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------------------------------------
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility
User's Guide To Operation
Version 1.0A
------------------------------------
July 24, 1986
Copyright (c) 1986 by R. P. Gage, all rights reserved.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 1
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Page
Purpose of Disk Tool ................................... 3
System Requirements .................................... 4
Conventions Used ....................................... 5
Functions .............................................. 6
ALTER Modify the attributes of files ..... 8
CHANGE Change the current working drive ... 10
DISK View and/or edit the current drive . 11
ERASE Erase files on the current drive ... 14
FILE View and/or edit a file on the drive 15
LOCATE Look for matching files on the drive 16
RENAME Rename files on the current drive .. 17
QUIT End Disk Tool and return to DOS .... 18
Appendix A Known limitations ....................... 19
Appendix B Error Messages .......................... 20
Appendix C Program Notes ........................... 23
Appendix D Disclaimer .............................. 24
Appendix E WARNING ! ............................... 25
Appendix F Shareware ............................... 26
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 2
P U R P O S E O F D I S K T O O L
Disk Tool allows you to look at and make changes to what is
stored on your DOS disks. It gives you the ability to work with
individual files or the disk as a whole and lets you perform
operations that DOS usually isn't able to provide. Generally, it
lets you manipulate everything on your disks easily and with very
few restrictions.
The current version of Disk Tool, version 1.0A, provides the
following functions:
-- access any DOS disk available: any size floppy, any
size hard disk (up to 32MB), and any sized RAM disk;
all with any allowable sector size (128, 256, or 512
bytes).
-- edit the disk, on a sector basis, allowing full access
in a sequential or random manner to any available
sector on the disk. The sector number being edited is
displayed at all times.
-- edit any file on the disk, on a sector basis, allowing
full access in a sequential or random manner to any
sector in the file. The relative sector number within
the file is displayed at all times.
-- change all of the file attributes for any file on the
disk. This includes R/O, Hidden, System and Archive
status as well as the file's date and time of creation.
-- find any file on the disk matching an ambiguous or
unambiguous file specification. (ie. *.BAT or WS.COM).
-- rename any file on the disk.
-- erase any file on the disk.
-- all file operations allow full access to ANY file in
ANY subdirectory. The status of a file or subdirectory
is irrelevant.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 3
S Y S T E M R E Q U I R E M E N T S
Disk Tool was written using TURBO Pascal 3.0. To run, it
requires an IBM PC/XT/AT or true compatible computer running
under DOS Version 2.0 or later with at least 128K memory, a
monitor using a Monochrome or Color/Graphics display card, and,
at a minimum, one floppy disk drive.
In addition, Disk Tool can make use of more memory (if it
needs it) and more disk drives (360K or 1.2MB floppy drives, hard
disks, or RAM disks). More memory is usually only required if
you are using Disk Tool with a hard disk that contains a lot of
files and sub-directories.
Currently, Disk Tool has successfully run under the TopView
and WINDOWS operating environments. In both cases, Disk Tool
runs in a separate window allowing simultaneous use with other
programs.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 4
C O N V E N T I O N S U S E D
The conventions used in this document refer mainly to the
description of function keys. Each function key, wherever
possible, is described by the word or lettering that appears on
the key. Where this is not possible, the key is described by its
function and is surrounded in brackets.
The names I use for these keys and their descriptions are:
Home the Home key (key 7) on the numeric keyboard
End the End key (key 1) on the numeric keyboard
Enter the enter or return key
Esc the escape key (wherever it is located)
F1 function key one
F2 function key two
F3 function key three
F4 function key four
F5 function key five
F6 function key six
F7 function key seven
F8 function key eight
F9 function key nine
F10 function key ten
Ins the Ins (key 0) on the numeric keyboard
PgDn the PgDn key (key 3) on the numeric keyboard
PgUp the PgUp key (key 9) on the numeric keyboard
Tab the tab key
<UP> the up arrow key on the numeric keyboard
<DOWN> the down arrow key on the numeric keyboard
<LEFT> the left arrow key on the numeric keyboard
<RIGHT> the right arrow key on the numeric keyboard
Additionally, the program itself uses brackets around a key
name whenever it tells you to press a key. An example of this
exists in the main menu where, in part, a line states, "... then
pressing <ENTER>." This wording, where used, means to press the
enter key and not the letters, <, E, N, T, E, R, and >. The Esc
key and Ins key are also referred to in the program in this way
(ie., as <ESC> and <INS>).
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 5
F U N C T I O N S
Disk Tool is started by typing "DT" from the DOS prompt.
Doing so loads and runs Disk Tool without problem, but the com-
plete invocation for Disk Tool from the DOS prompt is:
DT [ /DC] [ /DM] [ /DS] [ /DF] [d:]
Each of the options, briefly described below, exist to force
Disk Tool to ignore what it has found out about your computer and
accept what you really want. All of the functions must have a
space in front of the "/", but the case and order of the options
is not important.
/DC Display Color. Makes Disk Tool display in a
variety of colors, even if it has found a
monochrome adapter installed.
/DM Display Monochrome. Causes Disk Tool to
display in two "colors".
/DS Display Slow. Forces Disk Tool to use DOS
to display on the screen. If Disk Tool is
used in a windowing operating environment,
this option may be necessary for Disk Tool to
run in a window alongside other programs.
/DF Display Fast. Forces Disk Tool to use direct
memory writes to display on the screen. This
is a lot faster than using DOS.
d: Sets the current working drive to d:. If d:
is not a valid drive letter, Disk Tool sets
the currently logged drive to the current
working drive.
Once started, the main menu is shown. The information in
the main menu includes the name of the program (Disk Tool) and
version number (1.0A), my copyright, MSDOS version number, amount
of memory available to DOS, number of drives, logical drive
letters, current working drive, my name and address, and finally
the functions available. If any of this information is missing
or seems altered, please inform me of that fact and immediately
stop using that copy of of Disk Tool.
Currently, there are eight functions available from the main
menu. They are:
ALTER .... Modify the attributes of files.
CHANGE ... Change the current working drive.
DISK ..... View and/or edit the current drive.
ERASE .... Erase files on the current drive.
FILE ..... View and/or edit a file on the drive.
LOCATE ... Look for matching files on the drive
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 6
RENAME ... Rename files on the current drive.
QUIT ..... End Disk Tool and return to DOS.
These functions are selected by moving the highlighted bar
with <UP> and <DOWN> and pressing Enter when the bar highlights
the function you want to execute. An alternative, easier method
of selecting a function is to type the first letter of the
function name (A, C, D, E, F, L, R, or Q) and then press Enter.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 7
ALTER Modify the attributes of files
Pressing Enter when the ALTER function is highlighted gives
you the ability to change the attributes, date, and time for any
file on the current working drive.
Once you have selected ALTER, Disk Tool checks to see if the
current working drive's directory has been read into memory yet.
If it hasn't been read into memory, Disk Tool does so, displaying
the following message in the center of the screen.
Reading Directory Information...
Reading a disk's directory could be very quick or a little
slow depending on how many files and directories are on the disk.
In any case, be patient and after a moment, Disk Tool will be
done.
After the entire directory is in memory, using the <UP>,
<DOWN>, PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End keys to move the highlighted
cursor, select the directory you want to use to get files from.
<UP> and <DOWN> move the highlighted bar to the previous and next
directory, respectively. PgUp and PgDn move the bar up and down
to the previous and next screen of directories. Finally, Home
and End move the bar to the first and last directory.
Press Enter to accept the highlighted directory or press Esc
to abort and go back to the main menu. If you don't have any sub
directories, all of this will be skipped.
Then, in a similar manner, select the initial file to work
with.
When a file has eventually been selected, you have the
chance to change its attributes. To change one of the attributes
(Read Only, Hidden, System, or Archive), move the highlighted bar
with <UP> and <DOWN> and press Enter to toggle the highlighted
attribute on or off. When an attribute is on, it is set or in an
active state.
Changing the time or date is a little different, but not
enough to make it painful. Once the highlighted bar is over the
date or time field, press any key to tell Disk Tool you want to
change the contents of that field.
Upon pressing any key, you should notice the presence of a
cursor within the highlighted bar. You can now type in the new
date or time (only valid numbers are accepted), and move the
cursor to a different place using <LEFT> and <RIGHT>. Pressing
<UP>, <DOWN>, or Enter ends your changes to the date or time.
When you are not actually editing the date or time fields,
pressing <LEFT> or <RIGHT> changes the file you are working with
to the previous or next file in the directory, respectively.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 8
When the file is changed in this manner, any changes you
made to the previous file ARE NOT SAVED. To save changes made to
a file's attributes, date, and time, press the Ins key. An easy
way to tell if you have saved a file's attributes is to compare
the "Present Attributes" column with the "New Attributes" column.
After pressing Ins, they are identical.
When you have had enough of changing attributes, pressing
Esc will let you leave the ALTER function. After doing this, you
are presented the ever familiar main menu and can continue from
there as usual.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 9
CHANGE Change the current working drive
Pressing Enter with the CHANGE function selected opens up a
window on the screen showing something similar to:
Enter a letter from A to E to
change the current drive.
Press <ESC> to abort
To change the current working drive, do as it says and type
a letter in the range shown. In this example, you could type any
of the letters A, B, C, D, or E. Pressing anything else will not
be accepted.
Once you press one of the valid letters, all stored informa-
tion on the current working drive will be cleared, forcing Disk
Tool to start from scratch on the next disk read.
If you selected CHANGE by mistake, you can abort the func-
tion by pressing Esc. Doing so will keep Disk Tool from clearing
all stored information on the current drive.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 10
DISK View and/or edit the current drive
For those who have a need or want to see and change what is
actually stored on their disks, at a byte level, the DISK
function provides that capability.
When DISK is highlighted, press Enter and Disk Tool will go
to the first sector on the disk in the current working drive and
display it in both hex and ASCII coded formats. If you select
DISK after previously editing the disk, (ie, selecting DISK a
second time on the same disk) Disk Tool will return you to the
last sector you were editing, not the first sector on the disk.
Once you begin editing the disk, a variety of function keys,
arrow keys, and movement keys, and others become effective.
These keys are all described below.
F1 Help. Hitting F1 any time while editing the disk
will display a screen summarizing the functions of
specific keys. Getting help will not cause any
changes previously made to be lost, so you can ask
for help at any time freely.
F2 Go to a sector. F2 gives you the ability to go
randomly to any allowable sector on the disk.
After you press F2, a window will be shown on the
screen. Then, you can enter a number in the range
shown, or press Esc to abort that function and
remain at the sector you are currently at.
F3 Go to start of disk. Anytime that F3 is pressed,
Disk Tool will immediately go to the first sector
of the disk, without question.
F4 Go to end of disk. Like F3, when F4 is pressed,
Disk Tool will go to the last available sector on
the disk.
F5 Edit hex display. Pressing F5 will cause the
blinking cursor to jump over to the hex side of
the display. The cursor will stay at the same
point in the sector that it was at previously, it
will just go over to the hex side.
F6 Edit ASCII display. F6 will, similarly, cause the
cursor to jump over to the ASCII side of the
display, remaining at the same point within the
sector being edited.
F7 - F9 not used
F10 Press F10, and Disk Tool will bring you back to
the main menu, leaving DISK.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 11
<UP> Move up. Pressing <UP>, the up arrow, will move
the cursor up one line in the sector. If you are
at the first line, the cursor will wrap around to
the last line in the sector.
<DOWN> Move down. <DOWN>, the down arrow, will move the
cursor down one line within the sector. When the
cursor is at the last line, <DOWN> will cause the
cursor to wrap around to the first line.
<RIGHT> Move right. Yes, <RIGHT>, the right arrow key,
will make the cursor move to the right. When you
are at the last character (or byte) in a line,
<RIGHT> will move the cursor to the the first
character (or byte) in the next line.
<LEFT> Move left. <LEFT>, the left arrow, will move the
cursor to the left. When the cursor is at the
first character and <LEFT> is pressed, the cursor
will wrap around to the last character in the line
above the current line.
PgUp Go forwards. Hitting PgUp will make Disk Tool
advance and display the next sector available on
the disk, making it the current sector being
edited. If you are already at the last sector,
PgUp will wrap around to the first sector on the
disk.
PgDn Go backwards. PgDn causes Disk Tool to go
backwards one sector, making the previous sector
on the disk the current sector being edited. When
the current sector is the first sector, PgDn will
wrap around to the last sector on the disk.
Home Reread sector. Pressing Home will cause Disk Tool
to reread the current sector. There are two
reasons why you might want to do this. The first
is to try to read a sector when an error happened
on the first try. The other reason is to get a
fresh copy of the sector to edit, when you have
made too many unwanted changes to the sector.
When Home is pressed, Disk Tool will erase
whatever changes you made and display a new
working copy of the current sector.
End Write sector. End is the only way any changes
made will get saved. If you move to another
sector and forget to write it first, all changes
made to the previous sector will be lost. Disk
Tool doesn't remind (harass) you about writing any
changes. If you forget to write a sector, it
won't be changed, simply put.
At all times while editing, the actual sector number edited
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 12
is displayed at the bottom of the screen. The first sector
number for a disk is always 1, and the last sector number depends
on the format and capacity of the disk you are working with.
Making a change to any sector is relatively easy. First,
find or go to the sector you want to edit. Move the cursor to
the place you want to change something, then type in the changes.
Changes are discriminated from what was previously in the sector
by being highlighted.
Any character, all 255 of them, can be entered while the
cursor is in the ASCII part of the display, but only valid hex
characters can be entered while the cursor is on the hex side of
the display. This causes an interesting problem for those of you
who are used to making corrections with the backspace key. That
method of correcting errors doesn't work with Disk Tool, it is
just accepted as another character and processed as normal. To
make a correction, you have to move the cursor with <LEFT> and
type in the correction.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 13
ERASE Erase files on the current drive
This function is used to erase any file on the current
working drive. Since Disk Tool doesn't use DOS to erase files,
you can erase any file, even if it is supposed to be read only or
hidden. The particular status of any file doesn't make any
difference.
After you have selected ERASE, choose the directory to get
files from then the initial file to erase. Since this is the
same process as described for the ALTER function, you could refer
to that section for help. Again, press Esc if you want to abort
and go back to the main menu.
When a file is selected, the screen clears and you will see
something similar to what is shown below.
The file, "OLD-FILE.NAM" will be deleted.
Press 'Y' to delete the file.
Press 'S' to skip deleting this file.
Press <ESC> to abort and exit.
If you now press 'Y', the file OLD-FILE.NAM will be erased
from the disk. Pressing 'S' (or 'N') will not erase the file.
Hitting Esc will put you back at the main menu.
Upon pressing 'Y' or 'S', Disk Tool does its work and then
returns you to the file selection screen for the chance to select
another file to erase. It will repeat doing this until there are
no files left in the directory or you eventually press Esc.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 14
FILE View and/or edit a file on the drive
The FILE function is almost identical to the DISK function.
The main difference is that FILE gives you the ability to see and
edit only what is in a file and not the entire disk.
Press Enter when FILE is highlighted, select the directory
to get files from to edit, and then get the initial file to edit.
Look at what is described in ALTER for assistance in getting the
initial file. Press Esc to return to the main menu.
After a file is selected, you should be looking at the first
sector in the file, ready to edit it. All function keys, arrow
keys, movement keys, and other keys act the same way as they did
in DISK, with a few minor differences, described briefly below.
Except for what is described below, you should read and follow
what is said in the description for DISK.
F2 Go to a sector. Pressing the F2 key will still
let you go randomly to any sector, but only to
sectors within the file.
F3 Go to start of file. F3 will go to the start
(first sector) of the file instead of the first
sector on the disk.
F4 Go to end of file. Similar to F3, F4 goes to the
end of the file (its last sector) instead of the
end of the disk.
PgUp Go forwards. Pressing PgUp will advance the
relative sector to the next sector in the file.
It won't wrap around to the first sector if you
are at the last sector in the file, but will
remain at the last sector.
PgDn Go backwards. PgDn will go backwards in the file
to the previous sector in it. If you are already
at the first sector in the file, hitting PgDn will
not wrap around to the last sector, but will
leave you at the first sector.
At all times while editing, the relative sector number being
edited will be displayed, not the actual sector number. The
first relative sector number for a file is always 1, no matter
where the start of the file physically is.
Like DISK, pressing F10 will return you to the main menu.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 15
LOCATE Look for matching files on the drive
All to often, users of hard disks have several copies of a
file in different places, don't know where a file is located, or
just want to look at all files on the disk. The LOCATE function
helps out those users by finding and displaying all files on the
current drive that match any given specification.
When ALTER is chosen, the screen clears, displays a few
lines of help, and gives you the prompt:
Filename: * .*
Now, enter the file(s) you want to look for. The wildcards
? and * can be used as they would be with DOS, anywhere within
the name to match any character and all characters from that
point on, respectively. <LEFT> and <RIGHT> can be used to move
the cursor to a specific place in the name, and changes made at
that place. Additionally, pressing Tab will make the cursor go
from the filename part to the extension part of the name and vice
versa. When the file to look for has been entered, press Enter.
Hitting Esc returns you to the main menu.
After Enter has been pressed, Disk Tool displays all files
matching what was typed (reading the directory if necessary),
pausing at the end of every screenfull of files. Note that all
I said all files matching what was typed. Disk Tool will display
a file even if it has a hidden or system status.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 16
RENAME Rename files on the current drive
The RENAME function is used to rename any file on the
current working drive. Because Disk Tool goes around DOS to
rename files, you can rename any file, even if it has a hidden or
system status. The status of any file isn't important to Disk
Tool. The difference between the RENAME function and the DOS
rename is that RENAME can only rename one file at a time and
cannot be used with wildcards.
Once RENAME has been selected, pick the directory to get
files from and then a file to rename. See the ALTER function's
description for an explanation on doing this. Press Esc if you
decide at some point that you don't want to rename files and
you'll be returned to the main menu.
After you selected a file, the screen will clear and you
will be asked for the new name for the file. If you were trying
to rename "OLD-FILE.NAM," the screen would show, (in part):
Filename: OLD-FILE.NAM
Now, enter the new name for the file, typing over the old
name. <LEFT> and <RIGHT> can be used to move the cursor to any
point in the old name to make changes. Tab will move the cursor
from the name part to the extension part of the name and vice
versa. When you have changed the name to what you desire, press
Enter and you will see:
The file, "OLD-FILE.NAM" will be renamed to "NEW-FILE.NAM"
Press 'Y' to rename the file.
Press 'R' to re-enter the new file name.
Press 'S' to skip renaming this file.
Press <ESC> to abort and exit.
Pressing 'Y' at this point will rename the file to the new
name you typed in. If you pressed 'S' (or 'N'), the file won't
be erased and you will be allowed to select another file to
rename. 'R' will show you the "Filename:" prompt shown above,
letting you change the name again and try again. Hitting Esc, as
usual, will bring you back to the main menu.
Before going off, confident about RENAME, there are a few
notes to it. First, the new name must be typed in exactly as you
want to see it appear in the directory. You may have to type
over previous characters with spaces if necessary. Also, if you
leave leading or embedded spaces in the filename or extension
part of the name, DOS will have a difficult time accessing the
file from that point on. It can still be used in a few instances
from DOS (and always from Disk Tool), but a little trickery is
involved. Doing this (leaving spaces in the name) is permitted
in Disk Tool because you might want to make a file harder to
access. Embedding spaces in a name is definitely one way to make
a file harder to access.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 17
QUIT End Disk Tool and return to DOS
Selecting QUIT from the main menu stops the execution of
Disk Tool and return you to DOS (or other operating environment,
if applicable). It returns to the same drive and directory that
you started in, unless of course you changed the disk that you
started from.
QUIT has a synonym that can be used if you like. Pressing
Esc while in the main menu also quits the program after confirma-
tion. This is no shorter than pressing "Q <ENTER>", but it is
included to be consistent with the exit command of other fun-
ctions. When you press Esc, you'll see the message:
Do you really want to exit Disk Tool? (Y/N)
If you enter anything other than 'Y', Disk Tool continues to
run as if nothing happened, waiting patiently for your next
command.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 18
A P P E N D I X A
Known Limitations
In the current version of Disk Tool, there are three known
limitations, all of which should only affect a small minority of
the people using it. These limitations deal with memory usage,
floppy disk formats, and hard disk formats.
First, Disk Tool is potentially a memory hog. When a file
has to be accessed for any function, Disk Tool checks to see if
the disk directory has been read yet. If it hasn't, Disk Tool
goes ahead and reads the disk's entire directory, keeping ALL
files and ALL directory names in memory. For those people who
have a small amount of memory and a tremendous amount of files on
a hard disk, I am sorry, but you may be out of luck. Should Disk
Tool run out of memory reading a directory, it will abort. Plain
and simple.
Internally, each file consumes 39 bytes and each directory
33 bytes. On my hard disk, I have on the average about 600 files
and 40 sub directories. Doing a few calculations, this turns out
to require less than 25K of memory on top what Disk Tool already
uses. The bottom line is that, in my normal use, I need less
than 90K of free memory to run Disk Tool. Users with fewer files
naturally would need less memory while those with more files
would need more.
The second limitation deals with floppy disk formats, and is
more of a bug I have not worked out than anything else. When
physically switching between floppy disks of differing formats
(like between a 320K and a 360K disk, or more commonly, a 1.2MB
and 360K disk), Disk Tool isn't always aware of this, and still
thinks that you are using the previous format when you aren't. A
workaround for this problem is to, whenever switching formats in
a floppy drive, exit Disk Tool and log onto the new disk by
typing "Dir A:" or something similar. When you rerun Disk Tool
again, everything will work well and without problems.
Finally, Disk Tool only supports hard disks with 128, 256,
or 512 byte sectors. I say that it only supports those sector
sizes because it hasn't been tried with anything but those. It
also only works with hard disks of up to 32MB capacity, a DOS
limitation, not mine. If someone out there with a huge hard disk
tries Disk Tool on it and finds that it works as "advertised," I
would be very happy and like to hear about it. Anyone wanting to
donate a drive of the same magnitude to me so I could adapt Disk
Tool to it would be greatly (and publicly) applauded.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 19
A P P E N D I X B
Error Messages
This appendix contains a list of the error messages you
might encounter while running Disk Tool and brief descriptions of
what they mean. The types of error messages are broken down into
three categories: program errors, disk errors, and your errors.
Program errors deal with something going wrong within Disk
Tool, or something happening that it couldn't deal with. All
program errors result in the screen being cleared and a message
displayed at the top of the screen stating that something went
wrong.
The most common (and hopefully only) program error concerns
running out of memory. If Disk Tool isn't able to read a disk's
entire directory into memory, it displays the following error
message at the top of the screen:
Disk Tool, version 1.0A is out of memory.
There are several solutions to this error. First, if you
don't have a full 640K of memory installed in your computer, the
easiest remedy is to purchase and install more memory. If more
memory is not a solution for you (you already have 640K, you
don't have enough $, etc.), removing a few memory resident pro-
grams, rebooting, and trying again is an alternative. Finally,
if you are running in a multi-tasking environment, allocating
more minimum memory to Disk Tool in its .PIF file or equivalent
should help out.
In all reality, most users will never run out of memory.
Never. Those few who have thousands of files on a hard disk are
the ones that may encounter a problem.
The next and only other program error message is a catch all
for anything unexpected going wrong. When Disk Tool stumbles
somewhere, it shows the following error message:
Oops, an unexpected error ...
This is only the beginning of the error message. What
follows is the error number, the location in the program where
the problem happened, and if possible a general description of
the error. If you ever get this error, please write down every-
thing that Disk Tool prints out and inform me of it. In doing
so, please try to include as much information on what you were
doing when the error happened. It will help me to rid the pro-
gram of the error.
Program errors take the easy out -- they abort. Disk
errors, on the other hand cause Disk Tool to open a window on the
screen and if possible, continue where it can. If a disk error
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 20
occurs while Disk Tool is reading a directory, Disk Tool exits
whatever function you were trying to execute and returns to the
main menu. Disk errors that occur elsewhere leave you where you
were in the appropriate function when the error happened,
possibly not reading or writing to the disk as you wanted to.
All disk errors dealing with the disk itself start with the
following message appearing as the first line in a window opened
in the middle of the screen.
> Disk Error! <
Following that line is one of the following error messages
describing what went wrong:
A general disk error happened.
Error during a disk read.
Error during a disk write.
Bad sector -- not found on disk.
Unknown disk format.
Error during disk seek.
CRC error -- bad parity check.
Disk not ready (door open, etc).
Invalid drive number.
The disk is write protected.
Bad Request.
To avoid going into a lengthy description on what each error
message means, I'll describe a few more common types of errors.
Hard disks and many "copy protected" floppy disks commonly
have a few "bad" sectors. If you run across one of these bad
sectors while using the DISK function, Disk Tool tells you so,
but it is no cause for concern. If you come across an error when
editing a file using FILE, there is a lot of reason for concern.
It would be much to your advantage to try to make a copy of that
file as soon as possible, even though it may be too late to save
the entire file.
The next most common problem is running Disk Tool on non-DOS
disks. Remember that Disk Tool is intended for use with ONLY DOS
DISKS. Yes, this means that you won't be able to look at what's
on disks from other operating systems nor a lot of game disks
that have to be booted to work.
As with everything however, there is an exception to this.
I briefly tried one disk emulation program that worked well
enough on a non-DOS disk to allow me to use several of Disk
Tool's functions on it without a problem. I suggest only using
the functions DISK and FILE if you do this though. I am not sure
that the other functions would operate as intended.
Also, remember that Disk Tool can't access a disk that
doesn't exist. Users with two floppy disk drives and no RAM
disks won't be able to access drives C, D, and E no matter how
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 21
much they try. Disk Tool reports a variety of errors if you try
to access a non-existent drive.
The next type of disk error shows up a lot when accessing
damaged and non-DOS disks. If Disk Tool finds that the FAT id
byte isn't one of the several valid ones when trying to read a
directory, it shows the following message in a window:
The disk ID byte appears to be
damaged or wrong.
If you know the disk was damaged, what the id byte should
be, and the correct location to put it, you can try to edit the
disk using the DISK function and make an attempt to reread the
directory.
Following the errors dealing with Disk Tool itself and your
disks are the errors due to your actions. These messages are
more informative than anything else, and nothing is affected when
you see one of these messages.
The following error message can happen in the ALTER, ERASE,
and RENAME functions. Before Disk Tool changes a directory entry
for a file, it checks to make sure that the file is in the place
it expects it to be. If you see the error message, Disk Tool
couldn't find the file in the place it thought it was in. This
basically means, as the message states, that you probably changed
disks somewhere along the line and forgot to CHANGE the current
drive letting Disk Tool know you did this.
File "OLD-FILE.NAM" was not found
You might have switched disks.
Note that the word OLD-FILE.NAM refers to a file on your
disk, while the words NEW-FILE.NAM and NEW-FIL?.* refer to new
file name that you typed in in response to a prompt.
The next two error messages appear exclusively when you
are in the RENAME function. The first message, below, is shown
when you try to rename a file to one that already exists in the
current directory. In this example, the old file, OLD-FILE.NAM
has been attempted to be renamed to the new file NEW-FILE.NAM
when NEW-FILE.NAM is already a file in the directory.
File "OLD-FILE.NAM" cannot be
renamed to "NEW-FILE.NAM"; the
new file name already exists.
The next error message below shows up when you try to rename
a file to something ambiguous. The characters '?' and '*' are
allowed from DOS, but unfortunately not from within Disk Tool.
File "OLD-FILE.NAM" cannot be
renamed to "NEW-FIL?.* "; '*'
and '?' aren't allowed.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 22
A P P E N D I X C
Program Notes
Since Disk Tool was conceived less than a year ago, it has
gone through an almost complete circle of evolution. It has been
rewritten almost entirely several times to bring it to this
point, starting as a simple routine to draw a box on the screen
and mushrooming into what you can see and run now. The box
drawing routine is no longer present in the code, but it was the
reason why the program got started.
As the model for Disk Tool, I used various commercial and
public domain utilities of the same type. I picked out the best
or most useful features from all of the programs I used and
improved upon them wherever I saw possible. I hope that my
decisions on what is needed are similar to yours.
I am open to receive ideas for inclusion in future releases
of Disk Tool. In fact, I would rather implement other people's
ideas than mine.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 23
A P P E N D I X D
Disclaimer
Both Disk Tool and this documentation are distributed
without any express or implied warranties. No warranty of
fitness for a particular purpose is offered. You, the user, are
advised to experiment and become familiar with Disk Tool before
relying on it. You assume all risk for the use and operation of
Disk Tool, and you shall be responsible for any loss of profits,
loss of savings, or other incidental or consequential damages
arising out of the use or failure to use Disk Tool, even if I
have been advised of the possibility of such damages. I do not
warrant that this documentation is accurate, or that Disk Tool
operates as I have claimed or designed it to operate.
By using Disk Tool, you agree to the above limitations.
IBM is a registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation.
MSDOS is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
TURBO Pascal is a trademark of Borland International, Inc.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 24
A P P E N D I X E
WARNING !
BEFORE doing any work with Disk Tool, I ask that you are
conscious of the power you posses when running it and are very
careful. Disk Tool is able, purposefully or accidentally, to be
used to wipe out some very important parts of your disks. If you
are not well acquainted with the technical details of different
disk formats, please do not select the DISK function without
extreme care.
The areas that should be avoided unless absolutely necessary
are the boot record (the first sector), the FAT (the next few
sectors), and the directory. Making blind changes in any of
these areas has a good possibility of rendering your disks
useless. If you find a pertinent need to change one of these
areas, it is a good idea to make a backup copy (with DISKCOPY or
something similar) or your disk before you begin.
Also be cautious about where you get Disk Tool from and of
any new versions. Disk Tool, before being released, undergoes
extensive testing. I have taken every effort possible to make
sure most known bugs have been eliminated from the program and
that it functions properly when released.
A problem with a shareware distribution of Disk Tool may
arise because the source code to Disk Tool is available. Al-
though I hope it never happens, someone could easily modify the
source code to produce a trojan horse type of program. This
isn't as far fetched as it may seem; it happened in the recent
past with the ARC program. For that reason, either get the
latest release of Disk Tool from a very reliable source or from
me directly.
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 25
A P P E N D I X F
Shareware
Disk Tool is supported by the users that find it productive.
I ask that, if you have benefited in some way from Disk Tool or
make regular use of it, you donate $20.00. A person who donates
will be given a legitimate copy of the program (see the WARNING
in appendix E) and documentation and will receive any published
announcements of future releases of Disk Tool.
The donation is not an optional matter if Disk Tool is used
in a commercial environment.
You may make copies of the Disk Tool program and documenta-
tion files for your own use, and you may make copies to give to
others. If the program is given away, I ask that no fee be
charged for the copy and that ALL of the files (program, documen-
tation, and miscellaneous files) are distributed together, intact
and unmodified.
The source code is also available, although is not in any
way to be freely distributed. Anyone interested in the source
code should inquire about that on an individual basis.
Your comments, suggestions, friendly criticisms, bug
reports, and improvement ideas are welcome. Please contact me
ONLY at the address listed below.
Disk Tool and this documentation are:
Copyright (c) 1986 by
R. P. Gage
1125 6th St. N. #43
Columbus, MS 39701
Disk Tool -- Disk Management Utility, version 1.0A Page 26
