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PC-SIG Diskette Library (Disk #1394)
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Information about “READ MY DISK!”
Anyone who works with ASCII-based databases, wordprocessors, or any
program that stores its data in ASCII files will find this program
useful. READ MY DISK! recovers ASCII data from a floppy or hard disk
that has been severely damaged. This damage can be missing file
allocation tables, missing directories, deleted files,
magnetically-damaged disks and even disks with holes in them. In other
words, if the disk will fit in your disk drive, then the damaged data
can be recovered.
When READ MY DISK! recovers data, it writes the data to an undamaged
formatted disk. If needed, you can specify the size of the file in case
you have a wordprocessor with limits on the size of the files it can
handle. You can also specify if you would like high-order bit
characters saved. This helps if you have damaged a file that was saved
in a format used by WordStar or any other program that uses its own
characters.
READ MY DISK! works on all floppy and hard disks up to 32 megabytes in
size.
FILE1394.TXT
Disk No: 1394
Program Title: READ MY DISK!
PC-SIG version: 1.1
Anyone who works with ASCII-based databases, word-processors, or any
program that stores its data in ASCII files will find this program
useful. READ MY DISK! recovers ASCII data from a floppy or hard disk
that has been severely damaged. This damage can be missing file
allocation tables, missing directories, deleted files,
magnetically-damaged disks and even disks with holes in them. In other
words, if the disk will fit in your disk drive, then the damaged data
can be recovered.
When READ MY DISK! recovers data, it writes the data to an undamaged
formatted disk . If needed, you can specify the size of the file in case
you have a word processor with limits on the size of the files it can
handle. You can also specify if you would like high-order bit
characters saved. This helps if you have damaged a file that was saved
in a format used by WordStar or any other program that uses its own
characters.
READ MY DISK! works on all floppy and hard disks up to 32 megabytes in
size.
Synopsis: Recover data from severely damaged disks. Will operate on
all floppies and hard disks up to 32 megabytes.
Usage: Disk Utility/Data Recovery.
Special Requirements: Two disk drives or one disk drive and a hard disk.
How To Start: Type GO (press enter).
Suggested Registration: $25.00
File Descriptions:
INFO DOC Description of program.
MANUAL DOC Documentation for main program.
MANUAL EXE Manual generating program.
RMD! EXE Main Program.
PC-SIG
1030D E Duane Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-9291
(c) Copyright 1989 PC-SIG, Inc.
GO.TXT
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ <<<< Disk No 1394 READ MY DISK! >>>> ║
╠═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ To start the program, type RMD! (press enter) ║
║ ║
║ To copy the documentation to your printer, type MANUAL (press enter) ║
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
MANUAL.DOC
READ MY DISK!
(ver 1.3)
Advanced Version
Copyright 1988
By R. Harriman
All Rights Reserved
Direct All Inquiries To;
DairySoft Custom Software
72 Crestmont Road
Bangor, ME 04401
(207) 945-3500
LICENSE TO USE THIS PROGRAM
This program is NOT in the public domain. To use this
program you MUST REGISTER as described in the REGISTRATION
section on the next page. Failure to register within 30
days will terminate your license to use this program.
Subject to the registration provision you are granted
a license to copy and distribute this program provided
that you do not sell it, and that the recipient is
informed that he/she must register their copy.
This license is also subject to the provision that all
support for the software will be done by mail or at the
expense of the user for phone, travel, lodging, etc. All
support will be provided in the English language. Support
contracts are available on a individually negotiated
basis.
The license is subject to the understanding that this
manual and the software MAY contain errors and that the
author or DairySoft Custom Software will not be held
liable for any damages resulting from the use of this
software. The software and manual are provided AS IS.
This license is for one computer only. If you wish to
use it on more than one computer you must request a
multiple site license as described in the REGISTRATION
section.
REGISTRATION
To use this program you must register with the company
shown below;
DairySoft Custom Software
72 Crestmont Road
Bangor, ME 04401
Your registration is NECESSARY for several reasons.
1) It provides us with an address to contact you
should a problem be discovered in the software.
2) If you need support for the software it will
only be provided if you have registered.
3) Each year we have a drawing from the names of
all the people who have registered that year. The
people chosen get to choose from a wide variety of
software (games, utilities, integrated packages,
etc.) from many of the famous software
manufacturers. We give away hundreds of dollars
worth of software to several different winners.
Single User
If you will be using this program on only one computer
you can register by sending a check for $25.00 to the
address shown above. Please include your name and address.
Multiple Site Users
If you wish to use this program on more than one
computer you may register by sending the following items
to the address shown above;
1) A letter stating your name (business or school),
address, telephone number and the number of
computers you will be using this program on.
2) Include a check for payment at the rate of $25.00
for the first computer and $10.00 for each
additional computer.
Multiple site users will receive one entry into the
drawing for each computer registered.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This program is designed to recover ASCII data from a
floppy or hard disk that has been severely damaged.
This damage can be in the form of missing File
Allocation Tables, missing Directories, deleted files,
magnetically damaged disks, disks with holes in them or
disks that have been contaminated in any way.
The data that is recovered from the damaged disk is
written to ASCII files on another disk. This undamaged
disk can then be read, edited and formatted by a word
processor or text editor.
WHO NEEDS THIS PROGRAM?
If you are a journalist, author, student, businessman,
secretary or anyone who uses a word processor extensively,
then you need this program.
If you work with ASCII based databases or programs
that store their data in ASCII files then you need this
program.
There are a lot of data recovery programs on the
market. Most of them are designed to fix whatever is wrong
with your disk so you can recover the lost data. If the
disk cannot be fixed then the data cannot be recovered.
READ MY DISK! assumes the worst. It assumes that the
disk cannot be fixed. It will read every sector on your
disk and write whatever it finds to ASCII files that you
can edit as you desire.
The only time READ MY DISK! will not recover your lost
data is when the disk has been formatted. Your computer's
disk operating system alters the disk in such a manner
that no program on this planet can read it.
Some programs advertise that they can recover data
from a formatted disk. What they mean is that they can
recover data that was on a disk formatted with their
program.
The format program provided with your DOS will destroy
all data permanently.
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
A IBM PC* or PC compatible with at least 256K RAM. Two
floppy drives or one floppy and a hard drive. A 80 X 25
monitor.
FEATURES
1) Reads every sector (or group of sectors that you
select) on the entire disk into ASCII files.
2) Allows you to preview the disk to determine which
sectors you wish to retrieve.
3) You specify the size of the ASCII files so your word
processor or text editor can handle them.
4) Reads ASCII text files that use high bits such as
WORDSTAR*.
5) Works on all floppy disks and hard disks up to 32
megabytes.
6) Reads even the most severely corrupted disks. If it
will fit in your drive, it can be read.
7) Displays the drive being read, the drive being written
to, the number of sectors on the disk and which sector
is currently being read.
8) Ignores sectors without data.
9) Takes about 12 minutes to read a completely full 360K
floppy disk when used on a 4.77 mhz machine.
!!!!!!!!! USING THE PROGRAM !!!!!!!!!
There are five steps that you must follow to use this
program properly. They are;
1) Make a backup of the disk to be read.
2) Load the program.
3) Set the parameters.
4) Read the disk.
5) Edit the ASCII files on the target disk using your
word processor or text editor.
BACKUP THE DISK TO BE READ
(Step 1)
Use the DISKCOPY.COM program provided on your DOS disk
to make a backup copy of the bad disk (floppy disks only).
Use the backup copy as the disk to be READ. This will
allow you to have the original should you make an error
and damage the backup disk. If the disk is too badly
damaged you may not be able to make a copy.
LOADING THE PROGRAM
(Step 2)
The program RMD!.EXE must be copied to a formatted
floppy disk and should contain only this program. Hard
disk users should create a separate directory for this
program and copy RMD!.EXE to that directory.
Hard Disk Users
Go to the directory containing RMD!.EXE and type RMD!
then press the Return or Enter key.
Dual Floppy Drive Users
Place the disk to be read in one drive and the disk
with RMD!.EXE in the other drive. If RMD!.EXE is in drive
B go to the B> prompt (or A> if it is in the A drive) and
type RMD! then press the Return or Enter key.
The program will be loaded and a screen will appear
that will allow you to set the parameters for this
program.
SETTING PARAMETERS
(Step 3)
Read From;
Press the letter on the keyboard which corresponds
with the drive that contains the disk to be read. Do not
press the Enter or Return key.
Pressing the Esc key will end the program.
What Type Of Read?
If you do not want to translate high bit characters
then press the letter X when the cursor is in the Read All
Data box. If you press the spacebar the cursor will move
to the next box and you can press the letter X to indicate
Read & Translate.
Pressing the Esc key will back up to the READ FROM
box.
Target Drive;
Press the letter on the keyboard which corresponds
with the drive that contains the disk to be written to. Do
not press the Enter or Return key.
Pressing the Esc key will back up to the WHAT TYPE OF
READ box.
Maximum File Size;
Type in a number that is smaller than the maximum file
size your word processor or text editor will handle. If
you do not know then type in 64. All files that are
written to the target drive will be less than the size you
specify.
To erase a number that you have typed or press the Alt
key and the C key at the same time.
When you have the correct number typed in press the
Return or Enter key to continue.
Pressing the Esc key will back up to the TARGET DRIVE
box.
Changing Disks
If you have specified a floppy drive as the target
drive you will be allowed to remove the program disk at
this time and put in a blank, formatted disk.
STARTING THE READ PROCESS
(Step 4)
At this time you should be looking at the Parameters
screen and there should be four choices showing at the
bottom of the screen.
F2 Read Entire Disk-F4 Select Sectors-F6 Quit-Esc Back up
Back Up
If you press the Esc key you will be able to back up
and change the parameters.
Quit
Pressing F6 will end the program.
Read Entire Disk
If you press F2 the program will check to see that you
have correctly defined the parameters. If something is not
correct you will be warned and returned to the parameters
screen. Make the corrections, move to the end of the
parameters screen and press F2 again.
Select Sectors
If you press F4 you will be allowed to look at the
contents of the sectors on the screen and decide which
sectors you want to copy to the Target disk. See the
SEARCHING AND SELECT SECTORS section for full details.
Error Checking
When you select F2 or F4 the program will check to see
that you have selected valid drives to read from and write
to. If you have not, it will beep and inform you of the
specific problem. Then it will return you to the original
screen to set the parameter correctly.
IF THE READ DISK IS SEVERELY DAMAGED YOU WILL BE
informed of this problem and will be asked how the size of
the disk is described. If is described in kilobytes press
the letter K. If it is described in megabytes press the
letter M. You will then be asked to type in the number of
kilobytes or megabytes on the READ disk. Type in the
number and press Enter or Return to continue.
SEARCHING AND SELECTING SECTORS
When you press F4 the screen will reformat and the
contents of the first sector on the READ disk will be
displayed on the screen.
In addition the following information is also
displayed;
The sector at which the READ process will BEGIN.
The sector at which the READ process will END.
The sector that is currently displayed on the screen.
Options
F1 will mark the sector that is currently on the
screen as the sector to BEGIN the READ process.
F3 will mark the sector that is currently on the
screen as the sector to END the READ process.
F5 will allow you to select the sector that you want
to be displayed on the screen.
F7 will allow you to type in a word or phrase that you
want to search for.
The search will begin at the next sector from the one
currently on the screen. It will stop when it finds the
first sector containing the word or phrase you specified.
That sector will be displayed as the current sector
and pressing F7 again will allow you to select the search
phrase again.
F9 will begin the READ process at the BEGIN sector you
specified and will end at the END sector specified.
PgUp will backup and display the previous sector.
PgDn will go forward and display the next sector.
Esc will return to the PARAMETERS SCREEN.
How To Use The Options
Usually the amount of data that you have lost is quite
small and it is not necessary to read the entire disk. By
using the options shown above you can speed up the data
retrieval process.
These are the steps you would normally take to restore
the lost data with the Select Sectors option.
1) An important part of your research paper has not
appeared on the screen where it should have been. All
attempts at restoring the data have failed.
2) Using READ MY DISK! you set up the parameters
screen which instructs the program which disk to read from
and which disk you want the recovered data to go to. Then
you press F4 to Select Sectors.
3) When the first sector is displayed on the screen
you press F7 and enter a phrase that you remember was in
the missing data. The program searches and finds the
sector containing that phrase. It is displayed on the
screen.
4) Using the PgUp key you page backwards through the
sectors until you find the beginning of the missing text.
You press F1 to mark this as the beginning sector.
5) You press F5 and enter the sector number that you
started at with the phrase in it. That sector is displayed
and then you press PgDn to page through the sectors until
you find the end of the missing text.
6) You press F3 to mark this sector as the ending
sector.
7) You then press F9 and the program reads the sectors
that you selected into text files that can be read by your
word processor. You combine those text files with the
original document and you are finished.
READ SCREEN
The Parameters screen will clear and the Read screen
will appear. The following information is displayed;
READING DRIVE:
WRITING TO:
TRANSLATE IS:
TOTAL SECTORS:
NOW READING SECTOR:
READING DRIVE:
Will display the letter of the drive being read.
WRITING TO:
Will display the letter of the drive being written to
and the name of the file currently being written. The
first file written is MYDISK1.DAT, the second file is
MYDISK2.DAT, etc.
Whenever the file currently being written to exceeds
the maximum file size set in the parameters the next
MYDISK?.DAT file is created.
IF THE DISK BEING WRITTEN TO BECOMES FULL YOU WILL BE
NOTIFIED BY A MESSAGE ON THE SCREEN. AT THIS TIME PLACE A
BLANK, FORMATTED DISK IN THE TARGET DRIVE, CLOSE THE DRIVE
DOOR AND PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE.
TRANSLATE IS:
Will display either ON or OFF depending on which
option you selected on the parameters screen. ON will
translate high bit characters.
TOTAL SECTORS:
Will display the total number of sectors anticipated
on the READ drive. The first sector is zero.
NOW READING SECTOR:
Will display the sector currently being read. If some
numbers pass more quickly than others it is because the
sector did not contain any data and was ignored.
PRESS THE LETTER E TO END THE DISK READ AND RETURN TO
THE PARAMETERS SCREEN.
EDIT THE ASCII FILES
(Step 5)
When the program has finished reading and writing it
will return to the Parameters Screen.
Press the Esc key and the program will end.
Go to the drive designator for the drive the TARGET
disk is in (A>, B>, C>, etc.) and type DIR, then press the
Enter or Return key. You will see several files beginning
with MYDISK and ending with .DAT. These files are in
numerical order.
If you were reading a 360 kilobyte drive and the
maximum file size you set was 100 kilobytes you will see
four files. They will be;
MYDISK1.DAT - Size will be approximately 102400 bytes.
MYDISK2.DAT - Size will be approximately 102400 bytes.
MYDISK3.DAT - Size will be approximately 102400 bytes.
MYDISK4.DAT - Size will be approximately 61440 bytes.
Using a word processor or text editor load these files
one at a time and view the contents. You will be amazed at
what you see!
Everything you put on the disk and did not write over
will be displayed. It will appear even if you instructed
DOS to delete it!
Use your word processor or text editor to delete
unwanted data and format the remaining data the way you
want it.
If you only needed a small portion of what was on the
disk then copy it and transfer it to another file.
To locate a particular section that you wanted to
recover, use the search feature of your word processor to
locate a particular phrase.
WE WANT YOUR COMMENTS!
If you have ideas on improving this product or have
questions about using it please write to DairySoft Custom
Software, Dept Q, 72 Crestmont Road, Bangor, ME 04401.
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #1394
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
MANUAL EXE 67069 7-12-89 9:13p
MANUAL DOC 21467 7-12-89 9:00p
INFO 5450 7-12-89 9:01p
RMD! EXE 77187 1-12-89 3:19p
FILE1394 TXT 1682 8-31-89 2:07p
GO BAT 38 4-24-89 4:39p
GO TXT 540 5-30-89 8:57a
7 file(s) 173433 bytes
145408 bytes free