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DCF42.DOC
DISK COPY FAST
Version 4.2
Documentation
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 1
Table Of Contents
Disclaimer of warranty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Terms of distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2. Main Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. System requirement and compatibility . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. How to install and run DISK COPY FAST. . . . . . . . . . 10
5. Command line arguments and examples. . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. How to use pull-down menus in DISK COPY FAST . . . . . . 14
6.1 Select a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.2 Execute a command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.3 ESC key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.4 Mouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. Windows
7.1 Resource window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.2 Option window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7.2 Information window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8. Commands reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.1 Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.2 Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.3 Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
8.4 Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
9. Hot keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
10. Benchmark and comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10.1 Benchmark, HOW FAST CAN IT GO . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10.2 Comparison, HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE . . . . . . . . . 19
11. What is an image file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
12. About extended memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
13. About boot sector virus protection . . . . . . . . . . . 22
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 2
14. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
15. Questions and answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
16. Support and suggestions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
17. Introducing other fine products. . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
17.1 DISK COPY PLUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
17.2 DISK UTIL PACK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
18. Registration benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
18.1 DISK COPY FAST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
18.2 DISK COPY PLUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
19. How to register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
ORDER FORM
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 3
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SUPPLIED "AS IS". THE AUTHOR HEREBY
DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS
DOCUMENTATION FILE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO DAMAGE TO HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND/OR DATA FROM USE OF THIS
PRODUCT. IN NO EVENT WILL THE AUTHOR OF THIS SOFTWARE BE LIABLE
TO YOU OR ANY OTHER PARTY FOR ANY DAMAGES. YOUR USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE INDICATES THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THESE AND
OTHER TERMS INCLUDED IN THIS DOCUMENTATION FILE.
DUE TO THE NATURE OF EVOLVING PROGRAMMING AND THE VARIOUS
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH THIS SOFTWARE MAY
BE USED, IT IS UNDERSTOOD THAT OCCASIONAL "BUGS" OR UNFITNESS
MAY ARISE. THE USER SHOULD ALWAYS TEST THIS SOFTWARE THOROUGHLY
WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 4
LICENSE
DISK COPY FAST v4.2 is neither free software nor is it in the
public domain. The software and its documentation, this file, are
property of the author and may not be sold without written
permission from the author.
DISK COPY FAST v4.2 is distributed as shareware. This means that
you are granted a limited license to use it for a period of 30
days. If you find it useful and decide to continue using it after
the trial period, registration is required.
Registered users will be granted a just-like-a-book license which
means a registered version of the software can be used by more
than one person and can be moved from one computer to another so
long as there is NO POSSIBILITY of it being used by two different
persons on two different computers at the same time, just like a
book can not be read by two different persons in two different
places at the same time.
By registering for a non-commercial license you agree that the
software will not be used in a business, organization, institution
or government agency. You agree that the software will not be used
for profit purpose and do not duplicate more than 10 diskettes from
any particular source diskette or image file.
A commercial license allows you to use the software in a business,
organization, institution or government agency, for profit or
non-profit purposes. With a commercial license you can duplicate
as many diskettes as you like.
Site licenses for use of DISK COPY FAST on multiple computers are
also available upon request at a reduced fee.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 5
TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION :
Redistribution of DISK COPY FAST must include the software, its
documentation file, order form and all supplemental files (see
FILES.TXT) as a single unit without any modification AND subject
to the following conditions :
1. Any individual is welcome to make copies for his/her friends
and/or colleagues if NO FEE is charged.
2. Electronic bulletin boards, whether they charge or do not
charge their users subscription fee, are welcome to post the
program for down loading as long as they do not charge any fee
in particular for the distribution of DISK COPY FAST.
3. Computer information services such as CompuServe (CIS), Genie,
etc., may post this software for their subscribers.
4. Non-commercial user groups and computer clubs may distribute
the program to their members if the fee charged for the
diskette containing DISK COPY FAST does not exceed $10.
5. Disk vendors approved by the Association of Shareware
Professionals or disk vendors who explain the concept of
shareware in their ads that quote a price may distribute the
shareware version of DISK COPY FAST.
6. Other commercial enterprises wishing to distribute DISK COPY
FAST either alone or in combination with other hardware,
software, books or materials must obtain permission in writing
from the author.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author of DISK COPY FAST sincerely wish to thank the following
people.
Mr. Jeff. Chen from TAIWAN provided valuable information about
diskette controller. Without his help DISK COPY FAST can not be
really fast. Joe Warjas, co-sysop of the PIE BBS, provided many
valuable suggestions. He also helped proof read the DOC and TXT
files and distributed the program to many BBSes.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 7
1. INTRODUCTION:
DISK COPY FAST is a one pass diskette duplication utility which
makes copies of 1.44 MB, 720 KB, 1.2 MB and 360 KB diskettes.
DISK COPY FAST is incredibly fast. For example, using DOS
command DISKCOPY to duplicate a 360 KB, 1.2 MB, 720 KB or 1.44
Mb diskette, assuming diskette shuffling doesn't take any time,
will take 43%, 50%, 42% or 57% longer than using DISK COPY FAST.
Add up the shuffling time the saving becomes unbelievable. See
section 10 for details.
More importantly, DISK COPY FAST achieves its high performance
by precise timing, not by sacrificing compatibility. Every
single read, write or format is done following the industry
standard, strictly, no compromise!
Can you ask for anything more?
See the next section for other outstanding features.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 8
2. MAIN FEATURES
*** Performs the DOS commands FORMAT, DISKCOPY and DISKCOMP
all in one single pass.
*** Copy VERY fast from 8088 to 486, from monochrome to SVGA.
*** Friendly, informative and visually appealing user interface
with on-line help and mouse support. No need to go through
a lengthy DOC file and you still couldn't remember all the
options and switches.
*** Command line arguments for working with batch files.
*** Hot keys designed to make your backup or mass production
much easier.
*** Utilizes extended memory (XMS) for faster speed and to
save your hard disk from unnecessary wear and tear.
*** Creates an exact image file of a diskette.
*** Fast mode that reads and writes only the diskette portion
which contains data and does not waste any time reading
and writing the empty portion.
*** Supports four diskette drive systems.
*** Provides Some degree of protection against boot sector
virus. (See section 13. Although not complete, this
sometimes can be a life-saver.)
*** Audio signal at end of reading and writing a diskette or 20
seconds of inactivity.
*** High efficiency. When copying a 1.2 MB diskette in a
system with 590 KB free memory, DISK COPY FAST easily
stored 32 tracks while another diskette copy program could
only store 17 tracks of data in conventional memory.
*** More features waiting for you to discover. The more
experienced you are the better the DISK COPY FAST stands
out.
If you duplicate large quantities of diskettes on a regular basis
there is more for you. Check the features of DISK COPY PLUS, a
professional version of DISK COPY FAST, on section 18.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 9
3. SYSTEM REQUIREMENT AND COMPATIBILITY
To run DISK COPY FAST you need at least 200K Bytes of free
conventional memory. In addition, the total of free conventional
and extended memory plus free current disk (hard disk or RAM
disk) space should be at least 128K Bytes more than the diskette
you want to duplicate.
If you intend to use extended memory, some type of extended
memory driver, such as HIMEM.SYS which comes with DOS 5.0 or
QEMM which you need to purchase separately, is required.
Extended memory can be accessed without any driver but it is
dangerous to do so.
The program has been tested on machines with different hardware
and software configurations. The testing results show that it
runs almost as fast on an 8088 as on a 486 machine. If your
system does not have enough memory and needs to use the hard
disk instead, your hard disk should have at least a 200 KB/sec
transfer rate and should not be overly fragmented.
PS/2 with micro channel is not supported.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 10
4. HOW TO INSTALL AND RUN DISK COPY FAST
It's easy! Just copy all the files to a directory created for
DISK COPY FAST. In order to run the program anywhere you like
you need to include the directory in the PATH defined in your
AUTOEXEC.BAT file or create a one-line batch file containing
the path of DCF.EXE.
To run the program type "DCF" followed by the "enter" key. If
you only have one or two floppy drives you can skip the rest of
this section and continue at section 5 for command line
arguments.
In systems with four floppy drives, if a device driver which
came with the controller is installed DISK COPY FAST usually can
detect the drive letters automatically and the drive letters
should be used to specify the third and fourth drives. If no
device driver (TSR) is installed you need to use 3 and 4 as the
drive letters for the third and fourth drives. In this case you
need to edit a text file that provides the information on floppy
drive capacity.
The following is an example of the text file in which a 1.2MB,
a 1.44MB and a 360KB drives are specified as the first, the
second and the third drives with drive letters A: B: and G:,
respectively. The 0 on the last line indicates that the fourth
drive is not installed. If all drives are defined, such as in
the example, DISK COPY FAST will not check with DOS for drive
capacity. This can speed up the initialization process.
$DRIVE
1 1200 A:
2 1440 B:
3 360 G:
4 0
The name of the text file is CONFIG.DCF. DCF automatically looks
for this as its configuration file. If you use a different name
you will need to specify the file name on the command line. For
example, "DCF @ABC" if the file name is ABC.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 11
5. COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS AND EXAMPLES
There are thirteen options you can specify using command line
arguments. You can also toggle the first six with the pull down
menu. Other options can only be specified on the command line
and/or in the CONFIG.DCF file. The command line options override
the CONFIG.DCF options.
In addition, you can also specify an alternative configuration
file, source, and/or target drive/image file on the command line.
See examples at the end of this section.
Note that the '+' sign after any option can be omitted.
/c followed by +/-. Set Compare ON/OFF. When ON the program
performs read-back and byte-by-byte comparison for every
track written to a target diskette. Default is ON.
/m followed by +/-. Set Format ON/OFF. When ON the program
formats before writing to target diskettes. If OFF the
program will format only when necessary. Default is OFF.
/f followed by +/-. Set Fast ON/OFF. When ON the program will
only read/write the portion with active data and skip empty
portion of diskettes. Default is ON.
/s followed by +/-. Set Sound ON/OFF. When ON the program will
give an audio signal after reading and writing a diskette or
20 seconds of inactivity. Default is ON.
/k followed by +/-. Set Keystrokes +/-. When + you need to
press the highlighted letter followed by the "enter" key to
execute a command. When - NO "enter" key is required.
Default is +.
/n followed by +/-. Set Menu +/-. Available only when a mouse
driver is present. When + you can see and click at every
command to execute. When - you need to pull the second level
commands down from a level one command. Default is -.
/d followed by +/-. Set Delay ON/Off. If your machine is not so
slow as an 8088/4.77MHz and would like to see whether the
program can copy at highest speed on your system try /d-.
Default is ON.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 12
/t followed by +/-. Set density priority. If + the program tries
reading a new disk as a high density disk in a 1.2 or 1.44MB
drive. If - low density has higher priority. Default is +.
/o followed by +/-. Set "mono in color" mode. In a color
system, you can use /o+ to force DISK COPY FAST run in black
and white. Default is -.
/x followed by +/-. Set multiple target ON/OFF. If ON the
program will read source once and write targets repeatedly.
The program quits automatically when you press the ESC key.
To turn this option ON you also need to specify the source
and target on the command line. Default is OFF.
/b followed by +/-. Set backup ON/OFF. If ON the program will
repeatedly read source and write target. The program quits
automatically when you press the ESC key. To turn this
option ON you also need to specify the source and target on
command line. Default is OFF.
/a followed by +/-. Set analyze ON/OFF. If ON the program will
check density before copying to a target diskette. If you
copy a low density to a high density disk or vice versa
(usually a mistake) the program will give a warning and you
can decide to skip, go ahead, or format before writing.
Default is ON.
/w followed by +/-. Set "write protect" ON/OFF. If ON the
program will not read a diskette which is not write-
protected. This is useful when you are backing up a sequence
of diskettes and the source are all write-protected. You use
this option to prevent the mistake of reading a diskette
which should be a target instead of source. Default is OFF.
@file_name specify alternative name for the configuration file.
file_name define file_name as source or target image file.
drive: define a floppy drive as source or target drive.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 13
EXAMPLES:
DCF /m-k+n- Set defaults of Format, Keystrokes and Menu to
OFF, + and -.
DCF /m-kn- Same as the last example. The '+' can be and is
omitted.
DCF /mcd- Set defaults of Format, Compare and Delay to
ON, ON and OFF.
DCF A: Read from drive A: and write to drive A:.
DCF A: B: Read from drive A: and write to drive B:.
DCF 3: 4: Read from third drive and write to fourth drive
when device driver is not installed.
DCF G: H: Read from third drive and write to fourth drive
when device driver is installed and the drive
letters are G and H, respectively.
DCF A: ABC Read from drive A: and write to image file ABC.
DCF /x+ ABC A: Read from image file ABC and produce as many
target as you like using drive A:.
DCF /b+ B: Back up a sequence of diskettes using drive B:
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 14
6. HOW TO USE PULL-DOWN MENUS IN DISK COPY FAST
After you type DCF followed by the "enter" key, the Shareware
screen appears. Press the enter key again, after three seconds,
and the Main Menu appears.
6.1 SELECT : To select a command, use the arrow keys or simply
press the highlighted letter. If Option|Key is - the
command will be executed immediately.
6.2 EXECUTE : To execute a command, press the enter key after
you have selected the command. If Option|Key is - you don't
need to press the enter key.
6.3 ESC key : You can press the ESC key to interrupt a Read or
Write action. If the program is not busy doing something
this will return you to the Main Menu. If you are already at
the Main Menu, the program will exit to the operating system.
6.4 Mouse : With this version mouse support is added. You can
use the mouse on any screen except Help|register. When
prompted you can click the left button on an answer. You can
also click the right button to signal an interrupt. Clicking
the right button is the same as pressing the ESC key.
Options can be toggled by clicking on the option window.
When a mouse driver is present you can choose between Full
and Regular menu by Option|Menu. Full menu is highly
recommended.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 15
7. WINDOWS
There are three windows in DISK COPY FAST.
7.1 RESOURCE window : This window shows you the resources in
your system which can be utilized for duplicating a
diskette. Inside this window, "Con mem" shows you the size
of free conventional memory, "Ext mem" shows you the size
of free extended memory and "Cur dsk" shows you the size of
free space on the current disk (hard or RAM disk.) It also
shows you the capacities of available diskette drives.
7.2 OPTION window : It shows you current read/write options.
See command "Option" in the next section for details and how
to change them.
7.3 INFORMATION window : It shows you the status of the loaded
source diskette. For example if it says 61 out of 80 tracks
it means the source diskette has 80 tracks but only the
first 61 tracks contains useful data and the last 19 tracks
are empty. Then it will show you how these 61 tracks are
loaded in your system. For example, it may says 34 tracks in
conventional memory, 20 in extended memory and 7 on current
disk. It also shows you other information such as the time
it took to perform the last read, write (in seconds) and how
many copies you have made so far.
Note that the information window won't be visible until you
have a source diskette loaded in your system. Also note
that the track numbers shown when reading or writing a
diskette are 0 based which means if the diskette has 80
tracks the track numbers will be 0 to 79 instead of 1 to
80.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 16
8. COMMAND REFERENCE
8.1 Read: Loads the source diskette data from a diskette drive
or from an image file created previously by DISK COPY FAST
to conventional memory and extended memory and then hard
disk.
8.2 Write: Writes a loaded source diskette's data to a diskette
drive or an image file.
8.3 Compare: Compares the loaded source diskette with another
diskette in a diskette drive or an image file.
8.4 Option: Includes six subcommands for you to set read/write
options, sound, keystroke and menu style.
"Format ON" means format target diskette before writing.
"Format OFF" means format only when necessary.
"Compare ON" means perform a read-back and BYTE-BY-BYTE
comparison immediately after writing a track to
target diskette.
"Fast ON" means don't read/write empty portion of source and
target diskette.
"Sound ON" turns audio signal ON.
"Key -" saves you some keystrokes.
"Menu +" gives you a Full and faster menu.
If a mouse driver is present, options can be toggled
directly by clicking on the option window.
The current status of these options is shown in the OPTION
window. Note that subcommands "Format" and "Compare" affect
write only while "Fast" affects both read and write.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 17
9. HOT KEYS
When you purchase software, you know how important it is to make
a backup. So you FORMAT, DISKCOPY... shuffle, shuffle. After all
the hard work you still feel a little uneasy. So you DISKCOMP
and again you are busy shuffling. What a waste of time and
energy!
Let DISK COPY FAST do the hard work and save time for you. Type
DCF to bring up the menu, press F5 (or F6) and then alternate
between source and target diskettes. When you are finished just
press the ESC key. It's fast and it's easy. No more shuffling.
You don't need to repeat the same command sequences and all the
switches over and over again. Best of all, the BYTE-BY-BYTE
comparison is already done. No need to DISKCOMP.
Sounds good? Give it a try. Just remember F5 (function key) is
for copying a sequence of diskettes in drive A and F6 is for
copying a sequence of diskettes in drive B. If you want to
change the read/write options do it before using the hot keys.
With this version two more hotkeys are added. F7 and F8 produce
multiple target diskettes in drive A: and B:, respectively. The
source diskette needs to be loaded before using these two
hotkeys.
Note : 1) DISK COPY FAST has an auto-sensing feature. The
program will start reading or writing a diskette when
it senses that a diskette is present. The only
exception is when you are using the same drive
repeatedly. In this case, to give you a chance to
change diskettes, the program will wait for a "drive
door opened followed by a drive door closed" even if
it has sensed that a diskette is already present.
2) Because of the auto-sensing feature mentioned above,
no matter how many diskettes you need to copy the
whole operation requires only two keystrokes, one of
the F5 to F8 keys at the beginning and the ESC key at
the end. Between these two keystrokes all you have to
do is changing diskettes when reading or writing is
completed.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 18
10. BENCHMARK AND COMPARISON
10.1 Benchmark, HOW FAST CAN IT GO
The following results are from a 386, 16.7 MHz (33 MHz with
Turbo mode turned off) compatible machine with 360KB, 1.2MB and
1.44MB diskette drives. The numbers are the time in seconds for
DISK COPY FAST and DOS commands to perform the specific task.
In each cell, the 1st number is for a 100% full diskette the
second number (in parentheses) is for 25% loaded diskette.
The time for DOS commands does NOT include diskette shuffling
time.
task 360 KB 1.2 MB 720 KB 1.44 MB
------------------------------------------------------------
DCF R 15 (4) 30 (8) 35 (10) 35 (9)
DCF W 15 (4) 30 (9) 35 (10) 35 (9)
DCF WC 29 (7) 57 (14) 69 (18) 68 (17)
DCF FW 33 (28) 67 (57) 81 (69) 80 (69)
DCF FWC 47 (32) 93 (64) 112 (77) 112 (76)
------------------------------------------------------------
DISKCOPY RW 43 (43) 90 (90) 102 (102) 110 (110)
DISKCOPY FRW 84 (84) 162 (162) 220 (220) 223 (223)
DISKCOMP RC 43 (43) 93 (93) 102 (102) 133 (133)
Note : (1) Time for DOS commands does NOT include diskette
shuffling time.
(2) Under the "task" column in the above table, R stands
for Read, W stands for Write, F stands for Format
and C stands for BYTE-BY-BYTE comparison.
(3) Performance varies on different machine.
(4) The benchmark was performed with option delay ON. If
your machine is not too slow you can do better with
option delay OFF.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 19
10.2 Comparison, HOW MUCH CAN YOU SAVE
Again, we give DOS commands the best possible conditions. We
assume diskette shuffling doesn't take any time. When there is
more than one way to have the work done using DOS commands, we
choose the one with the shortest time. For example, while you
can use DISKCOPY to copy from source to unformatted target, it
would be faster to format the diskette first before copying and
this will be the DOS method we use for comparison.
Still, there are some problems with DOS commands which we can't
help. For example, DOS commands have no FAST mode and can't
read a source once and write target many times.
The following tables show how much longer, in percentage, it
takes using DOS commands than using DISK COPY FAST. The first
table is for a 100% full diskette and the second table is for
a 25% loaded diskette. In each table, the first row is for
straight copying, no format, no comparison, the second row
includes comparison but not formatting, the third row includes
formatting but not comparison. The last row includes both.
task 360K 1.2M 720K 1.44M Comment
------------------------------------------------------------
RW 43% 50% 42% 57%
RWC 95% 110% 92% 136% DOS needs to read twice
RFW 65% 67% 50% 61%
RFWC 97% 107% 88% 116% DOS needs to read twice
task 360K 1.2M 720K 1.44M Comment
------------------------------------------------------------
RW 438% 429% 410% 511%
RWC 682% 732% 629% 835% DOS needs to read twice
RFW 147% 149% 123% 137%
RFWC 239% 254% 220% 274% DOS needs to read twice
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 20
11. WHAT IS AN IMAGE FILE ?
When you format a 1.2 M Bytes diskette, it actually contains
1,228,800 bytes but DOS tells you only 1,213,952 bytes are
available. Where are the other 14,848 bytes? They are used by
DOS to store information about the format, allocation of files
and root directory of the diskette. When you use COPY or XCOPY
to copy files from one diskette to another this information is
not copied. Also, the file allocation may be different. Same
files may occupy different sectors on the two diskettes.
An image file is created by reading the source diskette
sector-by-sector, track-by-track in the original order. It
contains every bit of information of the source diskette.
Thus, the size of the image file of a 1.2 MB diskette will be
exactly 1,228,800. This file can be stored on the hard disk or
on tape. (You can use some type of compression utility program
such as ARJ, LHA or PKZIP to save storage space if you like)
Why do I want to do that, You ask? I'll describe one possible
application here.
For archive purpose: You know the importance of backing up
the software you bought. How do you do that? DISKCOPY them to
another set of floppies? You can do that but what if you
already have hundreds of floppies around? If you are rich you
can save image files to hard disk. If you are not so rich save
them to tape. With compression one tape (costs about $20) can
hold as many as 200 image files of 1.2 MB floppies yet the
size is smaller than an audio cassette. Several months from
now if your original diskettes are damaged you can retrieve
image files from the tape, write to new diskettes and you have
an identical copy of the original (this won't work if the
original is copy-protected.) Of course tape drives are slow,
but this is archiving and you are not supposed to have to do
it often.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 21
12. ABOUT EXTENDED MEMORY
To use extended memory (i.e. memory beyond 1 MB) you need the
following.
1. At least IBM PC AT or compatible with 80286 or better CPU.
2. Of course you need to have extended memory installed.
3. For safety reasons DISK COPY FAST also requires that you
have some kind of extended memory manager (or driver)
installed which conforms to the Microsoft eXtended Memory
Specification (XMS), version 2.0 or above. You can use
HIMEM.SYS which is included with DOS 5.0 so you don't need
to spend extra money to get one. You can also use QEMM386
or any other memory manager as long as it conforms to the
XMS specification.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 22
13. ABOUT BOOT SECTOR VIRUS PROTECTION
!!! IMPORTANT : Do not assume a diskette is virus-free just because
it is accepted by DISK COPY FAST.
As a bonus, DISK COPY FAST also gives you some protection
against boot sector viruses such as Michaelangelo. DISK COPY
FAST was never intended to be an anti-virus program and by no
means should this kind of protection be considered complete.
Having said that, here is how it works.
Every diskette contains some important information in the boot
sector which is usually damaged when infected by a boot sector
virus. If DISK COPY FAST finds any invalid data in the boot
sector it will warn you and refuse to copy the diskette. You
can then use an anti-virus program to check it and/or kill it.
This feature can be very helpful or even a life-saver when you
don't think so, but you actually have a boot sector virus on
a source diskette.
A side effect of this feature is that sometimes you have a
virus-free diskette with invalid data in the boot sector and
DISK COPY FAST refuses to copy it. For example, the way some
anti-virus programs kill a boot sector virus is to write a
constant value on the boot sector. The virus is killed but the
boot sector information is never recovered. For your protection
DISK COPY FAST will not accept a diskette if it has any doubt.
This feature actually saved me twice. I believe it will save
some of you too.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 23
14. EXAMPLES
In the following examples "xxx|yyy" means you select and
execute first level command "xxx" followed by its subcommand
"yyy". The "Drive A" subcommand in these examples can be
replaced by "Drive B" or the drive letters of the third and
fourth drive. The "file_name" can replaced by any file name or
your choice.
1. How to make a single copy from source to target diskette.
menu: (1) "Read|Drive A" to read source diskette.
(2) "Write|Drive A" to write target diskette.
command line: Use "DCF A:" to copy from drive A: to drive A:,
"DCF A: B:" to copy from drive A: to drive B:.
2. How to read one source diskette and write many target
diskettes.
menu: (1) "Read|Drive A" to read source diskette.
(2) Press function key F7 (or F8) if you want to use
drive A (or drive B). See section 9.
command line: Use "DCF /x+ A:" to read once from drive A: and
write as many targets as you like on drive A:,
"DCF /x+ A: B:" to read once from drive A: and
write as many targets as you like on drive B:.
3. How to read a source diskette and create its image file on
hard disk.
menu: (1) "Read|Drive A" to read source diskette.
(2) "Write|File" to produce image file.
command line: Use "DCF A: file_name" to read from drive A:
and write to an image file.
4. How to read an image file (already created) and write many
target diskettes.
menu: (1) "Read|File" to read image file.
(2) Press function key F7 (or F8) if you want to use
drive A (or drive B). See section 9.
command line: Use "DCF /x+ file_name A:" to read from an
image file and write as many targets as you
like on drive A:.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 24
5. How to duplicate a diskette in large quantity.
(1) Create an image file and keep it in hard disk (see 3
above)
(2) Each working session perform a read once and write many
(see 4)
6. How to backup a sequence of diskettes such as the original
diskettes of the software you just bought.
menu: (1) Use "Option" and its subcommands "Fast", "Compare"
and "Format" to set desired read/write option. see
section 8.
(2) Press function key F5 (or F6) if you want to use
drive A: (or drive B:). See section 9.
command line: Use "DCF /b+ A:" to back up a sequence of
diskettes with drive A:, "DCF /b+w+ A:" when
all source diskettes are write protected. See
section 5 for other useful options.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 25
15. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
1. Q: After I made a copy using DISK COPY FAST I used DOS
command DISKCOMP and it says that the two diskettes
are not identical. What's wrong?
A: If you turn Fast mode ON (default) DISKCOPY will only
copy the portion of source diskette with useful data to
target. The empty portion is not copied and this is
what DISKCOMP complains about. If you don't like this
for any reason, just turn the Fast mode OFF. Then every
track will be copied and the whole diskette will be
identical to the original.
2. Q: I just installed more extended memory in my computer
but DISK COPY FAST still says that I don't have any.
A: There are other requirements. See section 12 for details.
3. Q: My PC is slow. Can it achieve the same performance as
described in this documentation?
A: Testing results show that DISK COPY FAST can copy almost
as fast on an 8088 as on 486. If you don't have enough
memory and need to use hard disk instead make sure your
hard disk is not too slow (transfer rate 200 KB/sec or
better) and not overly fragmented.
4. Q: I have an old PC (or XT) can I use DISK COPY FAST on
it?
A: Yes. See answer to question 3.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 26
16. SUPPORT AND SUGGESTIONS
If you need support or you have comments, suggestions, or you
believe there is a bug (*) in the program, feel free to
contact me, whether you are a registered user or not.
You can contact me in four ways, listed below according to
their timeliness. Registered users do have priority but I will
try to help anyone in need.
1. PIE BBS in Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.A. (408) 733-4670
3 nodes with 14,400 HST Dual Standards.
I check my mail almost daily on the PIE BBS. For the
fastest response please send your message to CHANG LEE in
the Shareware Authors Conference on this BBS.
Effective 8/1/92 The PIE BBS has graciously allowed me to
use their BBS as the main distribution point for DISK COPY
FAST (DCF). I will personally upload the most current
version of DCF to this BBS.
-----> DCF is a free download to all callers on the PIE BBS.
2. Shareware conferences on ILINK, INTELEC and RIME.
I monitor these conference almost daily. If your local BBS
carry one of them you are welcome to send your message to
CHANG LEE via one of these conferences.
3. CompuServe Information Service (CIS)
I check my mail at least once a week on CIS and will get
back to you as soon as I receive your mail. Please send
your mail to 71053,3517.
The most current version of DCF can also be downloaded from
CIS, forum IBMHW, Lib 1.
4. You can also send your suggestions, questions and/or
registration to the following address.
Chang Ping Lee
P.O. Box 60064
Palo Alto, CA 94306
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 27
17. INTRODUCING OTHER FINE PRODUCTS
17.1 DISK COPY PLUS
"I really find your DISK COPY PLUS a very very fine program. It
literally has saved me a lot of time copying diskettes."
----- one user, United States
DISK COPY PLUS is the professional version of DISK COPY FAST.
It includes all the features of DISK COPY FAST plus some
advanced features.
To many people, large quantity diskette duplicating means that
you need to buy high-price copier. Not so any more. With DISK
COPY PLUS you can assemble two low-end 286 PCs each equipped
with up to four floppy drives at much lower price and achieve
much higher copying speed. Not only do You get higher
productivity, but also that you get two computers instead of a
special purpose machine.
DISK COPY PLUS is even better for you if you only need to copy
a small quantity of the same source diskette every day.
Consider the low cost, incredibly high speed (see section 10 in
DCF42.DOC) and other powerful features (explained later), DISK
COPY PLUS is hard to beat.
One of the most powerful features of DISK COPY PLUS is
customized hot keys. You define up to 10 hot keys according
to your special needs.
A feature similar to hot keys but requiring no keystrokes is
the AUTOEXEC feature. You define what DISK COPY PLUS should do
automatically when you run the program, just like AUTOEXEC.BAT
does when you reboot your computer.
For example, DISK COPY PLUS can be configured so that each
time you type DCP at the DOS prompt it will read an image file,
set up a serial number (explained later), define read/write
options and then prompt for the target disk. You then insert
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 28
the target into drive A:, close the door and it will start
copying. After you have done with one format, at the press of
one key it converts the source to another format, say, from
720KB to 360KB, and continue copying in another drive.
In this example, it takes only two keystrokes (one to change
format, another to quit.) to produce as many 360KB and 720KB
target diskettes as you like. Each copy produced can have a
unique serial number and each copy can be double checked with
a BYTE-BY-BYTE comparison to make sure they are identical to
the original, except for the serial number.
This high degree of automation means that you can save time for
more creative work, or you can hire someone who knows nothing
about computers to do the copying for you.
Another nice feature of DISK COPY PLUS is automatic serial
number assignment. Some people like to change the disk serial
number that DOS shows you when you use the DIR command. Other
people like to imbed a unique serial number in their product.
DISK COPY PLUS allow you to do either or both types of these
serial numbers. In addition, it provides other tools to help
you find and VERIFY the right location for imbedding serial
numbers and show you the imbedded serial number on any
duplicated diskette. This feature can be done automatically
using the hot keys or AUTOEXEC features.
DISK COPY PLUS also keeps track of serial number of EVERY
image file for you so that you don't need to specify the
serial number each time you run the program. It also keeps
a log file for your diskette duplication. With a little
editing (you add the distribution destination) the log file
becomes a nice record of your diskette distribution.
The power of DISK COPY PLUS keeps growing. Listed below are
some other powerful commands.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 29
The DIAG command checks boot sector, file allocation table
(FAT) and directory structure and provides reports for diskette
usage and fragmentation.
The CONVERT command convert diskette image from one format to
another, so long as the data on original format can fit into
the new format. For example, a 1.44 MB disk can be converted to
360 KB diskette if the data on the 1.44 MB disk does not exceed
the total data space on a 360 KB diskette.
The DEFRAG command performs defragmentation on a diskette. It
does more than just sectors swapping. The entire diskette is
checked thoroughly for any possible way of compaction. The
result is a perfect with no waste of space and no fragmentation.
The DUMP command lets you move around the loaded diskette at
very high speed. You can use it to check the contents of a
diskette or verify the imbedded location(s) of a serial number.
DISK COPY PLUS also provides commands that allow you to see
the directory of a diskette, image file or diskette loaded in
memory.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 30
17.2 DISK UTIL PACK
"Your Disk Utility Package has many useful features. I was
amazed by the copying speed of the F2H & H2F. They are time
saving utilities. Great to use." ----- one user, Singapore
DISK UTIL PACK is a collection of five high performance and
useful diskette utility programs. For example, the author uses
H2F every day for filling orders for DISK COPY FAST and related
products.
F2H (Floppy to Hard disk)
A utility to copy a diskette to hard disk or RAM disk at very
high speed. See the following table for benchmark results.
H2F (Hard disk to Floppy)
A utility to copy recursively from current directory on hard
disk or RAM disk to a diskette at very high speed. This program
combined with F2H is ideal for backing up a small directory.
See the following table for benchmark results.
H2F vs XCOPY F2H vs XCOPY
--------------------------------------------------
Case 1 (1.2MB) 8 vs 40 8 vs 17
Case 1 (1.44MB) 9 vs 50 9 vs 19
Case 2 (1.2MB) 9 vs 33 9 vs 18
Case 2 (1.44MB) 8 vs 40 9 vs 19
Note: (1) Case 1 contains 36 files and no sub directory.
Case 2 contains 13 files in 21 sub directories.
Total file size in both cases is about 300 KB.
(2) Performance varies on different system. The
above benchmark results is provided as an example,
NOT guarantee.
(3) The above results were measured with a RAM disk
on a 33 MHz 386 compatible system.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 31
FMT
A utility to format 360KB, 1.2MB, 720KB and 1.44MB diskettes.
Features include no keyboard operation, serial number assignment,
label assignment and bad sectors handling.
You type the program name at DOS prompt to start and press the
ESC key to end, no keystroke in between!
The serial number and label can be assigned incrementally with
a text file which stores the serial number and label for the
next diskette to be formatted. You can keep more than one text
file for this purpose. Before exit, FMT will update the file
automatically.
Conventionally, a cluster is marked as bad cluster if the
formatting program fails to access after three tries. FMT,
however, adopts a more strict policy to ensure that your
valuable data won't be saved on places which are bad or about to
turn bad. FMT will try three times too. The difference is that
if FMT fails to access a sector in the first try it will mark
the sector bad and tell you how many tries has failed.
CLN
A utility to make full use of cleaning kits sold by 3M, Memorex
and other companies.
Without CLN, all you can do is to use commands such as DIR to
get the disk drive moving and bring head into contact with the
cleaning disk and the cleaning solution on it. However, there
are two problems that only CLN can help you.
Firstly, how many DIR commands you need to keep typing to keep
the disk head in contact with the cleaning disk for 30 to 60
seconds? With CLN you only need to type CLN to start and press
the ESC to end the process, no keystrokes in between. CLN also
"reads" both sides of every "track" to make full use of your
cleaning kit. Try CLN once and you will know how many keystrokes
it can save for you.
Secondly, since there is no data on the disk DOS will stop after
it fails to access the first track. This means you may only be
using 0.625% of the surface of your cleaning disk! (There are 80
tracks on a high density drive. Each track has two sides and you
are only using one side on the first track.)
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 32
CLN not only forces your system to keep on "reading" different
tracks on the cleaning disk and thus clean the head more
thoroughly but also provides you simple and easy ways to verify
that it does what it claims. Your will have the confidence that
you give your diskette drive the best care possible.
CHDK (CHeck DisKette)
A utility which gives detailed information about a diskette. It
shows you the information contained in the system area of the
diskette, check the integrity of the system area, gives you
detailed layout of system area, root directory and data area and
then give you a report of the fragmentation on the diskette.
The program also shows you other important or interesting
information about a diskette. For example, it shows you the
sectors, clusters and tracks with active data, maximum number of
root directory entries.
CHDK shows you lots of information packed in one screen.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 33
18. REGISTRATION BENEFIT
18.1 DISK COPY FAST
If you find DISK COPY FAST useful and would like to continue
using the program please register. The fee is only $20.00 plus
$5.00 shipping and handling. In return, you will receive the
following benefit.
1. Life time registration! You'll be given a key to convert the
shareware version to registered version. When a new release
is available all you need to do is to down load it from your
BBS and use the key to convert it to a registered version.
This way you don't have to pay for updates no matter whether
you registered for a commercial or non-commercial license.
2. Personalized appreciation screen. Your name will be part of
of the program and will be shown at the initial screen.
3. No initial delay and no registration reminder screen. Batch
file users can enjoy no keystroke operation except an ESC
for multiple read and write.
4. Customized sound effect. You will be shown how to edit a
text file to produce your own audio signals or even have your
PC play your favorite song when DISK COPY FAST or DISK COPY
PLUS finishes reading or writing a diskette or when there is
20 seconds of inactivity.
5. Free telephone support.
6. Super low price for the Diskette Utility Package. See the
file PRODUCT.TXT for more information about the package.
7. Special discount if you later decide to upgrade to DISK COPY
PLUS.
8. You will be shown how to edit the CONFIG.DCF file to use
more options.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 34
18.2 DISK COPY PLUS
Registered users of DISK COPY PLUS will receive the following.
For more details about the features of DISK COPY PLUS, see
section 18 of this documentation.
1. Everything that a registered user of DISK COPY FAST receives.
You are also granted a license of DISK COPY FAST so that you
use DISK COPY PLUS on one PC and DISK COPY FAST on another
at the same time.
2. Serial number assignment.
3. AUTOEXEC feature.
4. Customized hot keys.
5. DIAG command which diagnoses a diskette.
6. CONVERT command which converts diskette format.
7. DEFRAG command which defragments a diskette.
8. DUMP command which dumps the contents of the loaded disk on
the screen.
9. DIR command which checks root directory.
10. You also get the key for DISK COPY FAST.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 35
19. HOW TO REGISTER
This page contains order information and payment methods. Order
form is on the next two pages. You can also run REGISTER.EXE
which helps you fill out the order form.
1. License agreement:
Please see page 4 of DCF42.DOC file for details.
2. Related products:
Information regarding DISK COPY PLUS and DISK UTIL PACK is
in section 18 of DCF42.DOC file.
3. Payment methods.
a. Check. Both bank checks and personal checks are accepted.
b. Money order issued by banks, post office or American
Express.
c. Credit card (VISA or Master Card.) Products must be
mailed to the same person.
d. Cash. Please note that the author can not be responsible
for any loss in the mail.
----> 4. Foreign orders:
If you pay by credit card or checks/money order in U.S.
dollars drawn on a U.S. bank, simply fill out the order form
and mail it with your payment.
If you pay by your currency or check/money order in foreign
fund or drawn on a foreign bank, please add US $12 to the
total on the order form as currency exchange fee then
multiply the result by proper exchange rate. Products will
not be mailed if underpaid.
U.K users can register with Simon Brain at PC Independent
User Group, 87 High St., Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1RX, England.
Italian users, please consider any other method than money
order issued by post office.
----------------------- < ORDER FORM - Page 1 > -----------------------
I have read and agree to the terms in DCF42.DOC file and would like
to order the following:
price quantity total
DISK COPY FAST version 4.2 $20 ____ $______
DISK COPY PLUS version 2.2 $50 ____ $______
FMT version 2.2 $10 ____ $______
F2H version 2.2 $15 ____ $______
H2F version 2.2 $20 ____ $______
CLN version 2.2 $10 ____ $______
CHDK version 2.2 $10 ____ $______
DISK UTIL PACK version 2.2
for non-registered users $40 ____ $______
DISK UTIL PACK version 2.2
for registered users of DISK
COPY FAST or DISK COPY PLUS $20 ____ $______
Sub total $______
Double sub total for commercial license (*) $______
Shipping & handling (U.S.A. $5) $______
(Canada, Mexico $6)
(all other countries $8)
CA residents please add 7.25% sales tax $______
< CTRL 0335NF > TOTAL $______
NOTE: |--------------------------------------------------------|
| * Above prices are for individual, non-commercial use. |
| For commercial license, please double the prices. |
| See page 4 of DCF42.DOC for license agreement. |
|--------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------- < ORDER FORM - Page 2 > -----------------------
Payment: ( ) money order ( ) check ( ) cash ( ) VISA ( ) Master card
Credit card orders:
Name as shown on the credit card: _______________________________
Credit card number: _____________________________________________
Expiration date: ________________________________________________
Total amount in U.S. dollars: $__________________________________
Signature: _______________________________ Date:________________
* All credit card orders are mailed on the following Monday after
they are received.
Disk type : ( ) 3.5" 720k ( ) 5.25" 360k
Name : _____________________________________
Address : _____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
Comments : ______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Please mail this form with payment to the following address.
DCF Software
P.O. Box 60064
Palo Alto, CA 94306
U. S. A.
DIST.TXT
TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION :
Redistribution of DISK COPY FAST must include the software, its
documentation file, order form and all supplemental files (see
FILES.TXT) as a single unit without any modification AND subject
to the following conditions :
1. Any individual is welcome to make copies for his/her friends
and/or colleagues if NO FEE is charged.
2. Electronic bulletin boards, whether they charge or do not
charge their users subscription fee, are welcome to post the
program for down loading as long as they do not charge any fee
in particular for the distribution of DISK COPY FAST.
3. Computer information services such as CompuServe (CIS), Genie,
etc., may post this software for their subscribers.
4. Non-commercial user groups and computer clubs may distribute
the program to their members if the fee charged for the
diskette containing DISK COPY FAST does not exceed $10.
5. Disk vendors approved by the Association of Shareware
Professionals or disk vendors who explain the concept of
shareware in their ads that quote a price may distribute the
shareware version of DISK COPY FAST.
6. Other commercial enterprises wishing to distribute DISK COPY
FAST either alone or in combination with other hardware,
software, books or materials must obtain permission in writing
from the author.
FILES.TXT
This archive should contain the following files:
DCF.EXE --- DISK COPY FAST version 4.2 executable file
DCFHELP.EXE --- Utility program providing help for using DCF.EXE
REGISTER.EXE --- Utility program for registering DISK COPY FAST
DCF42.DOC --- DISK COPY FAST documentation file
VENDOR.DOC --- distribution terms for shareware vendors
PRODUCT.TXT --- information about other fine products
DIST.TXT --- Distribution terms
FILES.TXT --- List of files included in the package
READ.ME --- Brief introduction for getting started
ORDER.FRM --- Order form for DISK COPY FAST and/or DISK COPY PLUS
WHATS.NEW --- describes new features or enhancements in this version
FILE_ID.DIZ --- eight lines description of DISK COPY FAST
DESC.SDI --- one line description of DISK COPY FAST
PRODUCT.TXT
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 27
17. INTRODUCING OTHER FINE PRODUCTS
17.1 DISK COPY PLUS
"I really find your DISK COPY PLUS a very very fine program. It
literally has saved me a lot of time copying diskettes."
----- one user, United States
DISK COPY PLUS is the professional version of DISK COPY FAST.
It includes all the features of DISK COPY FAST plus some
advanced features.
To many people, large quantity diskette duplicating means that
you need to buy high-price copier. Not so any more. With DISK
COPY PLUS you can assemble two low-end 286 PCs each equipped
with up to four floppy drives at much lower price and achieve
much higher copying speed. Not only do You get higher
productivity, but also that you get two computers instead of a
special purpose machine.
DISK COPY PLUS is even better for you if you only need to copy
a small quantity of the same source diskette every day.
Consider the low cost, incredibly high speed (see section 10 in
DCF42.DOC) and other powerful features (explained later), DISK
COPY PLUS is hard to beat.
One of the most powerful features of DISK COPY PLUS is
customized hot keys. You define up to 10 hot keys according
to your special needs.
A feature similar to hot keys but requiring no keystrokes is
the AUTOEXEC feature. You define what DISK COPY PLUS should do
automatically when you run the program, just like AUTOEXEC.BAT
does when you reboot your computer.
For example, DISK COPY PLUS can be configured so that each
time you type DCP at the DOS prompt it will read an image file,
set up a serial number (explained later), define read/write
options and then prompt for the target disk. You then insert
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 28
the target into drive A:, close the door and it will start
copying. After you have done with one format, at the press of
one key it converts the source to another format, say, from
720KB to 360KB, and continue copying in another drive.
In this example, it takes only two keystrokes (one to change
format, another to quit.) to produce as many 360KB and 720KB
target diskettes as you like. Each copy produced can have a
unique serial number and each copy can be double checked with
a BYTE-BY-BYTE comparison to make sure they are identical to
the original, except for the serial number.
This high degree of automation means that you can save time for
more creative work, or you can hire someone who knows nothing
about computers to do the copying for you.
Another nice feature of DISK COPY PLUS is automatic serial
number assignment. Some people like to change the disk serial
number that DOS shows you when you use the DIR command. Other
people like to imbed a unique serial number in their product.
DISK COPY PLUS allow you to do either or both types of these
serial numbers. In addition, it provides other tools to help
you find and VERIFY the right location for imbedding serial
numbers and show you the imbedded serial number on any
duplicated diskette. This feature can be done automatically
using the hot keys or AUTOEXEC features.
DISK COPY PLUS also keeps track of serial number of EVERY
image file for you so that you don't need to specify the
serial number each time you run the program. It also keeps
a log file for your diskette duplication. With a little
editing (you add the distribution destination) the log file
becomes a nice record of your diskette distribution.
The power of DISK COPY PLUS keeps growing. Listed below are
some other powerful commands.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 29
The DIAG command checks boot sector, file allocation table
(FAT) and directory structure and provides reports for diskette
usage and fragmentation.
The CONVERT command convert diskette image from one format to
another, so long as the data on original format can fit into
the new format. For example, a 1.44 MB disk can be converted to
360 KB diskette if the data on the 1.44 MB disk does not exceed
the total data space on a 360 KB diskette.
The DEFRAG command performs defragmentation on a diskette. It
does more than just sectors swapping. The entire diskette is
checked thoroughly for any possible way of compaction. The
result is a perfect with no waste of space and no fragmentation.
The DUMP command lets you move around the loaded diskette at
very high speed. You can use it to check the contents of a
diskette or verify the imbedded location(s) of a serial number.
DISK COPY PLUS also provides commands that allow you to see
the directory of a diskette, image file or diskette loaded in
memory.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 30
17.2 DISK UTIL PACK
"Your Disk Utility Package has many useful features. I was
amazed by the copying speed of the F2H & H2F. They are time
saving utilities. Great to use." ----- one user, Singapore
DISK UTIL PACK is a collection of five high performance and
useful diskette utility programs. For example, the author uses
H2F every day for filling orders for DISK COPY FAST and related
products.
F2H (Floppy to Hard disk)
A utility to copy a diskette to hard disk or RAM disk at very
high speed. See the following table for benchmark results.
H2F (Hard disk to Floppy)
A utility to copy recursively from current directory on hard
disk or RAM disk to a diskette at very high speed. This program
combined with F2H is ideal for backing up a small directory.
See the following table for benchmark results.
H2F vs XCOPY F2H vs XCOPY
--------------------------------------------------
Case 1 (1.2MB) 8 vs 40 8 vs 17
Case 1 (1.44MB) 9 vs 50 9 vs 19
Case 2 (1.2MB) 9 vs 33 9 vs 18
Case 2 (1.44MB) 8 vs 40 9 vs 19
Note: (1) Case 1 contains 36 files and no sub directory.
Case 2 contains 13 files in 21 sub directories.
Total file size in both cases is about 300 KB.
(2) Performance varies on different system. The
above benchmark results is provided as an example,
NOT guarantee.
(3) The above results were measured with a RAM disk
on a 33 MHz 386 compatible system.
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 31
FMT
A utility to format 360KB, 1.2MB, 720KB and 1.44MB diskettes.
Features include no keyboard operation, serial number assignment,
label assignment and bad sectors handling.
You type the program name at DOS prompt to start and press the
ESC key to end, no keystroke in between!
The serial number and label can be assigned incrementally with
a text file which stores the serial number and label for the
next diskette to be formatted. You can keep more than one text
file for this purpose. Before exit, FMT will update the file
automatically.
Conventionally, a cluster is marked as bad cluster if the
formatting program fails to access after three tries. FMT,
however, adopts a more strict policy to ensure that your
valuable data won't be saved on places which are bad or about to
turn bad. FMT will try three times too. The difference is that
if FMT fails to access a sector in the first try it will mark
the sector bad and tell you how many tries has failed.
CLN
A utility to make full use of cleaning kits sold by 3M, Memorex
and other companies.
Without CLN, all you can do is to use commands such as DIR to
get the disk drive moving and bring head into contact with the
cleaning disk and the cleaning solution on it. However, there
are two problems that only CLN can help you.
Firstly, how many DIR commands you need to keep typing to keep
the disk head in contact with the cleaning disk for 30 to 60
seconds? With CLN you only need to type CLN to start and press
the ESC to end the process, no keystrokes in between. CLN also
"reads" both sides of every "track" to make full use of your
cleaning kit. Try CLN once and you will know how many keystrokes
it can save for you.
Secondly, since there is no data on the disk DOS will stop after
it fails to access the first track. This means you may only be
using 0.625% of the surface of your cleaning disk! (There are 80
tracks on a high density drive. Each track has two sides and you
are only using one side on the first track.)
DISK COPY FAST Copyright 1992, 1993 Chang Ping Lee page 32
CLN not only forces your system to keep on "reading" different
tracks on the cleaning disk and thus clean the head more
thoroughly but also provides you simple and easy ways to verify
that it does what it claims. Your will have the confidence that
you give your diskette drive the best care possible.
CHDK (CHeck DisKette)
A utility which gives detailed information about a diskette. It
shows you the information contained in the system area of the
diskette, check the integrity of the system area, gives you
detailed layout of system area, root directory and data area and
then give you a report of the fragmentation on the diskette.
The program also shows you other important or interesting
information about a diskette. For example, it shows you the
sectors, clusters and tracks with active data, maximum number of
root directory entries.
CHDK shows you lots of information packed in one screen.
VENDOR.DOC
Dear ShareWare Vendor:
This file contains the distribution policy of the shareware version,
v4.2 of DISK COPY FAST.
For catalog information please see the file FILE_ID.DIZ.
DISK COPY FAST needs your help for the widest possible distribution.
So long as you meet the requirement in this file, your distribution of
DISK COPY FAST is highly appreciated.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
You may distribute the shareware version of DISK COPY FAST if you include
the software, its documentation file, order form and all supplemental
files (see FILES.TXT) as a single unit without any modification AND if
you satisfy one of the following.
1. If you are a disk vendor approved by the Association of Shareware
Professionals.
2. If you identify it as shareware in your ads that quote a price.
That's it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When new version is available, DISK COPY FAST will be distributed in
the following sequence.
1. New version will be posted on PIE BBS, (408) 733-4670.
2. New version will be posted on CIS, forum IBMHW, Lib 1.
3. New version will be posted on EXECPC.
4. A copy will be mailed to disk vendors who have notified me of their
interest. If at least one registration results from the distribution
of a vendor he/she will receive a copy of the new version automatically.
Directory of PC-SIG Library Disk #3643
Volume in drive A has no label
Directory of A:\
DCF EXE 55076 7-19-93 4:20a
DCFHELP EXE 15145 7-19-93 4:20a
REGISTER COM 14285 7-19-93 4:20a
DCF42 DOC 58608 7-19-93 4:20a
VENDOR DOC 1618 7-19-93 4:20a
PRODUCT TXT 11601 7-19-93 4:20a
DIST TXT 1604 7-19-93 4:20a
FILES TXT 936 7-19-93 4:20a
FILE_ID DIZ 362 7-19-93 4:20a
DESC SDI 61 7-19-93 4:20a
ORDER FRM 4771 7-19-93 4:20a
WHATS NEW 5748 7-19-93 4:20a
READ ME 1233 7-19-93 4:20a
GO BAT 29 9-17-93 8:40a
SHOW EXE 2040 9-12-88 10:48a
15 file(s) 173117 bytes
142336 bytes free