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1990-04-23
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FormatMaster
Version 2.20
A Floppy Disk Formatter
from
New-Ware
tm) ┌─────────┐
┌─────┴───┐ │
MEMBER ───│ │ │────────────────
│ ┌──────┴──┐ │ Association of
│ │ ├──┘ Shareware
└──┤ ■ │ Professionals
──────│ ║ │───────────────────
└────╨────┘
Copyright 1989
All Rights Reserved
Contents
1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1 ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS (ASP) . 2
1.2 WHAT IS FORMATMASTER? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 FORMATMASTER LICENSE TERMS . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 WARRANTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 DISTRIBUTION FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.6 PRODUCT SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.7 CREDITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.8 VERSION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.9 REGISTERING FORMATMASTER . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.10 REGISTRATION BY BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.11 WHY REGISTER FORMATMASTER? . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 GETTING UP AND RUNNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1 PROGRAM INTIALIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 FORMATMASTER DRIVE TABLE SETTINGS . . . . . . . 6
2.3 INITIALIZING THE BOOT SECTOR . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 FORMATTING SYSTEM DISKS . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 FORMATMASTER OPERATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1 INITIALIZE BOOT SECTOR . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.2 SET DRIVE TABLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.3 ENTER DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.4 TRANSFER SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 ADD VOLUME LABEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6 CYCLE FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.7 DOUBLE CYCLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.8 RAPID FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.9 VERIFY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.10 ONLY VERIFY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.11 WARNING MESSAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.12 800K FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.13 REGISTRATION FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.14 QUIT TO DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.15 FORMAT A DISK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.16 @ CONFIGURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.17 THE ESCAPE KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.18 ERROR HANDLING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 TECHNICAL NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5 ABOUT NEW-WARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6 MONITOR PROBLEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7 MOUSE SUPPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Index 17
i
1 INTRODUCTION
This section contains general information pertaining to product
support, registration, license fees, etc.
1.1 ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS (ASP)
This program is produced by a member of the Association of
Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the
shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a
shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the
member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can
help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does
not provide technical support for members' products. Please write
to the ASP Ombudsman at P.O. Box 5786, Bellevue, WA 98006 or send
a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.
1.2 WHAT IS FORMATMASTER?
FormatMaster is a full-featured floppy diskette format
utility. It achieves its utility through a menu driven interface
and provides the means to easily and quickly format 5 1/4" (360KB
or 1.2MB) or 3 1/2" (720KB or 1.4MB) diskettes. In addition, it
will transfer system files to a freshly formatted disk and add a
user provided volume label. Formatting speed is twice that of the
normal DOS format utility.
1.3 FORMATMASTER LICENSE TERMS
FormatMaster, and all supporting/attendant documentation and
utility software, is copyrighted by New-Ware (John J. Newlin), all
rights reserved (1988). It is licensed specifically for
evaluation use by all IBM PC/XT/AT and compatible owners and
operators as Shareware. As Shareware, FormatMaster may be freely
copied by individuals, Computer User Groups, and Bulletin Board
System (BBS) operators for transmission to others for evaluation.
FormatMaster is not free. It is a fully mature software product
distributed via the Shareware method by New-Ware, which is owned
and operated by John J. Newlin. No charge of any amount may be
made by anyone for FormatMaster without the express permission of
New-Ware, with the following exceptions: Bona fide organized
computer user groups and/or clubs may charge a nominal copying and
handling fee for the purpose of distributing Shareware copies of
FormatMaster to their members. BBS operators who operate on a
subscription basis may include copies of FormatMaster on their
boards for downloading by board subscribers.
All others are encouraged to make copies of FormatMaster and
pass them along (without charge) to their friends, associates, or
acquaintances for the purposes of evaluation.
- 2 -
1.4 WARRANTY
FormatMaster is provided AS IS without any warranty, either
expressed or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a
particular purpose.
1.5 DISTRIBUTION FILES
The following program files are included in the Shareware
distribution package:
FMTMAS.EXE
FMTMAS.DOC
FM800K.DOC
FM80.COM
PATHINFO.TXT
QUICK.RUN
WHATS.NEW
VENDOR.DOC
1.6 PRODUCT SUPPORT
I support my software! Unfortunately, I cannot provide the
use of toll free access to telephone support, but I will respond
to phone calls, letters, telegrams, Telexes, BBS messages, or
carrier pigeon drops. The author/proprietor (John Newlin) can be
reached at one of the following three telephone numbers:
(619) 455-6225 [Voice]
(619) 455-5226 [Data]
I can also be reached via SUMMIT (JNEWLIN), IBMNET or EASYPLEX on
CIS (ppn 71535,665), and GENIE (JNEWLIN).
My mailing address is:
New-Ware
6198 Agee St. #71
San Diego, CA 92122
1.7 CREDITS
Computer software products, whether Shareware or Commercial,
just don't happen. It takes skilled, dedicated people to design,
code, and test a program. As skilled as I like to think I am, it
is not possible for me to offer a non-trivial product that does
not contain bugs and design flaws. The only way, then, for a
New-Ware program to mature into a polished, useful product is
through the invaluable assistance of people who care. Thanks to
Tom Kellen for his unflagging loyalty and stubborn refusal to let
this programmer off the hook when he knew something is amiss and
needed fixing. Thanks to Mike (Dr. FileFinder) Callahan for his
vigorous support of Shareware products and authors. Thanks to
Edward Mendelson for his good ideas. Thanks to Kurt Diesch,
fellow ASP member, for saving me some valuable time by providing
- 3 -
some needed information. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to
Sammy Mitchell for QEdit.
1.8 VERSION HISTORY
1.00 - Initial release.
1.01 - Fixed bug caused by not properly storing boot
sector data with FMTMAS.EXE.
1.02 - Fixed bug that prevented system transfer from
one floppy disk to another. 1.03 - Fixed bug in
formatting 720K floppy disks in a 1.44M drive.
1.04 - Fixed bug affecting formats with external floppy
drives. 2.00 - Fixed problems with formatting
3 1/2" 1.4M drives.
2.11 - Added 800K formatting. Solved Zenith 386
incompatibility problem. Added command line
drive parameter. Added diskette verification.
2.11 - Fixed bug which prevented DOS path search for
FMTMAS.EXE. Added 400K formatting for single
capacity (360K) 5 1/4" drives. Added capability
to read boot sector from either drive A or drive
B.
2.12 - Added 800K formatting to 3 1/2" 720K diskettes.
Added Quick Format option when the target disk
has data. Added auto-detection of drive type at
runtime. 2.13 - Fixed mouse driver bug.
Fixed 800K format bug (some machines only).
Fixed bug that prevented saving drive table to
disk.
2.14 - Changed logic and code to achieve wider disk
BIOS compatibility. Return to Main Menu after
saving drive table data added. Added ability to
terminate verification by pressing any key.
Added BIOS compatibility message display during
format/verify.
2.15 - Added the DOS environment variable FMSEC=9 for
those systems that will not recognize the 10th
sector with 800K formatting. 2.16 - Added extra
workaround solution for 800K formatting
problems. See the file FM800K.DOC 2.17 - Added
the capability to turn off "snow" checking for
color monitors that don't need it. Fixed bug
that affected single capacity drive B in AT
machines with a dual capacity drive as drive A.
2.16 - Increased range of machine BIOS compatibility.
2.17 - Increased range of machine BIOS compatibility.
2.18 - Fixed minor bug in verification routine.
Reformatted the documentation file.
2.20 - Speeded up verification process.
- Fixed bug in verification of 1.44m disks that could
cause improper initialization of the FAT.
- Added capability of running FMTMAS.EXE from a drive
other than the system boot drive and still transfer
the system to a floppy disk.
- Fixed bug that could cause "Change Line Active" error
to be displayed when using the Quick Format feature on
some systems.
2.21 - Fixed bug that caused improper initialization of the
boot sector.
1.9 REGISTERING FORMATMASTER
FormatMaster is a Shareware product. It is NOT public domain
software. New-Ware urges those who find FormatMaster to be of
sufficient utility so as to use it on a regular basis to remit a
registration fee of $20.00. Registered users will receive a copy
of FormatMaster on disk that has the opening Shareware information
- 4 -
screen removed. In addition, registered users will have access
the Shareware Products BBS for retrieval of all future registered
versions of FormatMaster. Selecting the Registration item from
the program main menu will result in a pop-up window that will
prompt you for all the necessary information and then print the
form for mailing.
Registering FormatMaster is easy and may be accomplished in
one of following ways:
(1) Mail a check or money order in the amount of $20.00
payable to New-Ware. California residents PLEASE!!
add 7% sales tax ($21.40 total).
(2) Mail your Visa or Mastercard number, card expiration
date, phone number, and signature to New-Ware. Be
sure that the name you send is the exact name that
appears on your credit card.
(3) Call (619) 455-6225 and leave your Visa or
MasterCard number, expiration date, name and
address, and phone number.
(4) Call the Shareware Products BBS and register on
line. The number is (619) 455-5226, N/8/1,
1200/2400 baud. Your credit card can usually be
validated within one day and this is the quickest
way to get a copy of the registered version.
FormatMaster will be shipped first class mail with two days
of receipt of a registration. If you are using Visa or Mastercard
for payment, please ensure that you include the EXACT NAME as it
appears on the card, the full card number (i.e., 1234 5678 0000
1234), the card expiration date, and your phone number. Visa or
Mastercard only, please. No other credit cards can be accepted.
If you call the voice number to register, you may get an
answering machine. Have your card or the form printed by
FormatMaster ready so you can leave your registration information
quickly and accurately.
1.10 REGISTRATION BY BBS
New-Ware operates a Shareware Products BBS. This BBS
contains exclusively Shareware products and is restricted to
downloads only. You may register FormatMaster by calling the BBS
at (619) 455-5226 or (704) 5329274 after 08/15/88. When you are
connected, select the Registration questionnaire from the main
menu. Be sure to have your credit card ready. You will be
prompted for all the pertinent information. As soon as your card
number is validated (usually in 1 day), FormatMaster will be
shipped to you and you will receive a security level that will
permit you to download the registered version. Not only will this
hasten your receipt of FormatMaster, but it gives you access to
future upgrades. The BBS operates 24 hours per day, seven days per
week.
- 5 -
1.11 WHY REGISTER FORMATMASTER?
Shareware is a unique concept. It benefits the user by
providing high quality, low cost software that can be thoroughly
evaluated before purchase. If you like the product and you decide
to use it, then you should register. Shareware is not like public
domain software--it is protected by federal copyright laws and it
is not free. More importantly, the only way to encourage
Shareware authors to continue to provide Shareware products is by
paying them for the products that you use.
Users who register FormatMaster will receive a copy of the
registered version of the program and will have access to future
registered versions through New-Ware's Shareware Products BBS.
2 GETTING UP AND RUNNING
Operation of FormatMaster is relatively simple and
straightforward. Almost all operations are accomplished through
selection of a menu item, either via the cursor bar and hitting RETURN
or by pressing the key of the first letter of a menu item. There are,
however, some initialization steps that must be taken before attempting
to format any disks.
2.1 PROGRAM INTIALIZATION
Here are the four things you MUST do to get the program to a
fully functional state:
(1) Make sure that the executable file FMTMAS.EXE is
in the active directory when you run it.
(2) Select "Set Drive Table" from the main menu and
set up each of your floppy diskette drives with
the proper parameters. Save the changes to disk.
(3) Place a formatted diskette in drive A. This
should be a system disk if you wish to format
system disks. Then select "Initialize Boot
Sector". This keeps me out of trouble with
Microsoft/IBM and allows you to customize
the program for the DOS you are using.
(4) Make sure that the DOS utility SYS.COM is in a
directory that is listed in your path string if
you intend to transfer system files to a newly
formatted diskette. See the file PATHINFO.TXT for
more information on the DOS PATH command.
2.2 FORMATMASTER DRIVE TABLE SETTINGS
FormatMaster needs to know how the floppy disk drives in your
system are configured. Specifically, it is important to know the
size (3 1/2" or 5 1/4") of each drive and whether or not that
- 6 -
drive is high capacity. Because there are so many configuration
variants among PCs and ATs (and clones), it may not necessarily be
true that floppy drives are sequentially designated from A to D.
In fact, there are some systems with add on 3 1/2" drives (and
attendant drivers), that are addressed as a letter that is higher
than the hard drive letters in the system. For this reason, you
need to use FormatMaster's drive table setup feature to assure
proper performance. MAKE SURE YOU DO THIS PROPERLY, OR THE
PROGRAM WILL NOT FUNCTION AS DESIGNED.
At runtime FormatMaster will automatically set the drive
table according to information derived from the ROM BIOS. In most
cases this information will accurately reflect the status of the
drives in your system and it will be unnecessary to alter the
drive table. There may be some cases, however, where the table is
not properly by FormatMaster, particularly in the case of add-on 3
1/2" drives that use a DOS logical drive designator (i.e.,
B:,C:,D:) that is not in the usual sequence. The first time you
run FormatMaster you should check the drive table settings to
determine if they match the way your system is configured. If so,
you need do nothing more (although it is okay to save the drive
table, if you wish). Otherwise, use the menu to set the table
properly and be sure to save the table before attempting to format
any disks.
Most floppy disk controllers can address up to four drives
and access the available drives through numeric codes that can
range from 0 to 3. For example, just about every PC type machine
in the world will have a DOS drive A that is accessed by the BIOS
as drive 0. Normally, DOS drive B will be accessed as drive 1,
and so on. It should be clear by now that there are two ways of
addressing system drives. You communicate with DOS about system
drives using "logical" drive designators, which are alphabetic
letters ranging from "A" to "Z". DOS in turn calls the machine
ROM BIOS to perform low level disk operations (read, write,
format, etc.) and uses "physical" drive designators that are
numbers. FormatMaster uses a user-defined drive table that keeps
track of four important items - the DOS logical drive designator,
the BIOS physical drive number, the size of the drive, and whether
the drive is a normal or high capacity drive. A high capacity
drive is one that supports both normal and high density diskettes.
For example, the AT comes with a high capacity 5 1/4" drive as DOS
drive A. It will format either normal (360KB) or high-density
(1.2MB) floppies. Some systems now have high capacity 3 1/2"
drives which format either 720KB or 1.4MB diskettes.
Configuring FormatMaster's drive table is relatively simple.
You select one of the four drives from the menu and then answer
the following prompts. You will be prompted for the DOS logical
drive letter, the size of disk the drive supports, and whether or
not the drive is high capacity. Once you have made the settings
appropriate for your system, you can save them permanently to
disk. Just make sure that FMTMAS.EXE is in the active directory.
If in doubt about which logical drive matches which physical
drive, you can experiment. Don't worry, FormatMaster will not
attempt to format a hard disk. It only calls the floppy disk BIOS
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and **never** uses the hard disk format designator codes (80h and
81h).
2.3 INITIALIZING THE BOOT SECTOR
When a disk is formatted, the formatting program must write a
boot sector to the disk. In order to maximize compatibility with
all systems, FormatMaster will read the boot sector from a
formatted disk and store it in the program file. Simply place a
formatted diskette in drive A and select "Initialize Boot Sector"
from the main menu. Again, be sure that FormatMaster is in the
active directory. FormatMaster will copy the boot sector from the
floppy in drive A and copy it into a segment of the program file
(FMTMAS.EXE). You only need do this once for a given system. If
you desire to format system diskettes, be sure to use a copy of
your DOS system disk when performing this operation.
A message warning you that the boot sector has not been
stored will be displayed on the screen until you initialize.
2.4 FORMATTING SYSTEM DISKS
System diskettes differ from data diskettes in that they
contain a slightly different boot sector and they must contain the
two DOS system files as well as a compatible copy of COMMAND.COM.
FormatMaster will transfer system files to a freshly formatted
disk, but you must insure that it can access the DOS utility
SYS.COM. You do this by insuring that the file SYS.COM is in a
directory whose name appears in your DOS path statement. For
example, if your DOS files are in a directory named C:\DOS, then
the directory path name C:\DOS **must** appear in your path
command. Please read the file PATHINFO.TXT for a more detailed
explanation of the DOS PATH command feature. FormatMaster invokes
SYS.COM to transfer system files to the newly formatted disk.
3 FORMATMASTER OPERATION
FormatMaster is menu driven and therefore quite easy to use. The
main menu contains the following selections:
Format a Disk
Initialize Boot Sector
Set Drive Table
Enter DOS
Transfer System = OFF
Add Volume Label = OFF
Cycle Format = OFF
Double Cycle = OFF
Rapid Format = OFF
800K Format = OFF
Verify = ON
Only Verify = ON
Warning Message = ON
Registration Form
- 8 -
Quit to DOS
@ Configure FMTMAS.EXE
Menu items are selected either by moving the cursor bar to the
desired item and pressing return (MOUSE LEFT BUTTON) or by pressing the
key corresponding the the highlighted character. Two of the items above
are toggles, e.g., they are either on or off and each time you select
one, it is toggled to the opposite setting. If "Transfer System = ON"
is set, then FormatMaster will invoke SYS.COM to transfer system files
to the freshly formatted disk. Make sure that COMMAND.COM is not a
hidden file. If "Add Volume Label = ON", then you will be prompted to
enter a disk label when the formatting is complete.
All menu items are augmented by a help line that is written
between the top two double lines of the screen.
3.1 INITIALIZE BOOT SECTOR
"Initialize Boot Sector" will read the boot sector of a
diskette in drive A and write it to an area in FMTMAS.EXE. This is
the FIRST THING that you should do when operating FormatMaster.
Place a disk formatted by your DOS (preferably, but not
necessarily a system disk) in drive A or B and select this item
from the menu. Once this is accomplished, it need not be done
again unless you change DOS versions.
3.2 SET DRIVE TABLE
"Set Drive Table" will bring up a menu that allows setting
the operating parameters contained in the drive table for each of
up to four drives. An additional menu item, "Save To Disk ", is
available to permanently save the parameters to the program file.
Selecting an item from this menu will result in a series of
prompts that ask for logical DOS drive letter, disk drive size,
and drive capacity. If desired to load FMTMAS.EXE from a
directory other than the one in which it resides, it will be
necessary to place the following command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file
so that FormatMaster can locate itself before writing the
parameters to the disk file:
set FMLOC=C:\XXXX\...
3.3 ENTER DOS
"Enter DOS" provides the means to "shell out" to the DOS
level to perform whatever operations desired. Entering the
command "EXIT" from the DOS level will return you to the
FormatMaster main menu.
3.4 TRANSFER SYSTEM
The "Transfer System" toggle will determine whether or not
FormatMaster transfers the DOS system files to the newly formatted
disk. You must be operating FormatMaster from a boot disk that
contains the two system files, i.e., IBMIO.SYS and IBMDOS.SYS,
COMMAND.COM, and SYS.COM. SYS.COM must be in a directory whose
- 9 -
path name is part of your PATH= string. If the system files are
not transferred when this toggle is on, double check the location
of SYS.COM and that its host directory does indeed appear in your
PATH= string.
3.5 ADD VOLUME LABEL
"Add Volume Label" determines whether you will be prompted
for a disk label at the end of the format. If it is ON, entry of
a valid disk label will result in that label being written to the
formatted disk.
3.6 CYCLE FORMAT
The "Cycle Format = OFF" option allows you to set
FormatMaster to perform repetitive formatting on any ONE of your
system floppy drives with just a pause to change disks at the end
of each cycle. If the "Add Volume Label" toggle is ON,
FormatMaster will prompt you for the disk label at the end of
formatting the first disk and will automatically add that label to
all disks formatted thereafter. The system will be transferred to
each disk if the "Transfer System" toggle is ON.
3.7 DOUBLE CYCLE
"Double Cycle = OFF", when toggled to on, provides a means to
rapidly format disks in TWO of your system floppy drives. Instead
of the normal Format Drive submenu, you will be prompted to enter
two items for each drive. The first is the DOS drive letter
designator. Make sure that this is a drive letter that you have
set up in the "Set Drive Table" option. If your drive table
setting indicates that the selected drive is a high capacity
drive, you will be asked if you are going to be formatting high
capacity diskettes in the drive. In this manner, any two drives
in your system may be used for the cyclic formatting. After
entering the pertinent information, a beep will sound and you will
be instructed to ready the selected drives for formatting. As
soon as you press any key, the formatting of the two drives will
start. You may terminate the formatting cycle by pressing the ESC
key at any time. The formatting operation will continue to
completion on whichever drive is active at the time the key is
pressed and a message will appear that informs you that the
formatting will be terminated following the formatting of the
current drive.
3.8 RAPID FORMAT
"Rapid Format" provides a way to very quickly reformat disks
that are already formatted. If you have a batch of formatted
disks that you desire to re-initialize, use this option. Instead
of formatting the disk track by track, as is necessary in the case
of a fresh, unformatted diskette, FormatMaster will skip the track
formatting and re-initialize the boot, FAT, and directory sectors.
The disk will then be just as if you did a full track by track
format. If you use this feature in conjunction with "Double Cycle
= ON", things tend to go rather rapidly, so there is an
- 10 -
approximate 8 second delay to allow time for swapping disks. The
"Verify" option may be used in conjunction with this feature.
3.9 VERIFY
"Verify = ON" switches the verification feature on and off.
If set to "ON", disk verification will be performed using the BIOS
CRC verification routine. Every sector on the disk is checked and
all bad sectors are marked. At the end of the verification, if
were any bad sectors found FormatMaster will update the File
Allocation Table (FAT) to lock out those sectors. Note that
turning verification to ON will slow down the total formatting
process, but FormatMaster is still faster than DOS. For example,
on a 10mhz XT clone DOS required 2 minutes and 10 seconds to
format a 720K disk that had no bad sectors. FormatMaster required
1 minute and 57 seconds. On the same machine, DOS took 1 minute
and 28 seconds to format a damaged disk that had 100 bad sectors
to mark. FormatMaster formatted, verified, and marked the same
disk in 1 minute and 1 second. In some cases, FormatMaster may be
more stringent than DOS and mark more sectors unusable. That will
result in less total disk space available on a damaged disk, but
is preferable to the opposite approach.
3.10 ONLY VERIFY
"Only Verify = ON" turns on diskette verification but will
not format the target disk. This feature is to be used ONLY with
formatted disks and is useful in verifying the integrity of a data
diskette. THE DISKETTE FAT WILL NOT BE UPDATED following the
verification check. If FormatMaster discovers bad sectors on the
disk it is strongly advised to attempt to copy all the data from
the diskette to a freshly formatted and verified diskette and then
reformat and re-verify the diskette.
3.11 WARNING MESSAGE
"Warning Message = ON" is a toggle that controls whether or
not you will be warned if the disk you are about to format
possible contains data. Set this to off if you desire to skip
this warning.
3.12 800K FORMAT
NOTE: THE 800K OPTION DOES NOT WORK ON ALL SYSTEMS. IF
YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH 800K FORMATTING, USE THE
DOS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE FMSEC=9 TO EFFECT 720K
FORMATTING INSTEAD.
"800K Format" is a toggle that when set to ON, permits the
formatting of a normal capacity (360K) diskette to 800K in a high
capacity (1.2M) drive. This will only work on the AT style dual
capacity 1.2M drives. FormatMaster accomplishes this by
formatting a standard 360K 5 1/4" diskette with 80 tracks, 10
sectors to a track. This is possible due to the single step
capability built into the dual capacity drive and the fact that
DOS has no problem dealing with 10 sector tracks. 800K formatting
- 11 -
is only available in physical drives 0 and 1 (usually A and B) and
may not work on older 1.2M drives that use speed variation. It is
possible that this feature may not work on some machines.
Standard capacity (360K) 5 1/4" drive users may use the 800K
option to format a 360K drive to 400K. With "800K Format" set to
ON, FormatMaster will format a 360K disk to 400K by formatting
with 10 sectors per track, 40 tracks. Standard capacity (720K) 3
1/2" drive users may use the 800K option to format a 720K disk to
800K by formatting with 10 sectors per track, 80 tracks.
NOTE: THE 800K OPTION MAY NOT OPERATE PROPERLY ON
CERTAIN MACHINES AND/OR WITH CERTAIN VERSIONS OF
DOS. SEE THE FILE FM800K.DOC FOR DETAILS ON A
WORKAROUND SOLUTION AND HOW TO USE FM80.COM.
If the 800K option does not work properly on your system, use
the DOS SET command to place the DOS environment variable FMSEC=9
in the environment. This is accomplished by placing the statement
SET FMSEC=9 in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file and rebooting your system.
If FormatMaster finds FMSEC=9 in the DOS environment at runtime,
the Main Menu will reflect this by showing "700K Format" instead
of "800K Format". In this case, FormatMaster will format the 360K
disk with 80 tracks and 9 sectors (instead of 10 sectors), which
your system should have no problem with.
NOTE: IF USING THE DOUBLE DRIVE CYCLE FEATURE IN
CONJUNCTION WITH 800K/720K FORMATTING, BOTH
DRIVES MUST BE 5 1/4" DUAL CAPACITY. IF USING
THE 400K OPTION WITH DOUBLE CYCLE FORMATTING,
BOTH DRIVES MUST BE 5 1/4" DRIVES.
If you have the "Transfer System" and/or "Add Volume Label"
toggles on, FormatMaster will act accordingly for each drive being
formatted. If the "Add Volume Label" toggle is on, you will be
prompted to enter the label at the end of formatting the first
drive. From then on, the label you enter will be added to each
disk formatted. There is NO PAUSE between drives, so be sure to
swap a fresh unformatted disk for a formatted one in the drive
that is idle while the other is formatting. This method assures
the fastest possible disk formatting on a normal PC/AT system. A
beep will sound as the formatting is completed on one drive and
FormatMaster switches to the other. Pressing the ESC key during a
dual drive format operation will stop the formatting as soon as
the drive that is currently being formatted is complete.
3.13 REGISTRATION FORM
"Registration Form" brings up a window that will prompt you
for the entry of registration information and then will create a
registration form on your printer that can be mailed to New-Ware.
3.14 QUIT TO DOS
"Quit To DOS" terminates FormatMaster and returns you to the
DOS level. Alt-X will also terminate the program.
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3.15 FORMAT A DISK
"Format a Disk" is the main routine of the program. This
selection brings up a menu containing the system drives as you
defined them using "Set Drive Table". Selection of a drive for
format will bring up the formatting window. You will be prompted
to insert a disk in the designated drive and to press return when
ready to format. Note that information pertaining to the current
status of the various toggles appears on the help line at the top
of the screen.
The main menu may be skipped by executing FormatMaster with
the drive letter and a colon on the command line as follows:
FMTMAS a:
In this case, the main format routine window will appear and
FormatMaster will be ready to format the drive whose letter was
placed on the command line. It is suggested that some users might
desire to configure different copies of FMTMAS.EXE in different
ways and then load the desired copy with the drive letter on the
command line to speed up operation and to minimize keystrokes.
If the disk you have placed in the designated drive is
already formatted, it may contain valuable data and FormatMaster
will warn you of this condition and give you four options in a
pop-up menu. Use Abort to discontinue the formatting operation.
The View option will display an abbreviated directory listing of
the target drive so that you may decide if you really want to
format the disk or not. The Continue option will proceed with
formatting. Since the target disk is already formatted, you may
desire to save some time by doing a Quick Format. The Quick
Format option simply re-initializes the FAT and ROOT DIRECTORY
areas of the diskette instead of doing a complete track-by-track
format. Verification will proceed normally, if that switch is ON.
If you proceed, FormatMaster will check the capacity entry in
the drive table and if the drive is a high capacity drive, you
will be asked whether you desire to format a high capacity
diskette. After this query, FormatMaster will format the disk,
updating a track counter as it formats each track. When the
formatting is complete, if the "Transfer System" toggle is ON, the
system files will be transferred and if the "Add Volume Label"
toggle is on, a window will pop up prompting you to enter the
desired label. You will then get an opportunity to format another
disk in the same drive, return to the Main Menu, or terminate
FormatMaster and return to DOS. If the "Cycle Format" toggle is
on, a beep will sound and you will have the option to insert a
fresh disk in the operable drive and continue or to stop the
formatting. A disk counter is incremented and displayed during
cyclic formatting to help you keep track of the number of disks
formatted.
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3.16 @ CONFIGURE
To permanently configure FormatMaster, use the "@ Configure
FMTMAS.EXE" option. All the current toggle settings will be saved
to disk so that each time you execute the program, it will start
up with the toggles as set when you invoked this option. In
addition, if you have started FormatMaster with an M (or m) on the
command line, the monochrome (composite) monitor color settings
will also be saved so that it will not be necessary to use the M
on the command line. A prompt will appear that permits turning
"snow" checking off for those color monitors that don't need it.
3.17 THE ESCAPE KEY
The ESC key can be used to exit from just about any menu or
operation. It will also abort formatting with an error message.
3.18 ERROR HANDLING
I have tried to make FormatMaster as bullet proof as possible
and have provided for an Error Box to pop up in the event a
critical error is encountered. The operation currently in
progress will usually be terminated if an error occurs.
4 TECHNICAL NOTES
FormatMaster is written in Turbo Pascal 5.0 and makes generous use
of TurboPower Software's excellent Turbo Pro 5.0 package. All
formatting is done through INT 13h ROM BIOS calls based upon parameters
in the drive table as provided by the user. It is twice as fast as the
DOS format program because it does not invoke the BIOS VERIFY routine
during format. The BIOS VERIFY does not perform a read/write type of
verification and therefore is not needed if one is using decent quality
diskettes. You may, however, turn on FormatMaster's own verify option,
which performs the same CRC verification that DOS uses.
The program was developed on an AST Premium/286 equipped with one
dual capacity 5 1/4" disk drive and an EGA monitor running MSDOS 3.2.
It is now maintained on an AST Premium/386C equipped with a dual
capacity 5 1/4" (1.2M) drive and a dual capacity 3 1/2" (1.44M) drive.
The program was tested on a Leading Edge model "M" (XT clone) equipped
with one normal capacity 5 1/4" disk drive and a CGA monitor running PC
DOS 3.1, an ACER 710 (XT clone) equipped with a single density 5 1/4" ,
a normal capacity 3 1/2", and a monochrome monitor running MSDOS 3.2
(also tested running under DOS 2.11), and the AST Premium 286. Beta
testing has also been conducted on a Zenith 386 machine equipped with a
5 1/4" 1.2M drive and a 3 1/2" 1.44M drive and a Compaq 386 with 5 1/4"
and 3 1/2" dual capacity drives.
- 14 -
5 ABOUT NEW-WARE
New-Ware is the registered business name of an entity owned and
operated by John J. Newlin. I am a systems engineer, I hold degrees in
Mathematics and Computer Science, and I am a member of the Association
of Shareware Professionals (ASP). My other Shareware products SCOUT,
CopyMaster, and ArcMaster.
SCOUT is a memory resident file/directory/disk management system
that offers a powerful set of commands for manipulating PC system
resources.
CopyMaster is a full-featured file/disk copy utility that
facilitates fast, accurate file/disk copying.
ArcMaster is a semi-automated ARChive file manager that provides
an intuitive, menu driven user interface for PKARC/PKXARC, ARCA/ARC-E,
and Vern Buerg's LIST.
PLEASE SUPPORT SHAREWARE AUTHORS!! Register the programs you use
regularly with their authors.
6 MONITOR PROBLEMS
Many laptop portables and those machines with a "composite"
monitor can trick programs like FormatMaster into thinking that there
is a fully functional Color Graphics Adaptor (CGA) on board. If you
load the program and the cursor bar is not visible or the display looks
strange, quit the program using Alt-X and reload it with an "M" (either
case) on the command line. Example:
FMTMAS m
This will force FormatMaster to use a set of monochrome attributes
that should work fine on LapTops and composite monitors. Using the main
menu Config command will save the current color configuration so that
using the "m" on the command line will no longer be necessary the next
time FormatMaster is loaded.
FormatMaster is now configured to detect the presence of the
Hercules InColorCard and to set it to a mode that will recognize the
CGA/EGA style color text attributes that FormatMaster uses in a color
system.
7 MOUSE SUPPORT
FormatMaster supports all the popular Mouse systems. The left
button is used to enter a carriage return and the right button serves
as an ESC key.
NOTE: This documentation and all accompanying explanatory
- 15 -
information/files is Copyright 1988 by New-Ware. All
rights reserved.
Documentation prepared on Borland International's Sprint.
May 3, 1989
Copyright 1989, all rights reserved.
New-Ware
San Diego, CA
- 16 -
Index
700K Format 12 H
800K Format 11 help line 9
Hercules 15
A high capacity drive 7
Abort 13
ACER 14 I
Add Volume Label 10 IBMDOS.SYS 9
ArcMaster 15 IBMIO.SYS 9
ASP 2
AST 14 L
AUTOEXEC.BAT 9 laptop portables 15
B M
bad sectors 11 main menu 13
boot sector 8, 9 monochrome 15
Borland 16 Mouse 15
MSDOS 14
C
CGA 15 N
COMMAND.COM 8, 9 New-Ware 15
command line 13
Compaq 14 O
configure FormatMaster 14 Ombudsman 2
Continue option 13 Only Verify 11
CopyMaster 15
Cycle Format 10 P
PATHINFO.TXT 8
D program files 3
data diskettes 8
disk counter 13 Q
DOS PATH command 8 Quit To DOS 12
DOS SET command 12
DOS system files 9 R
Double Cycle 10 Rapid Format 10
drive designator 7 Registration 5
drive letter 7 Registration Form 12
drive table 7, 9
S
E SCOUT 15
Enter DOS 9 Shareware Products BBS 5
Error Box 14 Sprint 16
ESC key 14 support 3
SYS.COM 8, 9
F system diskettes 8
File Allocation Table 11
FMSEC=9 12 T
Format a Disk 13 Transfer System 9
- 17 -
Turbo Pascal 14 W
TurboPower Software 14 Warning Message 11
warranty 3
V
Verify 11 Z
Zenith 14
- 18 -