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- Troubleshooting guide for Partition Resizer
- ===========================================
-
- This document will help you to solve the most common problems you will face
- when you use Partition Resizer. It is divided in two sections, which contain
- several topics on various subjects. I hope it will help you the most.
-
- 1- Before you run Partition Resizer
-
- 1.1 Unmovable and system files
- 1.2 Defragmenting your partition
-
- 2- While you run Partition Resizer
-
- 2.1 Abnormal program interrupt
- 2.2 False interrupt warning
- 2.3 Error messages and what can you do about them
- 2.4 Cmos operation failed
-
-
- 1- Before you run Partition Resizer
-
- 1.1 Unmovable and system files
-
- These files may sometimes need special care. This is how you should handle
- the most common system files:
-
- IO.SYS: It doesn't have a problem with resizing or moving, but you
- should not move it with defragmentation programs, otherwise
- the system won't boot.
- MSDOS.SYS: This file can be moved or defragmented as any ordinary file.
- DBLSPACE.BIN: This file can be moved or defragmented as any ordinary file.
- STACKVOL.*: These files can be moved or defragmented as any ordinary file.
- 386SPART.PAR: This file will be damaged if resized or moved. You'd better
- remove it before resizing or moving, and recreate it when
- you've finished.
- MIRROR files: These files can be moved or defragmented as any ordinary file.
- But they will be invalid when you change the partition, so
- you'll have to rerun mirror after Partition Resizer's
- finished.
-
- Most system files won't be damaged if they are moved. If the files have no
- special position in the disk, or they are fragmented, they can be moved or
- defragmented as any ordinary file.
-
-
- 1.2 Defragmenting your partition
-
- In order to use Partition Resizer to shrink a partition, you'll have to
- defragment it first. This can be done with any defragmentation program that
- performs a full optimization of the drive, like DOS 6.00 or later Defrag.
- You will have to move ALL the files to the beginning of the partition
- (including unmovable files). To move unmovable files, use ATTRIB to change
- their attributes (-s -h -r). See the previous section for details on system
- files. After you've finished with defrag, you may change the attributes back
- to normal.
-
-
- 2- While you run Partition Resizer
-
- 2.1 Abnormal program interrupt
-
- If you have a power shutdown or any other abnormal termination of the program
- while Partition Resizer resizes or moves a partition, then you must rerun
- the program immediately after rebooting. This will continue the job from
- exactly where it stopped. The program output to the screen will show that
- the job will start from the beginning, but it will not write anything to the
- disk until it reaches the step at which it was interrupted. Partition resizer
- will prompt you in this case, and you should answer yes when it asks you to
- restore the interrupted work.
-
-
- 2.2 False interrupt warning
-
- There might be some cases that Partition Resizer will ask you to restore an
- unfinished job, but you haven't had a program interrupt or anything like that.
- In that case, Partition Resizer has found an older RESQUE.DAT file in the
- current directory, which could not be deleted (for unknown reasons). You
- should delete this file, but ONLY if you are sure that Partition Resizer has
- finished its job successfully.
-
-
- 2.3 Error messages and what can you do about them
-
-
- These error messages might appear when you run the program. Here's what you
- can do to resolve the problems:
-
- Error Code Description
-
- 1 Bad partition chain: The partition chain has been broken or
- damaged. If all your partitions are accessible, you should
- run a disk diagnostics program. If this doesn't solve the
- problem, use a disk editor to add the 0xAA55 code to the end
- of the system sectors in the partition chain. See PRESIZER.DOC
- for more info on this.
-
- 2 Obsolete (it will never appear)
-
- 3 Partition information incorrect: The partition's size or
- relative sector value is not matching the partition's data.
- Try to correct this with a disk editor or with a disk
- diagnostics program.
-
- 4 Sector read failed: A system sector cannot be read correctly,
- may be damaged. Perform a surface test with a disk diagnostics
- program to find out whether it's really damaged or not.
-
- 5 Sector write failed: The same as the above.
-
- 6 DOS partition damaged or not formatted: A DOS partition may
- be damaged or not formatted. If it's not formatted, format
- it and proceed with Partition Resizer. If it is formatted,
- then use a disk diagnostics program to correct the problem.
- If the diagnostics program finds no errors, then use a disk
- editor to put the 0xAA55 signature to the end of the boot
- sector, and retry.
-
- 7 FAT signature bad or missing: FAT signature is bad in a DOS
- partition. Try to fix it with a disk diagnostics program or
- a disk editor. Read PRESIZER.DOC for details.
-
- 8 Sector size other than 512 bytes: Partition Resizer won't
- work with drives which have sector size other than 512 bytes.
-
- 9 Drive recognition failed: Partition Resizer cannot detect any
- hard drives on your system. This error may occur if
- information given by bios is found erroneous.
-
- 10 Bad media descriptor (other than 0xF8): A DOS partition's
- media descriptor is not 0xF8. Try to repair this with a
- disk diagnostics program or a disk editor.
-
- 11 Boot record data not matching disk characteristics: The
- disk characteristics (sectors/track, heads) found in the boot
- record, do not match the disk characteristics given by bios.
- Check your cmos values, or the boot record's values. Use
- a disk editor to correct this problem.
-
- 12 Bad filesystem id string / unknown filesystem type: A DOS
- partition was found to have a bad file system id string
- (other than "FAT12" or "FAT16"). Use a disk diagnostics
- program or a disk editor to correct the problem.
-
- 13 Filesystem id incorrect: The file system is not matching the
- id string in the boot record or the system descriptor in
- partition table. Use a disk diagnostics program or a disk
- editor to correct this problem.
-
- All info about the technical details can be found in section 3 of
- PRESIZER.DOC.
-
- If you can't find what's wrong or if you cannot correct the problem by
- yourself, don't hesitate to send me a letter or mail.
-
-
- 2.4 Cmos operation failed
-
- If you get a message informing you that you cannot use cmos memory for the
- reset protection system, you will be able to run the program normally, but
- you won't be able to recover after an abnormal program interrupt. This
- means that if the program does it's job and the power goes down suddenly,
- you will LOOSE ALL THE DATA IN THE WORKING PARTITION! It's up to you then
- whether you will use the program or not.
-
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