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Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ USER-SUPPORTED SOFTWARE _______________________ Much of the software which is available for your computer seems to be produced and sold on the assumption that you are a crook, and will take any available opportunity to cheat its creators and vendors out of their rightful reward. It is copy-protected within an inch of its (and your computer's) life and is still priced at a level which guarantees its producers a profit even if four or five illegal copies are made for each one sold. User-supported software is different. You may have got a copy of this package free from a friend or a bulletin board or (for a nominal fee) from a users' group or software library. In any case, you have a perfectly legal copy. You are further encouraged to make as many copies of the package as you like and to distribute them to all your friends. However, if, after trying the ________ program out, you find that it is useful and want to keep it and continue using it, you must register your copy by sending the ____ registration fee ($30.00,) together with a completed registration form, to the address on the form. If you continue to use the program after an appropriate trial period (and the "Shareware" system lets you ___ determine what is appropriate), you are breaking both the terms of the license under which you have received the software and the law. You may believe that the chances of the law of Copyright being enforced against you are very low (and you may even be right!), and the distributors of "user-supported" software do, in fact, usually simply have to trust you to be honest and willing to pay a reasonable price for a useful program. However, you should bear in mind that unsupported "Shareware" software is likely either to cease to exist altogether or to go commercial. The former eventuality benefits nobody - the latter only the "middlemen". Many of the commercial software vendors also apparently assume that you are a crook - you can decide whether you want to prove them right. As a bonus, registered users will get a copy of V4.36 of HDTEST, which includes a number of significant enhancements over V3.13, and will be entitled to support and help with HDTEST-related problems (including telephone support) for a year from the date of registration. Additional features in V4.36 included support for a wider variety of computer systems and storage media, more detailed documentation of the meaning of HDTEST's sometimes rather cryptic error messages, and a "fast" test mode. the newest version also includes BIOS-level support for logical devices created by means of IBM DOS 3.3's extended partitioning scheme and allows more flexibility in the handling of unrecoverable read errors in data-containing clusters. Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ INTRODUCTION ____________ This "Shareware" version of the HDTEST package may be copied and distributed freely, provided that no changes are made to the programs and/or documentation. The programs are fully functional, but they are licensed to you for evaluation purposes only. If, after a reasonable ____________________________ trial period ("Shareware" gives you the right to determine what that ___ means), you decide that you wish to make HDTEST a permanent (or semi- permanent) part of your software utility "toolkit", you must register ____ as a user by completing and returning the Registration Form which is to be found at the end of this documentation, together with a check or money order for the appropriate Registration Fee (U.S. $30.00, or equivalent). Incidentally, if you try the package out and decide not ___ to continue using it, I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line explaining why you made that decision, particularly if the reason is a bug or apparent bug in the program. HDTEST was written to allow comprehensive Read/Write testing of hard disks on IBM PCs, XTs, ATs, and "true" compatibles. Although many programs, including IBM's diagnostics, allow "surface scanning" and seek testing of hard disks, none that are available to the average user test whether the whole disk can retain the data that is or will be written to it. HDTEST's principal "claim to fame" is the ability thoroughly to test the surface of a hard disk which contains data while preserving the data (although data loss is unavoidable if a _________________________ cluster which is in use has become unreadable). HDTEST tests the disk ____ much more thoroughly than programs such as DFixer, Mace, and Norton's DT. Mace and DT, like many public domain "disk test" programs, simply read every cluster on the disk and report on any errors encountered. DFixer does better, writing 4 test patterns to every free cluster and checking that they can be read back correctly, but it makes no attempt to test clusters that are already in use - the very ones which contain your precious data! HDTEST writes 20 different test patterns to every cluster on the disk _____ and checks that each pattern can be read back correctly, while preserving the contents of the clusters that already contain data. HDTEST can also (on most systems) detect errors which are minor enough to be correctable (and corrected) by the disk controller's own "error- correcting code" (ECC). These errors are normally totally invisible to programs running under DOS and will not usually be picked up by other disk test utilities. They may, however, be early signs of a problem that will become significant later, and HDTEST will consequently mark the offending cluster as bad. As long as HDTEST can read the data from a flaky cluster correctly once (and it tries quite hard) the program will be able to save the file of which that cluster is a part intact, while marking the cluster so that DOS does not try ______ to use it again. The program was designed to minimize the likelihood of user error causing data loss on a good (or slightly bad) disk, and to be easy to use - it could not be designed to be fast, since multiple bit patterns have to be written to and read from each cluster, and this takes time. The program can be used to test single and double-sided 8- and 9-sector floppy disks (if you have plenty of ______ patience!), as well as AT-format 1.2Mb floppies (with the same proviso). Page 2 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ HDTEST's companion program, HDCHEK, simply examines the logical structure of the device and reports on what it finds. It does not write to the disk, and is provided principally to allow a quick and easy, but fairly reliable, check on the compatibility between HDTEST and a given software/hardware configuration. In general, if HDCHEK ___________ runs successfully on a system, then HDTEST can be expected to do so, although the latter program does require more memory. The HDTEST package is distributed as "User-supported Software". If you find it useful, you are asked to become a registered user by sending a completed copy of the Registration Form (which is included in this documentation), together with a check or money order for $30.00 ($40.00 Canadian, $25.00 Sterling) to me at the address which appears on the form (and on the program's copyright screen). I will send you a personalised copy of the latest, considerably enhanced, version of the HDTEST package (V4.34), and register you for a year's support. Registration entitles you to be notified of upgrades, bug fixes, newly discovered incompatibilities, etc., and to ask for (and get) necessary help in adapting the program to work on your hardware. I cannot guar- antee to make HDTEST work with every possible combination of hardware and software, but I will promise to try to solve problems as they come up, and I will return your registration fee if I cannot support your system. Support will be available TO REGISTERED USERS ONLY by mail, ________________________ BIXmail, Compuserve EMail and telephone. Please also bear in mind that my willingness and ability to continue to support and enhance these programs will be directly dependent on your willingness to pay the registration fee and (to some extent) inversely dependent on the number of questions I get that could be answered by reading the docu- mentation(!). The HD programs were written principally in C, compiled by the Microsoft C compiler (Version 4.00) using its "small" memory model, and linked with code from the distributed Microsoft C object libraries using the Microsoft LINK program (Version 3.51). Additional assembly language routines were assembled by the Microsoft MASM Macro Assembler (Version 4.00). Portions of the distributed program are consequently Copyright (C) by Microsoft Corp., 1985, 1986. All rights reserved. These portions are used under the terms of a license from Microsoft Corp. The HD programs were written with care and have been extensively tested on a number of different systems. I cannot, however, give any guarantee as to their performance on a specific system, nor can I accept liability for any actual or consequential loss resulting from their use. The programs may only be used and/or copied in their original form. Unauthorised modifications and/or the use of all or part of the programs in other software, commercial or otherwise, are strictly prohibited. Page 3 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ GETTING STARTED _______________ This section gives step by step instructions for running HDCHEK and HDTEST on the C: drive of a standard IBM PC, XT, or 100% compatible. Owners of ATs or AT clones may safely follow these instructions, too, but proper testing of disks on these machines requires the /A command line flag to be used, as discussed in later sections. The following sections also go into much more detail about some of the program's other features and options, and should help to explain and let you deal with any problems which you may encounter. 1) (If you obtained a copy of the package on a floppy disk) Use DOS's DISKCOPY program to make a duplicate of the distribution disk, put the original away in a safe place, and use the duplicate as your working disk. 2) Make sure that you have current backups of all the files on drive C:. This is particularly important when running the HD program for the first time on a new system. 3) Run DOS's CHKDSK program on drive C: and correct any errors reported by it before proceeding further. 4) Make the drive and/or directory which contains HDCHEK.EXE and HDTEST.EXE your current drive and/or directory. 5) Insert a formatted, non-write-protected floppy disk in drive A. A log file called HDTEST.LOG will be written to this disk - any other files on it will be undisturbed. 6) Give the command: "HDCHEK C:". After a certain amount of disk activity has taken place, and certainly within a minute or two, your screen should look like one of the examples given in Appendix B. If any errors are reported, DO NOT PROCEED until you have read the rest ______________ of the documentation and/or are sure you know what is going on. 7) If HDCHEK reported no errors, give the command "HDTEST C: A:". ____________________________ After some disk activity, the program will prompt for replies to three questions - press <Return> in response to each prompt. The program will report its progress to the screen and will record any problems encountered in the log file on the floppy disk. Depending on the size of your DOS partition and the access time of the disk, a complete run of HDTEST will take between 2 and 5 hours. Your intervention will only _____ be required if a bad cluster is found in a "hidden", "system", or write-protected file, when you will be asked to approve remapping; otherwise, bad clusters will be automatically remapped. HDTEST can be aborted at any time by pressing <Esc> and responding to the "Are you sure...." prompt by pressing <Return>. 8) If HDTEST finishes testing without finding any bad clusters, it will simply record that fact and the finishing time in the log file and return to the DOS prompt. Otherwise, when read/write testing has been completed, you will be prompted for permission to complete the remapping process by updating the disk FATs and Directories. Pressing <Return> will allow this to take place, and you will then be returned to the DOS prompt. Page 4 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ 9) If HDTEST reported and remapped some bad clusters, see the section on "Dealing with bad clusters" later in this documentation. Page 5 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ HARDWARE & SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ________________________________ HDTEST and HDCHEK make a number of assumptions about the environment in which they are operating. They will, generally speaking, abort with an informative error message if they find one of these assumptions to be untrue! They require MS/PC-DOS 2.x or above and (for HDTEST) up to about 256 Kb of free memory (the exact amount required depends on the characteristics of the device being tested) to run - the presence of more memory may (slightly) increase HDTEST's speed when testing devices with large cluster sizes. The device to be tested must have been initialized by FDISK and FORMATted by the DOS utility; only the first DOS partition of a multi-partition disk can be tested by this Shareware version of the program, although the Registered version of HDTEST does allow testing of all DOS partitions. For this reason, if you wish to use V3.12 of HDTEST to test a new hard disk which is to ____ contain multiple partitions, you should first configure it as a single DOS partition, test it in that configuration, and then reconfigure it to its final form. Note that, under these circumstances, HDTEST is only a test - when you repartition the disk, any remapping and/or ____ marking of bad clusters which it may have done is lost. The BIOS handler for interrupt 13 must be capable of handling (at least) normal disk reads and writes (sub-functions 2 and 3) in a way that is compatible with that documented for the XT and AT disk adapters in IBM's technical documentation (the Registered version of the program also relaxes this restriction). This should be no problem for most disk systems on IBM PCs and most compatibles. HDTEST V3.12 may not, however, be usable with non-bootable hard disks and/or with hard disks which require special device drivers to be installed. If run under DOS 3.0 or above, HDTEST attempts to locate and use the ROM BIOS INT 13 entry point, rather than the normal INT 13 vector (which DOS 3.x intercepts and interferes with). By default, unless the /A or /D flag is set, the program assumes that, if a ROM is present at ___________________ absolute address C8000H, it contains the hard disk BIOS and has ___ initialization code starting at offset 3. This assumption is true for all hard disks which "plug in" to the IBM PC and XT. It may not be true for all clones which come with hard disks installed, although it is likely to be true for most of them. The AT and some of its clones have no ROM at all at this location, which is OK, too, even if you forget to use the /A flag (but see para 5 in the "Limitations and Restrictions" section). Problems (up to and including system halts) may occur if neither flag is set and there is a ROM at C8000H but it __ does not control the hard disk. They are almost guaranteed if the ___ initialization code does not start at offset 3 in the ROM. If you have problems running HDCHEK and HDTEST on such systems, try running the programs with the /D flag (for PCs and XTs) or the /A flag (for ATs). Note that, since HDTEST remaps bad clusters to free space, there is not much point in running it on a disk which has none (as shown by DIR or CHKDSK), since it will abort immediately if it finds a bad cluster. Unless you have a really flaky disk, however, you should not need more than a couple of hundred Kb free to remap any reasonably probable number of bad clusters. ANSI.SYS, or another ANSI console driver, should be installed on those systems (including the IBM family) which do not support ANSI screen Page 6 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ I/O in Video BIOS - nothing terrible will happen if ANSI.SYS is not installed, but the screen display will be very strange (!!). The HD programs have been tested and run with NANSI.SYS and FANSI-Console, both of which have advantages (for uses other than running HDTEST!) over the DOS driver and are also distributed as Shareware. Page 7 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS ____________________________ The current version of HDTEST has a few limitations, most of which result from the way data is stored internally by the program. None of them are "etched in stone", although some could only be avoided at the cost of slowing down what is already far from a fast process. The known limitations are as follows: 1) Maximum number of clusters per disk = 24,000 (this number is approximate, because it depends on dynamic memory allocation). This limit may be increased to 32,768 in a subsequent version of the program. 2) Maximum cluster size = 65,528 bytes. I do not believe that a DOS disk can ever have clusters larger than 64 Kb, but my limit is a few less than that and may, since sector and cluster sizes tend to run in powers of 2, effectively limit cluster size to 32 Kb - this should be enough for most people!. 3) Because of certain inherent limitations in the chips used to support direct memory access (DMA, the method used to transfer data from disk to memory and vice versa), HDTEST may be unable to use free memory efficiently when cluster sizes are large. This can result in "Insufficient Memory" or "Memory Allocation" errors, even on systems with more than the minimum 256 Kb of free memory prescribed above. The only cure for this is to free up (or buy!) more memory (remove RAMdisks, remove resident software, etc.). 4) The current version of HDTEST will run on ATs and some AT clones, but may not, even with the /A flag set, be able to detect corrected ECC errors when run on some of the clones - a warning message will be displayed when the program initializes itself if corrected ECC errors are not being detected. The program will also not detect corrected ECC errors when invoked with the /D flag (under DOS 3.0 or above). Page 8 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ RUNNING THE PROGRAMS ____________________ Always run HDCHEK on any new hardware/software configuration before you attempt to run HDTEST (at least the first time). The latter program has been written as conservatively as possible, but it is not possible to predict the behavior of every conceivable combination of hardware and operating system when dealing with a program which bypasses most of the controls which normally protect the user from destroying his world. HDCHEK is invoked with the command line: HDCHEK device [/A] [/D] "device" is the device to be tested (e.g. A:, B:, etc. - the colons are permitted but not required). ___ The /A(T) flag is used to tell the HD program that it is being run on an AT or AT-clone (which has its hard disk BIOS in a ROM at F0000H, rather than C8000H). The /D(OS interrupt) flag has no effect under DOS 2.x. Under DOS 3.0 or above, it forces HDCHEK to use the existing INT 13 vector (which it always does under DOS 2.x), and prevents the program from trying to determine the ROM BIOS entry point; the flag should be used if you know that your system's fixed disk BIOS does not follow IBM's "rules" or if the program crashes the system when invoked without it. After a short delay, during most of which the specified device will be active, a description of the device's logical structure will be disp- layed. After a further delay, and more disk activity, a message will be printed giving the number of files and subdirectories found on the disk, and the program will exit back to DOS. Note that the total number of files and subdirectories reported by HDCHEK will be greater than the sum of the counts reported by CHKDSK. This is because HDCHEK counts the "." and ".." entries in subdirectories and CHKDSK doesn't. Errors and/or problems encountered, if any, will be reported on in some detail. A number of example screen displays and log files produced by running HDCHEK (and HDTEST) on different systems will be found in Appendix B at the end of this documentation. Always run the DOS CHKDSK program immediately before running HDTEST on a disk. If CHKDSK reports any problems, its /F option (or other means) should be used to correct them before HDTEST is run. ____________________ HDTEST is invoked with the command line: HDTEST device1 [device2] [/A] [/B] [/D] [/N] [/P] [/Snnnnn] "device1" is the device to be tested, as for HDCHEK. "device2" (which, if present, must be different from "device1") is the name of a device on which a log file (called HDTEST.LOG) is to be written. If "device2" is not specified, errors are reported to the console terminal and ___ should not be redirected. ________________________ The /A and /D flags have the same meaning and effect that they do for HDCHEK. Page 9 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ The /B(oot/Partition sector test) flag forces the program to include the boot/partition sector (track 0, head 0, sector 1) in the DOS area for the purposes of read/write testing. The default action is only to perform read and seek tests on this sector, even if read/write testing of the DOS area is specified. Since the boot/partition sector is effectively read-only under normal circumstances (it is only written _______ to during low-level formatting and by FDISK), read/write testing is __ less vital than for the rest of the disk. In addition, at least one hard disk controller (a Western Digital board which allows a single physical disk to be divided into two logical disks) will not allow test patterns to be written to this sector. The /N(o Query) flag disables the individual prompts for confirmation which the program normally issues before remapping clusters which are marked as "Reserved" or which are part of a file which is marked as "System", "Hidden", or "Readonly". The /N flag does not prevent the ___ program from prompting for confirmation before updating the disk. The /P(rint) flag causes the log file to be directed to the PRN device (normally LPT1), and overrides any "device2" specification that may have been given. The /S(tart) flag causes HDTEST to start testing occupied clusters at ________ cluster number nnnnn (expressed as a decimal number). There must be no space between the "S" and the number. This option will mainly be useful when a previous run of HDTEST was interrupted (by pressing <Esc>), since it allows you to start where you left off. Note that, in order to be sure that data is not remapped to a bad area, HDTEST always tests all empty clusters before starting to test occupied ______ ___ clusters. For this reason, using the /S flag will not result in a large time saving if your disk is nearly empty, and will make the most difference on a full, or nearly full, disk. After displaying its copyright message, HDTEST reads the FATs and scans the root directory and all subdirectory trees of the specified device before initiating a short dialogue. All questions are of the "Yes/No" type and should be answered by typing "Y" or "N" (case does not matter) and pressing the <Return> key. Pressing the <Return> key alone is equivalent to giving the default response (which appears in square brackets at the end of each prompt). HDTEST then proceeds to test the specified device. By default, the DOS area (boot sector, FATs, and root directory) is not subjected to Read/Write testing, since failures in this area usually make themselves apparent fairly rapidly. The user can, however, choose to run these tests on the DOS area too, or to limit testing to read and seek tests only over the whole partition. In its reports to the screen, HDTEST uses the convention that read- only testing is "Checking" while read/write testing is "Testing" - it always "checks" the boot/partition sector and the rest of the DOS area, but only "tests" them if requested to do so. In "checking" or "testing" a block (sector or cluster), HDTEST first reads it (retrying, if necessary, up to five times) and then does the longest possible seek away from it before attempting to read it again. "Checking" is complete at this point. "Testing" continues with the Page 10 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ program sequentially writing 20 different bit patterns to the block and checking that each one can be read correctly, before rewriting the original contents of the block (and checking to ensure that it has been restored correctly). Errors that occur at any point in this process are reported and (if the block is in the data area - errors in the DOS area are always treated as fatal) the block is remapped. If an error is detected in a "Reserved" cluster or in one that is part of a file which is marked as "System", "Hidden", or "Readonly", the user is normally asked for confirmation before the cluster is remapped, otherwise it is assumed that remapping is desirable. HDTEST keeps a copy of the FAT and a map of the device's directory structure in memory. A bad cluster is remapped by transferring its contents to a free cluster and (if it was in use) changing all necessary FAT and directory entries so that the pointer chain which maintains the structure of the affected file or subdirectory remains valid. The bad cluster's FAT entry is then altered to identify it as bad to DOS. The disk's FATs and directories are not altered until the ______ whole disk has been scanned, and then only after the user has confirmed that it is OK to proceed. This means that a power failure and/or an inadvertent power-off which occurs while the program is running will cause the loss of, at most, one cluster of data and of no FAT or root directory information (unless you are very unlucky and it ____ happens after you have confirmed that you want a damaged data area to be remapped and while this is being done). If a power failure and/or power-off occurs while a cluster which contains the directory information of a subdirectory is being tested, part or all of that subdirectory will probably become inaccessible to DOS, although the data in it will remain on the disk and be potentially recoverable with the aid of (e.g.) the Norton Utilities (TM). You can safely interrupt the testing process part way through (by pressing the <Esc> key) with no risk of leaving a partially updated FAT or directory. If you do interrupt the program in this way, you will still be given the option of updating the disk, so that bad clusters which were detected before <Esc> was pressed can be remapped. Errors which occur in the program's initialization phase cause it to abort with an error message and (sometimes) a hexadecimal error code. The meaning of the error code is context-dependent. Errors detected during read-write testing only cause the program to abort if they occur during testing of the DOS area, or if remapping is impossible (only likely to happen if the disk is full). In any event, a description of the error is written to the log file (if any) or to the screen. This specifies the cluster or (for the DOS area) sector number and the name of the affected file (if any), and defines the type(s) of error which occurred. HDTEST takes a very long time to run to completion because of the ____ large number of reads and writes it does for each cluster. A typical time for an XT disk (10 Mb) would be 2 hrs; full disk testing on a 30 Mb AT Plus takes at least 4 hrs. Page 11 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ DEALING WITH BAD CLUSTERS _________________________ It is, unfortunately, not unusual for a new hard disk to have a small, ______ constant, number of bad clusters. IBM's quality control standards ________ allow, for example, 5% of the surface area of a disk to be bad (!). These bad clusters, which correspond to imperfections in the magnetic coating on the disk, will normally be detected and marked by the DOS FORMAT program and HDTEST will report them as "already marked as bad". This should not be regarded as evidence of any real problem with the disk, although some suppliers (not including IBM) will replace such ___ disks under warranty if pressed to do so. It is also not unusual for a disk to develop a few more defects as it ages. When these do ___ develop, they are also usually constant in size and position, and will be reported as "already marked as bad" by HDTEST on runs subsequent to that during which they are first found. The occasional appearance (and __________ subsequent persistence) of a new bad cluster is, therefore, not necessarily evidence of serious trouble developing. However, if more than one or two new bad clusters are reported by HDTEST, and especially if two consecutive runs of HDTEST report different bad _________ clusters, there is a good chance that the hard disk or controller is developing a serious problem - the disk should be backed up immediately and the system sent for repair at the earliest opportunity. New bad clusters in the data area are automatically mapped out by HDTEST, and no further action is necessary. Bad sectors in the DOS area can be handled in two ways: 1) If you are able to do a low-level format on your hard disk (most _________ makers of "add-on" hard disks supply a method of doing this, either in the form of a short program, or by giving instructions for running a program in the ROM BIOS from DEBUG), back up the entire hard disk ______ (including any non-DOS partitions), run the low-level format, use FDISK to repartition the disk, and then run the DOS FORMAT program. If HDTEST now reports no errors in the DOS area you can restore all your files and continue to use the disk. You should, however, use HDTEST to test (at least) the DOS area fairly frequently for a month or so to be sure that the problems are not going to recur. 2) If you do not have the wherewithal to do a low-level format, or if you follow the above instructions and HDTEST continues to report bad sectors in the DOS area, your only other choice is to back up the DOS partition, reconfigure the disk with FDISK so that the new DOS partition starts above the bad area, reFORMAT it, and restore all of the old files to the new DOS partition (which will unavoidably be a little smaller than the old). If absolute sector zero (track 0, Head 0, sector 1) really becomes bad, the disk must be replaced. This sector is only subjected to read/write testing if the /B flag is specified on the command line, so __________ any reported errors (in sector -1) during normal testing represent a __ problem reading the sector and are likely to be significant. Problems _______ encountered during read/write testing of this sector do not always ___ indicate a bad disk - certain controller cards may not allow test patterns to be written to it, resulting in multiple errors on read/write testing. Consequently, if multiple errors are reported on read/write testing of this sector, but read-only testing proceeds without problems and the rest of the disk seems to be OK, there is probably no cause for concern. Page 12 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ BUGS AND OTHER UNPLEASANT SUBJECTS __________________________________ Although, like all programmers, I like to think that my product is perfect, it is possible that there are a few bugs lurking in the depths of the program, and likely that some combination of software and hardware exists which HDTEST cannot figure out and/or cope with. If you think you have found a bug and/or if you cannot get either of the programs to work on your system, do the following: 1) Reread this documentation! Make sure that you are doing exactly what the documentation says to do. Make sure (if you are testing a drive with removable media) that the media is not write-protected. 2) Boot your system from a "virgin" DOS disk - preferably a copy of your DOS distribution disk - and try to run the HD programs again. If they run in this environment but not in your normal DOS environment, try reconstructing the system under which they failed by adding things one by one until the problem recurs. If you find a specific piece of software which causes the trouble, let me know about the incompatibility. 3) If the above approaches do not help, or if HDCHEK runs but HDTEST bombs (the reverse should never happen), send me as detailed a description of the problem as possible and, if you are a Registered _______________________ User, I will do my best to diagnose and fix it. A bug report should _____ always include a full description of the system being used, as well as ______ ____ the output from a run of HDCHEK. Page 13 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS VERSIONS ______________________________ The first version released (other than beta-test versions) was V2.60. Version 3.13 (this version) - The following (visible) changes have been made in HDCHEK: 1) Minor bug in V2.60 (which resulted in a failed directory scan if HDCHEK was run on a write-protected device) fixed (at V2.71). 2) /A option for full functionality on ATs and AT clones added (at V3.00). The following (visible) changes have been made in HDTEST: 1) Bug in V2.60 (which could cause bad termination of the program and possible subdirectory inconsistencies if a sector which was not in use was found to be bad) fixed (at V2.70). 2) Bug in V2.70 (which caused the program to enter a terminal input loop if ANSI.SYS was not loaded and <Esc> was entered to abort it) fixed (at V2.73). 3) Assorted minor bugs and deficiencies in error reporting and termination routines fixed (V3.00 to V3.11). 4) Bug causing improper handling of multiple corrected ECC errors on first read fixed (at V3.12). 5) Internal changes made to avoid interference with expanded memory device handlers (at V2.72). 6) Disk reset before retry on all errors enabled (at V3.00). 7) Absolute limit on number of files and directories on device removed (at V3.00). 8) Ability to update disk after program terminated by user (typing <Esc>) added (at V2.70). 9) Total sector or cluster count shown on screen during testing along with current sector or cluster number (at V3.01). 10) /S option to start checking occupied clusters at a given cluster number added (at V2.70). 11) /A option for full functionality on ATs and AT clones added (at V3.00). 12) /B option to include the boot/partition sector in the DOS area for the purposes of read/write testing added. This sector was previously automatically included in the DOS area. (added at V3.00) Page 14 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ APPENDIX A - SUMMARY OF FLAG SETTINGS _____________________________________ /A(T) - used to tell the HD program that it is being run on an AT or AT-clone (HDCHEK and HDTEST). /B(oot/Partition sector test) - used to include the hard disk boot/partition sector in the DOS area for the purposes of read/write testing (HDTEST only). /D(OS interrupt) - forces the program to use the existing INT 13 vector. This is the default under DOS 2.x (HDCHEK and HDTEST). /P(rint) - causes the log file to be directed to the PRN device (HDTEST only). /N(o Query) - disables the individual prompts for confirmation which the program normally issues before remapping "special" clusters - does not prevent the program from prompting for confirmation before ___ updating the disk (HDTEST only). /Snnnnn - causes HDTEST to start testing occupied clusters at ________ cluster number nnnnn (expressed as a decimal number) (HDTEST only). Page 15 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ APPENDIX B - EXAMPLE PROGRAM RUNS _________________________________ Screen display from successful run of HDCHEK on 14 Mb DOS partition of 20 Mb hard disk: Device C: is the DOS partition of a hard disk. It contains 29104 sectors. Total partition size is approximately 14 Mb. It starts at absolute sector 8364 on the disk. There are 4 heads and 17 sectors/track. Sector size is 512 bytes. Each (12 bit) FAT occupies 11 sectors. The Root Directory occupies 32 sectors. The data area starts at DOS sector 55, and contains 3631 clusters, each consisting of 8 sectors. The directory scan was successful; a total of 1018 files and subdirectories was found. Screen display from successful run of HDCHEK on DSDD 9-sector floppy disk: Device A: is a floppy disk. The disk contains 720 sectors. There are 2 heads and 9 sectors/track. Sector size is 512 bytes. Each (12 bit) FAT occupies 3 sectors. The Root Directory occupies 7 sectors. The data area starts at DOS sector 12, and contains 354 clusters, each consisting of 2 sectors. The directory scan was successful; a total of 38 files and subdirectories was found. Screen display from run of HDCHEK on 14 Mb DOS partition - directory structure bad or unrecognizable: Device C: is the DOS partition of a hard disk. It contains 29104 sectors. Total partition size is approximately 14 Mb. It starts at absolute sector 8364 on the disk. There are 4 heads and 17 sectors/track. Sector size is 512 bytes. Each (12 bit) FAT occupies 11 sectors. The Root Directory occupies 32 sectors. The data area starts at DOS sector 55, and contains 3631 clusters, each consisting of 8 sectors. The preliminary directory scan failed. Page 16 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ Screen display from run of HDCHEK on 14 Mb DOS partition - FATs not identical: FATS are different FAT discrepancy at byte 20F - FAT 1 has FF; FAT 2 has F8 Continue comparison (Y/N)? [Y]: n {user input} _ Device C: is the DOS partition of a hard disk. It contains 29104 sectors. Total partition size is approximately 14 Mb. It starts at absolute sector 8364 on the disk. There are 4 heads and 17 sectors/track. Sector size is 512 bytes. Each (12 bit) FAT occupies 11 sectors. The Root Directory occupies 32 sectors. The data area starts at DOS sector 55, and contains 3631 clusters, each consisting of 8 sectors. Screen display from run of HDCHEK - program unable to deduce disk structure - disk not recognizable as a DOS device: Unrecognised media descriptor byte! - see error code Error Code = F1 {F1 is not a media descriptor byte used by DOS} Page 17 Documentation for HDTEST V3.13 Copyright 1987, P. R. Fletcher _______________________________ _______________________________ Log file from successful run of HDTEST on 14 Mb DOS partition of 20 Mb hard disk: HDTEST Log File - Tue Jul 08 11:44:52 1986 Testing Device C: No bad clusters found - HDTEST finished. Tue Jul 08 14:10:41 1986 Log file from run of HDTEST on 14 Mb DOS partition - one bad cluster detected and remapped: HDTEST Log File - Tue Jul 08 11:44:52 1986 Testing Device C: Read/Write error at cluster number 275!! Uncorrected ECC error occurred during pattern read/writes This error is recoverable (no data loss has occurred). Bad cluster is in file \MYFILES\DATA5\FFT1234.DAT 1 bad clusters found and remapped - HDTEST finished. Tue Jul 08 14:01:04 1986 Page 18 REGISTRATION FORM - HDTEST V 3.13 _________________________________ Please complete this form and return it with a check or money order (no cash, please) for $30.00 ($40.00 Canadian, L25.00 Sterling) to: Peter R. Fletcher 1515 West Montgomery Avenue Rosemont PA 19010 U.S.A. None of the information on this form will be passed on to any other individual or commercial organization. Use the back of the form for comments or additional space. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This information is required to process your Registration: Last Name:____________________________ Other Names:______________________ Address:______________________________ Town/City:________________________ State:_____________ Post Code:____________ Telephone:_________________ (evenings/weekends) I understand that this software is supplied without warranty, express or implied, and agree not to hold its author liable for any direct or consequential loss arising out of my use of it. Signature:______________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are requested, but not required, also to answer the following questions: On What type(s) of computer are you using HDTEST? _________________________ CPU (8088, 8086, etc.)? __________ Amount of RAM (kB)? ____________ Type & Size of Hard Disk(s)? ____________________________________ Make and Type of Hard Disk Controller(s)? ______________________________ Do you own a Modem? Y N Are you a member of BIX? Y N Compuserve? Y N Do you own or have access to a Cauzin Softstrip Reader Y N Did you think that the $30.00 registration fee for this program was: Very Good Value? About Right? Excessively High? Are there any other utility programs that you would like to see made available as "User Supported Software"? What sort of programs?