Hi,
I'm experiencing a lot of difficulty with hard disks, and spent
something like 12 hours in the last couple of days trying to
partition and format them -- in spite of the help I already got
from list participants. So I'm writing again.
Let me try to separate the problems.
- Problem 1: Partitioning and formatting in FAT16
I simply have been unable to partition a 4 GB or 6 GB disk in
FAT16 and get it to work properly. I tried it in countless
ways, using FDisk and Format (both from FreeDOS), and
TestDisk.
- Problem 2: Partitioning and formatting in FAT32
I was hesitant to move to FAT32 because I still do not know
how well DSKCHK and DOSFSCK will work, and I suppose
MS-Scandisk will not work at all.
But after failing to get FAT16 disks working, I tried FAT32
-- almost in desperation -- in the 6 GB disk, and it worked
immediately. That was great! So, I'm now inclined to use
FAT32 ... if the remaining problems can be solved.
- Problem 3: Getting rid of "illegal" folders and files
The reason why I have to change disks is that my current disk
has several illegal folders and files which cannot be read or
erased. Sometimes good files suddenly become illegal -- and I
have not found out why.
The bad news is that the illegal folders and files can be
copied to another hard disk too! It happened when I copied
the whole contents of my current disk (FAT16) to the newly
formatted FAT32 6 GB disk. The copying was done with the
FileWizard file manager, and with MS-SmartDrive.
I had thought that in the process of copying from one disk to
another, we would get rid of the illegal folders and files,
either because they were impossible to copy, or because the
copy command was smart enough to recognize that they are
illegal and would skip them. Unfortunately that was not the
case, and the illegals got copied too :-(
I then tried to copy from the current (FAT16) disk to another
FAT16 disk. The target disk also got illegal folders and
files, but some (or all) were different from the illegals in
the source disk. In other words, these illegals appeared
during the copying process. This time the copy was done with
the NDN file manager, and MS-SmartDrv was also running.
(When there is a large quantity of files do copy or delete, I
load MS-SmartDrv, because LBACache, which I normally use,
does not have a write cache.)
- Problem 4: Working with disk maintenance programs (DSKCHK,
DOSFSCK, and MS-ScanDisk)
Of course I tried all those to get rid of the illegal folders
and files.
DSKCHK simply quits after a short time.
DOSFSCK in interactive mode stops too many times. The only
way is to use automatic repair mode, in which case it makes
hundreds and hundreds of corrections and generates a
corresponding amount of backup files. Also, it quits after
some time.
MS-ScanDisk has been the most helpful. It must also be used
in automatic repair mode otherwise it stops too often. Its
advantage is that it does not quit, and it does eliminate
most of the illegal files, leaving just one per folder.
The part I find most difficult is that tools such as FDisk and
TestDisk do not seem to produce the effects we want. I thought
there would be a way of completely clearing a hard disk and then
partitioning and formatting from scratch, but it does not seem to
work like that -- at least not in FAT16.
The situation is very confusing. So, I would like to hear your
thoughts on the strategy to follow from now on: staying with
FAT16 versus moving on to FAT32; how to check filesystems, and
anything else you might want to discuss.
In addition, I have a few specific questions to ask.
Question 1:
Is it safe to work with the computer while there are a few
illegal folders and files in the disk? In other words, is it
possible that the mere presence of some illegals would
confuse the system and cause the appearance of other
illegals, or somehow crash the system?
Question 2:
Is there some way of copying from one disk to another, so
that the illegal folders and files are not copied?
Would the 4DOS /V option of the 'copy' command help? The 4DOS
instructions say: /V: Verify each disk write. [..] /V does
not read back the file and compare its contents with what was
written; it only verifies that the data written to disk is
physically readable.
Question 3:
Is there a procedure to erase everything from a hard disk and
start partitioning and formatting from scratch, so that
programs do not complain that some end marker is missing or
the contents of some sector are implausible?
I'm aware that I'm asking al lot. However, it is not possible to
do work in a computer with an unreliable hard disk. Because I
work with FreeDOS all the time, this is vital for me, and any
assistance will be GREATLY appreciated.
Regards from Brazil,
Marcos
--------------------------------------
Marcos Favero Florence de Barros
Campinas, Brazil
19-3231-8194 home
19-9123-8566 mobile
fav...@mpcnet.com.br email
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