jaclaz

Well, as always you are perfectly free to call whatever with whatever name you like. BUT: OEM string is one thing, BOOT CODE is another and FIle System is yet another, if you like to call the BOOT CODE "File system", it's OK, as long as you say so . I wouldn't take Ultraiso as a "reference" for English or proper terms, being itself written by a Chinese guy/gal. Every tool I remember having seen do use the "Small sectors" and "Large sectors", of course "Sectors 16" and "Sectors 32" are fine as well, you can also call them, respectively, Mickey Mouse and Minnie , but that won't help people understanding them easily . just for the record, the "Sectors Before" are actually " "Sectors Before" and are not "hidden" at all since they are OUTSIDE (before ) the actual filesystem, but, as said, a number of tools do call them (incorrectly IMHO) "Hidden sectors" so it's allright. . @dencorso So, 4079 is the number for FAT12? WHICH one is for FAT 16? WHAT about number of entries in ROOT? WHAT about cluster size "strategy"? jaclaz

Please, STOP posting on the 7200.11 thread, your drive is a 7200.4, this thread is about it, STOP posting on the 7200.11 thread! I have NO idea about your drive model. You should make sure that you have a TTL adapter and NOT a RS232 one. You may want to try (or have a look at) SEDIV: http://sediv2008.narod.ru/ here is the English help: http://sediv2008.narod.ru/HelpEn.rar I have NO idea if it can be of use or not, though. You were TOLD to try lowering baud rate and what you do? AGAIN, try with 9600: jaclaz

A good start would have been actually READING. This thread is about 7200.11 ONLY. You ALREADY started a new theread, here: continue there. jaclaz

I wonder where bit 8 and 9 reside in a one-byte media descriptor... But I'll try to digest that once beer gets out of my system. While I enjoy having fixed my broken roof, have a look at this alpha-stage tool. It can only read and display (partly) floppy image info, for now. It will be able to create/edit one lateron when I would have figured out all the pieces of the puzzle. That's NOT bit 8 & 9 inside byte #1. It is actually byte 8 & 9: jaclaz P.S.: Nice tool, but can we have "standard" names for the fields? (just to avoid misunderstandings) File system is definitely NOT "Freedos 1.0" or "Windows Vista/7", etc. Sectors 16 and Sectors 32 are usually referred to as "Small sectors" and "Large Sectors". "Hidden sectors" are also sometimes referred to as "Sectors Before" (and this IMHO better conveys the idea).

Good moorning, Mr. de La Palice! WHY would we be making speculations and tests, IF there were some actually valid standards (and if they were actually respected by everyone)? The 36 Mb limit is given by the actual limits of the geometry of 1024/2/36. What Ultraiso makes is probably another thing, since they also make the Easyboot, it is possible that they use a loader as a no-emulation bootsector and later load the super-flopy image (just like it is perfectly possible with grub4dos and with isolinux/memdisk). For the record I just checked the El-Torito reference: http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/specscdrom.pdf and it does state (page 14) and (page 19): That can be read as it has been read till now. rloew found how evidently a number of BIOS programmers did not make: but rather: For all we know it is very possible that some BIOS programmers actually use (WARNING: just a speculation, as an example): jaclaz

I doubt this. Maybe you did something similar, but not that exact "fix" (mainly the actual terminal commands are AFAIK/AFAICR different on earlier version of the disk drives and the communication protocol is different, lower transmission baud rate). It would be nice if you could post the EXACT (meaning EXACT) settings you made and the EXACT commands you gave. No, it should take a bunch of seconds at least. Hard to say. It is also possible that by using something similar to the 7200.11 fix you brought the disk drive beyond any possible "DIY" repair/recovery. The "Not initialized" in Disk Management is normally a "translation" into MS jargon of: And the: "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error." sounds like the same for: Which "Windows" are you running? I would hope XP and NOT Vista or 7 (for which most probably you have the added layer of UAC and "run as Admin"), if I were you I would try checkng what Victoria ( or mhdd form DOS) has to say about the disk. jaclaz

Maybe you could analyze the contents/formula's of the not-so-classy Excel sheet, the idea behind it is exactly that of exploring the logic behind the values that existing apps, like FORMAT, mtools and the like calculate and use, or, if you prefer, have an easy test bed for learning in practice what you are asking for in theory. jaclaz

According to the calculations made on the referenced thread: (which I have NO idea if correct, but seemingly so ), yes it is considered a "bad hit" I have NO idea if the Toshiba software works/worked (and HOW it works). Those kind of things should move the head arm to a parking zone, but see below. Maybe the "ticking noise" was a coincidence? And the bad sectors found afterwards also? I cannot say anything about Toshiba's, I don't remember ever taking one apart and anyway probably not the same model you have, what I can say is that - generally speaking - "oldish" disks had a head parking zone on a plastic ramp or similar outside the platter while "newish" ones tend to have the parking zone ON the disk. It is possible that the sensor or whatever actually reacted but that was not fast enough: as a matter of fact - and of course within limits - having the laptop fall from a greater height (say 1 m or more) could paradoxically be better , as the shut-off sensor would have more time to do whatever it is supposed to do. I would use datarescuedd to make an image of the disk. Hints: http://reboot.pro/15040/ With "high level" software (like moving/resizing parition) you remove the "logical" part of the problem, not the physical one. I'll try to explain. Say you had a very small head crash "groove" on the platter, that only affects "logical" sectors 65 to 105. You could make first partition start (say) at sector 126 and have the damaged area outside the filesystem (no more chkdsk errors). But still the first (both logical and physical) sector 0 will remain where it is now, and in order to travel from sector 0 to sector 126 the head will hover (very, very close to the surface of the platter) over sectors 65 to 105. Now, if there is any debris in that zone, it is likely that the head will get it and move it a bit, possibly scratching the platter in zones corresponding to another bunch of sectors, and this will cause some more *something* get loose, etc. etc. Mind you I am not telling you that this is what has/will happen, only that it may happen , and given the relatively small price of hard disks, expecially when compared to how invaluable data are, I would take no chance on this. jaclaz

Version 02 added, with a couple formulas fixed and a preliminary provision for the three "max CD super-floppy" formats. Only the one corresponding to dencorso's image implemented (with a small change). Open question : How many ROOT directory entries do we expect? (usually it's 512 if F8 media, 224 if F0, dencorso's image has 272 ) Maybe we can change this logic to "proportional to image size, with a minimum of 224"? (and a max of 512 if file is bigger than, say, 100 Mb or something like that?) A different kind of question, this part is not fully clear to me : How should cluster size calculated (vs. image size)? In dencorso's image there is a 32 sectors cluster, but scrap the "theoretical max size", provided that the actual max number of clusters in a FAT12 is 4086 (and in FAT 16 65526): http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/partSizes-c.html (or what is the actual number) would it make more sense an image around 4086*16*512=33,472,512 instead of the current 37,748,736 (losing 3 Mb of space but have less slack space for DOS smallish files?) Or we should forget the whole thing about FAT12 and make the image FAT16? jaclaz P.S.: Attachment removed, see a few posts below ...

I guess all you may get is my "standard reply #32": http://reboot.pro/2587/ Seriously now, how can you expect that we know what you are up to? Please, post some meaningful info, EXACT DETAILS of what you want to achieve, EXACT description of the files involved, etc., etc.. This way you will probably get back some meaningful help/advice. jaclaz

You've probably have this part "wrong". There is NO sign whatever on the referenced seller/item page whether this particular adapter: needs to be powered at 3.3 V or at 5 V actually outputs 3.3 V TTL or 5.0 V TTL The above two are two VERY different things. #1 is the power you give to the thingy. #2 is the signal level that comes out of it. With the ONLY exception of the specific adapter mentioned in the read-me-first (sparkfun) that actually changes it's output TTL level depending on the level of voltage you power it with, ALL other "conventional" RS232 to TTL need to be powered at 5 V (powering it at a lower voltage may either work or not, but basically it is pointless) OR at 3.3 V (powering it at a lower voltage may either work or not, but basically it is pointless, as well as powering it at 5 V, which could also fry the thingy). Again, with the same ONLY exception as above, RS232 to TTL are EITHER: dual 3.3 V TTL AND 5 V TTL level adapters (and have a switch or jumper or different TX/RX terminals for the TWO different levels OR: single TLL level adapters, which can be: 3.3 V TTL OR: 5V TTL If you have the latter type it simply won't work. This said, if you had initially one behaviour and now you cannot reproduce it with the EXACT same settings it may mean: the adapter is toast ( I have rarely seen this happen because of UNDERvoltage, nor because of accidental shorts or the like, so I doubt it) the actual HD PCB is toast (as well highly unlikely unless it died for "natural causes as supplying it a 5 V TTL signal instead of the 3.3 V one was NEVER a problem, apart that it won't "talk" with the PC) you did not repeat in the same EXACT conditions as when you initially had the garbage, try again, make sure, double sure and triple sure you have correct baud rate,parity, etc. (please note that if - without the ground connected - you get gibberish BEFORE accessing the HD terminal with CTRL+Z it ONLY means that you are getting gibberish because you did not GROUNDed properly and it is in NO way a sign that the terminal was accessed, if you prefer it could be that you didn't get to the HD terminal BEFORE and had the gibberish and you cannot get to the HD terminal NOW but see nothing as the gibberish is prevented by the ground, i.e. exactly the same failure, one showing gibberish and one showing nothing) Suggested course of action: make sure the TTL adapter sends (and receives) signals at 3.3 V TTL level (and NOT at 5 V TTL level) - like ask the seller for the manual/datasheet/whatever make sure that the particular item you got is functional (you will need an oscilloscope or a poorman's one made from an audio card) Example: http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_en IF everything is as it should be, check again the PCB, try with it completely detached (just to get to the terminal). IF anyhting it is not, your best option is to get a "proper" TTL 3.3 V level interface (if this is 5 V) or trywith another adapter. jaclaz

@dencorso I am posting here, though maybe it would be more pertinent to the "super-floppy" thread. If needed, please move it there. Just imagine: Q.: What do you use to create a FAT 12 or 16 formatted image of a floppy or volume? A: Excel. jaclaz P.S.: Consider this an early pre-release version , I need some willing tester and some suggestions for "common" formats to include/add. The "batch file" part is the one that may get a number of improvements, right now it creates a "truncated" image but the good thing is that it needs no "external" utilities (32 bit 2K or XP needed Vista and 7 should work allright also but NOT 64 bit) If we are allowed to use mksparse and fsz (and dsfi/dsfo) we could make images faster and, besides "truncated" also "sparse" and "full size" (the latter can be done even now with a few lines added to the batch). The spreadsheets are protected (with no password) to avoid accidentally change formulas/data, but you can unprotect them allright. Attachment removed, new version a couple posts below.

That was the scope of my comment. The problem with him (and many other) is that he is actually followed by lots of people, so his opinions (no matter if right or wrong) are often mistaken for facts (which sometimes are, sometimes are not). jaclaz

Just for the record, be aware that the reputation of Steve Gibson is not unanimously considered as that of a good cybersecurity researcher, though he usually has some good points, he tends to make them sound like "the ultimate truth" or "the absolute truth" and, more generally to over-emphasize anything he happens to find (or think he has found). http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/steve_gibson/ The "old code" is better is " old news", sometimes it is true, sometimes it is not. The general point is that no hacker (unless a hacker -ethical or not - does it for the fun of it) will lose his/her time on finding security exploits on systems that are used by a very little number of people and that - generally speaking, of course no offence intended - hold no meaningful/valuable data. You could also say that the best thing MS did for security was to push XP and later Vista :ph34r:/7, thus drawing attention away from 9x/Me systems, thus making them more secure in practice if not in theory..... jaclaz

Hi jaclaz, I have test-installed Letter Assigner v1.2.0, but apparently it is not possible to assign under Win98SE the drive letter B: to the LS-120 drive K:, I got the err msg: "it is impossible to use letter B for any drive other then its current owner, because B: is one of several letters assigned to the single physical drive". Also, when I right-click in the Letter Assigner window on any of the drives displayed, I get the err msg "Letass32. The program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Win98 crashes shortly afterwards and I had to reboot + fix lost clusters. Any other suggestions? Well, we tried. Being a "low-level" kind of utility VGA-Copy most probably accesses the drive letter in a non-standard way. What about good ol' SUBST? (though usually letter assigner works where SUBST doesn't) Another idea may be that of using grub4dos to exchange/map drives at BIOS level before booting DOS. Try booting to DOS, and run GRUB.EXE from it. http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/list Type: find ( and press [TAB] Which devices do you have listed? (try with and without the LS-120 connected so that you can identify how it is seen) jaclaz

Try the attached. And still this belongs to the actual merging command ( which is yet to be written). jaclaz split_inf_6.7z

Would good ol' Letter Assigner do? Courtesy of Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20080703012252/http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/index.html jaclaz

Try lowering baud rate, like: jaclaz

Or maybe not?. jaclaz

Try the attached. jaclaz split_inf_5.7z

Ahmad , you need to first thing procure yourself some common sense (I know it is rare today, but with some effort it can be found ). Quick recap: you HD took a bad hit. if the HD was spinning at the time, your heads have most probably crashed, compare with: once a head crashes, it hits the disk surface, leaving a small dent/groove in it some little material from the head or from the platter normally comes loose when there is a head crash every time your disk spins some of this trash is either carried around by the head or head arm or spread by the air cushion (and may land on the platter when the drive spins off) it is VERY likely that the "bad area" will grow because of these debris making more "grooves" NO hard disk is EVER reliable, one that had a head crash is definitely NOT ANYMORE RELIABLE NOW logical errors can usually be fixed, mechanical ones CANNOT (and no, they don't heal by themselves) So, you are asking a partially senseless thing , you should go buy a new hard disk NOW. If, for fun, or experiment or whatever you want to keep that failed hard disk as secondary (or tertiary) backup storage, it may be OK, but keeping it in service as the ONLY, SYSTEM, drive is IMNSHO asking for troubles. In any case, BEFORE ANYTHING else, it is VITAL to check thoroughfully the disk with the manufacturer diagnostic utility. Unfortunately TOSHIBA does NOT provide an official utility, but usually the IBM/Hitachi or the Seagate Seatools work with them: http://www.carrona.org/hddiag.html To locate bad sectors, you can use Victoria allright, read a few posts starting from here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=24161&st=567 jaclaz

http://reboot.pro/14/page__pid__133740__st__30 jaclaz

Sure , that was expected. (It was you that assumed that the geometry was the problem ) Too bad , you give up just when you were warming up! Anyway, you are welcome . jaclaz

That grub4dos version is SERIOUSLY outdated and BTW has also a number of bugs/limitations (though they do not probably apply to the tests you made), from history: 2009-10-16 Turned off int13/AX=4B01/DL=7F cdrom query which may hang on some machines. Commented out DMA code related to running via KEXEC. Implemented 64-bit int13 memdrive block moving code. 2009-06-20(r68) add (ud) device to access space created with fbinst. 2009-06-11 fixed a bug of missing assignment of ES and BX registers in int13_handler(asm.S). 2009-05-13 fixed size-wrap-to-0 infinite loop issue in grub_read()(disk_io.c). 2009-05-07(r67) resolved conflict between int10 stack and BIOS Data Area(grldrstart.S). 2009-05-03 fixed a bug in geometry_tune(grldrstart.S, asm.S). zw2312914 report. 2009-04-30 triple mbr without bpb also bootable as a floppy(grldrstart.S). 2009-04-26 added ending CHS calculation for partition entry in mbr of the triple mbr(bootlace.inc). 2009-04-25 bug fix in dd about device length calculation(builtins.c). 2009-04-24 save and restore GDTR in int13_handler(asm.S). 2009-04-06 accept partitions starting in the mbr track(probe_mbr, builtins.c). 2009-04-05 triple mbr floppy partition (fdX,Y) support for some USB BIOSes(disk_io.c). 2009-04-04 fixed partition table entries in the 2nd and 3rd mbr of the triple mbr(bootlace.inc). 2009-03-31(r66) 0.4.4 official release. 2009-03-28 removed the problematic global variable "i"; reduced one open-file step for configfile on cdrom. 2009-03-27 fixed memory overlap issue on "map --rehook". Don't even THINK of using anything older that 2009-10-16, which can be found here: http://reboot.pro/15038/page__st__1 (but I am attaching a copy of it, just in case) What one should really use nowadays - expecially if starting using grub4dos - is LATEST EXPERIMENTAL version, here: http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/list or however a decently recent enough version, suggested is 2011-04-29. jaclaz grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-10-16.zip

Yep , from the mouth of the wolf : Some additional reference: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntregistry.php http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301423/en-us jaclaz