Copyright: Copyright © 2001 PowerQuest Corporation. All rights reserved.
Citation: Copyright © 2001 PowerQuest Corporation. All rights reserved.


About PowerQuest VF Editor

Welcome to PowerQuest VF Editor. A disk image (also called a virtual floppy disk) is a file that is an exact and complete image of a floppy disk. The image contains information on the disk format and structure, such as FAT, boot sector, directories, and all files.

By using VF Editor, you can create an exact copy of an original disk, including non-standard capacity and format disks.

As an example, you can read a floppy disk and copy it as one image file to your hard disk. Later, without using the original floppy disk, you can extract any file from the image—just as if you had copied the file from the original floppy disk itself.

You can create exact copies of the original disk onto new floppy disks.

You can also create disk images with VF Editor. For example, if you want to put five files, taking 1.3 MB, on a 3 1/2" HD that has a normal capacity of 1.2MB, you can create an empty 1.44 MB image on the floppy, inject the five files into it from the hard disk, and in one operation you have formatted the floppy and written the image on it.

Unlike the DOS DiskCopy command, VF Editor can format and use very large-capacity and non-standard disk formats. As an example, a 3 1/2" HD floppy can be formatted out to 1.72 MB and a 5 1/4" HD can be formatted out to 1.44 MB.

You can use disk images (or virtual floppies) with PowerQuest Drive Image in place of standard floppy disks, making it possible to boot a machine without inserting a floppy disk.

Windows 3.1 and MSDOS

When reading a DMF, 1.68 or 1.72 MB floppy formatted by VF Editor under MSDOS and Windows 3.1, the TSR utility FDREAD.EXE must be loaded at DOS level (first) if you wish to read and write non-standard formats. FDREAD.EXE is a freeware program from Christoph H. Hochstätter. If you will be using standard formats only, FDREAD is not needed.

Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP

FDREAD.EXE is not needed under Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP.

Once loaded, you can extract files from an image to any floppy, hard disk or network disk. You can add files to an image. The image can be copied onto a floppy (which must have the same format), or saved in a file.

An image file contains all the sectors of a floppy disk. If it is not full, you can truncate unused parts of the image, making the image file smaller.

VF Editor can read images created by other disk copy utilities.

•	Wimage (in FdFormat utility) from C.H. Hochstätter

•	CopyVit from Sébastien Chatard

•	DrDos 6

•	OS/2 2.x and 3.x

•	DCF (Disk Copy Fast) from Chang Ping Lee

•	DF (Disk Image File Utility) from Mark Vitt

•	Super-DiskCopy from Super Software

•	SabDu from S.A. Berman

•	Disk-RW from K. Hartnegg

•	DiskDupe from Micro System Design

•	Internal Microsoft and Lotus image features and utilities along with the MFMT sample Windows NT application that comes with the Windows NT SDK.

 Using VF Editor

 Batch Assistant

 About DMF

 VF Editor SDK


VF Editor SDK

The VF Editor SDK is a Win32 DLL, with C, Visual Basic and Delphi importation files.

With the VF Editor SDK, you can create a Win32 application that can read and write floppies, read and write image files, extract files from images, inject files into images and other Basic VF Editor functionality.

The VF Editor SDK is an additional product, based on the VF Editor technology.

For download an evaluation version or for more information, visit the Web site http://www.winimage.com/wima_sdk.htm.


Using VF Editor

You can load a virtual floppy into VF Editor by either reading a floppy, reading an image file, or creating an empty image ("Image" here refers to a virtual floppy image, not a PowerQuest image file.)

When a virtual floppy is loaded, VF Editor shows the files and directories present. You can change directories by double-clicking on the directory. You can return to the parent directory by double-clicking on the parent or first entry ("..").

VF Editor can load an .ISO CD-ROM image file in read-only mode.

The virtual floppy image is loaded into memory. When there is no image loaded, some features are not available.

You can create a directory, delete or add files in the image from the toolbar or the Image menu option. You can use drag-and-drop from the Windows to VF Editor to inject data into an image, or from VF Editor to another application to extract from it.

Extracting Files

You can extract files in three ways: From the Image menu option or toolbar icon, by launching a file by double-clicking on it, or by dragging it to another application.

VF Editor lets you drag the image file from VF Editor to another application by placing the mouse pointer onto the status bar or in the toolbar background. While holding down the left mouse button, slide the pointer onto another application (drag and drop client); then release the mouse button. This original function lets you add the image to a .ZIP or .ARJ file when using Nico Mak's WinZip utility, or attach the image to an e-mail created with Microsoft MS-Mail, or Lotus Notes or cc:Mail.

You should not use the 820 KB or 1.72 MB formats because Windows NT/2000/XP cannot read them. Instead, use the DMF or the 1.68 MB format.

You can start VF Editor with options in the command line:

'PQVFEDIT [source [destination] [options]]'

Syntax examples	Description
'PQVFEDIT file.ima'	Load the file file.ima.
'PQVFEDIT file.ima A:'	Load the file file.ima, write on A: and exit.
'PQVFEDIT A: file.ima'	Load from floppy A: and save file.ima
Options	Description
/F	Format when writing a floppy from the command line.
/E	Do Extract (second parameter can be destination).
/X	Do Extract with sub-dir (second parameter can be destination).
/Q	Always exit after command line operation.
/H	Hide the main VF Editor window.
/NX	Never exit after command line operation.
/Nxxx	Create a new image (where xxx is DMF1024, DMF2048, 144, 120...).
/Txxx	Transform image size (where xxx is DMF1024, DMF2048, 144, 120...).
/I xxx	Inject file or directory xxx.
/NOASPI	Disable the ASPI device checking in start (this disable CDRom image creation option under Windows 95/98).


About DMF

DMF and 1.68 MB formats are the same physical format of 80 tracks and 21 sectors per track. The 1.68 MB format has 224 entries in the root directory, and a cluster size is 512 bytes. DMF format has only 16 entries in the root directory (you need create a subdirectory to copy more than 16 files), and the cluster size is 1024 (DMF 1024) or 2048 bytes (DMF 2048). You can check the cluster size in the Image Information.

Microsoft uses DMF 2048 for the floppy version of some of their newer software. Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 3.5x read and write directly in DMF format. You will need FDREAD for this format under MSDOS or Windows 3.1.

1.72 MB format uses 82 tracks and is not compatible with Windows NT. 1.68 MB and DMF are the same physical format, and are compatible with Windows NT. We recommend that you do not use 1.72 MB.

Some Microsoft DMF floppy disks contain information to make them write-protected under Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 3.5x. To write to these floppy disks, you will need to reformat them first to remove this.

The DMF 2048 format is often used for distribution floppies under Windows 95/98 and Windows NT.

Under Windows 95/98, unlike other operating systems, formatting for DMF uses the BIOS. This may cause compatibility problem on some computers. If you experience such problems, we suggest you try the following:

•	If your system has flash BIOS, upgrade the BIOS to the latest release. If you have an Intel motherboard, you can find BIOS upgrades at ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/bios.

•	Format the floppy to 1.44 MB before trying DMF.

•	Try to get more conventional memory (ideally by having a near empty config.sys).

•	Try using both PQVFEDIT.exe and winima16.exe under Windows 95/98. (Ignore the message from winima16.exe that suggests not running using this O.S.) . Note: The latest 16-bit version of VF Editor is WinImage 3.0.

•	Download FDFormat (ftp://ftp.coast.net/pub/Coast/msdos/diskutil/fdform18.zip or from http://www.winimage.com/othertl.htm). Under DOS (or the Windows 95/98 command line without the graphical interface; this is accomplished by pressing <F8>, then selecting 6 when booting) try 'FDFORMAT A: F168'. As is true with VF Editor, FDFormat uses the BIOS. If FDFormat cannot format a disk at 1.68 MB, VF Editor will also be unable to.

You can sometimes solve problems with DMF formatting under Gateway 2000 computers by downloading a BIOS update from the Intel FTP (ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/bios) or their web site (http://www.intel.com).

Under Windows 95/98, the following options are available In the Options Settings, Disk tab:

•	If Use new DMF format technology and Use new DMF technology for writing data are both selected, VF Editor will use the new 3.0 DMF formatting code by default.

•	If Use new DMF format technology and Use new DMF technology for writing data are both unselected, VF Editor will use a slightly fixed version of the 2.5 DMF formatting code.

•	If Use new DMF format technology is deselected, VF Editor uses the same code as version 2.20 to format.

Some DMF-related problems can be corrected by adjusting the disk gap. To change this setting, you must modify the registry. Be very careful! The key value to modify is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PQVFEDIT\iGapDmf. A value of "0" specifies the standard DMF GAP. A VF Editor user needs "17" for a 2.88 driver.

Please report any problems solved by modifying the GAP.


About the File Menu

The following options are available from the File pull-down menu.

New

Creates a new, empty image. You must select a format (for example: 1.44 MB).

Open

Opens an image file.

Connect FAT32 drive

This option exists only under Windows NT if you have a hard disk with a Fat32 partition. You will open a FAT32 partition in VF Editor.

Close image

Closes the current image.

Save

Saves the current image.

Save as

Saves the current image with a new name.

Batch Assistant

Opens the Batch assistant dialog box.

Batch Assistant wizard

The wizard option offers an alternative interface to select options, step by step.

Exit

Quits VF Editor.


About the Image Menu

The following options are available from the Image pull-down menu.

Create directory

Creates a directory in the current image.

Select

Selects files in the current image.

Inject

Injects files into the current image.

Inject a directory

Injects a complete directory or subdirectory, into the current image.

Extract

Extracts files from the current image.

If no file is selected, VF Editor extracts all files from the image by default. Otherwise it extracts only selected files.

Depending on the Confirmation option, you will have to specify the extraction path. (A dialog box with Preference fields is shown).

Delete file

Deletes files from the current image, after asking for confirmation.

If there is no file selected, VF Editor deletes all the files from the image by default; otherwise, it deletes only the selected files.

File properties

Change the file date (only in professional mode), attributes and name. The file can only be renamed when only one file is selected

Change Label

Changes the volume label of the current image.

Change size

Changes the size of the current image.

The new size must be greater than the total size of the files in the image.

For example: a 1.44 MB image can be changed into a 360 KB image only if it has less than 60 KB of files.

Defrag current image

Defragments the current image files.

Image information

Shows information about the current image, and allows editing the image's comment.


About the Diskette Menu
About the Disk Menu

The following options are available from the Disk pull-down menu.

Use drive A: or B:  or

Selects drive A: or B: to read and write floppies.

On a computer with two drives, this command lets you choose the physical drive you want to use for reading or writing disks.

Format disk

Formats a blank floppy.

Read disk

Reads a floppy and stores the image in memory.

Compare disk

Compares the current image with a floppy.

Write disk

Writes the current image to a floppy.

Format and write disk

Formats a floppy and writes the current image onto it.


About the Option Menu

The following options are available from the Options pull-down menu.

Sort by Name

Sort by Type

Sort by Size

Sort by Date

These options are used for displaying the files present in the image.

Classic Listbox

Large Icon

Small Icon

List

Details

Theses options change the presentation of the directory in VF Editor's main Windows. These are the same options as in the Windows explorer.

Font

Changes the current font (used for displaying the files present in the image).

Setting

All options appear in one tabbed dialog box.

Disk Tab

Ignore empty track when reading - If this option is checked, when reading or comparing a floppy that is not full, VF Editor will ignore unused tracks.

Ignore empty track when writing - If this option is checked, when writing an image to a floppy that is not full, VF Editor will ignore unused tracks.

Verify writing - If this option is checked, VF Editor verifies after writing to a floppy. This takes a bit more time, but you will be sure the new disk is readable.

Use only standard format - If this option is checked, VF Editor creates only standard floppies. Under MSDOS and Windows 3.1 FDREAD will then not be needed.

Under Windows 95/98, the options available are:

Use IOCTL - Tells VF Editor to use 32 bit IOCTL operations (except for formatting DMF, which is not affected by this checkbox). The default status is - checked.

Use new DMF format technology - If this is not checked, VF Editor formats DMF in the same way as in version 2.20. If it is checked, it uses new code.

Quick format in 1.44 MB before DMF - If this is not checked, VF Editor does a quick format in 1.44 MB before formatting in DMF. It seems to be difficult to format a blank floppy in DMF without formatting first as 1.44 MB.

For more info on DMF, see the DMF section.

Under Windows NT, the option available is:

Search Fat32 partition when starting VF Editor: Asks VF Editor to search a Fat32 partition in your hard disk. If it is found, you will be able to connect on this partition.

Image Tab

Select floppy for image - If this option is checked, VF Editor selects a floppy type appropriate for the image in memory. (If you load a 360K image, VF Editor selects a 5"1/2 floppy format).

Truncate unused image part - If this option is checked, VF Editor reduces the size of the image when writing an image file that is not full.

Use incremented open/save wizard - If this option is checked, VF Editor increments the filename by 1. As example: after opening (or saving) "DISK01.IMA", VF Editor proposes "DISK02.IMA" or the next file name.

Verify disk content before writing - If this option is checked, VF Editor asks for confirmation before writing to a disk that already contains data.

Extract Tab

Path - Here you specify where to get the files to form the image.

The following options are for extracting subdirectories.

Ignore subdirectories - VF Editor will not extract the subdirectorys selected.

Extract with pathname - VF Editor extracts files from a subdirectory of the image to a subdirectory of the Path location.

Extract all in the same directory - VF Editor extracts all the files in a subdirectory of the image in the Path location.

The first three checkboxes control the display of the confirmation dialog box when extracting files.

Confirm overwrite when extracting - If this option is checked, when extracting risks overwriting a file, VF Editor will ask for confirmation before proceeding.

File Tab

The first two check boxes let you turn on/off the use of a dialog box when adding files. The third check box asks for confirmation when replacing files.

Confirm file deletion - This option controls the display of the confirmation dialog box when deleting files on image.

Display year in long format - Display the year associated with the file, using four digits.

Notification Tab

Select sound and message - You can ask VF Editor to play a sound, beep, a .WAV or .MID file. Under Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP, .AVI files can also be played.

General Tab

Default viewer - Defines the viewer application launched when double-clicking on a file without association.

Use new control for browsing directory - Select the control used for searching a directory.

Drag and Drop within explorer - Lets you extract files by dragging from VF Editor to the explorer (and the desktop)

Display icon in taskbar when working - When VF Editor works on floppy or in batch assistant mode, it displays an icon in Win95/NT4 taskbar. It blinks when user input is needed.

Automatically display VF Editor when user input is needed - When user input is needed (change floppy, error, and so forth), VF Editor pops up automatically. This lets you minimize VF Editor during long operations (floppy...), and be sure not to forget it!


Batch assistant

By using the batch assistant, you can chain operations on several images.

There are two different interfaces of the Batch assistant:

•	With File Batch Assistant, you will have all settings in one dialog box

•	With File Batch Assistant wizard, you will have several dialogs boxes, step-by-step.

When selected, this dialog box appears.

When VF Editor executes a batch, it repeats the sequence of:

•	creating an image in memory reading a source, and

•	saving this image for saving to a destination.

When the source has no image, the batch is complete.

The following sources can be selected:

•	Set of floppies: VF Editor will read floppies. You need to tell VF Editor how many floppies you want to be read.

•	Set of images files: VF Editor will load images. You can open a list file (.WIL), a set of compressed image (.WLZ, a ZIPfile with a .WIL and several .IMA) or add some images manually.

•	Directory injecting: VF Editor will inject directories into an image. If the directory name contains a number, it can increment the directory name, and make an image for each directory. If a directory is bigger than an image, VF Editor will make several images.

The following destinations can be selected:

•	Set of floppies: VF Editor will write to floppies. You tell VF Editor if you want it to format also.

•	Set of image files: VF Editor will write images. You specify the filename of the first, and VF Editor increments the subsequent filenames and you can optionally make a list file (.WIL) with a comment. Or you can create a set of compressed images (.WLZ): one file will contain the list and all images.

•	File extraction: VF Editor will extract files from an image to directories that you specify. It can also increment the directory name.

In this example, VF Editor is configured to extract the file images DISK1.IMA through to DISK5.IMA, to directories C:\TEMP\DISK1 through C:\TEMP\DISK5.

Before running the batch, you can save your configuration in a batch configuration file (.BWZ). This file can be opened later to run batch with same parameters. Like .WIL, BWZ files are text readable files.