The Atari Compendium/The Atari Compendium (Toad Computers) (1994).iso/files/umich/diskutil/hdx-5.zoo/readme.hdx

Text File | 1992-02-03 | 22.7 KB | 567 lines

Advanced Hard Disk Utilities

ADVANCED HARD DISK UTILITIES

This appendix contains information about the Atari Advanced Hard Disk
Utilities disk. It applies to both the internal SCSI and external
SCSI or ACSI hard disk drives. This disk contains programs and files
that allow you to:

∙ Park and Unpark the read/write heads
∙ Install or remove the hard disk driver file
∙ Format and partition the hard disk
∙ Erase the contents of a logical drive
∙ Extend the system-wide folder limit
∙ Mark bad sectors
∙ Create an Extended Partition Scheme

You will not use these programs as part of the hard disk's daily
operation. Instead, the programs allow you to start the drive for the
first time, perform functions that are required from time to time, or
maximize your use of the hard disk drive. This chapter will help you
choose the programs and utilities you need.


PARKING AND UNPARKING THE READ/WRITE HEADS

Whenever you move your computer, you should park the hard drive heads
to prevent damage to the hard disk and the data it contains. Parking
the hard disk drive heads moves the read/write heads of the drive
away from the disk media. Parked heads cannot damage the disk
media during moving or shipping. The Atari Advanced Hard Disk
Utilities include two types of head parking programs. One type parks
the disk heads of all hard drives connected to your system. The other
parks the disk heads of individual units.

Warning: If you fail to close all hard disk windows before parking
the drive heads you may damage data on your hard disk.

Parking Drive Heads on all Units

To park the hard disk drive heads on all hard disks connected to your
system, run SHIP.PRG. You must run this program from a floppy disk in
drive A or B.

Note: SHIP.PRG will not park the heads of a Megafile 44 Removable
Hard Disk Drive.

With a directory of the Atari Advanced Hard Disk Utilities disk
displaying, follow these instructions to run SHIP.PRG.

1. Open the HDX folder.

2. Close all other open windows.

3. Run SHIP.PRG.

4. Switch off your hard disk units as soon as the desktop appears.


Parking Drive Heads on Selected Units

To park a specific hard drive, you must select a physical unit to be
parked. With your hard disk utilities disk in drive A or B, follow
these instructions to park the heads on individual physical units:

1. Run the HDX program.

2. Close all other open windows.

3. Select the Ship option on the Disk menu.

4. A dialog box displays, asking you if the hard disk drive to be
formatted is an ACSI drive or a SCSI drive. Select the appropriate
drive type. Click on OK to continue.

5. When the Select physical unit(s) dialog box appears, select the
physical units that are to have their heads parked. Select OK.  Note:
You can select any physical unit connected to your system (formatted
or not). The unit number boxes of connected devices appear shadowed.

5. An alert box message appears on screen offering you a last chance
to cancel the head parking procedure.

Select OK to park the heads.

6. A final alert box appears, instructing you to turn off your hard
disk.

Select OK and switch off the power to your disk drive(s).

Note: If you are preparing to move your entire system, switch off
your computer at this time.

Unparking the Drive Heads

The next time you start your system the drive heads are automatically
unparked.


INSTALLING AND REMOVING THE HARD DISK DRIVER FILE

The HINSTALL.PRG program installs or removes the hard disk driver
file. The hard disk driver allows you to start your system from your
hard drive. <<<You should always use HINSTALL.PRG when installing a
new version of the hard disk driver.>>>


Installing the Hard Disk Driver

Display the directory of the HINSTALL folder. Follow these steps to
install the hard disk driver:

1. Run HINSTALL.PRG.

2. Select Install from the File menu.

3. Select a logical drive for the operation. You can only select
logical drives that are highlighted in shadowed boxes. Select OK.

4. From the displayed dialog box, select OK to install the driver, or
Cancel to abort the operation.


Removing the Hard Disk Driver

Display the directory of the HINSTALL folder. Follow these steps to
remove the hard disk driver:

1. Run HINSTALL.PRG.

2. Select Remove from the File menu.

3. Select a logical drive for the operation. You can only select
logical drives that are highlighted in shadowed boxes. Select OK.

4. From the displayed dialog box, select OK to install the driver, or
Cancel to abort the operation.


Bypassing the Hard Disk Driver

As an alternative to removing the hard disk driver, you can simply
bypass the driver. To do so, switch off your computer (or perform a
keyboard coldboot) and make sure there is a floppy disk in drive

A that does not contain a hard disk driver file. Switch on the
system. The drive light comes on, and then goes off. Immediately hold
down [Alternate]. Release [Alternate] when the floppy drive's busy
light goes back on.


FORMATTING AND PARTITIONING THE HARD DISK

Warning: The HDX Format and Partition options described in this
chapter completely erase all data on your hard disk. Back up all of
your valuable files before proceeding.

Formatting

You will probably never have to re-format your hard disk. The hard
disk has already been formatted at the factory. Formatting the hard
disk creates magnetic patterns called tracks and sectors. The process
also marks and logs bad sectors, areas on the disk with surface
damage or other imperfections. Data stored in these areas could be
corrupted or lost. During hard disk operations, the computer avoids
sectors marked and logged as bad.  The formatting process also
automatically divides the hard disk into storage areas called
partitions or logical drives.

The internal hard disk drive is already formatted. Formatting erases
all information from a disk and prepares the disk to accept data. You
may need to format the hard disk if the factory format becomes
erased due to mishandling or if the hard disk develops bad sectors.

Display the directory the HDX folder. Follow these instructions to
format a hard disk:

1. Select HDX.PRG. Then select the Format option from the Disk menu.

2. Read the alert message that appears on screen. If necessary, back
up all your data  before proceeding.

Select OK to continue.

3. A dialog box displays, asking you if the hard disk drive to be
formatted is an ACSI drive or a SCSI drive. Select the appropriate
drive type.

Select OK to continue.

4. Select a physical unit (hard disk drive) for formatting. If you
are formatting only the internal hard disk, select UNIT 0.  If you
are formatting an additional hard disk, select a unit that corresponds
to the hard disk's DIP switch settings. (See your hard disk drive
owner's manual for information about DIP switch settings.) Units in
shadowed boxes are the units that are connected to your system.


Select OK to continue. A dialog box may appear, displaying a list of
hard disk unit types.

5. Select the hard disk type showing your drive's model name.

Select OK to continue.

5. Read the alert message that appears on screen.

Select OK to format the unit.  A message appears informing you that
formatting is in progress.

Note: When the partitioning message disappears, the formatting
operation is complete.  When formatting is complete, the Format option
automatically initiates the Markbad and Partitioning options. To find
out more about these functions, refer to the sections on Marking Bad
Sectors and Partitioning.

The default partition quantity and size is determined by the hard
disk drive model.

Partitioning

The TT's internal hard disk drive is already partitioned.
Partitioning a hard disk is a process that divides the disk into
sections. Setting a partition size tells the hard drive how much
storage capacity to assign to each partition. You can use the
factory-set partition capacities or change the storage capacity of
each partition to suit your file organization needs.

Partitioning divides your physical hard disk into data storage areas
called logical drives. Each logical drive is pre-installed and will
automatically appear on your desktop unless you re-partition the
disk. Partitioning allows you to store and access your data
efficiently by allowing you to group files and folders in different
logical drives.

Use the Partition option to create partitions in sizes best suited to
your disk storage needs. The Partition option lets you use an editing
menu to set the size of each partition or select a suggested
partitioning scheme without having to reformat your disk.

Note: When you repartition your hard disk, you must use the Install
Devices command to install desktop icons for the logical drives.


Selecting a Unit to Partition

Display a directory the HDX folder. Follow these instructions to
partition a hard disk:

1. Select HDX.PRG from the HDX folder. Then select the Partition
option from the Disk menu.

2. A dialog box displays, asking you if the hard disk drive to be
formatted is an ACSI drive or a SCSI drive. Select the appropriate
drive type.

Select OK to continue. The Select a physical unit dialog box displays.

3. Select a physical unit for partitioning. To partition your hard
disk, select the unit number of the device you want to partition.
Only units in shadowed boxes can be selected.

Select OK to continue.

4. Select a partitioning scheme.

There are two ways to select a partitioning scheme. You can use the
Choose a Partition Scheme dialog box to choose from preset
partitioning schemes. Or you can use the Edit Partition Scheme dialog
box to create a customized partitioning scheme. The following sections
fully describe each method.


Selecting a Partitioning Scheme

After you select a physical unit for partitioning, the Edit Partition
Scheme dialog box displays.

Use the Edit Partition Scheme dialog box to create a customized
partitioning scheme. If you wish to select a preset partitioning
scheme, click on Menu to display the Choose a Partition Scheme dialog
box. From the Choose a Partition Scheme dialog box you can click on
the Edit box to return to the Edit Partition Scheme dialog box.

Creating a Customized Partitioning Scheme

The Edit Partition Scheme dialog box displays information about the
selected unit's current partition scheme.


Information lines appear at the top of the dialog box. The Total line
displays the current total number of partitions. The Left line
displays the number of megabytes on your disk that have not yet been
assigned to any partition.

Each partition's size is displayed to the right of the partition
number in the edit box. Minimum partition size is 1 megabyte. Maximum
partition size is determined by the capacity of your hard disk. You
can allocate all of the memory on your hard disk to one partition.
For example, a 40 megabyte hard disk can have a single partition
containing all 40 megabytes of memory.

Use the scroll bar to scroll through partition boxes. To view the 28
partitions you can click on the  shaded area of the scroll bar to
scroll through four partitions at a time.

Click on the partition box you wish to create or edit. Then click on
the up and down arrows to the right of the partition size box to
increase or decrease partition size. Clicking on an Unused box
creates a new partition.

Note: There must be available bytes listed on the Left line before
you can increase the size of any partition. 1 megabyte or more must
appear in the Left box before an unused partition can be activated.

You can select Menu to display the Choose a Partition Scheme dialog
box. This dialog box allows you to choose preselected partitioning
schemes.

To return to the most recent partition scheme, select Undo.

OK initiates the partitioning process.

If you want to return to the HDX.PRG main menu, select Undo.

The Expert option is shaded and cannot be selected unless you have
more than four partitions. You need to use the Expert option only if
you plan to use more than one operating system. If you are planning
to use more than one operating system with the same hard disk, see
Appendix E, Extended Partition Schemes.


Selecting a Preset Partitioning Scheme

The Choose a Partition Scheme dialog box appears when you select Menu
from the Edit Partition Scheme dialog box.


The Choose a Partition Scheme dialog box provides a list of suggested
partitioning schemes. Select the scheme you want from the list.
Select Edit to return to the Edit Partition Scheme box.

After you select a partitioning scheme, select OK to partition the disk.

ERASING THE CONTENTS OF A LOGICAL DRIVE

You can erase all data from a selected logical drive with the Zero
option of the HDX program. Erasing (or zeroing) a logical drive is
useful if you want to clear the drive to make room for new data or
if you want to erase damaged data from a logical drive without
reformatting (and thus erasing) the entire hard disk.

Display a directory of the HDX folder. Follow these steps to erase
the contents of a logical drive.

1.    Select HDX.PRG. Then select the Zero option from the Disk menu.

2.    Read the alert box that appears on screen. Select OK to continue.

3.    Select a drive for zeroing from the Select the Logical Drive
dialog box. Select OK to continue.

4.    An alert box appears giving you a final chance to quit the
program before proceeding.

Select OK to continue.


EXTENDING THE SYSTEM WIDE FOLDER LIMIT

You can run FOLDER100.PRG to extend the number of folders your system
recognizes. Though most users will be able to create as many folders
as they wish without problems, you can still use FOLDR100.PRG
to extend the folder limit even further.

To use this program, display the AUTO folder directory on drive C
containing the FOLDR100.PRG file. Then change the 100 in the filename
to any value between 001 and 999 using the Show Info option from
the File menu. The value you enter is the number of folders beyond
40 you can now access. For example, to extend the limit to 240
folders, you would change the filename to FOLDR240.PRG.

The FOLDR program must be stored in the AUTO folder of the startup
disk (partition C on the hard disk if physical unit 0 is the startup
disk).

The new folder limit takes effect when you reboot your system. During
the boot procedure, a message appears that shows how many extra
folders you have designated and how many bytes of RAM are allocated
to the extra folders. Each folder uses 132 bytes of RAM.


MARKING BAD SECTORS

Error messages stating that the data on your disk may be damaged
might indicate the presence of bad sectors on your disk. If such
error messages frequently appear, you should check your hard disk for
bad sectors. This process identifies and flags defective areas on the
hard disk. Hard disks may develop defective spots after the drive has
been in use. Once these spots have been logged with Markbad,
they will not be used for your hard disk operations.

The Atari Advanced Hard Disk Utilities disk includes two versions of
Markbad. One version is run automatically during the HDX Format
option. This version operates on the entire selected physical unit
and erases all data on the disk during formatting. The other version
operates on the selected logical drive when you run the HDX Markbad
option. This version helps you preserve data by letting you
decide whether or not to erase data containing bad sectors.

Both versions of Markbad display a log of any bad sectors found. The
cumulative tally of bad sectors in the log appears during subsequent
Markbad operations.

Note: You can use the HDX Markbad option on hard disks formatted with
a previous version of HDX.  Display the directory of the HDX folder.
Follow these steps to mark bad sectors on selected logical drives:

1. Select HDX.PRG. Then select the Markbad option from the Disk menu.

2. Select a logical drive from the Select the Logical Drive dialog box.

Select OK to continue.

3. While Markbad scans the logical drive for bad sectors, a message
appears telling you that the program is marking bad sectors. If bad
sectors are found in a file, select a course of action for the
file from the Logical Drive Markbad dialog box. This box displays the
name of the file, the address location of the bad sector and cluster
in the logical drive, and your choices for a course of action.

Note: The Logical Drive Markbad dialog appears only when Markbad
flags bad sectors in allocated clusters. An allocated cluster is a
cluster that has been assigned to a file.


Select Delete File to erase the file or Skip Over Bad Sector to
preserve the undamaged portions of the file. Select Ignore Bad
Sector to leave the file unchanged. (Select Ignore Bad Sector if you
want to examine the file before taking action.)

If bad sectors are found in a subdirectory file, select a course of
action for the subdirectory from the Logical Drive Markbad box. This
box displays the name of the subdirectory, its address location, and
your choices for a course of action.

Select Delete Directory Only to delete the directory structure and
save the deleted directory files to the root directory. All files
saved to the root directory will be named "TMPnnnn"  where "nnnn"
stands for the starting hexadecimal cluster address of the file.

Select Delete Directory And Files to delete the directory structure
and all of its files. Select Ignore Bad Sector if you don't want to
take any action at all.

Note: If a bad sector is found in a lost cluster, an alert box
appears giving you the option of marking the cluster. A lost cluster
is a segment of data that is unaccounted for and inaccessible to the
system.

5. When Markbad finishes scanning the disk, a Logical Drive Markbad
tally box with the total count of newly found bad sectors and the
count of all previously found bad sectors appears.

ORGANIZING AND MAINTAINING YOUR HARD DISK

The larger storage capacity of a hard disk means that careful folder
and file organization is more important than ever. When planning and
using your folder structure, keep the following tips in mind.

∙ Use folder names that describe the types of files in the folders.
Keep files organized in folders so you can easily find them.
∙ Keep as few files as possible in the root directory.
∙ Keep the files you use most often in the first level of directories.
∙ Delete unneeded files to free up disk space for new files.

Backing Up the Hard Disk

It is important to frequently back up your hard disk data. Otherwise,
accidentally deleted or damaged files will be lost forever. As a
general rule, it is good practice to back up new or modified files
after each session at your computer.

To back up your data, regularly copy important files or folders onto
floppy disks and store them in a safe place. In addition to the copy
option, you can use one of the many hard disk backup programs
available through your Atari dealer or Atari user groups (see
Customer Support).

Optimizer Programs

An optimizer program checks the structure of your hard disk and
rearranges files and free space on the disk. The multiple sectors of
each file are grouped together. Contiguous free space is placed
either at the top of the disk (to increase the speed of writing new
files to the disk) or at the bottom of the disk (to increase the
speed of accessing existing files). Back up your data, then use a file
optimizer program regularly to increase the speed and efficiency of
your hard disk drive and to reduce the possibility of data corruption
and loss.

Use one of the many hard disk optimizer programs available through
your Atari dealer or Atari user groups (see Customer Support).


EXTENDED PARTITION SCHEMES

Creating an extended partition scheme is an option for advanced
users. You will probably never need to use this option in the normal
operation of your computer.

There are four slots on your hard disk that keep track of partition
information. You can fill each slot with a standard partition, and
have each partition represented on your desktop by a logical drive.
Or you can fill one of the four slots with an extended partition to
obtain more than four logical drives.

An extended partition is subdivided into more than one partition.
This allows you to have more than one logical drive representing that
slot.

Note: To store system startup data the first partition must be a
standard partition. This partition is always assigned to the first
slot. You cannot select the first slot to contain the extended parti
tion. You must use one of the three remaining slots to contain your
extended partition.

Supporting TOS as your primary operating system, HDX.PRG will
automatically choose slot number two to contain your extended
partition.  However, if you plan to use more than one operating
system, it may be useful to choose the specifics of the partition
assignments. Some operating systems will not recognize an extended
partition scheme. The partitions you use with these operating systems
must be standard partitions.

The Expert option of the Edit Partition Scheme dialog box allows you
to choose which slot will contain the extended partition, and which
of four slots will contain standard partitions.

The Select the extended partition scheme dialog box displays the
current extended partition scheme. The Partition section on the left
side of the dialog box shows the partition number, size, and range of
each partition. The Extended Partition Range dialog box on the right
side of the dialog box allows you to choose which slot will contain
the extended partition scheme.

The Extended Partition Range dialog box displays each slot's range of
partitions.

In the example below, all four slots contain partition information.
The first slot contains partition one. The second slot contains the
extended partition, which is subdivided as partitions two through
eight. The partitions included in the extended partition are always
highlighted. The third slot includes partition nine, and the fourth
slot contains partition ten. Slots one, three and four contain
standard partitions.

OTHER ADVANCED HARD DISK UTILITIES DISK FILES

∙ HDX.RSC is a GEM resource file used by HDX.PRG
∙ WINCAP is a text file that includes information used by HDX.PRG.
∙ HINSTALL.RSC is a GEM resource file used by HINSTALL.PRG.
∙ SHDRIVER.RAW is used with HINSTALL.PRG to create SHDRIVER.SYS, the
hard disk driver file that directs your system to start from a hard
disk.