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DiskDupe Trial _______________________________________________________ Owner's Manual Version 5.1 Micro System Designs, Inc. 4300 Stevens Creek Blvd., Ste 258 San Jose, CA 95129 Phone 408-260-2600 Fax 408-260-2695 DiskDupe Trial (DOC ID: h:\data\manual\dd51\trial\dd51t.doc 10/8/96 RR) (c) Copyright 1988 - 1996 Micro System Designs, Inc. All rights reserved. DiskDupe, DiskDupe Pro, DiskDupe Auto, DiskDupe AutoPro, AutoLoad, Relay, RamboDisk, Cascade, Allegro, Allegro Mini, Allegro II, DupeJet, and Micro System Designs are trademarks of Micro System Designs, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language (natural or computer) in any form by any means without the written permission of Micro System Designs, Inc., except as described in the following license. License Agreement This software is protected by both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions. You are granted a limited license to use this program on a trial basis for up to 30 days. To continue using the program after the trial period, you are required to pay the license fee. You are granted a limited license to copy DiskDupe for the trial use of others providing you include all the files in a complete and unmodified form and make it clear to the recipient that this is not free software but payment of the license fee is required for continued use after the trial period. Limited Warranty Micro System Designs does not warrant that the functions contained in this program will meet your requirements or that the program operation will be uninterrupted or error free. Micro System Designs specifically disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of fitness for any particular purpose and of merchantability. In no event will Micro System Designs be liable to you for any damages, including but not limited to any lost profits, lost savings, commercial damage or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this program, or for any claim by any other party. Governing Law These statements shall be construed, interpreted, and governed by the laws of the state of California. You agree that this is the complete and exclusive statement of this agreement which supersedes any prior agreement or other communication between us on this subject. Use, duplication, or disclosure by the U.S. Government of the computer software and documentation in this package shall be subject to the restricted rights under DFARS 52.227-7013 applicable to commercial computer software. Introduction DiskDupe Duplicates disks fast! Thank you for trying DiskDupe. DiskDupe is the best program to automate your disk duplicating needs. DiskDupe can duplicate disks amazingly fast and without any fuss. Other programs simply don't measure up to DiskDupe in terms of speed, bad disk detection, ease of use, and depth of features. DiskDupe duplicates, formats and compares disks in a fraction of the time other systems can. It copies even high-density disks in a single drive - without swapping! DiskDupe senses when you put a disk in the drive and goes right to work. If a disk needs to be formatted, that's taken care of automatically. To perform at maximum speed, DiskDupe bypasses DOS and the BIOS and talks directly to your floppy controller. Requirements (Dos version) - IBM PC or compatible computer. - DOS 3.1 or later. - 450k free RAM. - Hard disk or network with 2 MB free. Requirements (Windows version) - IBM PC or compatible computer that will run Microsoft Windows 3.1 in Standard or Enhanced mode, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or Windows 95' (please see the Note below regarding Windows NT and system performance in general running under Windows). - An installed copy of Microsoft Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups 3.11, or Windows 95'. - A hard disk or network with 2 MB free. - 4 MB RAM. Note: The Windows version, just like the Dos version, requires direct access to your computer's hardware. This means that both the Windows and Dos versions will not run under the Windows NT operating system. Also, the performance of both the Dos and Windows versions may be reduced when running under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95'. Options Available DiskDupe is available in four options: DiskDupe, DiskDupe Pro, DiskDupe Auto and DiskDupe AutoPro, DiskDupe formats, duplicates and verifies disks in a fraction of the time other systems take. DiskDupe Our basic duplication software for those who need to manually duplicate a few disks to a few hundred, but don't need all the extra features. It reads the master just once and then duplicates even high-density disks in only one pass. Master disks can easily be stored on the hard drive. There is support for extended disk formats, i.e. Microsoft's DMF and IBM's XDF. There is also maximum capacity formatting, verification, automatic disk type and disk change sensing, multiple job setups, Relay, multi-drive duplicating, data sensing, and 5" to 3" conversions. DiskDupe Pro For those who need the advanced features on top of the standard version. DiskDupe Pro contains the same features as DiskDupe with the addition of serialization, drive alignment checking, support for double speed floppy drives, labels, disk sets, RamboDisk, custom "track definable" disks, password security system, barcoding, and more. DiskDupe Auto DiskDupe Auto has all the features of DiskDupe and also has autoloader support. This is designed for those that want the convenience of an autoloader but don't need all the features yet. Later, DiskDupe Auto can be upgraded to AutoPro to get more features. DiskDupe AutoPro For those wanting to fully automate their duplication, DiskDupe AutoPro contains the same features as DiskDupe Pro with support for all the major autoloader manufacturer autoloader types. In addition, DiskDupe AutoPro supports: SDS, 2XSDS and 4XSDS floppy drives, produces log files which track duplication runs, supports DDNet (a separate network program which controls and monitors other stations remotely), allows workstations to submit jobs for duplication, supports in-line printers, and more. Navigating When you first start DiskDupe, you'll see a menu bar across the top, along with several preconfigured job dialog boxes, and a tool bar with the Windows version. The menu bar and job dialog boxes provide the access to all of DiskDupe's operations, and the tool bar provides quick access to the more frequently used features. DiskDupe supports both mouse and keyboard use, so you can click on each option with the mouse or use the cursor and tab keys to make your selection. Using the Keyboard If you don't have a mouse, you can toggle between the menu and job screen by pressing <F10>. A highlighted operation in the menu bar indicates that the menu bar is currently accessible. Press <Enter> to pull down the highlighted menu. Use the Left/Right arrow keys to move from menu to menu and the Up/Down arrow keys to scroll vertically through each menu. Once you have selected the desired operation, press <Enter>. You can also use DiskDupe's hot keys to make your selection. To access a menu, press the <Alt> key with the colored letter of the desired operation. Once the menu is displayed, press only the colored letter of the desired operation. For example, to select a drive as your destination, press <Alt><J>, <D>, <D>, highlight the desired drive and then press <Enter> to ok your selection. Once DiskDupe is set up, most users find it easier to operate it through the job dialog box, since all of the current selections are displayed in the box. To operate DiskDupe through the job dialog box without a mouse, press <F10> to get out of the menu bar. Use the <Tab> and <Shift><Tab> keys to scroll through each function and press <Enter> to make your selection. Press the space bar to select check boxes and the <Esc> key to cancel or go back one step. You can also use DiskDupe's hot keys to make your selection -- <Alt><C> to select the number of copies, <Alt><O> to select the desired operation and <Alt><G>, or <Enter> to go. Using the Mouse Navigating the menus is easy if you have a mouse installed. Simply by pointing on a menu item or selection and clicking the mouse button you get the same kind of control that you can get from the keyboard. You can change job items, in the job dialog box in the middle of the screen, directly without having to navigate through the Job menu. For example, to change the Source to Relay click on the field next to the word "Source" in the job dialog. The same menu selection that is available from Job|Source will be displayed. Opening Files When opening a file from the File menu, you can type the name of the file and DiskDupe will add the appropriate extension automatically. If you want to open a file that doesn't have an extension, type a "." after the filename. You can also enter a new directory and press <Enter> to see the files in another directory or point to a file or directory in the list box to open it. DiskDupe will remember the last directory you used the next time you need to open a file. Getting Help If you're ever in need of assistance, DiskDupe has an extensive on-line Help file to answer any of your questions. You can access the Help file through the menu bar or by pressing the <F1> key. Pressing the <F1> key displays help information for the current dialog you are in. If the current dialog is an error message, pressing the <F1> key displays an explanation of the error as well as some possible remedies for preventing the error from reoccurring. Job basics If you have jobs that require custom specifications, it is worthwhile to set up separate jobs. A job stores all of a specific job's setup information. This information only affects the current job and keeps you from having to select your source, destination and various duplication parameters every time you want to copy a different disk. Once a job is set up, all you need to do to duplicate the disks specified in that job is to open the job file and press Go. To create a job: 1. Select New from the File menu. 2. Select Job and type the name of the job you want to create. 3. Choose your Source, Destination and any other specific parameters required for this job. 4. For other options, go into the Job menu and select Job Options to select additional parameters for the specified job. To use a job for duplication: 1. Select Open from the File menu. 2. Select Job, choose the job file you want to use, and press Ok. 3. Since the parameters have already been preset, press Go when you are ready to begin your job. Note: Jobs can also be opened by pressing <F3>. To delete a job: 1. Select Open from the File menu. 2. Select Job, choose the job file you want to delete and press Delete. Using the Preconfigured Jobs DiskDupe comes preconfigured with several jobs. The job you will probably be using most often is Main. Main, and all the other jobs you create, are based on the settings of the Default job. If you change the Default job parameters, then every job you create afterwards is based on the new Default job settings. Two of the preconfigured jobs you might find useful are Quick Format and Create Image. Not only because you might be using them all the time, but because they might give you some ideas about creating your own jobs. Quick Format can be used to delete all the files and directories of an already formatted disk. It does this by first asking you what drive you want to format to (this is an example of the Ask Each Time feature that is discussed in another section), then it only formats the disk if necessary and verifies only after formatting. If the disk is already formatted it just writes over the FAT and Directory Listing on the first cylinder of the disk, effectively erasing or deleting all the files off the disk. Create Image is an alternative method to using File|New|Image to create an image. What it does is ask you for the Source drive and the name of the new image without having to set the job up yourself. Copying Disks DiskDupe has two basic operations - duplicating and comparing. You can also format disks, which is a variation of duplicating. Duplicate makes a copy of a disk and Compare checks that two or more disks are identical. The Copies setting controls the number of copies that are made. Enter 0 to copy continuously. Whether you are duplicating or comparing, DiskDupe always works from the Source to the Destination. It copies from the source, sometimes called the master disk, to the destination, or target disk. Although the simplest way to use DiskDupe is to copy from one drive to another drive, other ways are useful for certain tasks. Two other common ways of working with disks in DiskDupe are Relay and Cascade. There are also variations, such as creating an image of a disk on your hard disk and making copies from that file. For quality and speed, a good, all-purpose setting for Format is If Necessary and for Verify is Always. For convenience, Disk should always be set to Auto unless you are working with an uncommon format. Regardless of the options chosen, DiskDupe makes an exact copy of a disk, including hidden and system files, subdirectories, and volume labels. However, DiskDupe cannot make duplicates of copy protected disks. Comparing while Duplicating The Compare function performs a byte-by-byte comparison of copied disks to the original disk or an image file to ensure that they are exactly the same. Disks can be compared either while they are copied, by setting Verify to Always under the Format/Verify option, or in a separate step, using the Compare option under Go. If there are any errors on the disk, DiskDupe will show a message on the screen indicating that the disk is bad. Stand-alone Compare The Compare option works nearly the same as Duplicate, whether you're comparing from a disk, an image file, or using Relay. Follow the same instructions, but select Compare instead. When comparing a master disk to a copy, be sure to put the master disk in first. Otherwise DiskDupe might report an error in the unused portion of the copied disk. One minor difference between Compare and Duplicate is that if you specify 10 copies, DiskDupe will compare just 10 disks whether they are good or bad. With Compare, for example, if the last disk is bad DiskDupe will not ask for another disk. Duplicate, on the other hand, will make 10 good disks. Thus, if DiskDupe found three bad disks while duplicating, you would have ended up putting in thirteen copies to get the 10 good disks. Comparing or Duplicating with Detect Data Area When it is necessary to copy or compare the contents of an entire disk, which includes the areas outside of the normal data area on the disk or image, the Detect Data Area option under Job|Option should be selected. Normally, when duplicating or comparing an original disk or image to a copy, DiskDupe will compare only the data portion of the original to the copy. If the unused portion of the copy has some deleted files on it for example, and if the data on the original disk does not extend completely over the deleted files on the copy, the deleted files will still be present even though a complete disk to disk copy was made. If the disks are compared with the copy now being the original and the original being the copy, DiskDupe will report a 301 Compare Error because the deleted file data is still present. Selecting Detect Data Area solves these kinds of problems. Drive to Drive Copying The most straightforward way to duplicate is to copy from one drive to another. This is useful for making a specific number of copies of disks of different types and sizes. To copy from drive to drive: 1. Select Source from the job dialog box. Select the drive (usually A: or B:) that you will be reading from. 2. Select Destination from the job dialog box. Select the drive that you will be copying to. 3. Select the appropriate settings for Disk, Format and Verify. For good, all-around settings, set Disk to Auto, Format to If Necessary and Verify to Always. 4. Press Go when you are ready to begin duplicating. DiskDupe will prompt you to put the master disk in the source drive and the drive light will turn on. As soon as you close the drive door, DiskDupe will start reading the disk into your computer's RAM, or memory, using your hard disk as virtual memory if necessary. This allows DiskDupe to make as many copies as you want without having to reread the master disk. When you use DiskDupe with your autoloader, all you need to do is insert a stack of disks in the input hopper and DiskDupe will control the duplication. Copying with Relay Relay is an extremely efficient method of backing up program disks or making copies of a shareware library. To use it, first make sure all your master disks have write-protect tabs on them. Relay senses the write-protect tabs and automatically reads and copies the master disks to all the non write-protected disks after each master disk. This allows you to make copies of different master disks of one type without using the keyboard. To copy disks using Relay: 1. Set Source to Relay and Destination to the drive you will be copying to. 2. Before duplicating, make sure all your master disks have write-protect tabs on them and press Go. DiskDupe will prompt you to insert the first write-protected master disk. After it reads the master, insert the disks you want the master copied to. When you want to start copying from the next write-protected master, just insert it into the drive. DiskDupe will sense the write-protect tab and read the new master disk without a keystroke. After it reads the new master, insert the disks you want the new master copied to, and so on. 3. When you are finished, press <Esc>. When you use your autoloader, the process is much simpler. Start by putting the first write-protected master on the desk. Count out the number of copies you want made from that master, and stack that many disks on top of the master. Do this until you have a stack with all the masters and empty disks that you want copied. Put the stack into the input hopper and DiskDupe will proceed to copy them using Relay. Caution: If your master disks do not have write-protect tabs on them, they will be overwritten. Copying with Cascade If you have more than one floppy drive of the same type and are making multiple copies, you can use Cascade to get more efficiency out of your drives. With Cascade, once the master disk is read, DiskDupe cycles through and makes copies in each drive, beginning with the drive from which the master disk was read. You can cascade up to 20 drives. Cascade won't write to two drives simultaneously, which is a limitation of the IBM PC hardware. Using Cascade, however, saves the time it takes to change the disks and saves you from having to change the disks often. To copy disks using Cascade: 1. Select Source and choose the image file or drive that you will be reading from. 2. Select Destination, choose Cascade, and enter the drives in the order you wish DiskDupe to cycle through them. For example, if you want to copy to drive A and B, type AB:. 3. Select Duplicate and press <Go>. If you designate your Source as a drive, DiskDupe will read the first disk, wait for you to remove the disk and insert new ones in all the drives. DiskDupe will sense the disk change, make a copy in the first drive, and then switch to the next drive to make a copy. It will make copies until it reaches the end of the cycle, where it waits for you to change the disks in all the drives. DiskDupe will sense when you insert a new disk in the first drive and resume copying immediately. If the disk is changed in the first drive, before DiskDupe reaches the end of the cycle, you must press <Enter> to resume copying. If a bad disk is encountered, you will have to remove it and insert a new disk in that same drive before DiskDupe resumes duplicating. Relay and Cascade You can also combine Cascade with Relay. In such a setup, the first write-protected master disk is read from the first drive in the cycle and will be copied to every non write-protected disk inserted in the following drives. It will continue, through the cycle, to make copies of the first disk until the second write-protected master disk is read, and so on. Images If there are disks that you copy frequently, it may be worthwhile to store an image of these master disks on your hard disk. Not only is reading an image file from your hard disk much faster than reading a floppy disk, using the image prevents undue wear and tear on the disk. The drawback to image files is the space they take up on your hard disk. Image files contain the data on the disk plus a header which for a half full 1.4MB disk amounts to about 730K. DiskDupe images are always forwards-compatible which means that images made with older versions of the software will work fine with newer versions. Also, images made with both DiskDupe for Dos and DiskDupe for Windows are compatible with each other and can be interchanged. To Create an Image File: 1. Under the File menu, select New and then Image. Type the name of the image file you want to create, such as DISK1.DDI. When you have finished, press Open. 2. Select the drive that the master disk will be read from (A: or B) and press Ok. DiskDupe will prompt you to insert the master disk into the drive. The image file will be created in the current subdirectory. You can also create image files the same way that you copy from disk to disk, except that you would choose Drive as your Source and Image as your Destination. When creating the image file, the Copies setting has no effect. To copy from image to disk: 1. Select Source, Image. Select the image file, then press Open. The copy type will be automatically set to that of the image file. 2. Select Destination, and the drive you want to copy to. 3. Set the number of Copies, using 0 for continuous copying, and select Duplicate. When you are ready to duplicate, press Go. To compare a disk with a previously created image file, select Compare from the Go dialog box and press Go. DiskDupe will do a byte-by-byte comparison of the copies. Using Images on a Network If you are running DiskDupe on a network, image files are an easy way to duplicate disks at a number of workstations. Instead of distributing master disks to each workstation, create image files on the network. More than one user can then run DiskDupe to make copies as needed. And, it is a simple process to update an image file on the network if its data changes. Image files stored on the network can be shared by several workstations. For example, one workstation can duplicate disks from the image file while another compares them to the same image. Formatting Disks With DiskDupe, you can either format a disk as it is being duplicated or separately. When you copy disks with Duplicate, DiskDupe will detect whether a disk has been formatted and, if necessary, format it while copying. Use Format as a separate feature whenever you want to preformat disks ahead of time for later use with DiskDupe such as making master disks or for general Dos use. To format a disk: 1. Set Source to Format. 2. Set Destination to the drive you will use to format the disk and press Ok. This can be one drive or a number of drives using Cascade. 3. Go to Format and Verify and select the appropriate settings. 4. Set the number of Copies, or set it to 0 for continuous copying, and select Duplicate. When you are ready to format, press Go. Note: If you set Disk to Auto, DiskDupe will ask what type of disk you are formatting, otherwise, you can set Disk to the disk type. Quick Format To do a quick format, select the Quick Format job or set Format to Only If Necessary and Verify to Only After Format and follow the above instructions for formatting a disk. Reformatting a disk that has been previously formatted takes only about 2 seconds per disk. This effectively wipes out the data on a disk by writing over the disk's FAT (File Allocation Table) and directory table. DiskDupe will format the first couple of tracks, where the file and directory information is located, realize that the disk doesn't need to be formatted, and prompt you for another disk. If you run a DIR or CHKDSK on the disk, you will see that the disk is indeed empty. If you also want to recheck the disk to make sure there are no damaged areas, set the Verify option to Always. This is quicker than a full reformat, but will check the entire disk for defects. Note: Although the disk appears blank, some of the data is still physically on the disk. The only time this might pose a problem is if the disk contains sensitive information that you want to be sure to wipe off completely. If so, use the full reformat option. Full Reformat To do a full reformat, select the Full Format job or set Format to Always and follow the instructions for formatting a disk as described earlier. Perform a full reformat if you plan to use an old disk as a master disk or want to completely erase all the data on it. Format Compatibility When DiskDupe formats disks, it places a Dos 3.3 boot track on the disk. This is compatible with all versions of Dos. If you want to format a disk with the boot track of another version of Dos, or make a bootable disk or make formatted Unix, Midi or Mac high density disks, follow these instructions. 1. Format a disk using the normal format command for that system. With Dos this is FORMAT /U. 2. Use DiskDupe to make a copy of this disk. If you want you can also create an image file of this disk and use that as the Source. If you are using a master disk formatted with Dos 4.0 or higher, DiskDupe will copy the serial number of the master disk without changing it. Extended Disk Formats DiskDupe 5.1 has been enhanced to support Microsoft's 1.68 MB DMF format, as well as IBM's 1.84 MB OS/2 format. The copies made will contain the same data as the original, but will be arranged slightly differently. This will in no way affect the readability of the disk. Additional Extended Disk Formats Besides support for the above mentioned formats, we've created a few of our own: 400 KB Double Density 5.25" disks 1.36 MB High Density 5.25" disks 800 KB Double Density 3.5" disks 1.68 MB High Density 3.5" disks 1.84 MB High Density 3.5" disks These formats can be used by developers to distribute their own software. They allow the diskette to hold more data than with a standard format by increasing the number of data sectors per track of the disk, and reducing the gap size between each sector on the disk (the ``sector gap '' ). When the sector gap is reduced it is harder for the controller to read sequential sectors, so the sectors are interleaved on the disk by separating sequential sectors by one sector. For example with the 800K format each track has 10 sectors with the following order: 1,6,2,7,3,8,4,9,5,10. When a disk is read on a PC the floppy controller in the PC reads the sectors in order, so it has plenty of time between sectors to get ready for the next sector in the sequence, even though adjacent sectors are close together. Extended disk formats take longer to copy than normal disks because of the sector interleave. Since the sectors are interleaved the controller needs for the disk to spin twice as many revolutions as a normal disk to read and write the sectors in order. Allegro controllers speed up the process by writing the sectors in their interleaved order, although it has no speed advantage when reading the disks. Using or Distributing Extended Disks Most drives will have problems reading disks from Dos that have more data sectors than normal. While users will be able to produce a directory of the disk, they will be unable to access most files. To eliminate this problem DiskDupe comes with FixFlop, a small memory resident program which patches Dos to be able to access disks with these formats. If you're distributing your product on a 1.68 MB disk, make your first disk a regular 1.44MB and make the remaining disks 1.68 MB. This will allow the installation program to load from the first disk and run FixFlop so that the rest of the disks can be accessed. If you want all your product disks to be 1.68 MB, you must run FixFlop first and then run the install program. This can be accomplished by making an install batch file that runs FixFlop first, and then installs the rest of the files. If FixFlop and the install batch file are small enough to fit on the first cylinder of the disk, then Dos will be able to run these files without having to run FixFlop first. FixFlop does not need to be loaded if the product is being installed from Windows 95. Ask Each Time The Ask Each Time option is ideal for duplication activities that involve the constant selection and re-selection of images, sets, drives, RamboDisks, cascaded drives, serial files, label files and DiskDupe protection files during one setting. When active, and before you begin a job, the Ask Each Time selection you've chosen will bring up a dialog that will ask you to select the appropriate new item. This minimizes the chances of selecting an item incorrectly, such as selecting the source as a drive instead of an image, and reduces the number of keystrokes required to make a new selection, since you are automatically put back into the appropriate dialog when making your next selection. A good time to use Ask Each Time is when duplicating multiple images, since you minimize the chances of duplicating from the wrong image, and you won't have to navigate as many menus after each image is copied. Another good time to use Ask Each Time is when you want to create a job that automates some routine process, such as formatting some disks. To create a handy format job, first create a new job, then set the job's Source to Format, the Destination to Drive, select the Ask Each Time option from the Drive dialog, and set Disk to Auto. Now, when you want to format a disk, open the new job and press Go. DiskDupe will prompt you for the drive you want to format to, and then ask you for the format capacity. The Ask Each Time option can be found under Job|Source, Job|Destination, Job|Serial, Job|Label and Job|Protect. Track Range When copying disks, Track Range controls which parts of a disk are formatted, written and verified. This saves time if you are duplicating disks that are not full. Track Range has four options which can be set by selecting Range in the job dialog box. With Track Range set to All, DiskDupe formats, writes or verifies the entire disk, whether or not it contains data. With Track Range set to Data, DiskDupe formats, writes or verifies only the part of the disk with data. On a partially full disk used to install software onto a hard disk, the Data setting can save the time DiskDupe takes to format, write or verify the unused space. However, anyone who tries to copy additional files to this disk or make a copy with Dos DiskCopy will get an error because the empty space on the disk has not been formatted. This can serve as a type of copy protection. In addition, since most disk defects occur in the last tracks, you will get more `` good'' disks. The Serial setting in DiskDupe Pro and AutoPro is useful for applying serialization in a second pass. DiskDupe will only copy or compare tracks with serial numbers. The None setting in DiskDupe Pro and AutoPro is useful for applying copy protection or printing labels without copying the disk. Disk Conversion DiskDupe allows you to convert certain types of disks to disks of another physical size, such as a from a 5.25", 1.2MB disk to a 3.5", 1.4MB. You can, for example, copy a program's 5.25" program disks to 3.5" disks for installation on a laptop which only has a 3.5" drive. Converting disks is just a special application of the Duplicate command. The table below indicates which disks, drives, and menu settings to use for a conversion. The conversions listed are the only ones presently supported. DiskDupe transfers the information track-by-track, including hidden and system files, volume labels, and subdirectories. During a conversion, the destination disk will be formatted to the same capacity as the source disk. So if you are copying from a 5.25", 360K disk to a 3.5", 720K disk, the 3.5" disk will have a capacity of 360K. Track-by-track disk conversion won't copy from a higher density disk to a lower density disk, even if the higher density disk has just a few files on it. So you can't use disk conversions to convert a 1.4MB disk to a 1.2MB disk. In this case, it's better to use the Dos Copy command to transfer the files. 720K to 5.25" Conversion When converting a 3.5" 720K disk to a 5.25" size disk, you will need to copy to either a 360K disk or a 1.2MB disk, depending on your computer. In both cases, you must use a 1.2MB drive to make the conversion. Try using a 360K first and only switch to a 1.2MB disk if you get an error on several disks. The disk will be formatted to 720K capacity by using the area between the tracks. Some computers will not recognize the converted disk. You'll be able to do a DIR of it, but cannot read the actual files. If you encounter this problem, use the FIXFLOP.EXE program included with DiskDupe. This is a small memory-resident program that allows such computers to read this 5.25" disk. Note: If you are copying disks to send to others, we recommend making a master for each disk size, rather than using track conversions. This allows you to use the full capacity of the disk and will alleviate any possible problems that other computers might have reading converted disks. Maintaining your Drives Dirty, misaligned drives are the primary cause of poor diskette copy quality. Since dirty heads prevent data from being properly written, good disks are often needlessly rejected while bad disks pass through error detection mechanisms unnoticed. A diskette produced on a misaligned drive will usually be readable on the same drive but not on properly aligned drives. How Often to Clean We recommend that you clean the drive heads every 500 disks, or at least once a month. Sometimes in humid or dirty environments, you will need to clean the heads every 100 disks. If you start experiencing a lot of rejected disks or have other problems, it is always a good idea to clean the heads. With DiskDupe, you can set a counter to remind you when to clean, as well as align your drives. To set the limit for the counter, go into the Setup menu and choose Global. The default settings for Disks between Cleaning is 500 and Disks between Aligning is 2000. Once you reach any of these settings, a Clean or Align button will appear on the job screen, as well as an exclamation point (!) next to the appropriate counter in the Drive List dialog box. Once the drive is cleaned or aligned, the counter will reset to 0 for that drive. When cleaning the drive, use a good wet-dry style cleaning disk (you will need different kits for 3" and 5" drives). To clean the drive: 1. Select Drives from the Setup menu, and the Drive List dialog box will appear. (You can also press the Clean button, if it appears on the job screen, to access it directly.) 2. Highlight the drive to be cleaned and press Clean. DiskDupe will prompt you to insert the cleaning disk into the drive. 3. Apply the drops of cleaning fluid to the cleaning disk and, when ready, insert it into the drive. DiskDupe will automatically sense the disk and will clean the drive for 15 seconds. Quality vs. Speed This section provides advice on how to make the best possible copies and how to speed up DiskDupe. There is always a tradeoff between speed and quality but with DiskDupe you can achieve a good balance. The main way to control quality and speed is with the Format and Verify options. Format Option A good, all-purpose setting for Format is Only if Necessary. DiskDupe will detect if disks have been formatted and take advantage of it for faster copies. If any part of the disk needs formatting, DiskDupe will detect it and switch into format mode. This works especially well for a combination of preformatted and new disks. If you are formatting new disks you can set Format to Always to save the few seconds that DiskDupe normally takes to identify that a disk is blank and shift into Format mode. Also if you want to reformat old disks, set it to Always. If you're using disks that you know have been formatted, you can set Format to Never to save time. With Format set to Never, DiskDupe will reject as ``bad'' any disks that haven't been formatted, so you can also use this setting to separate out unformatted disks from a mixed stack. Verify Option The Verify Option lets you select how carefully you want DiskDupe to check the disks being copied for defects. Normally, Verify is set to Always. This will make sure that all defects are detected. However, if you are using preformatted disks that you know are good, you can set Verify to Only After Format to speed up duplication. You shouldn't set Verify to Never unless you plan to compare every disk in a separate pass using the Compare option under the Go menu. Reject Rates In most batches of disks, depending on the quality, you can expect about 2% to 4% to be bad on the first pass. If you want to use only the highest quality disks, you can throw these away. You can put the disks through again and usually about half of them will pass the second time. These disks will be almost as good as the ones that passed the first time. Once a disk is rejected twice, it is best to throw it away. You can use low cost disks with DiskDupe and still be confident it will catch any bad disks. Make sure, however, that the Verify option is set to Always. Quality Considerations There are several steps you can take to ensure that your copies are perfect. If you still get a significant amount of bad disks after following these suggestions, you might consider changing to a different brand of disks. - Make sure your computer operates properly with DiskDupe. To check your computer, go into Drives in the Setup menu and click on Test. For further information, refer to Testing Your Setup in the chapter on Setting Up Your Computer. As an additional test, copy several different 5.25" and 3.5" master disks and use DiskDupe to compare each master disk to its copy. If DiskDupe doesn't report any errors, your computer will work well with DiskDupe. - Avoid using a 5.25" 1.2MB drive to copy 360K disks, if at all possible. Since the 1.2MB drive writes a smaller track than a 360K drive, some 360K drives will have problems reading 360K disks written in that drive. - Clean your disk drives frequently. Drives need to be cleaned about every 500 disks or at least once a month. - Make sure your drives are properly aligned. If a drive's read/write head is out of alignment, it will be able to duplicate and read the disks it copies with no problem, but other drives may not be able to read these disks. Drive diagnostic kits are available that will measure the drive alignment directly. The alignment should be checked every 2,000 disks or at least once a year. - If you buy preformatted disks, be sure that Verify under the Format/Verify option in the Job menu is set to Always. The quality of preformatted disks varies greatly. - After you duplicate disks on one drive, compare them on another. Sometimes you will want to compare 100% of the disks, but usually comparing 5% to 10% of the disks is enough to alert you to any problems. Even if your disks are duplicated perfectly, after you mail them to someone else, you can expect about 1% of them to develop problems. A lot of damage is done to disks during mailing, mainly due to magnetic fields produced by the motors used in conveyer belts and sorting equipment. Also many people have dirty or misaligned drives that will have problems reading any disks besides their own. Viruses Viruses rank among a computer's deadliest enemies, infecting programs and depositing themselves in your hard disk's boot sector. When virus-ridden programs and disks are run on another computer, that machine is stricken as well. DiskDupe is a natural deterrent to viruses. Since it works directly with your computer's hardware, DiskDupe will not spread viruses from an infected computer to the copies it makes. However, if a disk that DiskDupe is copying is already infected, the copies will be as well. Since DiskDupe images are stored as data files, they are not susceptible to virus infection, even if your system is later infected by a virus. However, images made from virus-ridden disks will contain the virus. Commercial software such as Norton Anti-Virus, PC Tools and McAfee Viruscan can check for and remove viruses from your hard and floppy disks. Optimized Master Disks If files have been erased from a disk, DiskDupe may be fooled into thinking that there is more data on the disk than there really is. To help DiskDupe work most efficiently, it is best to use a newly formatted disk as your master disk. DiskDupe is able to sense which part of the disk has valid data on it and only duplicate that part of the disk. If you have a master disk which has had many different files copied to it and then erased, DiskDupe will have to duplicate the entire disk even though all of the disk might not contain real data. The copies will still be good, but the duplication will take longer than necessary. To make a blank master disk, first format a disk using the DiskDupe Format command with Format set to Always under the Format/Verify option. Then use the Dos Copy command to copy the necessary files onto this newly formatted disk. This master disk is now clear of extraneous data. Note: If you format your master disks with the Dos 5.1 format command, use the FORMAT /U option to erase the entire disk. This will enable DiskDupe to make fast copies of this disk. Duplicating Times The following table gives you an indication of the relative speed of various copying combinations. Ideally, it's best to always verify and compare each disk. Since this isn't always a realistic proposition, the following table can help you balance the trade-offs between quality and speed. Notes: - If your disks are not completely full, duplicating times will be faster than this. - For information regarding copying times with various speed drives see the on-line help under Index, Duplicating Times. Trouble Shooting Common Problems Problem: After I copy a disk using DiskDupe and then try to do a DIR on it, I get an error reading the disk. Solution: Take the disk out of the drive. Type <Ctrl-C> several times and put the disk back in. Problem: I am trying to copy 360K disks on my computer and it is not working. Solution: Make sure you have your A: drive set up correctly (usually as a 1.2MB drive) and that the copy type is set to 360K. Problem: DiskDupe works perfectly on my computer, but gives me an error on my laptop. Solution: Some laptops have a battery saving feature that turns off the DMA chip. Turning off this feature when you use DiskDupe should solve the problem. Problem: I keep getting a 909 DMA Setup error. Solution: DiskDupe is trying to allocate some memory to set up a DMA buffer, but it cannot allocate any because memory may be fragmented (this usually happens when running from Windows). Try starting DiskDupe by typing DISKDUPE /DMAWIN=OFF from the Dos prompt. This setting gets saved in the DISKDUPE.DAT file so it does not have to be reentered each time afterwards. Alternately you could try increasing the DMA buffer size by adding the line "DMABufferSize=100" under the [386Enh] section of the Windows SYSTEM.INI file if you are running DiskDupe from Windows. Software Compatibility This section provides remedies to difficulties that some computers experience when running DiskDupe. If you have a problem running DiskDupe that matches one or more of the descriptions below, you may want to try the suggestion given to see if it improves performance or eliminates the problem. Try these only if you experience problems. - Windows 3.1: If you get an error message indicating a DMA problem, add the line DMABufferSize = 64 to the Windows SYSTEM.INI file under the [386 Enh] heading in the file. - Windows 3.1: When running in 386 Enhanced Mode and Windows reports a `` Program Violates System Integrity '' message when you click on the DiskDupe icon, create a PIF file for DiskDupe with EMS KB Limit set to 0. This occurs when early versions of EMM386 are used with the /NOEMS parameter. - QEMM and SmartDrive 3.1: If QEMM reports an error with its DMA buffer, use the line ``QEMM386.SYS DB=3 DMA=15'' to load QEMM. The DB=3 parameter allocates 3k for the disk buffer and DMA=15 allocates 15k for the DMA buffer. This sometimes occurs with SCSI hard disks. - OS/2: To get maximum speed, open the Dos settings box for the DISKDUPE.EXE object. You'll need to set HW_TIMER to Off and IDLE_SENSITIVITY to 100 for the Dos session. Other MSD Products Besides the DiskDupe software, Micro System Designs offers a complete line of other products to help you automate your disk production. For a brief description of these products, see the information below. Otherwise, contact us directly or contact your local DiskDupe dealer. Allegro Mini A floppy controller card that is up to 40% faster, guarantees a higher quality copy, supports up to four 2X (Double Speed) drives, and is easier to install than a regular controller card. The Allegro Mini gets its speed by formatting and writing in the same revolution, which increases the copy quality by eliminating the write splices between each sector. Recommended for DiskDupe Pro and DiskDupe Auto and AutoPro users with 1X (Single Speed) and 2X (Double Speed) drives. Allegro I A floppy controller card that has the same quality, speed and ease- of-installation as the Allegro Mini, but supports SDS (Simultaneous Double Sided) and 2XSDS (Double Speed Simultaneous Double Sided) drives. Recommended for DiskDupe AutoPro users with SDS and 2XSDS drives. Allegro II An enhanced version of the Allegro I, the Allegro II offers all the features of the Allegro I and more. The Allegro II supports 4XSDS (Quad Speed Simultaneous Double Sided) drives. It has a special 2.2 Rev Turbo Mode setting that can further increase copy times. It's software auto-configurable, and contains support for a special PLL (Phase Lock Loop) Window Margin chipset upgrade that can help catch marginal quality disks before they get out the door. Recommended for DiskDupe AutoPro users with SDS, 2XSDS and 4XSDS drives. DupeJet The DupeJet is a manual duplication system including a high speed drive, controller and software that can copy up to 300 disks per hour. The components used are the same that professional duplicators use, so you are assured of the highest quality copies. registration To register, follow the instructions as described on the opening screen. Registration information can also be found under the Hello menu. You can contact us at: Micro System Designs, Inc. 4300 Stevens Creek Blvd., Ste 258 San Jose, CA 95129 TEL: (408) 260-2600 FAX: (408) 446-2695 For more information on our products: WWW: http://www.msd1.com FTP: ftp.msd1.com CIS: GO MSDESIGNS Internet: orders@msd1.com CIS: 75162,451