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┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ The Disk Commando Utilities │ │ Copyright (C) 1986, 1987 │ │ by: Sandi & Shane Stump │ │ │ │ Version 2.10 │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ Sandi & Shane Stump Box 276125 San Antonio, Texas 78225-6125 (512) 670-8835 The Disk Commando Utilities Table of Contents ----------------- The Shareware Principle...............1 Introduction..........................2 Please Note...........................4 We Recommend..........................4 Command Syntax........................5 The Disk Commando Integrator..........6 DD - The Disk Directory Command.......8 DE - The Directory Editor Command....10 DM - The Disk Map Command............13 DO - The Disk Optimizer Command......15 DS - The Disk Sort Command...........18 DT - The Disk Test Command...........21 FI - The File Information Command....23 FL - The File Locator Command........25 FR - The Format Recovery Command.....26 HE - The Hex Editor Command..........28 TD - The Tree Directory Command......33 TT - The Time Tamer Command..........35 UD - The Undelete File Command.......37 VF - The View File Command...........42 VL - The Volume Label Command........44 ZD - The Zap Disk Command............46 ZF - The Zap File Command............48 ┌───────────────────────────────┐ │ The Shareware Principle │ └───────────────────────────────┘ Overview Shareware is one alternative to the high price and uncertainty of commercial software. Good software is made available for a limited test period to users for their evaluation and use. Once the test period is over, we are relying on the general honesty of the persons using our software to determine whether they will use the software. If you decide that you like the program, we fervently hope that you would send the requested contribution. Otherwise, you should delete the software from your disks. The software is not intended to be a "freebie". Writing and supporting software takes a tremendous amount of time, money, and energy; if software authors are not reimbursed for it, they probably will quit writing for the general public. Single On the opening screen of the Disk Commando Integrator, our User address, telephone number, and requested registration price Regis- of $40 is displayed. The phone number is there for you to tration register your copy or for registered users to use in contacting us about problems. Extended support will not be given to unregistered users. If you have a serious problem or need to have a question answered, we will try to help you, but if you do not intend to register your copy, don't call. If you wish to make any comments or suggestions, we we would prefer you to write us a letter (Shane already spends 4 to 8 hours a day on the telephone), so that we can keep track of who wanted what. If you are not a registered user and you wish us to respond, please enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Corporate Registration is on a single user basis; what this means is that & Multiple the $40 fee does not register an entire user group, business, Copy company, corporation, government office, school district or any Regis- other multiple-user/computer organization. In these cases, we tration have quantity pricing as follows: Number of machines/users Price per unit 2 - 10 $35 11 - 25 $30 26 - 50 $25 51 - $20 Site licensing is available for larger companies. Please call for more information. Unregistered Copies All unregistered copies will show all box characters replaced by blinking reverse video $'s. When your copy is registered, you will receive a version that eliminates this nuisance and the Shareware notices. 1 ┌────────────────────┐ │ Introduction │ └────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Commando utilities have been created as tools in your day-to-day use of hard disks and diskettes. With these 17 utilities, you can re-optimize your disk drive, recover accidently deleted files and sub-directories, sort the contents of a directory in any order, possibly recover disk information after a execution of a format command. You should have the following files: Files README.NOW -- Important Notes to be read before using the Disk Commando utilities. DC.DOC -- Contains documentation of all commands (this file) DCI.EXE -- Help screens on all commands are shown and any of the 17 commands can be executed. DD.EXE DE.EXE DM.EXE DO.EXE DS.EXE DT.EXE FI.EXE FL.EXE FR.EXE HE.EXE TT.EXE TD.EXE UD.EXE VF.EXE VL.EXE ZD.EXE ZF.EXE Command The commands available are briefly described below: Description -- Disk Directory command. Shows the contents of the disk in a split screen format. -- Directory Editor command. Lets you edit any directory entry's information, including file name, size, date, time, starting cluster number, and file attributes. -- Disk Map command. Shows the relative amount of disk space used to bad sectors and unused space. Also shows relevant disk technical information. -- Disk Optimizer command. Rearranges file data clusters to be contiguous. This process makes disk access faster. Five different order options are available. -- Directory Sort command. Sorts the directory's contents into the order that you wish it to appear in a DIR command. The directory can be sorted by file name, extension, size, date, time, attribute, in ascending or descending order either automatically or in an interactive, full-screen environment. Selected files can be moved to appear anywhere in the directory listing while in full-screen mode. -- Disk Test command. Examines all or portions of the disk for bad sectors and marks those found. If one is found within a file chain, the file can be rebuilt excluding the bad sector. 2 -- File Information command. Attaches and displays a user-defined, 60 character descriptive comment to selected files. -- File Locator command. Searches the disk for a file or files that match the given wildcard pattern. -- Format Recovery command. Recovers information from a recently formatted disk. -- Hex Edit command. Physically edits a file or sectors of the disk. -- Tree Directory command. Displays the directory tree for use with the make, remove and change directory commands or searches the disk for the first occurence of the directory name and logs you there. -- Time Tamer command. Provides a stopwatch to determine relative speeds of processes. Also displays the current time and date at the current cursor position. -- UnDelete File command. Recovers file information and rebuilds a recently deleted file and/or subdirectory. This procedure cannot be guaranteed to reconstruct a file. -- View File command. Displays a file and allows movement (Up, Down, Left, Right) in a file. -- Volume Label command. Modifies, adds, or removes the current volume label on a specified disk. -- Zap Disk command. Overwrites the disk or unused space on the disk with a repetition of an ASCII character to obscure its contents of the disk. Any disk that is so overwritten cannot be UnDeleted or unformatted. -- Zap File command. Overwrites a file with a repetition of an ASCII character to obscure its contents. 3 ┌──────────────────────┐ │ Please Note... │ └──────────────────────┘ PLEASE BACK UP ALL IMPORTANT DATA BEFORE RUNNING ANY OF THESE PROGRAMS. This recommendation cannot be stressed enough. These utilities have been rigorously tested but a power spike at the wrong time, incorrect use of a utility, or other mishap can occur with sometimes painful results for you and your valuable data. Making consistent, timely backups, alternating between two disks, is the best insurance in the case of accidental loss of data. ┌────────────────────┐ │ We Recommend │ └────────────────────┘ Probably the best way to accustom yourself with the use of this program is to try it out. What we recommend is that you get a diskette that you would not be too upset about losing and use it to try out all of the commands. None of the commands should give you any trouble, but the DE - Directory Editor and the HE - Hex Editor have the potential to really mess up your files or disk if you do not know what you are doing and make a mistake. Also, it would give you some peace of mind to try the Undelete or Disk Optimizer programs on a less than vital diskette first, so that you know the correct command procedure when you really do need to run it on important disks and files. This also gives you the opportunity to experiment and try out different features. 4 ┌──────────────────────┐ │ Command Syntax │ └──────────────────────┘ Overview When command line options are shown in the help files and in the below documentation, optional parameters are shown housed in brackets '[]'. The brackets themselves are not a part of the command and should not be entered along with the parameters. Normally, the first character of an optional parameter is a front-slash '/' (division sign) or the drive character followed by a colon. Some command line parameters are mutually exclusive. For instance, in the TimeTamer stopwatch command, the /STOP and /START options cannot be used together successfully. No error message will be shown, but no action will take place either. Multiple When multiple parameters are to entered after one command, Parameters separate each option with a single space. Options are shown in capital letters, but lower-case letters are also accepted entered at the command line. Some parameters are shown in the help screen with both upper and lower-case letters. In these cases, the lower-case letters usually represent a variable that is to be set by the user. The lower case letter should not be entered on the command line. Default Some parameters provide essential information. In many Values cases, a default value is assumed if none is specified. These defaults are usually predictable. If no drive is provided, the current drive is usually assumed; if no directory name is provided, the current directory is used. Cursor In any of the full-screen commands, the cursor keys are Movement used to position the highlighted selector bar on the item to be selected. These keys include the up, down, left, and right arrows, the PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End keys. Wordstar cursor movement keys are also available, including CNTL-E, CNTL-X, CNTL-S, CNTL-D, CNTL-R, CNTL-C. Each utility is explained in greater detail below, along with a description of their command lines and examples of their appearance. Executing These commands can be run in from the DCI program or the separately. Execution from the DCI is described in the Disk Commands Commando Integrator section. To run the commands from outside the DCI, enter the two letter command name at the DOS prompt, followed by the appropriate command parameters to be used. For example, to run the TD command to display the tree directory of the current drive command in this manner, type: DISK TD 5 ┌────────────────────────────────────┐ │ The Disk Commando Integrator │ └────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Commando Integrator performs two functions: it displays a command description for each utility to aid in their execution and it allows any of the programs to be run from its shell. The first command description shown on the screen is the DE command. By using the cursor keys or the Wordstar screen movement keys, the command highlight bar can be moved to the desired command. The display to the side of the screen should change as the bar moves, showing the help screen for the highlighted command. The top lines in the help screen gives a brief description of the command highlighted. Below this appears the available command line options and their description. At least one example of use of the command is shown at the bottom of the help screen. Command The command line parameters are: Line DCI /BW /HELP /BW The /BW option sets the screen color mode to black and white, instead of the default color scheme. It is not necessary to use this option if you have a monochrome monitor with a monochrome text board. If you have a monochrome monitor with a color graphics board in your machine, if this option is not used, your screen text will be very hard to read. The easiest way to determine whether or not you need to use this option is to execute "DISK" once without the /BW option. If the screen is difficult to read, press ESCAPE to get out of the program and use the /BW option with all commands thereafter. /HELP The /HELP option shows the help screen for the Integrator. This option is available for all commands from the command line. To display the help screen while inside the Integrator, press the F1-Help key. Command Any of the described commands can be run from the Disk Execution Commando Integrator in one of two ways: by moving the highlighted command bar to the desired command or by pressing the TAB key to enter quick mode and entering the two letter command name followed by the command options that you wish to execute. 6 Execute To execute a command from the Integrator, move the using highlighted selection bar up or down the screen to the Normal command, then press ENTER. At the bottom of the screen, Mode will appear the following prompt: Enter arguments: _ At this point, enter the drive/path and command parameters that you wish to use with the command. If you forget what parameters are available and what they mean, simply look on the right-hand side of the screen at the information in the command description. Once you have entered the command parameters, press ENTER. The Integrator will now execute the command. Execute To execute the command via the Integrator's quick mode, using simply press the TAB key and enter the two character command Quick Mode name. The screen will then display the command description of the command. After pressing ENTER to select the command, the arguments prompt shown above will appear. Enter the parameters that you wish to use with the command and press ENTER to begin execution of the command. 7 ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DD - The Disk Directory Command │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Directory command displays the contents of the current in a split screen format. The directory tree is shown in the top half of the screen, with the file listing of each directory shown in the bottom. Command The command line parameters are: Line DD [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter accepts the drive that you wish displayed. The remainder of the path is used as a starting point for the directory display. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator DI description screen. Operation When the disk directory command is invoked, the screen clears and shows a split screen display with the designated disk directory tree in the top half of the screen and the contents of the highlighted directory in the bottom half. The starting directory will be highlighted in yellow. At the bottom of the screen appears the commands available. F2-Change Windows switches between the directory tree and the file display. The F9-File Display command switches the file display mode between one file per line, showing all pertinent file information and three files per line. In the bottom right corner of the screen shows the current disk and directory statistics. Cursor To move the highlighted directory bar up or down through Movement the tree, use the up, down, left, or right cursor keys. The In Tree Home and End keys go to the first or last directory in the tree, the PgUp and PgDn keys page through the tree listing. When the highlighted bar appears in the file portion of the screen, the same cursor keys are used to affect similar movement. 8 F2-Change Pressing the F2-Change Windows key switches the highlighted Windows bar from the directory tree to the file listing or vice versa. This allows you to move down through and examine the contents of the directory selected. Now using the cursor keys move through the file display for the directory instead of the directory tree. Pressing F2 again returns the highlighted bar to the directory tree. F9-File Pressing the F9-File Display key at any point in the Display program switches between file display modes. The default file display mode is one file per line, with all of the pertinent file information shown to the right of the file name. Pressing F9 switches to the condensed file display mode, showing three files per line. This mode only displays the name of each file. Pressing the F9 key again returns the display to the one file per line mode. 9 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DE - The Directory Editor Command │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Directory Editor command allows knowledgeable users access to the directory information. This information can be modified at will. This should not be used by anyone who does not know what they are doing, and the person using this should make certain all important information on the disk is backed up before using this command. If the modifications are to made to a floppy disk, use the DISKCOPY command to ensure that you an identical backup. When directory information is modified, it can result in serious and dangerous consequences. There is no reason for most people to modify much of the information associated with each directory entry. Command The command line parameters are: Line DE [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter accepts the drive and directory path that you wish to make modifications to. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator DE description screen. Operation When the directory editor command is invoked, the screen clears and displays a listing of directory entries occuring in the directory chosen. This list will contain any files, subdirectories, deleted files, and volume label (if in root). This listing also displays the entries' size, date, time, starting cluster number, and attributes. The attributes available are Read Only, Hidden, System, Volume, Directory, and Archive. Cursor To move the highlighted file bar up or down the directory Movement listing, use the up or down cursor keys. The directory selected for modification is named at the top of the screen. The commands available for use are located at the bottom of the screen. These include F1-Edit Entry, F9-Undo, and ESC-Quit. 10 F1-Edit Once you have highlighted the directory entry that you wish Entry to edit, press F1 to edit that entry. The command line will now display new information including movement commands. The TAB key and the ENTER move across the screen, field by field. Pressing the CNTL-TAB key moves backwards across the fields. Using the left, right, Home, and End cursor keys move appropriately within the current entry field. The Insert key switches between Insert and Overwrite modes. The Delete key deletes the character located at the cursor. The space bar, when located within the attribute field, toggles off or on the current attribute. The F9 key undoes any changes made to the current field, and the ESC key exits back to the main command line. File Name When you modify the file name, make certain that you enter the characters of the name in upper-case. DOS does not recognize filenames written in lower-case lettering. File Size DO NOT modify the size of the file unless you have a very good reason to do so and you know what you are doing. Changing the size of the file can cause CHKDSK to report errors with the file. Date/Time Invalid dates and times cannot be entered. An invalid date is one that falls before January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2099. An invalid time will not be accepted. An hour given after 12 will automatically be converted to pm time. Starting As with the file size, DO NOT alter the starting cluster Cluster number unless you have an extremely good reason to do so and you know exactly what you are doing. The starting sector of the file is the first location where the actual file can be found. Changing the starting data cluster can cause CHKDSK to report cross-sectored files. Attribute Changing a directory entry's attribute can affect the way DOS and other programs interact with the file, and can cause problems in executing or accessing the entry. The R/O attribute only allows the file to read from, not written to. The HIDden attribute hides the entry from DOS' view. The SYStem attribute marks special system files. The VOLume label attribute marks the special directory entry providing the name of the disk volume. The DIRectory attribute is the special mark designating a subdirectory. The ARChive attribute marks entries that have been accessed. By pressing the space bar while the cursor is in any of these attributes columns will toggle the attribute either ON or OFF. If the attribute is already shown in the column, pressing SPACE will remove the attribute. 11 F9-Undo Pressing F9-Undo restores the field to its previous state before it was altered. Pressing ESC-Quit will return to the previous command mode. If the entry had been altered in any way, you will be asked if you wish to save the changes made. If you answer N for no, the entry will be shown as it was before you began to edit it. Answering Y for yes will save the changes made to a temporary file, not to the disk. This gives you another opportunity to change your mind before irrevocably changing your directory. Once an entry has been modified, it will appear on the screen in red text. This sets it apart from the rest of the unaltered entries. Pressing F9-Undo at this point will restore the changed entry to its original status. ESC-Quit Pressing ESC-Quit will exit the DE program. If changes have been made to the directory entries on the screen, you will first be asked if you wish to save the changes made to disk. Answering N for no will exit without writing the changes made in the program out to disk. Answering Y for yes will overwrite the current directory with the new information. If you have made a mistake while editing an entry, the directory will reflect that. It would be wise to run CHKDSK after changing the information in the directory, to catch any serious problems. 12 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ DM - The Disk Map Command │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Map command shows the relative amount of disk space used compared to unused space and bad sectors. Under this command is an option that displays general disk technical information. The DM command is utterly safe to use; it does not alter the disk in any way. Its only function is to provide you with disk information in a different format than is usually seen by the user. Command The command line parameters are: Line DM [drive:] [/BW] [/HELP] /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator DM description screen. Example: DM B: This displays a map of the space usage of the specified drive, in this case drive 'B'. When this command is executed, the screen is cleared and displays the disk map at the top of the screen and a legend at the bottom, explaining what the symbols mean. The diamond character represents space used by files, the blinking B character represents bad space on the disk. The scattered dot block character shows unused space on the disk. Each block represents a specifed number of clusters. For example, on a 360k floppy disk, each block represents 1 cluster where on a 20M hard disk, each block represents 8 clusters. Sometimes, the entire screen is not used to represent the disk map of the drive. The current directory is shown at the bottom of the screen, along with the size of the disk, the amount of free space on the disk, and the number of directories and files that appear on the disk. At the bottom of the screen, two command keys are shown. They are the F1-Disk Technical Information Key and the ESC-Quit key. 13 F1-Disk Pressing F1 clears the screen and shows the technical Technical information for the disk in question. The upper-left side Info of the screen shows Disk Characteristics, including the amount of drive space, amount of free space, and the amount of space occupied by bad clusters. The upper-right side of the screen shows the File Characteristics. This includes the amount of space occupied by files, the number of files and the number of directories appearing on the disk. Beneath these appears the Disk Physical Characteristics. This includes the number of sides of the disk, the number of tracks per side, and the number of sectors per track. It also shows the number of bytes per sector, the minimum amount of space allocated per file, the number of clusters appearing on the disk, and the number of directory entries the root directory could hold. Most of this information is of little use to a normal PC user, but it is interesting bits of information for the curious. ESC-Quit Pressing any key will return control from the Disk Technical Screen to the Disk Map screen. The ESC key exits the Disk Map and returns control to DOS. 14 ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DO - The Disk Optimizer Command │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Optimizer command rearranges file data clusters to be contiguous. When a disk, especially a fixed disk is used over an extended period of time, the normal process of growing, changing, deleting, and creating causes file data to be scattered over a wider area of the disk, which eventually slows disk access time. A disk optimizer rebuilds the disk, making all files contiguous. Use of The DOS CHKDSK program must appear somewhere along the CHKDSK accessible path, preferably in the current directory with the DO command. This program is used to check the disk for any cross-sectored files or other problems with the disk. Any cross-sectored files reported must be fixed before running the disk optimizer. Use the CHKDSK /F option to resolve cross-sectored files. We recommend but do not require that you run our DT disk test program to repair bad sectors. Be sure to delete the resulting '.CHK' files and restore the files affected by the cross-sectoring from your backups. Warning As with any command that directly interacts with the disk, PLEASE BACK UP ALL IMPORTANT DATA BEFORE RUNNING THIS PROGRAM. If a power surge or outage occurs during the optimization process, the disk may be adversely affected. Once a disk has been optimized, any previously deleted files will no longer exist on the disk and the data will no longer be recoverable through the use of the UnDelete command. DO NOT RUN THIS COMMAND WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAM IN MEMORY! Normally there will be no conflicts, but strange things can happen. The most important thing we can advise is not to attempt to "pop back" or transfer between any other program and DO while DO is optimizing the disk. Do not run background tasks in memory while this program is executing. All copy-protected software must be uninstalled before running the DO and then reinstalled after the optimization process is complete. Many copy-protection schemes require the program to appear in a particular location, or create a false bad or distorted sector on the disk where the program can hide protection information. Some protection schemes will not be affected at all, but it is difficult to predict which programs will be affected, so it is better to be safe than sorry later. 15 Command The command line parameters are: Line DO [drive:] [/EMS] [/DCHK] [/BW] [/HELP] /EMS The /EMS parameter notifies the DO command that you have extended memory that the program can use for a swap area. Do not specify the /EMS parameter if you are using an EMS emulation procedure using a disk for a swap area. If EMS memory is available, this can greatly speed up the optimization process. /DCHK The /DCHK parameter automatically deletes the files created by the CHKDSK program using the /F option. These files are not useful, and deleting them before the optimization process ensures that the disk will not immediately become fragmented after the procedure when you go back and delete them. /BW The /BW parameter changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator DO description screen. Example DO /DCHK The above command invokes the Disk Optimizer. Since no disk was specified, you will first be asked to enter the disk to be optimized. After the drive is entered, you will be asked if all copy-protected software has been uninstalled on the disk to be optimized. Answering N for no will exit the DO command, answering Y for yes will continue. The DOS CHKDSK command is then executed with the /F option. This immediately checks the disk for cross-sectored files. Using the /DCHK option will automatically delete any resulting '.CHK' files created by the CHKDSK command. Once CHKDSK has examined the disk, the screen will clear and will display the Optimization Menu. The top half of the screen will show the drive selected for optimization, the number of files on the disk, the number of occupied clusters, the number of non-contiguous clusters, and the percent fragmentation suffered by the disk. 16 Disk Order Below this disk information will appear 5 different Options alignment methods. These options are as follows: 1. Sequential Method (FIFO) 2. Read Only, Directories, Dir Entries 3. Read Only, Directories, FIFO Files 4. Read Only, Directories, File Size 5. Read Only, Dir, Exe/Com Files, FIFO You can either move the selection arrow down to the option that you wish to use using the cursor keys, or press the number corresponding to that option. The first time that you optimize your disk, you should select between options 2, 3, 4, or 5. For most persons, option 5 is the best for initial optimization, since most people do not change the size or number of executable programs on their disk often. Later optimizations should use option 1, which is the fastest of the options. Once an option has been selected, press ENTER. The screen will then clear and display the disk map showing the physical layout of the used disk space. You will be asked: Do you wish to optimize this disk (Y/N)? _ Answering N for no will exit the DO command without altering the disk, answering Y for yes will start the optimization process. The Disk The Map shown on the screen resembles the map shown by the Map DM command. A diamond character represents used disk space, the scattered-dot box represents unused disk space. The happy face character shows the portion of the disk already optimized, the blinking B character shows bad space, and the D character shows the data currently being moved by the optimizer. The map will be updated as the optimizer finishes with each file or group of files. Each character block represents a defined number of clusters on the disk. At the bottom of the disk will appear a status line, informing you about which file is being moved and what percentage of the disk is being optimized at the current time. ESCAPE can be pressed to exit the optimizer. When ESCAPE is pressed, DO will complete its current changes and return control to DOS. If you wish to exit the optimizer, do not press CNTL-ALT-DEL or other such key combination. Once the optimizer is finished, you will be returned to the DOS prompt. 17 ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DS - The Directory Sort Command │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Directory Sort command arranges the directory's contents into the order that you wish it to appear during a DIR command. The directory can be sorted by file name, extension, size, date, time, attribute, in ascending or descending order. The sort procedure can be automatic, when the sort keys are specified from the command line, or can be controlled interactively via use of the full-screen option. During the full-screen mode, selected files can be moved to appear anywhere in the directory listing. This full-screen sort is invoked when no sort keys are specified on the command line. Command The command line parameters are: Line DS [drive:path] [/keys] [/ALL] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] specifies the disk and the directory name that you wish to sort. /keys The /keys parameter is the parameter where the major sort keys are specified. Sort keys specified here on the command line automatically sort the directory(s) requested and exit to DOS. The files can be sorted by: file name N size S date D time T descending order - For example, to sort by size, date, then name, the sort key parameter would have to look like /SDN. Do not use the word 'keys' in the parameter. If you wish any of the keys to be sorted in descending order, enter the '-' sign before the key parameter. /ALL The /ALL parameter sorts all directories and files appearing subordinate to the path specified. That is, if two subdirectories appear in the directory given for sorting, their files will be sorted by the same keys as the files in the directory itself. This option is useful mainly coupled with the comand line sort keys, although it will function with the full-screen sort. During the full-screen sort process, however, the files contained in directories subordinate to the current directory will not appear on the screen during the sort procedure. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. 18 /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator DS description screen. Example 1: DS B:\ /DTS /ALL The above disk sort command will sort the entire contents of disk in drive B, including all sub-directories and files. The disk is sorted first by date, then by time and file size. All three sort keys are in ascending order. Once the files are sorted, they are written to disk and control is returned to DOS. Example 2: DS B: The screen will clear and display the contents of the disk (drive 'B') and directory in question (in this case, the root) exactly as it appears on the disk. From here, you can set the sort keys, re-sort the directory, tag specific directory entries, and move those entries to whatever position in the file that you wish to see them. You can now write the results out to disk, if you do not wish to make any more changes, or you can continue to rearrange the contents to the disk by specifying other sort keys, moving files, et cetera. To move the highlighted selection bar up or down the file display or the sort key column, use the up and/or the down cursor keys. The screen that appears during the full-screen sort shows the files in the current directory on the left side of the screen, and the current sort keys set on the right. The commands available at this point are the Space Bar, M-Move, Q-Quit, R-Re-Sort, S-Select Sort keys, and the W-Write Dir to disk commands. S-Select The S-Select Sort key command lets you set the general sort Sort Key order of the files appearing in the directory listing. Pressing S changes the command display on the screen. Instead of the command keys along the bottom of the screen being highlighted, the sort keys along the right side of the screen are highlighted. The highlighted selection bar now appears under the sort key column, instead of in the file display. Press the first character of the sort keys that you wish to use to order the directory listing. Ascending order is assumed, but can be changed simply by pressing '-' after entering the sort key. To place a sort key in a higher priority spot, move the highlighted bar up using the up cursor key, to move the bar to a lower priority, press the down cursor key. To start your sort key list over again, press the C to clear the sort key column. 19 Once you selected the sort keys that you wish to use, press ESC to return to the original command line mode. R-Re-Sort To sort the files in the directory listing by the newly entered sort keys, press R to Re-Sort the file listing. Tag Files Sometimes, we may wish to put a special file or group of with files in a particular place in the directory listing. To Space Bar do this, you must tag the files that you wish to move by using the up or down cursor key to move the highlighted selection bar to the desired files and press the SPACE BAR. When the SPACE BAR is pressed, an asterisk appears to the left side of the directory entry's name. Tag all of the files that you wish to move. M-Move Once you have tagged the files, move the cursor to the Files position where you would like all of the files to appear. Now press the M key to move the files. If you wish, you can move the entire group of files up or down the directory listing by pressing the up or down cursor keys. At the bottom of the Directory listing, the new command line reads: Press ESC to cancel move or F10 to complete move. Pressing ESC returns the files to their previous locations in the directory. Else, if you have positioned the files in the location where you wish for them to appear, press the F10 key. W-Write To record the changes made to the directory order to disk, Changes you must use the W-Write Changes to Disk command. This command writes the directory file listing out to disk in the exact order that it appears on the screen. ESC-Quit To exit the Directory Sort command, use the ESC-Quit command. If you have made changes to the order of the directory without saving, you will first be prompted: Write files to disk (Y/N)? _ If you do not wish to save the changes that you had made while in the Directory sort, answer N. Otherwise answer Y. You will then be returned to DOS. 20 ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ DT - The Disk Test Command │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Disk Test command examines all or portions of the disk for bad sectors and marks any found. An option exists to repair a file where a bad sector is found. Marking bad sectors removes those sectors from possible use. Command The command line parameters are: Line DT [drive:] [/D] [/F] [/M] [/U] [/HELP] [d:] The [drive:] parameter specifies the disk to be examined. If no disk is given, the current disk is assumed. /D The /D parameter searches the entire disk, both used and unused data areas for bad sectors. /F The /F parameter searches only the allocated file space for occurrences of bad sectors. If one is found, the remainder of the file can be repaired excluding the data lost in the area affected by using the /M option. This option does NOT repair the bad sector or the file, it only notifies you that a bad sector has been found. /M The /M parameter must be used along with either the /D or /F parameter to fix a file containing a bad sector. This option marks a bad cluster found in the midst of a file chain and splices the file together, leaving out the portion with the bad sector. This can be helpful in the event that the file contains vital data, where most of the information is recovered except that portion where the bad sector was found. /U The /U parameter searches all unused data clusters for bad sectors. If one is found, it is marked as bad and the process is continued. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator DT description screen. 21 Example 1: DT B: /U When the DT disk test program is invoked with the /U option, the following message appears on the screen: Press <ESC> to abort...Testing clusters: XXX where XXX is the current cluster being tested on the specified drive, in this case drive 'B'. You can abort the process at any time by pressing <ESCAPE>. Example 2: DT B: /F /M When the DT disk test program is invoked with the /F option, as above, the following prompt appears on the screen: Reading in files... Drive has XXX files Sorting files Testing 'B:\filename.ext' Found XX new bad clusters. This tells you how many files are being tested, the name of the current file being tested and the final number of new bad clusters found by the Disk Test program. To map out bad sectors that occur in the file area, the /M option must also be present. When the DT disk test program is invoked with the /D option, the above processes are performed in the order that they are shown, first the /U then /F. The /M option must be present if you wish for any bad sectors existing inside a file chain to be marked bad and the file rebuilt. 22 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FI - The File Information Command │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The File Information command creates and displays a descriptive comment for specified files. Command The command line parameters are: Line FI [drive:path] [/C] [/OC] [/60] [/P] [/U] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter defines the disk and directory to be used to be searched. /C The /C option lets you create, modify and/or delete file descriptions from the current directory. This command is full screen and shows the entire file contentsincluding both commented and uncommented file entries. /OC The /OC option lists all commented files in the current directory. The default listing mode shows all file information and the first 30 characters of the descriptive comment. /60 The /60 option switches the display mode from the full file information mode to that showing only the file name and the entire 60 character description. /P The /P option pauses the display of files after each screen is filled. /U The /U option updates the current file information file with new information gathered about the directory. This includes new directory entries, discarded entries, and entries whose file information had changed since the last time the directory information had been read in. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator FI description screen. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. 23 Example 1: FI The above command shows the contents of the current drive and directory, including any previously commented files. If no files have been commented, the directory shown will appear much like a normal directory listing except that to the right of the file name will appear single quotes enclosing only space. Executing the command in this manner gives the same information as the DOS DIR command along with the comments assigned. Example 2: FI B: /C /U Use of The above example enters the full screen comment editing the /C mode. First, the directory will be read in and compared to Comment the contents of the file information file. If new files Editor have been added, existing files have been modified, or obsolete files have been discarded, this will update the file. The screen will then clear and display the files located in the current directory. If any comments have been previously assigned to any of the files, they will be shown to the right of the file information on each line. The Four function keys are shown at the bottom of the screen. Function These include F1-Help, F2-Edit Comments, F9-Toggle Display, Keys and F10-Save & Exit. F2-Edit The F2-Edit Comments key lets you move around the screen, Comments entering 60 character descriptions on any file line. These comments are meant as a gentle reminder about what that particular file does, is, or needs. When pressed, the screen shows the file listing in the file only mode, showing the entire 60 characters of the comment. Use the up or down cursor keys to move to the commands that you wish to describe, then enter the description. Make certain that you press <ENTER> after you have finished editing the comment. When you have finished modifying the entries, press F10 to save the changes made to the temporary buffer and to return to the main screen. F9-Toggle The F9-Toggle Display key switches between the full file Display information screen showing only the first 30 characters of the comment and the file only screen, showing all 60 characters of the comment. F10-Save The F10-Save and Exit key saves the changes made to the and Exit current directory listing to the file information file in the directory, then exits to DOS. 24 ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FL - The File Locator Command │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The File Locator command searches the disk for a file or files matching the given wildcard pattern. It then displays a list of files matching the wildcard defined. Command The command line parameters are: Line FL [drive:] [wildcard] [/ALL] [/4] [/HELP] [d:] The [drive:] parameter defines the disk to be searched. [wildcard] The [wildcard] parameter defines the file pattern that is to be searched for. The '*' means any character or characters can fill the current or subsequent position in the file name and still match the file search pattern. For example, '*.BAT' searches the disk for any file ending with the three letters 'BAT'. Likewise, 'F*.*' searches the disk for any file beginning with the letter 'F'. /ALL The /ALL parameter will search all drives for a match to the wildcard pattern. The directory and disk drive where each file is found will appear above the discovered files. /4 The /4 parameter lists the files found, four per line. This option is only useful for searches involving file searches based on a general wildcard pattern (like the two examples cited above). /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator FL description screen. Example: FL B: FL*.* /ALL The above command will search drive 'B'and all subsequent drives on the system for all occurences of a file beginning with the letters 'FL'. Any matches found will be listed to the screen, with the directory name appearing on the first line, and any matching files below it. If more matching files exist than can be shown on one screen, a message will be shown on the bottom line of the screen. Pressing ESCAPE will quit displaying matching files and will return control to the DOS prompt. Pressing any other key will continue the scrolling display of matching files. 25 ┌────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ FR - The Format Recovery Command │ └────────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Format Recovery command attempts to recover a hard disk from an accidental format. This command only works on hard disk drives and requires the creation of a disk recovery data file on a floppy disk in drive 'A'. Command The command line parameters are: Line FR [drive:] [/A] [/R] [/S] [/HELP] [d:] Drive that either the recovery file is being created for or the drive to be recovered. This drive must be a hard disk. If no drive is given, drive 'C' will be used. The unformat file is always created on drive 'A' and must be created before a recovery attempt can be made. /A Automatically creates the 'UNFORMAT.DAT' file for specified drive. Normally, FR prompts to make sure the proper diskette is in drive 'A'; this option bypasses the prompt. /R Recovers [d:] with the UNFORMAT.DAT file in drive 'A'. /S Saves information about drive [d:] for format recovery on drive 'A'. Not needed if '/A' option specified. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator FR description screen. Operation Format recovery copies the current contents of a hard disk's boot record, fat tables, and root directory to a data file on drive A. If a user accidently formats a hard disk, FR can be run to restore the state of the disk as of the last time FR was run to save the disk state. All files that have been changed or deleted since this time may not be completely intact. The use of FR should not be substituted for regular disk backup. 26 ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ │ HE - The Hex Editor Command │ └───────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Hex Edit command displays the indicated file or disk sectors in a hexadecimal/ASCII format. This allows you to modify any byte of a file or general disk sector. The disk version of the hex (or Patch) editor lets you edit any disk sectors, the file hex editor only allows changes to be made to the file selected. Command The command line parameters are: line HE [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] specifies the either the disk to be edited, or the full path name of the file to be modified. If only the drive character with the colon is entered, the hex editor will show the first sector on the disk, in disk hex edit mode. If a file name with full path is specified, the first sector of the file will appear in file hex edit mode. The commands between the disk and file hex editor are not the same. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator HE description screen. Operation To edit general disk sectors, specify only the drive name that you wish to edit. To hex edit a file, specify the full path and file name. One warning, if you do not know what you are doing, make sure to back up whatever diskette or file that you select to hex edit, in case you mistakenly mess it up. Do not hex edit your hard disk drive unless you know what you are doing. The only difference between the disk and file version of the hex editor is that under the file editor, the COPY and DIFFERENTIATE commands are not available. The screen is divided into two data sections, the hexadecimal and the ASCII representations of the file or disk sector. Modifications can be made by ether altering the ASCII character, or by pressing the F9 HEX toggle to allow modification of the hexadecimal values. 27 The line located underneath the title line identifies the file or disk selected by you to be modified under the HE command. The Relative Sector entry tells where you are located in the file or on the disk. A sector is made up of 512 bytes. Only 256 bytes are shown on the screen at a time. The Byte entry tells where you are in the 256 byte block on the screen. Each of these entries have one number followed by another number in parentheses. The first number is the hexadecimal notation, the second is its decimal equivalent (HEX(DEC)). The Page entry tells whether you are in the first or second half of the sector. Page will vary only from 1 to 2. The following are the page byte value ranges for each screen: Page 0 --- Bytes 000(000) - 0FF(255) Page 1 --- Bytes 100(256) - 1FF(511) The bottom line of the screen shows the commands available for use when using the hex editor. F9-HEX F10-Command line ESC-Exit The F9-Hex/Text toggle lets you select how you want to make modifications to the screen contents. The F10-Command line key displays the commands available under the hex editor. ESCAPE exits the hex editor. Cursor The arrow keys are used to move the cursor to desired Key Use location for editing. They will not advance the page. The PgUp key will display the preceding page. HE displays the file one half of a sector at a time, so if Page currently equals 2, pressing PgUp will display page one. If Page equals 1, pressing PgUp will display page two of the preceding sector. Once PgUp is pressed, the edits are saved only to the current file buffer. These edits are NOT saved to disk unless F3-SAVE is pressed while that sector is displayed. The PgDn key acts like the PgUp key, in reverse. When pressed, the next screen is displayed, either page two of the current sector or page one of the next sector. The Home key displays the first page of the first sector of the file or the first disk sector. The End key displays the last page of the file or the last disk sector. F9-HEX This toggle switches the edit option between the ASCII and the hexadecimal display of the file. Pressing F9 once will switch the displayed prompt to F9-TEXT. When the label TEXT is displayed, the editor is in hexadecimal edit mode, meaning that the only characters that can be entered are the numbers 0 - 9, A - F. These characters will appear on the left side of the screen in the hexadecimal portion of 28 file display at the cursor. When the label HEX is displayed, the editor is in text edit mode, meaning that almost any characters can be entered. These characters will appear in the ASCII character portion of the file display at the cursor. Each character is two hexadecimal characters long. The character or number entered on the activated side of the display will correspondingly alter the other side of the display. F10- When the F10-Command line option is pressed while in the Disk Command Hex Editor, the following command line will appear, with a Line description of the highlighted command on the following line. Copy Differentiate Goto Next Quit Search Write Undo The command line displayed under the file hex editor is similar to the one shown above, except that the Copy and Differentiate commands are not shown. There are two ways to invoke a command from the F10-Command line. You can move the highlighted command bar across by using the left and right cursor keys until the desired command is highlighted. Or, you can press the first letter of the command in question. Notice that when the cursor key method is used, the line below the command line shows a one line description of the highlighted command. ESC-Exit Pressing the ESCAPE key exits the Hex editor. If a change has been made to the current sector, you will first be prompted: Sector has been changed. Save (Y/N/ESC to abort command? _ Answering Y for yes will save any changes made to the current sector, answering N for no will exit the hex editor without saving any of the changes made. Answering ESC will return to the hex editor, disregarding the exit command. Disk Info Most of the commands in the Disk Hex editor display the disk Screen map and information when the Copy, Differentiate, Goto, or Search commands are activated. The Disk Map is shown at the top of the screen, showing relative positions of various important parts of the disk. Below this is the actual sector numbers where each disk division occurs. At the bottom of the screen is the prompt for the command. 29 In the middle of the screen is a breakdown of the physical locations of various important components of the disk in question. It appears as follows: Area Name Sector Range Description of Area Boot Area x - x Information about the disk for DOS FAT Table #1 xx - xx File chain links (File Allocation Table) FAT Table #2 xx - xx Backup of FAT Table 1 Root Directory xx - xx Primary Directory Data Area xxx - xxx Where files are actually stored. The 'xx' represent actual disk sectors. If you are using the disk hex editor on a floppy disk, the second FAT Table will not appear. C - Copy The Copy sectors command copies a specified number of sectors to another location. This command is accessible only under the HE disk option. The format of this command is similar to that of the Differentiate command. When first invoked, a display of the disk structure is displayed, along with the first prompt: COPY source start sector (0-xxx): _ At this point, enter the first sector to be included in the block of sectors to be copied. Next, enter the last sector in the group to be copied at this following prompt: COPY source end sector (0-xxx): _ You will now be asked to enter the location where you wish to copy the disk sectors. Any sectors selected will be completely wiped out, so be careful that no remnants of needed files exist in the affected area before copying. The following prompt will appear: COPY destination start block (0-xxx): _ This will make a duplicate of the specified sectors in the new location. This feature can really come in handy if an accident leaves one of your file allocations tables (FAT) on your hard disk corrupted. In this case, copy the entire backup FAT table from FAT #2 to FAT #1. 30 D - Differentiate This command compares two given sectors of the disk and is only accessible under the HE disk option. When pressed, the map of the sector layout appears on the screen, with the following prompt appearing on bottom line: COMPARE block 1 start sector (0-xxx): _ Enter the starting point of the compare object. The following prompt will then appear: block 1 end sector (0-xxx): _ Here enter the last sector of the object to be compared. Then this following prompt will appear: block 2 start sector (0-xxx): _ At this point, enter the starting location of the block of sectors that you wish to compare the source object to. Once a value is entered, you will see one of two messages. If the two groups of sectors are identical, the following message is displayed: Sector groups compare. Else, if a difference is found, the following message will appear: Sector xx does not compare. with xx representing the first sector that does not match the object sector. G - Goto The Goto command goes directly to a specified sector of the file. When this command is invoked, the following prompt appears: GOTO sector (0-xx): 0 The range of sector values appearing in the parentheses is the range allowed. If you are currently in disk mode, this range will encompass the entire disk. If, instead, you are currently in File mode, this range will be the number of disk sectors used by the file. N - Next The Again command executes the last search command, using the last defined text string. If no text string has been defined, it will use ' '. Q - Quit The Quit command exits the HE command, saves the DOS buffer if so indicated, closes the file, and returns to the DOS prompt. 31 S - Search The Search command will search the file for a specified string provided by the user. When this command is invoked, the following prompt appears: Enter string to find: _ At this point, enter the string that you wish to search for in the file. The following prompt is then displayed: Start search at sector (0-xxxx): _ The default value for starting search sector is the sector currently on the screen. Once a sector value is entered, HE will commence searching from the current position onward for an occurrenc of the string. If the search object string is discovered, the cursor is placed at the location of the found string. If you want to search for a ASCII character, other than those readily typeable, simply press ALT and the decimal representation of the character. This is helpful when searching for a distinguishable characters appearing in a file. U - Undo The UNDO command resets the current page to its former state. This is useful when you have changed a section of the file by mistake. Once you move beyond a page, the changes are recorded in the current file buffer. No changes are saved to disk unless each changed sector is specifically saved using the Write command. The way to keep these changes from being written to the disk file is to not save them. W - Write The Write command saves only the current edited sector of the file to the DOS buffer. When the DOS buffer is filled, the saved sectors are written to disk. If the DOS buffer is not filled before exiting HE, the buffer is saved before exiting. 32 ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ TD - The Tree Directory Command │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The tree directory command displays a tree representation of a disk. Using the cursor keys, you can move to any position in the directory hierarchy and change to that directory, make a new sub-directory subordinate to the current one, or remove the current directory. If a subdirectory name is specified, TD will not display the tree directory and will instead search the disk and/or directory for a subdirectory by that name. This is helpful when you have five levels of directories and you wish to go directly to uniquely named subdirectory buried somewhere on your disk. Executing this command creates a disk information file called TREEINFO.TD in the root directory of the disk. Command The command line parameters are: line TD [drive:path] [/BW] [/R] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] specifies the disk to be displayed and the directory name where you wish to log to. If only the disk drive character with the colon is entered, the directory tree is displayed showing the drive specified. If a directory name is also specified, the TD command bypasses the directory tree display and searches for the first found occurence of the directory name specified in the path. Do not use a \ character. Once a directory is found matching the name entered, you are automatically logged to that directory. Otherwise, control remains in the current directory. /R The /R option rereads the disk when changes have been made to the directory tree structure of the disk outside the TD program. When TD is executed, it creates a tree directory file to store the directory tree structure of the disk for subsequent use. This file will be located in the root directory of the disk. Any time TD is run afterwards, disk access is greatly speeded up, since the utility is not forced to search your entire disk for any subdirectories. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator TD description screen. 33 Example 1: TD B:TRASHCAN The above command will search the entire directory tree structure for a sub-directory matching the name 'TRASHCAN'. If a match is found, control will automatically be logged to that directory. Otherwise, control remains in the current directory and the full directory tree is displayed onto the screen. Example 2: TD B: When the TD command is executed as above, the screen clears and displays the directory tree of the drive specified (in this case drive 'B'). The cursor keys (Home, End, PgUp, PgDn, Up Down, Left, & Right) can be used to traverse the tree to position the highlighted bar on the desired directory. This command can be used to change to a new directory on the disk, make a new directory, or remove a useless directory. If changes had been made to the directory tree structure outside the TD command, the directory tree would have to be re-read so that the current information could be placed into the tree file. The tree file is created to speed up disk access time for larger disk systems. 34 ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ │ TT - The Time Tamer Command │ └───────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Time Tamer command sets a stopwatch counter useful for determining the speed of particular programs, computer access times, et cetera. Up to 10 separate counters can be set. Specifying no stopwatch parameters simply displays the current system time and date with an optional comment. Command The command line parameters are: Line TT [comment] [/Cn] [/NT] [/START] [/STOP] [/R] [/HELP] [comment] The [comment] is simply a message that is displayed either when the current date and time is shown or when the counter is started or stopped. This is especially useful when this command is used in a batch file, keeping the user apprised of the current status of the process. /Cn The /Cn parameter specifies the counter to be acted upon. Up to nine counters can be set at one time. Each counter can be started and stopped separately. If no counter is specified, counter 0 is used by default. /NT The /NT parameter deactivates the time and date display, so that any timing done does not include the time needed to display this information. This option is mostly used inside batch files. /START The /START parameter starts the stopwatch counter of the current counter (defined by the /Cn parameter). If no counter is specified, it is assumed to be 0. /STOP The /STOP parameter stops the counter and displays the elapsed time found in the current counter (defined by the /Cn). The /START parameter must be executed in a separate operation before the /STOP is used. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator TT description screen. Example 1: TT 'Today's date and time is' /R The above will display the comment given and the current date and time right justified on the current line of the screen. 35 Example 2: To set up a timer to find out how fast a program runs or how long it takes to do some task on the computer, enter the command below: TT /C1 /NT /START This will not display the current system date and time, so that the time it took to show that information doesn't skew your timing. To stop the stopwatch and find out how much time had passed, enter the following command: TT /C1 /NT /STOP This will displayed the elapsed time measured by counter 1. This combination of commands are especially useful when used in conjunction with batch files, so that the variable speed of your typing in the command doesn't affect the timing. 36 ┌──────────────────────────────────────┐ │ UD - The UnDelete File Command │ └──────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The UnDelete File command recovers and rebuilds a recently deleted file, if possible. This procedure cannot be guaranteed to always correctly or completely reconstruct a file. Warning If the file to be recovered is located on a floppy diskette, first make a backup copy of the disk using DOS' DISKCOPY command. This will ensure that you have another chance to recover the file if you cannot piece it together correctly the first time. If the disk has been written to since the deletion occurred or if multiple files had been deleted, your chances of recovering that file is greatly diminished. If the disk optimizer has been run on the disk since the file has been deleted, you will not be able to recover the file. Command The command line parameters are: Line UD [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter accepts the drive and directory path where the file or files are located that you wish to recover. All deleted files in this directory will be displayed on the file selection screen. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator UD description screen. Operation Once the drive and directory have been selected, the directory is searched for any deleted files that are recorded in the directory. All deleted files found are then displayed. At the far right appears a column telling you how many deleted files exist in the directory and how many others exist that cannot be recovered. 37 Tag File To select a displayed file for recovery, you must first tag with it using the SPACE BAR. Once the file is tagged, an Space Bar asterisk appears to the left of the name on the screen. Use the up or down cursor keys to move the highlighted selection bar to the desired file and press the SPACE BAR. Automatic If you select to recover the tagged file(s) using the Mode Automatic Undelete Mode, UD will attempt to recover the file(s) without your intervention. You will not be asked to enter the first character of the filename(s) involved. Instead, the program will alphabetically select a character that creates a unique file name. Recover If you select to recover the tagged file(s) using the Without Recover Mode, UD will attempt to undelete the file(s) Help Mode without your help after you enter the first character of the file name. Enter first letter of filename: _xxxxxxx.xxx The file shown should be one of the tagged files, enter the character that you wish to appear as its first character. Once the file name has been recreated, UD will attempt to rebuild and recover the tagged files. Once it has completed the process, you will be returned to the DOS prompt with a message: XXX files recovered. Interactive Mode The Interactive mode lets you select the sectors that belong to the file(s) that you are trying to undelete. This mode will probably not be useful in recovering an EXE or COM file. You may need to use this mode if a previous attempt at recovering a file goes awry. When a file had been fragmented, or when multiple files have been deleted from the disk, automatic recovery may not be possible. In this case, just delete the files that were created during the Automatic file recovery procedure and use UD in interactive mode. The Screen The undelete screen is initially displayed in the HEX/ASCII format where the ASCII text appears on the right hand side of the screen and the hexadecimal representation of the same sectors appear on the left hand side of the screen. This shows the cluster information sector by sector on the disk. When it initially appears, this screen shows the first cluster allocated to the file. If this cluster has been written over and allocated to another file, there is no hope of saving your file. 38 The top line of the screen shows the path and file name of the file being rescued. Below this line appears the line: CLUSTERS NEEDED: 3 ADDED: 3 % SAVED: 100% This line shows the number of clusters the directory table shows that were previously allocated to the file in question. This number is only a guideline. The ADDED entry shows the number of clusters currently allocated to the file. The % SAVED entry shows what percentage of the file has been recovered based on the previous two numbers. It is possible to recover and append to your file more clusters than were known to be allocated for it. This can occur when, for example, you attempt to recover a file created by WORDSTAR. The disk will contain the file itself, the BAKup copy and temporary work files created by Wordstar. To be safe, you may want to recover most or all of these clusters to be sure you get as much of your file back as possible. Below this line appears the line: Relative Sector 34E7 (13543) Byte 0000 ( 0) Page 0 This line contains information about the sector you are currently in. Below these lines appear the hexadecimal and ASCII representation of the sector shown. To display the rest of the sectors in the cluster, use the PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End keys to move one half sector up, one half sector down, the top of the cluster, and the last sector of the cluster. Undelete After selecting this mode by pressing I, the first sector of Commands the screen is displayed is a format similar to the screen used by the hex editor. At the bottom, the following commands appear: Add Forward Goto Next Previous Quit Review Search Write The Add command concatenates the currently displayed cluster to the file being rebuilt. Forward shows the next available unallocated cluster. Goto moves to a particular cluster on the disk, or to the next available cluster following the value entered. Next uses the currently defined search string to search from the current position on the disk. Previous shows the last available cluster before the one shown. Quit exits the undelete command and returns to DOS, without saving the changes made. Review displays what has been recovered so far. Search lets you define a defined search string and then looks for the first occurence of the string in the available unoccupied clusters on the disk. Write saves the contents of the file that has been recovered. 39 A-Add The Add command appends the current cluster to the file being recovered. After this command is invoked, the current cluster will appear when you choose to Review the file. You are not limited to only appending the exact number of clusters specified by the directory as being part of the file. You can append as many or as few as you wish, depending on the circumstances. After Add appends the cluster, it automatically advances to the next unallocated cluster on the disk. F-Forward The Forward command displays the next unallocated cluster appearing on the disk. Most of the time, unless there are numerous deleted files, this will be part of the file that you are attempting to recover. If this cluster is a part of your file and you would like to append to it, use the Add command, else keep searching. G-Goto The Goto command displays the designated sector onto the screen. When selected, the following message is shown: GOTO sector (xx-xxxx): _ The range is that of the data section of the disk. N-Next The Next command executes the last find operation from the current sector location using the same search object. P-Previous The Previous command displays the last unallocated cluster appearing on the disk before the current one. This is useful in backtracking through the unallocated disk clusters. Q-Quit The Quit command exits the undelete procedure without saving and altering the current structure of the disk. No file will be recovered if this is pressed. R - Review The Review command allows you to view the data clusters that have already been allocated to the file. This is displayed in a full screen ASCII text format. At the bottom of the screen appears the following line: Home-start review over PgDn-next screen ESC-resume recovery To move through this display, use either the Home key, the PgDn key, or the ESC-Abort key. Press the Home key to move to the top of file. The PgDn key allows you to page down through the file. The ESC-Abort keys allow you to exit this function and return you to the Undelete Hex screen. 40 S-Search The Search command accepts an object string and searches the disk for its match. When selected, the following prompt is displayed: Enter string to find: _ This search object string can be up to 30 characters in length. After entering the desired string, the next prompt then appears on the screen: Start search at sector (xx-xxxx): _ At this prompt, enter the starting point for the search. The sector range shown is the first and last unallocated clusters appearing on the disk. If the text string is not found, the message: Text not found will appear on the screen, otherwise the screen will display the sector where the first occurrence is found. If you wish to continue the search, use the Next command. You can abort this command at any time by pressing the ESCape key. W-Write The Write command places the retrieved clusters into the undeleted file. It then exits to DOS. If the number of clusters found does not equal the number of clusters specified by the directory table, the following prompt will appear: Allotted space is (LESS/GREATER) than original filesize. Adjust filesize (Y/N)? _ Answering Y for yes will continue with the save procedure, changing the length of the file to match its new length. Answering N for no will cause the following message to be displayed onto the screen: UNADJUSTED FILESIZE WILL CAUSE CHKDSK TO REPORT AN ERROR. CONTINUE (Y/N)? _ Answering N for no will return control to the undelete screen so that the search for clusters to complete the file can be found or the currently recovered sectors can be reviewed. Answering Y for yes will save the file as is, exit the Undelete operation and return control to the DOS prompt. 41 ┌──────────────────────────────────┐ │ VF - The View File Command │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The View File command displays a file and allows scrolling to the left, right, up, down. A continual scroll speed can be set to quickly scan the file, and a particular text string can be sought out and located in the file. Command The command line parameters are: Line VF [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter accepts the full path and file name of the file that is to be displayed by the VF command. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator VF description screen. Example: VF B:README.NOW When this command is executed, if the Disk Commando 'README.NOW' file is found on drive 'B', the screen will clear and display the first page of text from the file. Operation If no file was entered from the command line, the following query will appear: Enter filename: Enter the complete filename, including path, that you wish to display on the screen. Cursor The cursor keys can be used to move around in this file, Movement including the Home, End, PgUp, PgDn, Up, Down, Left and Right arrow keys. Home will move to the beginning of the file, End will move to the last page of the file. PgUp moves up one screen page of text, PgDn moves down one screen page. The Up arrow will move the cursor up one line of text on the screen, scrolling the screen if necessary. The Down arrow will move the cursor down one line of text, scrolling the screen if necessary. The Left arrow moves 8 column positions to the left, if possible, the Right arrow moves the cursor to the right eight columns. If the text 42 extends to the right past the 80th column, this will allow you to examine these columns. The Wordstar cursor movement keys will also work in a similar manner. Scroll The commands that are available for use are shown at the Speed bottom of the screen. Pressing a number between 1 and 9 will begin scrolling the screen that number of lines a second. This is a convenient way to scan the contents of a file without having to continually press keys. Pressing any key other than a numeric one will stop the scroll process. Pressing Home during a continuous scroll (1-9) will move to the top of the file and continue scrolling at the same speed as before. F2-Search The F2-Search command will let you specify a text string to search for in the file. When the F2 is pressed, you will be asked to enter the text string that you wish to search for at the following prompt: Search for What? _ A text string is sequence of characters forming a word or group of words that should appear exactly as entered. Once a text string is entered, press ENTER to begin the search. The search will start from the beginning of the file and look for the first occurrence of the text string. When one is found, the screen will clear and display the page where the text is located. F9-Next The F9-Next command continues the search for the next occurrence of the text found by a previous Search or Next command. ESC-Quit Pressing either the ESCAPE or F10 key exits the view file command. 43 ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐ │ VL - The Volume Label Command │ └─────────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Volume Label command adds, modifies, or removes the current volume label with one that you provide. If no volume label is specified, you will be shown the current volume label and will then be prompted for its replacement. Command The command line parameters are: Line VL [drive:] [label] [/HELP] [d:] The [drive:] parameter specifies the disk volume whose label you wish to change. If no drive label is given, the current drive is assumed. The drive label must be followed by a colon. [label] The [label] parameter is the volume label that you wish to replace the current one with. If none is specified, you will be prompted for one. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the information given in the Disk Commando Integrator VL description screen. Example 1: VL B: If no label is specified when VL is invoked, the following prompt is displayed: Current label on drive 'B' is DC-COMMANDO' Enter new label, press <CR> to keep label, or CNTL-D to delete label. Enter new label: ----------- If no volume label exists for the drive, the current label line would be replaced by the following line. Drive 'B' has no label. Once a label has been entered, a successful label creation will result in the following message being printed: Label created! 44 Example 2: To replace the current volume label on drive 'B' with a new volume label, enter the following label command: VL B: VOLUMELABEL When entering the volume label at the command line, no spaces can appear in the volume label. 45 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ ZD - The Zap Disk Command │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Zap Disk command overwrites some or all of a disk with a specified ASCII character a specified number of repetitions. This is a protection feature to keep sensitive data from being recovered by others. Any disk that is so treated cannot be UnDeleted or unformatted. An option exists with this command to only zap clusters of the disk not currently allocated to existing files. Command The command line parameters are: Line ZD [drive:] [/An] [/Rn] [/U] [/HELP] [d:] The [drive:] parameter accepts the drive that you wish to overwrite. Be sure to correctly specify the drive that you wish zapped. Once the disk is zapped, any data that existed on that diskette will not be recoverable. If no drive is given, the zap procedure will not continue. /An The /An parameter sets the character that is to be used when zapping the disk. The n represents the decimal value of the character that is to be used. The character can be any IBM ASCII character, a decimal value between 0 and 255. The default value is 0, which will overwrite the disk with the ASCII character 0. /Rn The /Rn parameter sets the number of repetitions that the character will be written. The n represents the decimal value, between 1 and 32767. The default value is 1. /U The /U parameter overwrites only those portions of the disk not currently allocated to files. This will overwrite erased files and unused data areas with the selected ASCII character. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to the description given in the Disk Commando Integrator ZD description screen. 46 Example: ZD B: When this command has been invoked with a correct drive label (in this case, drive 'B'), the screen will display the following lines and prompt you with a query. Disk to be zapped: B Disk Area affected: Entire disk ASC overwrite char: 0 Zap process count : 1 Warning: Data on drive 'B' will be lost forever. Proceed (Y/N)? [N] This is to prevent a zap procedure from occurring accidently. The default response to the query is N for no. If you press ENTER at this point, the zap command is aborted. If you enter Y for yes, the zap command then begins overwriting the disk. Pressing ESCAPE will abort the procedure at the current point. Once the disk is overwritten, the data on that disk cannot be recovered. The zap procedure starts from the end of the disk and works backward. 47 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ ZF - The Zap File Command │ └─────────────────────────────────┘ Overview The Zap File command zeroes a file or group of selected files inorder to obscure its contents. This is a full screen command, displaying the list of files in the specified directory. Using the space bar, you can tag a single file or group of files for zeroing. The character used for overwriting the file is '0'. Command The command line parameters are: Line ZF [drive:path] [/BW] [/HELP] [d:path] The [drive:path] parameter accepts the drive and directory path where the files are that you wish to overwrite. Once any file is zapped, any data that existed in that file will not be recoverable by any means. /BW The /BW option changes from color screen output to black and white text. This is only necessary if the screen is illegible when run without this option. /HELP The /HELP option is available from the help line when you forget what parameters are available and/or what those parameters mean. This information is similar to that given for the command in the Disk Commando Integrator ZF description screen. Operation ZF B: After the disk and directory is selected for file display, in this case the root directory of drive 'B', the screen clears and shows the first seventeen directory entries on the screen. The volume label and sub-directories can not be zapped by this command. Tag Files To move the highlighted selection bar up or down the screen, with press the up and/or down cursor key. When the selection bar Space Bar is highlighting a file that you wish to zero, press the Space Bar. Now to the side of the file name should appear an asterisk, '*'. If the space bar is pressed by accident by a file that you do not wish to zero, simply press the space bar again. This will remove the asterisk by the highlighted file name. If you press either 'A' or 'Z' before tagging any files with the space bar, the following message will appear at the bottom of the screen: No files tagged for zapping. Use <Space> to tag or <ESC> to exit. 48 Once all of the files are tagged with asterisks for zapping, press either the 'A' or 'Z' keys. The 'Z' key will begin the zap procedure, querying you for each file. The 'A' key will begin the zap procedure after giving you one last chance to abort the procedure. Once either the 'A' or 'Z' options have finished zapping the tagged files, ZF will return control to DOS, showing the total number of files zapped. Z-Zap File If the 'Z' command is pressed, the ZF program will ask you for permission to zap each file that was tagged. This query will appear as follows: Zap 'filename.ext' (Y/N)? _ Answering Y will zap the file, answering N will skip that file. A-Auto Zap If the 'A' command is pressed, the ZF program will display the following warning prompt: DANGER: Zapped files are gone forever. Zap selected files (Y/N)? _ Answering Y will zap all of the files marked, answering N will stop the process without zeroing the files. If you enter Y to start the process and then change your mind, you can press ESCAPE to halt the zap process. Once the file has been zeroed, it can not be recovered. 49