Hi, FAT16 has been answered.
FAT32 is extremely relyable. specially the last before the bug, maybe Eric can help you pick it from the lot. As said, the best tool is NDN from Norton Utilities 8 The ilegal files that you have are just files with a bad name, contents may even be ok. I had this problem many times in the past, you just have to find a trick that works :) example: move all other files to another directory and erase the directory, find a wildchar-name that matches it and delete or rename it... just a little inventiveness. It is probably a file that has a char in the name that the commands do not acept, but if it was copied, it can be referenced in some way... Alain Em 18-05-2010 14:59, Marcos Favero Florence de Barros escreveu: > 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 > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
