jaclaz

Probably stupid question, but what happens with a "plain" dd-like tool? What happens with MHDD? http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/ Or with ZAP? http://www.digitalissues.co.uk/html/os/misc/ibm-wipe-zap.html Also, I would try the whole set of thingies here: http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/index.htm the diskimg and omnidisk for DOS first Also maybe you can create your own parameters for NFORMAT http://toastytech.com/files/nformat.html jaclaz

A "J" in top left of the screen (or a flashing cursor) is usually a problem with the bootsector. (more specifically it is often connecte with unbalanced CHS/LBA and or with geometry of the filesystem) HOW (meaning BOTH): WHICH tool HOW EXACTLY did you use it was the USB thingy partitioned/formatted? More generally describe in better detail, WHAT (which device) are you attempting booting from USB, it's size, the filesystem used on it and under which OS did you prepare it. jaclaz

@dencorso Yes, the "FREE" options are used as "separators", to divide three "logically grouped sets": three common floppy formats (compatible with the El-torito standard) three max floppy formats (compatible with the rloew's findings on the El-Torito standard) All the rest (less common floppy formats) *any* of them can be used, they correspond to "blank" values... Since Multibooter is also around here , I would ask him to post a set of the formats/sizes (and OTHER data) of the hardware he is playing with, like the LS-120/240, the 32 M floppy and the ZIP and clik (PocketZip) discs.... Yes, that is what I find the most important things and that I hope Drugwash will implement in his nice tool, the problem is not really to create a bootsector BPB, but rather calculating "reasonable" (if not "right" values). I have changed the .bin to something less common, .t#p Thanks for testing, but I am interested in your (and everyone else's) ideas/comments/corrections on the "naming" and ".ini" idea. As well, the "Sector per Head" is "intentional", since we have (on hard disks) an addressing convention called CHS (and not CTS) and AFAIK/AFAICR "Track" is used almost exclusively in conjunction with "real" floppies, I thought it to be more descriptive, but this is part of the naming convention that I would like to get a "common agreement upon", just like "Sectors Before" vs. "Hidden Sectors". About serial, is not a problem to calculate a "random one", I even have *somewhere* a (clever ) spreadsheet I made to calculate (for forensic scopes) the probabilities of a serial to be an actually "kosher generated" one or a "random" (please read as "counterfeited" one. Since the algorithm is (partially) reversible something can be done in that sense, but this is an alltogether different topic. jaclaz FAT_make_08.zip

@all Can you please review the attached version of the spreadsheet? I added a tentative way of "classification" and naming and an example .ini, as I am thinking we can use a .ini file to create a "database" of known formats and/or let the user choose only a subset of the available and/or have a common "interchange" format between different utilities/scripts. Please do review the "known" values and the "ranges" besides the actual "naming proposal", and let me know of any mistake, missing piece or whatever you think about the idea. Please , no comment/proposal involving directly or indirectly any of: access (or any other database format) xml java .net jaclaz Attachment removed, see a few posts below.

Not that it matters, but are you sure that Gurgelmeyer made a SP5 for Windows ME jaclaz

12 (twelve) easy steps: You find a compatible PCB board. You verify it is compatible. You check again. You find out that you got a wrong one and need to find the right one. You find a compatible PCB board. You verify it is compatible. You disassemble the PCB from the disk. You de-solder the eprom from the "old" one. You de-solder the eprom from the "new" one. You solder the "old" eprom on the "new" PCB. You assemble the "new" PCB on the disk. You test the disk to find out that it doesn't work as well. A Q&A that may help you : Q.: WIll changing the PCB (provided that I am able to perform it's swapping correctly and without frying anything) help in *any* way to rec ove the disk or the data in it? Short Answer: A.: NO. Long Answer: A.:NO, it will simply represent an (expensive) exercise in futility, with no practical benefit of *any* kind and additionally carries with it the risk that once done even a professional won't be able to get anything out of it. If you have a bad flu, you do not cast your left ankle into plaster. If you have a broken left ankle you stop walking to avoid putting your weight on your left foot, and you normally don't take antibiotics. jaclaz

Clarification: Your laptop probably has a SATA disk and your source does NOT contain a suitable driver. If this is the case, you need to integrate the appropriate driver (or the whole Mass Storage Driverpack) to your source BEFORE creating the USB thingy. jaclaz

No iso is "extracted", No "more work". The .iso is mounted in a virtual drive. Actually, IF it was a conventional disk drive using a .iso should put LESS stress on head/arms . jaclaz

I like the screen shot of BootMaker. It is a little OT, but would it be possible to turn BootMaker into a track-0-writer for removable media, so that it could, for example, write/re-create track 0 on a bulk-erased/de-gaussed removable media disk, e.g. a bulk-erased LS-120 diskette? Such a tool could be very useful for re-initializing the rare special removable media of dual-format drives in general (e.g. also Floptical, Sony HiFD, Caleb UHD144). Unless I am mistaken, we then need to draw another line. Are we talking of a DOS track-0-writer (which is doable) or of a Windows NT one (that will get us into the drivers trouble)? @Drugwash: and: http://alter.org.ua/en/soft/win/floppy/ JFYI. jaclaz

And the answer depends on the actual OS you want to run from it, to how actually PLOP behaves with your hardware and existing BIOS, how this "interacts" with the add-on card, how the actual OS sees it and probably a few other variables.... Even Win95A vs. Win95B vs. Win95C open way to different situations. jaclaz

Historically, there have been a number of BIOSes that did have problems with Hard disk emulation. An example is (was? ) the BOCHS (read Qemu) one: http://reboot.pro/3890/ http://reboot.pro/3890/page__st__46 but similar issues are more common that you may think, of course mostly on very dated BIOSes. DELL's are notoriously a PITA in about everything concerning booting them but also Acer and other makers have their own "queer" things, examples (not directly related, though): http://reboot.pro/10503/ http://reboot.pro/12942/ Because its fun? Because it can be done? If you mean an actual *need* there isn't any AFAIK, nowadays you can boot a grldr no-emulation CD or a 1.44 floppy emulation one booting grub4dos and you can map almost *anything* to *anything* else. If you want an example of a project that may make use of this, it's here: http://reboot.pro/10373/ Given the anyway limited size of the possible image with 2/18 or 2/36 geometry, FAT16 is iMHO a good choice, FAT12 is, as seen, a bit stretched out and FAT32 is pointless (besides not being NT 3.5/4.0 and DOS <=6.22 compatible), whilst NTFS sounds "looking for troubles" (unneededly). Take all the time you need (and even more ) there is no pressure. Well, right now (I mean the preliminary version you posted) doesn't do much, so it's hard to say how what you added to it in the meantime can be bettered or enhanced. The posted version, besides Writing capabilities, is missing IMHO what I tried (and still try) to add to the worksheet: a set of pre-configured settings for most (if not all) floppy and "super-floppy" formats a set of suggested settings for the "FREE" formats Your nice app, unless you add these features (and/or other ones) won't have much more practical functionalities (exception made for a nicer interface ) than an existing app, such as Roadkil's BootBuilder: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P3/Boot%20Builder BTW, your nice program is not necesarily connected to the use of a floppy or super-floppy image on a CD, it could (and should) be IMHO a "general" tool to experiment with floppies and super-floppies. jaclaz P.S.: I am attaching last version of the spreadsheet and a small batch that may possible be useful (needs dsfo and dumphex) FAT_make_06.zip getFAT1xBS.zip

Let's make a deal. You write a CABINET.DLL replacement. You make sure it works as expected. You also fix SETUPLDR.BIN and NTLDR (if needed ) I will take care of CABARC.EXE and EXTRACT.EXE, one way or the other. The compression used is VERY SCARCELY documented AFAIK/AFAICR. Maybe you can find something of use around here (and given links): jaclaz

Yes this is perfectly consistent with "2nd" version of the ZIP, with the ARMD jumper set, see here: @rloew Yes, I know what you mean, but the fact a device is mounted a A: or B: may depend on several factors, like BIOS (or bootmanager) and/or actual OS drivers (if any), so it is not an "objective" way unless you actually tried the device on a given machine and you see which letter it gets under a given OS. @Multibooter Since the ED 3840K floppy (as image) is inside the El-Torito specs, I doubt you can consider it a "super-floppy", after all: it is is inside the specs it is supported by most CD burning or .iso making application the actual hardware "existed" and was produced in great quanitites, I remember a period when ALL original IBM's, desktop and laptop had an ED floppy drive. As a (completely void of any relevance , but interesting as a reference ) example the known bootmanager Syslinux/Isolinux considers these as "normal" floppies, and all the rest as "super" or "queer" : Anyway, as said, no problem whatsoever, we can draw "the line" (if needed) wherever you prefer. jaclaz

WHICH manual? Including PROPER GROUNDing? Re-check everything, following EXACTLY the advice given in the read-me-first: Does that happen BEFORE you try CTRL+Z, right? jaclaz

As always Yzöwl is right, if you have no space between the 1 and the > you will redirect standard output to file. You can always leave the spaces and post-process with gsar changing [sPACE][CR][LF] to [CR][LF] .... Or see if redirection BEFORE line works, see point #(3) here: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/redirection.php jaclaz

If we have to draw a line somewhere, I would draw it, as hinted, right after the 2M 4003.9 Kb size, since that is "the biggest floppy you can have on actually largely mass produced hardware using standard floppy media" (a bit lousy as definition , but not worse than many others ). While the LS-120 did have some diffusion, the LS-240 had so short a lifetime that the actual numbers are really low AFAIK (and only the LS-240 could make the 32 Mb floppy). But I am with rloew, to me *anything* which first sector is a MBR and holds a partition table is a "HD-like device" and *anything* which first sector is a bootsector is a "floppy-like device". jaclaz

Well, you are not planning to run DOS from the USB drive if I got it right. jaclaz

The "LOUSY" may be attributed to the otherwise very nice Victoria Author . The "no idea what to do" cannot. See if this helps (not latest version, though): http://docs7.chomikuj.pl/81583362,0,0,Victoria-for-Windows-v4.pdf The fact that the partition is seen as RAW may mean something or nothing, most probably all the head banging did unfortunately cause the expected worsening of the situation, or maybe the disk only warmed up a tadbit too much and only needs to cool down a bit. jaclaz

Wouldn't be easier and faster to know the answer by actually RUNning the presentation and see what happens? If I were you i would check your google, it does appear like broken. http://www.msofficeforums.com/powerpoint/5862-have-powerpoint-dynamically-update-excel-other-file.html http://skp.mvps.org/vba.htm http://skp.mvps.org/updtlinks.htm jaclaz

Hmm. Was it slimmed down by little green men overnight? Was it downloaded from the net pre-slimmed by an anonymous peep? In any case you are NOT having the same problem as the OP, who succesfully finished install and later could not log in to it. jaclaz

For the record, it isn't. The actual connector is the same. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_ATA IDE is the very old name, since 1994 at least they should really be called ATA, and, to be picky, anything "optical" is ATA/ATAPI. SATA is actually Serial ATA, and to avoid misunderstandings previous ATA was renamed Parallel ATA or PATA. jaclaz

There is the 2M formats too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2M_(DOS) the max capacity on ED disks is (4 Gib is seemingly a bit too much ) +------------------------------------+ ¦ Double ¦ High ¦ Extrahigh ¦ +-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------+ ¦ Absolute record before 2M ¦ 820.0 Kb ¦ 1394.0 Kb ¦ -- ¦ ¦ ¦ Maximum 2M capacity (2MF /M) ¦ 902.0 Kb ¦ 1558.0 Kb ¦ -- ¦ 5.25 ¦ ¦ Minimum 2MGUI capacity ¦ 976.6 Kb ¦ 1639.8 Kb ¦ 1203.1 Kb ¦ (5¼) ¦ ¦ Physical limits (82 tracks) ¦ 1001.0 Kb ¦ 1668.2 Kb ¦ 1228.8 Kb ¦ ¦ +-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+------¦ ¦ Absolute record before 2M ¦ 984.0 Kb ¦ 1722.0 Kb ¦ 2880.0 Kb ¦ ¦ ¦ Maximum 2M capacity (2MF /M) ¦ 1066.0 Kb ¦ 1886.0 Kb ¦ 3772.0 Kb ¦ 3.5 ¦ ¦ Minimum 2MGUI capacity ¦ 1176.0 Kb ¦ 1972.0 Kb ¦ 3944.0 Kb ¦ (3½) ¦ ¦ Physical limits (82 tracks) ¦ 1201.2 Kb ¦ 2002.0 Kb ¦ 4003.9 Kb ¦ ¦ +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ jaclaz

Please note how that sentence may be understood as somehow stating that unlike their software, their hardware was excellent., which is IMHO quite a hazardous statement. I have no experience with actual "clik"'s, but my experience with some batches of (original) Zip drives (both actual drive and media) was at the time a nightmare. First 100 Mb ones usually worked very well. The "second edition" of the 100 and the first of the 250 Mb ones (if i recall correctly) were a nightmare. Heck, the clik got "promoted" to "Pocket.Zip" probably because of the above Click of death_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iomega_Pocket_Zip_drive jaclaz

Yes, you can add it as the default allright. The /win95 (though it does NOT make any harm) can be removed allright. It is a provision for the original mind-boggingly complex way the good MS guys allowed triple boting among NT, MS DOS <=6.22 and Windows 95 (renaming io.sys to winboot.sys, etc.) The /win95 means "actually boot from WIN9x files and NOT from DOS ones" whilst the /win95DOS "actually boot form DOS files and NOT from the win9x ones", BOTH settings "ask NTLDR to cleverly rename a set of files, if the condition is verified", see here: http://home.earthlink.net/~jdbryan/directboot.html And of course you can change the description inside double quotes to anything you prefer. Glad I can count you among the happy bunnies . jaclaz

I don't need anything, thanks. I pointed you to a suggested procedure: http://reboot.pro/15040/page__st__8 I explained to you the REASONs why such a procedure is suggested (as opposed to "start imaging and let the program try again and again and again and again on bad sectors). If you had told datarescuedd to copy (just an example with very small numbers) sectors from 0 to 100, you would have as a result a file named image[0-51200].dd If this file, upon ispection, is actually 51.200 bytes in size, and you had no errors, you would be sure to have imaged correctly a chunk, and know exactly it's size and know exactly it's position. Then you go fo the next chunk, like 100 to 200 and you get another nice 51200 bytes file named image[51200-102400].dd, and so on. You chose the "other one", that's allright, I make no claim whatsoever that what was suggested was "right" and that what you did was "wrong", I am simply stating that you did another thing from what was suggested to you. On reboot.pro we even have an emoticon that in this case represents the poor HD arm/heads banging against an unreadable sector over and over: This is BAD for the hard disk and data integrity, and LESSENS probabilities of a successful image and of a later recovery. You just posted data that simply makes NO SENSE, whether these data appear nonsensical because they are plainly wrong or because something (whatever) went wrong during the imaging process (and whether this is connected to having done that in a way that was NOT recommended) is irrelevant, the result is that now you have "something" that you are not actually sure WHAT it is. To join files you need a file joiner. A good one (IMHO) is dsfi (part of the dsfok package: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/ jaclaz