow its report file to be written to the same drive that is being verified. While the report file is open (which is for the duration of the verify operation) the area of the disk occupied by the report file cannot be read or altered, and therefore cannot be verified. SUGGESTED ACTION: Select a different destination drive for the output file. ERROR: Cluster ## is bad, not blocked out--. EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk has discovered a bad cluster which has not been marked as such in the File Allocation Table (FAT). If the "Auto-Fix" option is active, OPTune will automatically mark the bad cluster in the FAT. Otherwise, it will prompt the user for confirmation before marking the cluster bad in the FAT. SUGGESTED ACTION: If Verify/Fix is not in "auto fix" mode, respond to the prompt. ERROR: "Error in FAT or directories" EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk has discovered a bad sector in the FAT area of the disk or in a directory cluster. SUGGESTED ACTION: Back up the drive and try to reformat it. If that doesn't solve the problem, contact Gazelle systems for further help. ERROR: "Error while creating VERIFY.RPT" EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk was unable to create a report file on the specified drive. This error will occur if 1) the destination drive is full, 2) the root directory of the destination drive is full, or 3) there are one or more bad sectors on the destination drive. SUGGESTED ACTION: Try deleting any unwanted files on the destination drive. You can also select a different destination drive. Or, if you specified a floppy drive, you can try a different floppy diskette. ERROR: "No empty clusters available - not fixed!" EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk was unable to move a cluster of data from a bad area to a good area because there were no available empty clusters. SUGGESTED ACTION: Delete some unneeded files from the drive, and then run Verify/Fix-Disk again. ERROR: "Too many errors try again?" EXPLANATION: Verify/Fix-Disk was unable to move data from a bad cluster to a good one because the data was too badly damaged. However, if the user wishes, Verify/Fix- Disk will make another attempt to move the data. SUGGESTED ACTION: Answer the prompt. Cluster A cluster is the smallest unit of disk storage that DOS recognizes. On a 20 MB hard disk, a cluster is usually exactly equal to 2,048 bytes. In DOS, Each file is made up of one or more clusters. Even the smallest files, such.as a batch file that is only 30 bytes long, require at least one full cluster. As the size of a file increases, DOS will allocate clusters one-at-a-time for the file's expansion. A disk runs out of disk space when there are no more available clusters for expanding files. Each cluster is either available (empty), bad (blocked out), or used (i.e., a file or subdirectory owns it). A cluster can belong to one file only. If DOS thinks that a cluster belongs to more than one file, your disk has a cross-linked cluster. One way to determine your disk's cluster size is to run the Check-Disk command and write down the number of bytes available on disk. Next, create a very small file and then run the Check-Disk command again. Subtract the number of bytes that are now available on disk from the first number - - the result is the cluster size of the disk. Cross-linked cluster A cluster that DOS believes belongs to more than one file or subdirectory at a time is a cross-linked cluster. The Check- Disk command will let you know if you have any cross-linked clusters. Sometimes, DOS gets confused (usually because of a power glitch, a serious DOS disk error, or an errant program destroying critical DOS information) and assigns a cluster to more than one file. Since a cluster can be owned by only one file or one subdirectory, this is a DOS error that must be fixed. The only way to correct the problem is to copy the offending files (there can sometimes be more than two files cross linked on the same cluster) to another disk and erase the original files. Then, use the Fix option of the Check-Disk command to clean up the disk. The copies of the files you made mat be corrupted! When a cross-link situation arises, it is usually too late to recover all the data from the crosslinked files; however, most of the time at least one of the cross-linked files will be intact. In any event, you should consider using your backup program to restore your most-recent copy of any cross-linked file that was critical to you. Cylinder The cylinder is simply the name of the largest physical unit of storage on a disk. A hard disk is composed of numerous "cylinders" (sometimes also referred to as "tracks"). A hard disk can have 600 or more cylinders. Cylinders are actually concentric circles on the disk. Imagine a circular platter with a small circle around the very center, and a slightly larger circle around that small one, and a slightly larger circle around that one, and so on, until you get to the outer edge of the platter; each of these circles would be a cylinder. Defragmentation When DOS stores a file, often it will store the file in pieces that are scattered all over a disk. Defragmentation is the process of combining these file fragments into one contiguous piece. Defragmentation can greatly decrease the amount of time it takes the disk controller to read parts of a file. Since a defragmented file is in one sequential chunk, DOS only has to look for the file in one place. This reduces the required movements of the hard disk's read/write-head mechanism. Because the most time-consuming operation on a hard disk is moving the read/write heads to the correct position on the disk, anything that reduces that time will make a big difference in your disk's data-transfer rate. Reduced head movement also means reduced wear-and-tear on your disk. DOS optimization DOS keeps directory information in different places on each of your disks. To find a file or directory, DOS has to start at the root directory, and search for the directory or file it has been asked to find. There are two ways to optimize DOS: either put all this directory information as close together as possible (so that very little time is spent figuring out where to look for the next bit of information); or, sort all the directory entries so that all the subdirectories are listed first. This will save DOS tremendous amounts of search time. OPTune uses both of these methods. The end result is that DOS searches through fewer directory entries. In addition, since all directories are listed at the front of the disk, where it is most efficient for DOS to find them, very little time is wasted in moving the disk's read/write heads when DOS needs to find another directory entry. Endless Loop (See Infinite Loop). File-Allocation Table (FAT) This is one of the most critical parts of your hard disk. In fact, because it is so important, DOS almost always keeps two copies of the disk's FAT on each disk (some disks can be created that have more than two copies). The FAT is a map of the space occupied by the files and subdirectories on your disk. It contains one entry for each cluster on the disk. When DOS creates a new file, it searches the FAT to find unused clusters, and then assigns these clusters to the new file. When DOS erases a file, it makes a small change in the file's directory entry and then follows the file's cluster chain in the FAT, changing each entry to 0 to indicate that each of these clusters are now available for any other file. Fragmentation This is the naturally occurring process in DOS whereby files on your disk are assigned to 2 or more chunks of disk space, rather than one contiguous chunk. Fragmentation occurs when files are erased and then larger files are created and then placed on the disk. When creating (or extending) a file, DOS will simply start searching for available clusters at the beginning of the FAT. If there are not enough contiguous free clusters to hold a file, DOS will store the file in pieces on unused clusters as they are available. NOTE: DOS version 3.0 and higher will remember where it last found an unused cluster. It will begin storing data at that spot, rather than starting its search for free clusters at the beginning of the disk. This process helps reduce file fragmentation, especially on disks that are less than half full. Head A head is simply a side of a cylinder. Normally, each cylinder has two sides, or heads. Some disks only store data on one side of each cylinder; these are referred to as "single-sided" disks. Other disks can actually have more than two heads: the disk manufacturer simply includes extra hard disk platters in the hard-disk system (each platter has two heads associated with it). Infinite Loop (See Endless Loop). Interleave The term interleave refers to a concept involved when formatting a hard disk. The interleave is simply a measure of how sectors are physically arranged on a hard disk. On a disk with an interleave of 1:1 ("one to one"), sector two starts exactly one sector's width after the start of sector one. On a disk with an interleave of 4:1 sector two starts exactly 4 times the width of one sector after the start of sector one. Each subsequent sector on the disk follows this logic. (On disks, the sectors do not have to be numbered in sequential order often, disks are more efficient if they are not numbered in sequential order.) The process of interleaving sectors on a hard disk was established due to the fact that most hard disks spin extremely fast (60 times per second), and the data-transfer rate of most hard-disk controllers is not high enough to handle this fast rotational speed. The controller can, however, buffer one sector's worth of data and process it (with the disk spinning constantly), and then come back for another sector. But, with the high rotational speed of the hard disk, the disk might spin 1/4 to 1/3 of a revolution before the controller is ready to read the next sector, which means that 4 to 6 sectors just passed by (assuming that there are 17 sectors per cylinder). The interleaving process staggers the sector numbering scheme so that the appropriate sector comes into contact with the read/write heads at the precise moment that the controller is ready to read data. Interleaving the sectors on a disk reduces processing time: there are no long waits for the disk to spin around a full revolution because it just missed the sector it was waiting for. Sector A sector is the smallest unit of disk storage that can be accessed directly on a hard disk. However, DOS keeps track of clusters, not sectors, since clusters usually consist of multiple sectors. This means that DOS has fewer "building blocks" to keep track of. The word "sector" actually has two definitions which can make its use somewhat confusing. First of all, DOS uses the term to define a "logical" chunk of disk space, which consists of one or more "physical" sectors on the hard disk. Here is how this logical/physical usage evolved: In the beginning days of computers, no one ever expected a computer's hard disk to contain more than 5 to 10 megabytes of data. So, to be very liberal, the creators of DOS designed a maximum limit of 32 megabytes of disk space, which would handle a disk with up to 65,536 sectors (each sector has 512 bytes). As we have seen recently, this 32 megabyte limit has been far exceeded by drives with 120 MB and greater capacities. However, the original limitation (of only 65,536 sectors) could not be changed without a major restructuring of DOS. So, some pioneering souls hit upon a very simple solution: "What if we decided to say that a sector was really 1024 bytes, or 2048 bytes -- then, we could still respect the built-in limit of DOS's 65,536 sectors and yet support disks of 64 megabytes, 128 megabytes, and larger!" Well, that's what they did; they simply started to define a sector as being 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, etc., bytes in length so that larger disks could work with DOS. In the meantime, however, the hard-disk manufacturers remained true to the original definition of a sector -- "sectors have 512 bytes." Thus, the manufacturers' definition came to be known as the "physical" sector, since the actual, physical hard disk is divided into 512-byte chunks; and, the definition of sector in DOS came to be known as the "logical" sector (meaning simply that we don't have to invent a new term for the sector that DOS uses). Track See Cylinder. Unallocated clusters Every so often Check-Disk will find and report unallocated (or "lost") clusters on your disk. In almost every situation, this does not represent any problem at all and you should simply allow CheckDisk to take care of these clusters. Unallocated clusters are generally created either because a program did not properly close a temporary file, or because the computer was rebooted or turned off while in the middle of a program that had one or more "open" files. These unallocated clusters contain the data that the program had written to the disk; but, because the file being written to was not "closed," DOS can not tell what file these clusters are part of. When the Fix and Report option of Check-Disk cleans up unallocated clusters, it creates a series of files in your root directory and attaches these clusters to those files. These files are named "#####OOO.CHK", and are numbered sequentially. Thats it !! OZ & Co. THE END