Crawly Crypt Collection 1/crawlyvol1.bin/crm_demo/edgedemo/medic.hlp

Text File | 1992-08-30 | 16KB | 332 lines

 Diamond Edge Demo Version Extendible Help System
 File: MEDIC.HLP
 Topics covered:

    ∙  Testing Your Disk Structure
    ∙  Disk Medic Report
    ∙  Mapping Bad Sectors on Your Disk
    ∙  Map Bad Report
    ∙  Creating Validation Files
    ∙  Validating Files
    ∙  What to do if a Validation Error is Identified
    ∙  Partitioning Your Hard Drive
    ∙  Partitioning Options
    ∙  Partitioning Actions



 ∙  Testing Your Disk Structure

       As with all of Diamond Edge's functions, the Disk Medic
 can be performed on either floppy disks or hard disk partitions.
 We strongly recommend that you perform run Disk Medic on ALL or
 your hard disk partitions at least once a week.

       There are several basic options, selectable through the
 Medic Menu, that control the action of Disk Medic.  If you select
 Auto-Fix errors, then Diamond Edge will automatically correct all
 disk errors found during the Disk Medic evaluation of the active
 drive.  It will log all errors found in a error file MEDIC_X.ERR
 where X is the active drive.  Disk Medic Error files are saved to
 the directory specified for Validation files in the Preferences
 menu.  After the Disk Medic pass, you may view the error file for
 information on what errors were found and fixed.

       If you decide not to Automatically fix errors. You may
 then view the error file from the Disk Medic Report to find out
 what errors were found and what files are effected.  At this point
 you may either cancel without fixing the errors or instruct the
 Disk Medic to fix the errors.

      When you fix the disk errors you may select to either discard
 the data in the lost clusters or to save the data in the lost
 clusters to a file.   When you select Save Lost Clusters from the
 Medic Menu, any lost clusters will be saved to a file LOSTCLUS.DAT
 when the active drive is fixed.  If LOSTCLUS.DAT already exists on
 the active drive, then LOSTCLU0.DAT, LOSTCLUS1.DAT etc. will be
 created in succession.

      To begin the Disk Medic Pass of the active drive, select
 Test Disk from the Medic Menu.  Remember that the drive you are
 testing is the Active drive. If you want to test more than one
 drive in a single pass select Test Multiple from the Medic Menu.
 The Test Multiple selection dialog will then be displayed.  Select
 all of the drives that you want to run Disk Medic on and then
 select Test Drives.

      The Disk Medic pass then proceeds to examine the entire
 disk structure looking for errors.  As the Disk Medic pass proceeds
 the location of the disk being examined is displayed in the graphic
 window.  Areas where errors are detected are displayed in
 Red(cross hatch in monochrome).  When the Disk Medic pass is
 complete the Disk Medic Report screen is displayed.

 ∙  Disk Medic Report

       This screen gives the total number of each type of disk
 error, described above, that was found on the active drive.
 If Auto-Fix was selected, any errors detected were corrected
 during the Disk Medic pass.  This is indicated by the Disk
 Errors Have Been Fixed message in the Report Screen.

       If Auto-Fix was not selected and errors were detected this
 would be indicated by the message Disk Errors Need To Be Fixed
 and the appearance of a Fix Now button on the Disk Medic
 report screen.

       Any errors detected and the files they effect can be viewed
 from the Medic Report screen by selecting View.  If Auto-Fix was
 not selected and you want to fix the disk errors, then selected
 Fix Now from the Medic Report screen.  This will launch another
 Disk Medic pass that will fix all of the disk errors.  If you do
 not want to fix the errors now, then select Cancel.  If no errors
 were found or after Disk errors have been fixed, select Continue.


 ∙   Mapping Bad Sectors on Your Disk

      You may either Map Bad sectors on just the active drive or
 on Any multiple drives.  The status of the Auto-Fix option in the
 Medic menu effects whether bad sectors are automatically marked bad
 or just recorded for review.  When you select Map Bad Sectors from
 the Medic Menu the Bad Sector Mapping Preferences Dialog is
 displayed.  There are three types of Bad Sector Mapping available:

 ∙  Read - Read  Non-destructive:  This method of mapping bad
    sectors reads each sector of the active drive twice and compares
    the data.  If the information read is not the same then that
    sector is identified as bad.  The data already existing on your
    hard drive is not effected.


 ∙  Read - Write - Read   Non-destructive:  This method of mapping
    bad sectors reads each sector of the active drive and writes it
    back to the hard drive.  The sector is then read in again and
    compared to the data originally read.  If the information is
    not the same then that sector is identified as bad.  The
    existing data on the active drive is not effected.

 ∙  Write - Read   Destructive:  This method of bad sector mapping
    writes a random bit pattern to each sector on the active drive
    and then reads that sector back.  If  the information read back
    is not the same as the random bit pattern that was written then
    that sector is marked as bad.  This is a destructive mapping and
    all data existing on the drive will be destroyed.

      The effectiveness of all methods can be increased
 by performing multiple bad sector mapping passes. The number of
 passes that you want to perform is entered in the Mapping Bad
 Sectors preferences dialog.  The time it takes to complete the
 process increases with the number of passes.  When you are ready
 to begin mapping bad sectors, select Map Bad Sectors Now.

      The Map Bad Sector  pass then proceeds to examine the
 entire disk surface looking for errors.  As the Map Bad pass
 proceeds, the location of the disk being examined is displayed
 in the graphic window.  Areas where errors are detected are
 displayed in Red(cross hatch in monochrome).  When the Map Bad
 pass is complete the Map Bad Report screen is displayed.

 ∙  Map Bad Report

      The logical sector numbers of each bad sector found is
 displayed in the Map Bad Report screen.  If Auto-Fix was not
 selected and errors were detected this would be indicated by the
 message Disk Errors Need To Be Fixed and the appearance of a
 Fix Now button on the Map Bad Report screen.


 ∙  Creating Validation Files

       To create a CRC validation file from the active drive,
 select Create CRC File from the Medic Menu, to create a Checksum
 validation file for the active drive select Create Checksum File.
 The validation file will automatically be created and stored in
 the path designated in the user preferences.  Validation files
 are named VALIDY_X.VLD where Y is the validation type
 (C=Checksum and R= CRC) and X is the active drive.

 ∙  Validating Files

       To perform a validation of the active disk select Validate
 Files from the Medic Menu.  A standard GEM file selector will
 appear and ask you for the reference validation file to use.

       When you have selected the validation file you will be
 asked what action to take when the program encounters a file
 that is not in the reference validation file.  You have the
 option of either automatically adding the new file to the
 existing validation file, skipping all new files, or being
 prompted for action each time a file not contained in the
 reference file is encountered.

       At anytime during the creation of a validation file or
 the validation of files you may pause the process to study the
 screen  by selecting Control-S.  To restart the process, select
 Control-Q.  You may abort the entire process by selecting
 Control-C.

 ∙  What to do if a Validation Error is Identified

       A file validation error occurs when the calculated
 CRC/Checksum value does not match the value stored in the
 reference validation file.  Each time this occurs you will be
 notified on the screen and the effected file will be recorded
 in a file named VALID_X.ERR where X is the active drive.

       If a validation error is recorded DON'T panic.  After the
 validation is complete, view the effected files recorded in the
 validation error file.   Even though a validation error is
 observed, you may not actually have a corrupted file, refer to
 your manual foradditional information..


 ∙  Partitioning Your Hard Drive

       It is strongly suggested that the reader consult
 Section 8 of this manual before attempting to use this function.
 This will give the reader the basic understanding of disk and
 partition structure necessary to fully utilize this function.

       After selecting Partition SCSI Disk, the existing
 partitioning information will be read off the disk.  If valid
 partitioning information exists on the disk it will be displayed
 as the basis to begin the partitioning session.

       There are three basic editing modes: Start/End sectors,
 Size, and Partition Type.  The current editing mode is displayed
 at the bottom of the partition window.   To change fields within
 an edit mode, you may use the usual Arrow and Tab keys or point
 the mouse and click the left button.  To change edit modes click
 on the object that you want to edit with the left mouse button.

       As you edit your partitions there are two basic rules
 regarding the sizes and locations of partitions: 1) Partitions
 must be sequential i.e. the start of partition #2 is after the
 end of partition #1 and 2) You cannot create partitions whose
 total size exceeds the size of your hard disk.

 ∙  Disk Partitioning Options

       The following partitioning aids are provided to expedite
 the task of partitioning your disk:

 ∙  Display Size Mode:   You can select to have the disk and
    partition size information displayed in either Sectors or Megs.
    Diamond Edge displays Megs consistent with the ICD definition
    Meg = 1,000,000 bytes.  Note that this is different than the
    traditional definition of a Megabyte = 1,048,576 bytes used by
    Atari.

 ∙  Split:  Selecting split will split your hard disk into a number
    of partitions of equal size.  You will be prompted for the
    number of partitions to split.  An easy way to partition your
    hard disk into one large partition is to split the disk into
    1 partition.

 ∙  Maximum:  Selecting this option will create as many GEM
    partitions of the maximum allowable size, for the Rom Version
    you have selected, that can fit on your disk.  An additional
    partition will be created with any excess disk space.

 ∙  Clear:   Selecting this option will clear all entered
    partitioning information.

 ∙  Reset:  This option will reset the displayed partitioning
    information to the original information read off the hard disk.

 ∙  Atari/ICD:  Selecting this button will toggle the state of the
    extended partitioning mode. If Atari is selected then extended
    partitions, (more than 4 partitions on the same hard disk) will
    be laid out in accordance with the Atari extended partition
    standard.  If ICD is selected, extended partitions will be laid
    out in accordance with the ICD/Supra extended partition standard.
    Please see section 8.2 for a complete description of extended
    partitions.

 ∙  TOSxxx:  Selecting this button will toggle the state of the
    Rom dependence mode.  If TOS1.02 is selected, then partitions
    whether GEM or BGM will be limited to 32,767 clusters.  These
    disks will be able to be read on any ST regardless of ROM
    version.  If you have TOS 1.4 or above you can specify that
    partitions may include up to 65,535 clusters.  These disks
    cannot be accessed by machines with TOS1.02 or 1.00.


 ∙  Save:  You can save the hard disk partitioning information
    currently displayed to a file for future reference or
    installation.  This option creates a SCSI disk information
    file equivalent to those created by the Save SCSI Information
    function of the Archive menu.

 ∙  Load:  You can load previously saved partition information
    files by selecting this function.  This is useful for
    partitioning a new disk "just like" another disk.  The loaded
    information is fully editable.

 ∙  Print:  Selecting this option will print a copy of the currently
    displayed partition information to your printer.  The use of
    this option is HIGHLY recommended. Having the partitioning
    information in physical sector 0 wiped out is a more frequent
    occurrence than most people might imagine.  You should always
    have a printout of your partition parameters and a SCSI
    information file saved to floppy disk.

 ∙  Recalculate:  At any time during your editing session you can
    recalculate the amount of available space on your disk.  You can
    either click on the Recalculate button or press the Return key to
    update the available information.  All of the currently selected
    options are taken into account and some of the partitions may
    begin in a slightly different place after recalculation.  This is
    due to changes in the control sector requirements of the different
    extended partitioning protocols.

 ∙  Active:   Remember to specify which drives you want to be active.
    Diamond Edge allows up to 64 different partitions installed on
    each disk.  However, GEMDOS only allows a total of 14 active
    partitions on all your hard drives.  Changing the Active status
    of extra partitions and using the Install Information Only option
    is a convenient way to create "Secret" partitions on your hard
    drive not accessible unless you reactivate it.

 ∙  Disk Partitioning Actions

       After you are satisfied with the partitioning information
 currently displayed you have four action options:

 ∙  Install Only:   Select this option if you only want to install
    the current partition information without rebuilding any
    partitions.  This is used to change the activation status of
    hidden partitions or to reinstall the partition information
    after a hard disk crash without changing any of the data on
    the hard drive.

 ∙  Install and Rebuild One:  This option will install the
    displayed partition information and rebuild one specified
    partition.  Rebuilding a partition involves the creation of
    a boot sector, FAT sectors, and Root Directory sectors of the
    appropriate size on the specified partition and then zeroing
    them.  All data in the area effected will be lost.

 ∙  Install and Rebuild All:  Use this option to repartition your
    entire hard disk.  The current disk partitioning information
    will be installed and all partitions will be rebuilt.  All
    existing data on the entire hard disk will be lost.

    If you Accidently Rebuild a partition and need information that
 was previously in that area you can recover the information by
 reinstalling the old partitioning information and reinstalling the
 disk structure from an archived Disk Information File.
 See Archiving Disk Information for instructions on how to perform
 these life saving actions.

 ∙  Cancel: If you have not performed any other action, then
    Selecting Cancel will return you to the Diamond Edge Basic
    Window.  If you have installed partition information or rebuilt
    one or more partitions, then selecting Cancel will perform a cold
    reboot of your system.  This is required for the operating system
    to become aware of the new  disk structure.