The objective of the disk copier is to make an exact duplicate of a disk. This is especially useful if the original disk contain nonstandard files or data which is not part of files.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All or part of what might be contained on the target disk will be destroyed. If a single side copy is performed, only the front side of the copy disk will be overwritten. The disk copier is dependent of the disk layout. It cannot use a 1581 in conjunction with another drive type. Also, it won't work with RAMDOS.
SPECIAL NOTE to 1581 users: The disk copier copies the WHOLE disk, not only the currently selected partition. The disk copier does automatically select the root directory on the 1581s involved.
The disk copier automatically detects if your computer is equipped with 64K VDC (80 column) RAM, and utilizes it to reduce the number of passes. It can also take advantage of a Ram Expansion Unit of any size if Ram Expansion is enabled at the Disk Tools menu.
You are asked if you want a BAM controlled copy. The disk contains a map, called BAM (Block Allocation Map), which keeps track of where on the disk files are stored. A BAM controlled copy will copy only those tracks which are used according to the BAM. Unless the disk is fairly full, this will reduce the time and number of passes needed to copy the disk. A non-BAM controlled copy will copy the entire disk no matter what. Use this option if you suspect that the disk may hold important data not contained in files or otherwise not marked in the BAM as used.
You will be prompted to insert the source disk (or both disks if you're using a dual drive copy) and the copying process will start. Unless you are performing a copy using 1571 drive(s), the copier will analyze the disk and report if it's single or double sided. The copier can't cope with an error in the BAM, and will report the error and abort if such error occurs.
You may see the message "(Double sided source disk)". This most often means that the source disk is identified as double sided, but your hardware is unable to cope with double sided disks. Data contained on the back side of the disk won't be transferred to the target disk. If you are using 1571 drives only, check the Disk Tools menu to see if your drive(s) are really set to double sided mode (identified as 1571) and not single sided mode (identified as 1571 side 0 or 1571 side 1).
The "Double sided source disk" message may also occur when the disk is a "fake" double sided disk. In the BAM there's a flag that identifies if the disk is double sided. If this flag is set, indicating a double sided disk, while the disk for some reason is formatted on the front side only, the disk is a "fake" double sided disk. This is the case with some commercial software. Before the 1571 was introduced some software used the BAM location, now used for a dual sided flag, for its own purpose. Early GEOS disks fall into this category. This condition will not affect the copying (except that only only one side is copied) or the use of the copy disk. However, you may want to convert the copy disk to dual sided using the Header/format utility.
The disk copier will read as much data as possible into the computer's memory. If the copier can't read a sector due to an error on the disk, it will retry using slow mode (if your drive is using burst mode). The slow mode is slightly better when it comes to reading weak sectors. If that won't do the trick, the copier will report the error, and then continue. The bad sector won't be transferred correctly. A bad sector may indicate three things:
1) Important data may not be stored in the damaged sector. The copy disk will work O.K.
2) The damaged sector holds important data. You may want to use the copy for a repair attempt using a sector editor if you're confident with the use of such a program.
3) The bad sector serve as copy protection. The copy disk won't work. A lot of commercial software has some sort of protection against illegal copying (and legal backup copying for that matter) utilizing bad disk sectors. In this particular case you may (A, use a so-called "parameter" on the copy disk to make it work, (B, try using a "nibbler" duplicating the errors as well as the data, or (C, give up. You may consider purchasing a utility called "The Maverick" (see Appendix F) which includes both nibblers and parameters. No 64 or 128 user should be without that package in any case.
You may try to removing and then re-inserting the source disk and attempt to copy the disk again. Or you may try to use another disk drive. This will sometimes fix the problem.
When the computer memory is filled up (or there's nothing more to read) the computer will prompt you for the target disk. If you're using two drives however, the copy process will continue without delay.
The target disk is first formatted, and the data is then written. If an error occurs during formatting or writing to disk, the error is reported, and the copy is aborted. I can see no reason why you should want to use a bad disk. Discard the disk and try another one.
You may sneer upon the fact that the copy disk is formatted every time a disk is copied, whether or not it is already formatted. However, it is my experience that formatting the target disk will sometimes produce a more reliable copy. I prefer reliability over speed, but if you're of the impatient type, try Maverick or FasTrac (see appendix F), or some other disk duplicating program.
If there is more to be copied, you will be prompted for the source disk (unless you're using two drives) and another pass will be performed for as many times over as necessary to copy the disk.
