Loadstar 128 #27

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Text File | 1991-01-01 | 16.6 KB | 483 lines

Disk Copier ----------- This utility is a single device fast data copier. Use this to copy standard diskettes. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the current device. Device: This is the device accessed by this module. When you enter this module this option is automatically set to the default device specified in "Disk Functions." Start Track: This is the track at which copying/verifying begins. End Track: This is the last track to be copied/verified. Verify: "No" No verify is performed during the copy process. "Yes" The backup is verified during the copy process. "Only" Allows you to compare two disks. With this option no write pass occurs. For a sector by sector verify see DISK COMPARE. Copy Disk: Select this option to copy or verify a disk. You can abort a copy at any prompt by pressing the escape key. When you copy a disk you will see 3 colored bars near the lower part of the screen, 1 bar each for the read, write, and verify (if selected) passes. After each pass the appropriate bar will show the error status of the pass. Asterisks '*' mean that at least one error occurred on the corresponding track. Notes: As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error. This utility uses the capture buffer for a data buffer. Before you copy a disk make sure that the buffer does not contain any important information in it or it will be wiped out! After a copy is done you will see a "press return" prompt. When you press return the device is initialized with the "i0" string. Make sure there is a disk in the device that is properly formatted or a "bump" may occur. If you copied an entire disk simply leave the destination disk in the device and press return. If you aborted a copy, or copied only a part of a disk, you should place a formatted disk in the device before pressing return. Dual Disk Drive Copier ---------------------- This utility is a multi-device fast disk copier. Use this to copy standard diskettes. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the current device. Source Device: Place the disk to be copied in this device. Destination Device: Place a disk (formatted or unformatted) in this drive. The disk in the source device will be copied to here. Start Track: This is the track at which copying/verifying begins. End Track: This is the last track to be copied/verified. Verify: "Read" Each block is read verified only. "Write" Each block is write verified only. "R/W" Each block is read and write verified (full verification) "None" Nothing is verified. Copy Disk: Select this option to copy a disk. Notes: As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error. Before you use this utility you should make sure that the destination device has been used since power up. This will avoid a possible "bump" at the start of the copy process. Why a "bump?" The 1541 has no way of knowing where the read/write head is until it accesses a disk. From that point on the device "remembers" where the head is located. Finding the first track for the copy is simple math. If the first track to be written is track 1, and the head is currently at track 2, the routine simply moves the head 1 track. If, however, the device wasn't used since power up, the head could be anywhere, so the DOS routines in this module turn control over to the 1541 to perform its built-in "seek" function in order to determine the head position. In this case, a seek done on an unformatted disk will cause a "bump" (OUCH!) Nibbler ------- This utility is a single drive disk nibbler. Use this utility to copy DOS protected 1541 diskettes. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the current device. Device: This is the device accessed by this module. When you enter this module this option is automatically set to the default device specified in "Disk Functions." Start Track: This is the track at which copying begins. End Track: This is the last track to be copied. Track Increment: This option is normally "1.0" for full-track stepping. You can set this option to "0.5" to copy "half-tracks." For example, if this option is set to 1.0 and your start track is 1.0, you will copy tracks 1.0, then 2.0, 3.0, etc. If the track increment was 0.5, you would copy tracks 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, etc. Header Gap Size: This option allows you to set the header gap size for the destination disk. The header gap provides spacing between the header block and data block. The standard header gap length is 8 bytes. Although this option allows you to vary the header gap size from 1 to 16 bytes, you should not use any value other than 8 unless you are sure you want a different size. The standard dos format uses an 8 byte header gap. Tail Gap Size: This option allows you to set the tail gap size. The tail gap provides spacing between the end of a data block and the start of the header block of the next sector (inter-sector spacing). There is no "standard" tail gap size, as the tail gap is dependent on the speed of your drive. The standard dos format command will use a value of at least 4, but not more than 12 bytes. Copy Disk: Select this option to nibble copy a disk. You can abort a copy at any prompt by pressing the ESCape key. When you copy a disk you will see 2 colored bars near the lower part of the screen. The green bar shows which tracks have already been read from the source disk. The red bar shows which tracks have been written to the destination disk. Notes: This utility uses the capture buffer for a data buffer. Before you copy a disk make sure that the buffer does not contain any important information in it or it will be wiped out! After a copy is done you will see a "press return" prompt. When you press RETURN the device is initialized with the "i0" string. Make sure there is a disk in the drive that is properly formatted or a "bump" may occur. If you copied an entire disk simply leave the destination disk in the drive and press RETURN. If you aborted a copy, or copied only a part of a disk, you should place a formatted disk in the drive before pressing RETURN. As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error. Dual Drive Nibbler ------------------ This utility is a multi-drive disk nibbler. Use this utility to copy DOS protected 1541 diskettes. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the source device. Source Device: Place the disk to be copied in this drive. Destination Device: Place a disk (formatted or unformatted) in this device. The disk in the source device will be copied to this device. Start Track: This is the track at which copying begins. End Track: This is the last track to be copied. Track Increment: This option is normally "1.0" for full-track stepping. You can set this option to "0.5" to copy "half-tracks." For example, if this option is set to 1.0 and your start track is 1.0, you will copy tracks 1.0, then 2.0, 3.0, etc. If the track increment was 0.5, you would copy tracks 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, etc. Header Gap Size: This option allows you to set the header gap size for the destination disk. The header gap provides spacing between the header block and data block. The standard header gap for a 1541 is 8 bytes. Although this option allows you to vary the header gap size from 1 to 16 bytes, you should not use any value other than 8 unless you are sure you want a non- standard size. Tail Gap Size: This option allows you to set the tail gap size. The tail gap provides spacing between the end of a data block and the start of the header block of the next sector (inter-sector spacing). There is no "standard" tail gap size, as the tail gap is dependent on the speed of your drive. The standard dos format command will use a value of at least 4, but not more than 12 bytes. Copy Disk: Select this option to nibble copy a disk. After a copy has completed you will see an error report for both the read and write operations. Notes: Before you use this routine you should make sure that the destination device has been used since power up. This will avoid a "bump" at the start of the copy. Why a "bump?" The 1541 has no way of knowing where the read/write head is until it accesses a disk. From that point on the device "remembers" where the head is located. Finding the first track for the copy is simple math. If the first track to be written is track 1, and the head is currently at track 2, the routine simply moves the head 1 track. If, however, the device wasn't used since power up, the head could be anywhere, so the routines in this module turn control over to the 1541 to perform its built in "seek" function in order to determine the head position. In this case, a seek done on an unformatted disk will cause a "bump" (OUCH!) The read and write error report is only an indication that the nibbler routines worked normally. Even if you get no errors, there is no guarantee that the backup was 100% successful. Many protection schemes will thwart even the best nibblers. The only way to know if the backup worked is to try to run the program using the backup. The clock will not run while the routine is working. As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error. File Copier ----------- This module is a single/multi-drive fast file copier. There are actually 3 file copiers. The 1541 version copies file to and from 1541's only. The 1571 and 1581 versions work with all 3 devices. The text below refers to the 1541 version. Disk Directory: Displays the directory of the source device. Source Device: The device where the files to be copied are located. Destination Device: Files are copied to this device. If this device is the same as the source device you will be asked to swap disks. Copy Files: When you select this option you will see a listing of all sequential and program files in a window. You must select which files to copy. Use the cursor or arrow up and down keys to move the cursor. To select a file press the space bar. When a file is selected you will see a check mark before the file name. At the far right of the file name you will see the block size for each file. At the bottom of the window you can see how many files you have selected and the total number of blocks to be transferred. Make sure there is enough room on the destination disk before you begin copying. Command Summary: Space Bar Select/De-select a file Cursor up/down move cursor up and down Cursor Right move down 6 files Cursor Left move up 6 files Home press once moves cursor to top of window press twice to move to first file A select all files T toggle select status of all files S change save skew RETURN begin copying ESCape return to main menu (can be used at all prompts). For multi-drive copies you can use the RUN/STOP key to abort. It is only recognized after a full pass has completed. Hold the key down until it is recognized. The following refers to the 1571 and 1581 file copiers: The 1571 and 1581 file copiers are functionally the same as each other with one exception: The 1571 copier adds the "m" command for selecting files. When you press "m" while selecting files the first marked file is moved to the current cursor position. This allows you to move file names which makes it possible to copy files in any order rather than just in the order they appear in the directory. The 1581 copier adds the "S" command which allows you to sort the file names. Both the 1571 and 1581 copiers work very much the same as the 1541 copier as described above. These copiers have the ability to copy files from any subdirectory to any other subdirectory on the same or different disks. The following applies to 1581's only. Source Subdirectory: Press RETURN on this option to select a subdirectory for your source disk. You will see a list of possible subdirectories from the current subdirectory. Select a subdirectory by moving the cursor to the subdirectory name and then press SPACE. The "Source Subdirectory" will then show the subdirectory that is used for the source files. Destination Subdirectory: This option works the same as the source option. This is the subdirectory that files are copied to. You may go into subdirectories as many levels deep as need by re-selecting either of the above options. Notes: You can return to the root directory for either or both the source and destination device by toggling the corresponding device number. If you exit and return to the file copier both the source and destination directories are reset to the root. No check is performed on any source or destination you place into a device. If you select either a source and/or destination subdirectory make absolutely certain you have the correct disk in the device during the copy procedure. Failure to do this will most assuredly corrupt your destination disk. Compare 2 Disks --------------- This utility allows you to compare the data, sector by sector, of two diskettes. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the current device. Compare Two Disks: After you have set all the options below you select this option to compare two disks. The data in each sector of the first disk is compared to the data of the corresponding sector of a second disk. This option will ask you to swap disks (up to 3 times). Device: This is the device accessed by this module. When you enter this module this option is automatically set to the default device specified in "Disk Functions." Start Track: This is the track at which the comparison begins. End Track: This is the last track to be compared. ID's must match: "No" The two disks used in the comparison can have different format id's. Just the data blocks must match. "Yes" The disks must have the same format id or the comparison will report a verify error. You will almost always want this option to "no" otherwise the verify process will slow to a crawl. Notes: This utility uses the capture buffer for a data buffer. Before you use this utility make sure that the buffer does not contain any important information in it or it will be wiped out! After a comparison is done you will see a "press return" prompt at the bottom of the screen. When you press RETURN the current device is initialized with the "i0" string. Make sure there is a formatted disk in the device before you press RETURN or a "bump" may occur. The only time you can abort a comparison is by pressing the ESCape key at a disk swap prompt. If the clock display is on you will notice that it stops while the utility works. This is normal. The time will correct itself at prompts after the routine has finished. As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error. Compare 2 Disks Dual Drive -------------------------- This utility allows you to compare the data, sector by sector, of two diskettes using 2 drives. Disk Directory: Shows the directory of the disk in the current device. Device: This is the device accessed by this module. When you enter this module this option is automatically set to the default device specified in "Disk Functions". Start Track: This is the track at which the comparison begins. End Track: This is the last track to be compared. Compare Two Disks: After you have set all the options you select this option to compare two disks. The data in each sector of the first disk is compared to the data of the corresponding sector of a second disk. Notes: After a comparison is done you will see a read report of the source disk, and a "press return" prompt at the bottom of the screen. When you press RETURN you will see the verify (comparison) report. If the clock display is on you will notice that it stops while the utility works. This is normal. The time will correct itself after the routine has finished. As of this writing this module supports the 1541 only. If you attempt to access any device other than a 1541 you will get a "Device not present" error.