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ANADISK - The Ultimate Diskette Utility Charles P. Guzis SYDEX 153 North Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 (408) 739-4866 June 1, 1988 Version 1.31 Copyright 1987, 1988, All Rights Reserved. Charles P. Guzis / SYDEX THIS IS NOT FREE SOFTWARE and may not be sold without the author's express written permission. If you have paid a "public domain" vendor for this program, rest as- sured that not one bit of what you paid ever gets back to the author. If you use this program, YOU MUST REGISTER. Neither SYDEX nor Mr. Guzis will answer tech- nical support inquiries from unregistered users. To register, send $15.00 with your name, company name (if any) and address to - SYDEX 153 North Murphy Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Upon receipt of your registration fee, you will be sent the most current version of ANADISK and its accompanying documentation. ANADISK and this document are protected by copyright. The receipt or possession of this document does not con- vey any rights beyond those enumerated herein to reproduce or distribute its contents. If ANADISK or this document are copied, a fee may be charged for the service of copying only, and not for ANADISK itself. If such a charge is made, it must be clearly identified as a service charge only by the vendor. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.................................................1 ANADISK IN BRIEF.............................................1 ANADISK OPERATION............................................1 Menus.......................................................2 The Main Menu...............................................2 SCAN Operation.............................................3 Searching for Data........................................5 SECTOR EDIT Operation......................................6 FILE EDIT Operation........................................8 REPAIR Operation...........................................9 COPY Operation............................................10 Accessing External Drives..................................11 Notes on Media Types.......................................11 IN CONCLUSION...............................................11 THE SYDEX PRODUCT LINE......................................11 i INTRODUCTION This document is comprised of major excerpts of the full ANADISK reference material. If you wish to get a copy of the complete documentation for ANADISK - you guessed it - you have to REGISTER. See the preceding page for information on registering. ANADISK IN BRIEF ANADISK is a general-purpose utility package to analyze, inspect, edit, repair and copy diskettes. It is intended for IBM Personal Computer-compatible machines and makes extensive use of the hardware facilities of this series of machines. ANADISK does not support the "hard" disk, just diskettes. ANADISK contains support for, but is not limited to, DOS- compatible diskettes. Almost any diskette that can successfully be read by the hardware contained in your machine can be processed by ANADISK. Menus, windows and use of color where available are part of ANADISK's implementation and make it easy to use, even by the in- experienced. ANADISK OPERATION As distributed, ANADISK consists of this file (usually called READ.ME or ANADISK.DOC) and the file ANADISK.EXE. To begin using ANADISK, just place the ANADISK.EXE file where it can be executed as a program and enter - ANADISK at the DOS prompt. If you have a monochrome display adapter, ANADISK's displays will be light on a dark background with occasional reverse video or highlighting. If you have a monochrome monitor connected to a color graphics adapter, or you find that you would rather have a light-on-dark display rather than a color display, simply invoke ANADISK with the following line - ANADISK M All displays will be light on a dark background. Page 1 If all goes well, you'll get what a friend calls the "elevator" display - a graphic ANADISK floats down to the bottom of your screen, and the registration information appears. After a short pause, the main menu appears. During the operation of ANADISK, there are two keys whose func- tion does not change: ESCape exits from whatever ANADISK is currently doing. If ANADISK is at the Main Menu, ESCape exits to DOS. Other- wise, ESCape takes ANADISK back one menu or display. In general, ESCape takes ANADISK back to whatever it was doing before the current operation. F1 gets a help display if one is available. Beginning with version 1.31, a help display is available everywhere ANADISK requests keyboard input. This help is "context sensitive"; that is, it relates directly to the current state of ANADISK execution. For example, pressing F1 at the main menu will display a short explanation of the choices shown on the menu. Pressing any other key will then bring you back to the main menu. Menus Menus are used to select ANADISK's operating modes. The current choice for an item is indicated by displaying that item in a in- verse video field; the current position within the menu is indi- cated by blinking that item. To select a different choice, use the right- and left-arrow cursor keys. To go to the next line in the menu, use the up- or down-arrow cursor keys. When all choices have been made, press the ENTER key and ANADISK will progress to the next menu. To exit to DOS, press the ESCape key. The Main Menu ANADISK's main menu selects what function is to be performed. The following operations are available: SCAN - reads every sector on a diskette, indicates the find- ings, and optionally pauses for examination. This function can be used to determine the type of a dis- kette, or just to determine its basic readability. In addition, SCAN is used to search for a data pattern on a diskette. Page 2 EDIT SECTORS - allows editing of the data on a diskette, sector by sector. Many other operations are possible; the diskette under examination need not be a DOS dis- kette. SECTOR mode is often used to repair data errors or to change the structure of data not normally acces- sible with the normal DOS utilities. EDIT FILES - edits data contained in a DOS file on a dis- kette. Because a file structure is essential to this mode, it may be used only with DOS diskettes. The dis- play and operation is similar to that of EDIT SECTORS. REPAIR - reconciles the File Allocation Tables, moves bad sectors and scans the diskette for readability. REPAIR can be used to salvage a diskette containing unreadable files. Again, because the REPAIR function requires a DOS file structure, it may be used only with DOS dis- kettes. COPY - copies one diskette to another, regardless of format. While not intended as a method for defeating copy protection schemes, the COPY function will make a true copy of just about any diskette, regardless of format. This operation also verifies the integrity of the copy by performing a read-after-write check of each sector. Where the integrity or format of a diskette is unknown, a SCAN operation should first be performed. If data errors are reported during the progress of a SCAN, it is best to attempt a repair first by using the SECTOR or FILE Edit modes. REPAIR mode can be used as a "last resort" for correcting DOS diskettes, or to iden- tify a particular file containing erroneous data. After the operating mode has been selected from the main menu, depressing the ENTER key will cause one of several sub-menus to appear. Each sub-menu contains specifications for parameters pertaining to the operating mode selected. SCAN Operation The SCAN mode sub-menu displays the following options; DISKETTE UNIT - Selects which diskette unit will be scanned. Normally, these appear as A: through D:. However, if physical unit access has been specified (see "Accessing Other Drives"), the diskette unit choices will appear as 0: through 3:. Page 3 PRINTER OUTPUT - If selected, causes a log to be printed on device LPT1: during the SCAN operation. Otherwise, results of the scan are only displayed and not printed. PAUSE AFTER ANOMALIES - If selected, ANADISK will pause after an anomalous condition or error occurs. Press- ing any key will cause execution to resume. SHOW DETAIL MAP AFTER ANOMALIES - If selected, a map of the track will be displayed showing cylinder, head and sec- tor addresses as they occur on the track. Errors and deleted data marks are also noted. Pressing any key will cause SCAN operation to resume. SEARCH FOR A DATA PATTERN - If selected, allows specifica- tion of a hexadecimal or ASCII data value up to 20 bytes in length. In addition, a hexadecimal selection mask may also be specified; '1' bits in the mask specify positions that are to be considered during the search; '0' bits are "don't cares". For more information on this mode, see "Searching for Data", below. SCAN mode first attempts to determine the characteristics of the diskette drive and controller. As the characteristics of the equipment found are determined, they are reported in either the left (General Information) or right (Detailed Information) win- dows. An attempt is made to determine the following: 1. If the diskette contains any readable information. 2. The data rate (250Kbps, 300Kbps or 500Kbps) used to record the information, if applicable. This is reported in terms of the drive type and the terms "high" or "low" density. 3. The track density or spacing of the diskette ver- sus the normal recording track density of the drive (48 or 96 tracks per inch). If the diskette appears to be blank, this is reported and ANADISK exits to the main menu. 4. If the diskette contains 512 byte sectors, sector 0, side 0, cylinder 0 is read and examined for a DOS boot sector. If one is found, the information is saved and used in operations involving DOS file structure. Additionally, a "pop-up" window ap- pears, showing the information read from the boot sector. Pressing any key causes this window to disappear. Page 4 If no valid boot sector data can be found, a check is made for a File Allocation Table (FAT) present on the first track of the diskette. If one is found, the diskette is assumed to be a DOS dis- kette, and analysis is conducted based on the FAT identification byte located. Note that either of the two FATs may be intact (something that DOS will not look for). 5. If a DOS diskette is detected, all FAT clusters are checked for correct range, and if both copies of the FAT can be read, the two copies are com- pared for consistency. Any differences are reported and may be repaired by means of the REPAIR mode or the SECTOR edit mode. If a DOS diskette cannot be identified, a check is made for a few other common diskette types, such as CP/M-86 system diskettes. Regardless of the type of diskette, the entire diskette is scanned for structure and readability, reporting changes in the overall format of each track as well as any errors detected. Searching for Data A SCAN mode option allows a diskette to be searched for a specified data value. If this option is selected on the SCAN sub-menu, another menu will appear with the following choices: SEARCH KEY MODE specifies whether the search key will be en- tered in ASCII or hexadecimal. In either case, up to 20 bytes of data may be entered. SEARCH QUALIFICATION specifies how much 'leeway' should be given in the search. if NONE is selected, the data value will be located exactly as it is entered. IGNORE CASE will cause upper- and lower-case ASCII letters to be considered as being equivalent. SPECIFY MASK allows specification of a hexadecimal mask value. This mask value contains '1' bits in those positions of the data value to be considered in the search. '0' bits denote "don't care" positions. When either the search data value or mask is being entered, Alt-X (the Alt and 'X" keys depressed simultaneously), will cause the current position to be regarded as a "don't care". That is, Alt-X specifies a "wild card" which will not be considered in the search. The first byte of the search data value must not be a "don't care". Page 5 After the search data value and the qualifying mask have been specified, a normal track-by-track scan is performed of the dis- kette. When a match is found with the specified value, a "pop- up" window gives the location and, if applicable, the file where the match occurred. ANADISK then pauses until one of the follow- ing keys has been pressed: C to continue and find the next occurrence of the value. S to skip the remainder of the track and continue search- ing with the next track. E to enter SECTOR EDIT mode with the sector containing the data. When an exit from SECTOR EDIT mode is made, the "pop up" window reappears. ESCape to exit SCAN mode and return to the main menu. The search for a match on a specified data value continues to the end of the diskette. SECTOR EDIT Operation The SECTOR Edit mode allows diskette data to be altered or in- spected on a sector address basis, as contrasted with the FILE edit mode, which allows editing of data within a specified DOS file. The SECTOR EDIT sub-menu selects the diskette unit to be used. Like SCAN mode, SECTOR Edit mode begins operation by determining the diskette type and drive characteristics. After this is done, a prompt is displayed to select the track and side containing the sector(s) to be inspected or modified. The right- and left-cursor keys are used to select the track, the up- and down-cursor keys are used to select the head or side con- taining the sector. The "ruler" line shows this position change correspondingly. When the ENTER key is pressed, the track is read for analysis and a track map is displayed. The desired sector is selected from the displayed track map by use of the up- and down-cursor keys. When the sector to be edited is highlighted, the ENTER key is pressed to display the data for that sector. Note that the sectors are listed in the order in which they occur on the track, but that the selection is done in strictly numerical order. Page 6 The sector data is displayed in hexadecimal and ASCII formats; the current position within the sector data is indicated by a highlighted, inverse video block. Sector data may be changed by simply entering new data at the current position or by making use of one of the predefined function keys. If the sector data has been changed, but not re-written to the disk, the word "SAVE" will appear in the editing menu window as a reminder that the data displayed does not yet reflect the actual data on the disk. The function keys are as follows: F1 Help key, brings up a help display for editing. F2 Re-reads the current sector and display its data. F3 Writes the currently displayed data back to the dis- kette. F4 Toggles the deleted data mark indicator. If set, the data in the buffer will be written (when F3 is used) back to the diskette with a Deleted Data Mark. If clear, no deleted data mark will be set. F5 Shifts all the currently displayed data left one bit from the current position to the end of the sector. High-order bits shifted out of the current position are discarded; zeroes are shifted into the low-order bits of the last byte of the sector. F6 Shifts all the currently displayed data right one bit from the current position to the end of the sector. High-order zeroes are shifted into the current posi- tion, with low order bits being discarded from the last byte of the sector. F7 Takes the ones' complement (logical NOT) of the cur- rently displayed data from the current position to the end of the sector. F8 Fills the remainder of the currently displayed sector with the value of the byte at the current position. F9 Reads the next sector of the current track; if the last sector has just been read, "wraps" back to the first sector on the track. F10 Changes the display mode and data entry from hexadecimal to ASCII or vice-versa. When in ASCII entry mode, all printable characters (value of a space or above) can be entered. Page 7 Shift-F2 Performs a "diagnostic read" of the track. A diagnostic read involves reading the data field of the first sector and continues with all fields until 8192 bytes have been read. ID fields, gap bytes and CRCs are read indiscriminately; no attempt to re-synchronize the data separator is made after the first sector has been read. This function allows viewing of raw data and may be used to determine the value of a data field whose address ID field has been corrupted. Shift-F3 Performs a read of every sector on the current track and side; the data is accumulated. The track is then re-formatted and the data rewritten to the track. Before the formatting occurs, you will be asked to ap- prove the formatting - if ESCape is pressed, the opera- tion will not be performed. This function may be used to transfer just one track from one diskette to another by swapping the source and destination after the prompt appears, but before a response is given. Shift-F9 Reads the previous sector on the track; if already at the beginning of the track, "wraps" to the last sec- tor on the track. Shift-F10 Reads the next side; equivalent to exiting back to the main display and advancing to the next side. ESCape - Backs up to the previous display. In case of sector data errors, ANADISK will attempt to present all data recoverable from the diskette. Some of the functions just described are intended to assist in recovering data that has become corrupted. The Shift Right, Left and NOT functions are especially useful in this respect. If a sector shows up as "missing" or "added" on the track map, it cannot be read, nor will it be written. If any data is recoverable when a sector is read however, the sector can be re- written and the error condition generally will disappear. FILE EDIT Operation FILE Edit mode is similar to the SECTOR Edit mode of operation, with the exception that DOS file structure is used as the basis for organizing information, rather than the physical organization of sectors on the diskette. Page 8 The opening display for FILE Edit mode presents a list of file names contained in the root directory of the diskette. The cur- sor up- and down-arrow keys are used to select the file to be edited; the file name display may be "paged" by means of the Page Up (PgUp) or Page Down (PgDn) cursor keys. To examine the files in a particular subdirectory, position the cursor bar to the subdirectory name and press ENTER. To go back to the parent directory of a subdirectory, position to the ".." entry and press ENTER. To begin editing a file, position to the file name and press ENTER. The editing display is almost identical to that of the SECTOR Edit mode, with the following exceptions: F9 Reads the next sector in the file, rather than the next sector on the track. Shift-F9 Reads the previous sector in the file, rather than the previous sector on the track. Shift-F10 Does not operate in this mode. Note that the file name and offset from the beginning of the file appear in the editing menu window, along with a "SAVE" indication if data has been altered. REPAIR Operation REPAIR mode can be considered to be two functions. The first is a rudimentary DOS diskette check and verify mode; the second is a bad sector remapping mode. The bad sector remapping operations should be viewed as a "last resort" type of repair as the overall structure of the diskette is affected. REPAIR mode performs the following tasks: 1. Checks for the presence and agreement of two File Al- location tables on the diskette. If a disagreement is found, or one table is absent, a new copy of the FAT may optionally be rewritten to the diskette. 2. Scans the entire diskette for unreadable data. If any is found, the file containing the bad data is located, the cluster (a grouping of sectors used by DOS as a "unit" of diskette space) is reassigned to a different area of the diskette and the data (or as much of the data that can be read) is written to the newly assigned cluster. The original cluster containing the data is marked as unavailable for future allocation. Page 9 The object of REPAIR mode is to produce a readable DOS diskette. Missing data or data in error still must be corrected manually but the structure and size of files will be correct. The DOS utility CHKDSK can be useful when checking the structural in- tegrity of a diskette and should be used after REPAIR mode has been run for a "second opinion". COPY Operation COPY mode allows the contents of one diskette to be copied to another, regardless of format or DOS orientation. While COPY mode will successfully produce copies of many "copy protected" diskettes, the intent of its function is to enable one to copy a diskette which is not copyable using the DOS DISKCOPY function. A two-drive machine is not necessary for this function; that is, the source and target drives may be the same unit. If one of the drives is a high-capacity (PC-AT type) drive and normal 40 track diskettes are being copied, the high-capacity drive should be designated as the source drive and the normal-capacity drive as the destination to ensure an accurate, readable copy. The COPY sub-menu requests specification of the source and des- tination drives. When ENTER is depressed, the COPY operation begins by reading the source diskette. If the type of the source drive and diskette is not compatible with the type of the destination drive, an error message will be issued and ANADISK will exit COPY mode. For instance, a 1.2M byte high-density diskette in a high-density drive cannot be copied to a 360K byte normal-density drive. A scan of the diskette is performed as the copy proceeds; errors are noted in exactly the same manner and format as in the SCAN mode. Sectors containing data errors are copied with the er- roneous data written as read. Each track is read back after it is written for verification. The copy process completes when no more data can be found on the source diskette. If the destination and source drives have been selected to be the same unit, ANADISK will prompt for disk changes as needed. ANADISK attempts to read as much data as is possible into memory from the source diskette before writing to the destination dis- kette. With a 640K system under DOS 3.3, about 46 double-sided tracks can be copied before a disk change is necessary. Page 10 Accessing External Drives In its normal operating mode, ANADISK uses BIOS interrupt 11 (hex) to determine the number of diskette drives attached to the computer. The ROM BIOS gets this information from the mother- board DIP switches (on PC's and XT's), or from the CMOS RAM writ- ten by the SETUP program (on AT's). If a drive has been in- stalled which is not indicated by either of these settings, ANADISK will need to be told about the total number of diskette drives that are actually installed. This is done by specifying the number of drives on the ANADISK command line. For example, ANADISK 4 indicates a four-drive system is present. ANADISK will refer to these drives as 0:, 1:, 2: and 3:. Notes on Media Types ANADISK contains code to recognize single density (FM encoded) diskettes if the host diskette controller supports that facility. The notation "FM", rather than "MFM" will appear in the GENERAL INFORMATION window. All operations (read, write and format) are supported. Additional code has been incorporated in Version 1.31 to provide support for ATARI ST 3.5" diskettes. Strictly speaking, these are not DOS diskettes, but their structure is close enough for them to be treated as such. High-density modes (1.2Mbyte 5.25" and 1.44Mbyte 3.5") are sup- ported only on AT-class computers and Personal System/2 models 50 and above. IN CONCLUSION ANADISK turned out to be more popular than we had originally thought. We are currently planning a major new release (due about 6/88) of ANADISK which completely re-organizes the function and layout and implements the following goodies: * Design your own diskette format. * Save or load data from disk. And a lot more! If you've registered prior to the new release, you'll automatically receive an update. THE SYDEX PRODUCT LINE Page 11 SHAREWARE 22DISK - Transfer files, format, examine and erase files on "foreign" CP/M diskettes on your PC. ASCII diskette description file allows "roll your own" specifications for really hard-to-find systems. Includes tips on supporting 8" and 5.25" single-density diskettes. Bundled with 22NICE. $15.00 Shareware registration fee. 22NICE - A CP/M 2.2 emulation package. Supports the NEC V-series chips or performs emulation by software for both the 8080 and Z80 processors. Includes terminal emulation and diskette handling for Osborne, Kaypro, Morrow, Heath/Zenith and Actrix. Allows use of CP/M utilities in- terchangeably with DOS programs. Includes 22DISK. $30.00 Shareware registration fee. TELEDISK - Turn any diskette into a compressed data file and vice-versa. Allows you to send and receive entire diskettes via modem. Great for those bootable game diskettes and for diskettes with subdirectories. Works with most "copy- protected" diskettes. $20.00 Shareware registration fee. COPYQM - Cheap diskette duplicator. Format, copy and verify multiple diskettes from a single master. Implements "smart" drive status determination, freeing the operator's hands from keyboard interaction. Handles all standard DOS formats including 3.5" 1.44M files. $15.00 Shareware registration fee. FORMATQM - Mass diskette formatter - format a box of dis- kettes at a single sitting. Implements "smart" drive status determination, freeing the operator's hands from keyboard interaction. Format a 360K diskette in 41 seconds. Sup- ports all standard DOS formats. $15.00 Shareware registra- tion fee. RETAIL SOFTWARE SIMCGA 4.3 - Color Graphics Adapter simulation on monochrome (Hercules-compatible) graphics-equipped machines. Available from better software retailers and distributed by CSS, ABCO and American Software Distributors. SIM-EMS - A "must" for AT users -- emulates Lotus/Intel/ Microsoft Expanded memory using your machine's extended memory. Allows sharing with VDISK and has extremely simple installation. Page 12 Some of the terms used in this document are proprietary trademarks of one or more of the following: International Business Machines - IBM, PS/2, Personal System/2, PC AT. Microsoft - MS-DOS Page 13