
        FR.TXT file - English (Romanian at the end of file)
                              (Romana mai jos)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.      What this does. (Like a description)

        This  program  is intended to make defective diskettes work again. So,
if you have a floppy-disk wich doesn't work anymore, usually you try to format
it.  There  is  an ugly message that you may see: Unusable media, Track 0 bad,
etc. - Format terminated. This does not give any hope. You may throw that disk
away, or give it to the kids to make sun-glasses. One or two such disks should
not  worry us. But when you have about 50, usually you put them into a box and
do not open it again.

        Well, this program (FR) who's text file you are reading right now will
try  to  make  some  (if  not  all)  your disks work again. It's, basically, a
formatting  program. So all data currently on the disk is lost. Anyway, if you
use it the disk is already unreadable, so it doesn't matter that much.

        The program can format good disks, too. No error message in this case.
You  can use it regullarly, on every disk, with no problems. In this case, the
format will be DOS standard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.      Special care needed.

        Here is  some "technical" information. If you have a damaged disk, and
you  format  it  with  FR, it may work again. But you should not trust it very
much. This means you shouldn'd copy on that disk something very very important
(like  your  secret something - the only copy), because if the disk is broken,
there is a chance it will damage again. Why? Read the next paragraphs.

        Floppy disks can get damaged for various reasons.
        a.  Improper  handling. If you throw it down, play football with it or
        keep  it  in  the  pocket  while  traveling  at the Polar Circle, it's
        natural for the disk to damage. Don't worry about it.

        b.  Some  floppies  are damaged from factory. The magnetic field has a
        bad  quality.  In  this  case,  the  disk  is deteriorating by itself,
        withouth  anybody  to  interfere  from the exterior. In this case, the
        disk should not be used anymore. It's like trying to format a piece of
        paper. You can recognize this disk if you only use it into *one* drive
        unit,  known  as  good,  and  the  number  of  bad  sectors is quickly
        increasing.

        c.  Bad floppy drives. If you use a disk for transporting data between
        two  or  more  computers,  that  floppy  may  slowly  begin to damage.
        Usually,  one  of the drivers is bad, and it regularily destroys disks
        inserted  there. In  this case, the disk will work again, if formatted
        later and if it will not be used again on the crazy computer.

        d.  Dirty  disks  or  drives.  This  is  a bad case. If you insert, by
        mistake,  a dirty floppy-disk into your floppy drive, some of the dirt
        will   get  on the read/write heads. From there,it will "mud" the next
        20-30  (or  more)  disks  inserted there. Those will put dirt on other
        drives, and so on (of course, at one given time the dirt will be over,
        but  usually  too  late).  The dirt can be almost anything: mud, dust,
        food, finger-prints, or the magnetic layer for disks described at b.
        In this case, you must clean the drive heads, and not to use the dirty
        disk  anymore.  Usually,  the  floppies muded by the drive and damaged
        contain just a little ammount of dirt, so they are harmless. They will
        have  physical  bad  sectors  where  the dust is, and will, sometimes,
        clean themselves in time. So you can see a disk with bads loosing them
        in time. This is a happy case. But rare :(

        So, in conclusion, if your drive constantly damages floppies, clean it
with  a  cleaning set. Attention! Some of these cleaning sets are abrasive, so
they  can  be  used only about 15 times. After this, the heads will damage. If
after  cleaning  the  drive still damages disks, get rid of it or take it to a
technician.  That's  a sever hardware problem, so you format a disk, the drive
will damage it back.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.      Special requirements.

        MS-DOS  (I  don't  know  the  minimum version). If you have DOS 5.0 or
higher,  it's  ok.  I  never  tested it under versions 3 or 4, but i'm sure it
doesn't work under DOS 2.
        Some RAM (I don't know how much, but about 55-100K).
        At least one floppy drive (guess why?).
        A graphic card capable of running in 80x25x16 text mode.
        A colour monitor. If you have it monochrome, you may have difficulties
of  using  the menus, because all are on blue background, and the selected one
on  black  background.  Hard  to distinguish on monochrome. There is a special
paragraph for this case.
        Mouse (not mandatory, but supported).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.      Changes from last version.

        Some  of  you  used  FR 0.01. This was a pre-release, functional-only,
with  lots  of documented bugs, and one non-documented. The display used ANSI.
SYS,  unpleasant  for  some  users,  and  all  the parameters were transmitted
through command-line, also unpleasant for some users.

        This  version,  called  1.00  because it's not a test version anymore,
doesn't use ANSI.SYS anymore.

        So:  if  you  still  have  a copy of 0.01, just erase it. It has a bug
(really  a type error, but descovered too late) - you know how much damage can
do  a  type  error when it comes about numbers. In some cases, the drive heads
are  not  recalibrated,  so the disk may become unusable from about 55% to the
end.  It is formatted ok, but the tracks are not where they should be, and for
this reason unreachable.

        Another  bug is in the FAT creation, but you will see it. That disk is
all unusable, so you can't miss it.

        Another change is support for 360K, 720K, and 1.2M added.
        360K and 1.2M are 5.25 inches disks, and 720K/1.44M 3.5 inches.
        Some  BIOSes also support 720K in 5.25 inches high density drives, but
most  don't.  So  you  can  select this option, but you'll get `Parameters not
supported  by BIOS', unless your BIOS supports it, or you have a TSR enhancing
the  BIOS  functionality.  I once saw such a TSR, but it didn't interest me at
that time.

        Also,  FR  1.00 will not try to make the number of FATs different from
2.  This  was  really  useless,  because  DOS uses 2 copies anyway, and so the
second  FAT was overwritting the root directory, the root dir was overwritting
the  data area, and the bad sectors marked in FAT were not at their places. Or
the root dir was overwritting the third copy, and so on.

        By the way, I think `writing' is the correct form, not `writting'. But
I'm used to write like this, and I don't feel like go back and correct. Sorry.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.      User interface.

        Type  `fr'  and  press  Enter.  You  will see a blue screen, with some
options  and  stuff  arround there. Here, I will try to explain what is there.
Although  it  seems  pretty  self-explanatory,  I  recommend  you to read this
paragraph  to  understand  the  hidden or default options, and the unchangable
one.

        There is no on-line help, so don't press F1, 'cause nothing happenes.

        Hot keys:
        ESC  aborts  the  current  Format  operation, or selects Quit from the
menu. If you want to exit, press ESC then ENTER to activate selected option.
        This  may  be usefull. If the computer does not have any floppy disks,
the  screen  may remain blanck. I don't know why. Just press ESC ENTER and get
out  of  there.  If there is no  floppy drive installed, the program was of no
good,  anyway.  This  is  not  happening  on every computer, so it's really an
unanswered question for me.

        The screen looks like this:

             Ceamacsoft's Format & Repair Damaged Diskettes v1.00
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Drives:   *01|Disks:    *02|Action: None                                 *03|
|A:1.44M drive|A:1.44M disk |                                                |
|B:(none)     |B:(none)     |  ________________________________________*04 0%|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Ignore boot error: TRUE *05       *18 Disk type |Messages:               *24|
|Safer format     : TRUE *06    *19 Begin format |                           |
|Quick format     : TRUE *07           *20 About |                           |
|Retry number     :   3  *08   *21 Save settings |                           |
|Max files in root: 224  *09       *22 DOS Shell |                           |
|Current drive    : A:   *10            *23 Quit |                           |
|Serial number    : ????:????   *11              |                           |
|Volume label     : Dont Format *12              |                           |
|                                                |                           |
|Elapsed time     : 00:00:00 *13                 |                           |
|Estimated time   : ??:??:?? *14                 |                           |
|                                                |                           |
|Total space      : ?,???,??? bytes *15          |                           |
|Available space  : ?,???,??? bytes *16          |FRTSR not installed        |
|Bad space        : ?,???,??? bytes *17          |                           |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                         *25|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

(I ate two columns; there are 80 there, but here I'm displaying only 78).

        Those  *nn  are  not  really there, I just numbered the main fields to
describe  the  interface  easier.  I preffer to talk about *01 rather than the
upper-left corner :-)

        Description:
*01  This  shows  the  drives  on  the computer, as detected by FR. This field
    cannot  be  modified.  If the autodetect is wrong on your computer, sorry.
    Write to me and I'll try to find a solution.
*02  This is where you specify the disk type you want do format (for example,a
    DD in HD drive). This field is modified by disk type option (*18).
*03 Action is a little text describing what FR is doing right now.
*04 This is a percent bar. Increased while formatting.
*05 Ignore boot error. When set to false, will generate an error if formatting
    a disk with the boot sector damaged. When set to true, the disk will still
    be formatted, and it works under MS-DOS using the small frtsr utility. The
    distinction is made because this disk will not work under Windows 95.
    Read the frtsr-dedicated paragraph for more information.
*06  Safer format. This takes a little longer, because all tracks are verified
    twice.
*07 Quick format. This still erases all data, but the surface is only verified
    for errors, not re-initialized.
    If  Safer  and Quick format are active at the same time, a format followed
    by  a  quick  format is performed. This is usefull if some bad sectors are
    not seen at format-time.
*08  Retry number. This is an internal parameter, specifying how many times an
    operation  should  be retried if failed. Minimum recommended is 3. A value
    above 5 is time-consuming, and not usefull. So leave it to 3.
*09  Max  files  in root. This field shows how many files you can place in the
    root  directory  of  the  disk. On some damaged disks, where a part of the
    root directory is unusable, this number may be dramatically decreased. The
    minimum  is 16, but one of them is already used by volume label (mandatory
    in this version of FR).
    This  field  cannot  be  modified.  It  is  calculated and displayed while
    formatting.
*10  Current drive specifies if you want to format the disk in either drive A:
    or  B:.  If  your system does not have a B: drive, you can still select it
    from  here, but cannot perform any action on it. You will receive an error
    message if you select Begin format.
*11  Serial number is read from the disk at format time and displayed here. It
    cannot  be changed by user. If the disk does have a serial number, it will
    be preserved after format. If it doesn't, or if it is unreadable, a random
    one  will  be  generated (but not using the same algorithm as DOS's format
    utility).
    The  program  has  a switch saying  wether  the user wants to keep the old
    serial  number  or not. But I forgot to make a menu point for it, so it is
    always TRUE.
    In  FR  0.01,  the  serial  number  was  0B40:0000  or something like that
    (anyway,  a  constant).  This  had  no special purpose, was just a bug (in
    fact,  I  didn't  put  any, so it came). Floppies formatted witk 0.01 will
    still  have  this  serial number, because the old one is preserved. If you
    want to change it, format the disk and stop formatting after track 0. Then
    strat  it again, and the old serial number has just been overwritten, so a
    new one will be generated. It's a stupid method, I know :-)
*12 Volume label. Here,you may enter a volume label for the disk. If you don't
    enter  one,  `Dont  format' will be used for default. If you enter one, it
    will  be  used  for all disks until you enter a new one or exit program. I
    don't like this, I think I will modify it sometime.
    If  you  enter a blank volume label (that's just press enter, no character
    typed) the old volume label will be preserved if found. Like at the serial
    number,  a  switch  with  no  menu entry is there. So it is activated from
    here, but the one from the serial number is really unreachable.
    For disks with no volume label, `NO NAME    ' will be used.
    The  special  entry  in  root directory is created. That's why command.com
    will  say  `volume  label  NO  NAME'  instead on `no volume label', how it
    usually does. Run the DOS label command if you don't like this.
*13 Elapsed time shows the time passed from the start of the format operation.
    If  the  format  has  place in two steps (format then verify), each one is
    counted separetly.
    Under Windows 95, the time is miscalculated, because Windows will not give
    control  to  the timer function every time it should. So the clock is much
    slower.
*14  Estimated  time  is the time estimated to the end of the action. It's not
    very accurate, only estimative (like the name said:-)).
*15  Total  space  lists  the total formatted data space on the disk. It's not
    usefull to know it, but displayed, anyway.
*16 Available space is the space that can be used for copying data.
*17  Bad space is the space in bad sectors (counting only from the data space,
    no system space included here).
*18 Disk type. Press enter here to change the disk type in drive.
    Possible options:
    Drive             Disk types
    -----             ----------
    360 K             360 K
    720 K             720 K
    1.2 M             360 K, 720 K (*), 1.2 M
    1.44 M            720 K, 1.44 M
    2.88 M (**)       720 K, 1.44 M

    (*) Most of the BIOSes will not accept this setting.
    (**)  I  never tested this program on a 2.88 M drive, and I never saw one.
    But  I don't think it will work. If any of you can confirm or infirm this,
    please e-mail.

    Note:  In  3.5  inches  HD  (1.44  M)  drives,  DD (720 K) disks cannot be
    formatted  at  1.44  M,  nor  HD (1.44 M) disks can be formatted at 720 K.
    Please  choose  the correct type of disk. If you are trying to format a HD
    floppy at 720 K, you will obtain all sectors bad because the transfer rate
    is  automatically  selected  using the disk, regardless of your selection.
    This is done by BIOS and I don't intend to take care of it.
*19  Begin  format.  After  you  made  all settings, press enter here to begin
    formatting. You'll see what's next.
*20 About is a little text about...
*21  Save  settings will save your options, like current disk, disk type, etc.
    It will NOT save the volume label.
*22  DOS  Shell  lets  you temporarily exit to DOS, for example to take a last
    look at disk's contents before formatting, while FR has not such option.
*23 Quit lets you get out of the program. Uff!
*24  Messages  box.  Here  are  displayed error messages, like bad sectors and
    stuff, or any other messages.
*25  Here  are  displayed  fatal errors (ones who brutally stop the formatting
    process), like `No disk in drive' or `User break'.

        Now  that  I'm  done  with the description, I'll say a few words about
the keystrokes used.

        The  only keys used are: up-arrow (to move up in the menu), down-arrow
(likewise), Enter to select and ESC to abort or exit program. Of course, while
inputting the volume label or retry number, the alpha-numeric keys are used :)

        The  mouse may be used just like the keyboard, by pointing to the menu
and  clicking.  The click is considered valid if the mouse button is released,
and  the  beginning  of  the  click is the same one as the end of it (i.e. the
mouse  did  not move while clicking). In the About box, the click must be done
on the O.K.

        If  a  fatal  error  is displayed, it is removed by any keystroke or a
mouse click.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.      When using a monochrome monitor.

        When you don't know where you are, press ESC. This will select Quit.

        I'll list here options in order, supposing you only press down-arrow;
        The options are numbered, so just count :-)
        In the right, the numbers are reversed in case you use up-arrow.
                                      down              up
        Ignore boot error               1               11
        Safer format                    2               10
        Quick format                    3                9
        Retry number                    4                8
        Current drive                   5                7
        Volume label                    6                6
        Disk Type                       7                5
        Begin format                    8                4
        About                           9                3
        Save settings                  10                2
        DOS Shell                      11                1
        Quit                           12               12

        You can also use the mouse.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.      Known problems and bugs.

  1.Sometimes,  when  you exit to DOS Shell, at return, the retry is set to 1.
    You should set it back to 3.
  2.If  one  of  the  last  two  sectors  (or  both)  is a bad one, it will be
    displayed  into the  Messages  box,  but it will not be marked in the FAT.
    Maybe, I'll fix this before I'll upload the program, but I'm not sure. I'm
    too  lazy  for this. As a workaround, you should not use the last K of the
    disk (leave a little amount of free space when using the disk).
  3.The  mouse is a little slow. This is not really a bug, it's just the way I
    handled the mouse. This will not change in the future.
  4.Using  the MS-DOS regional support, numbers are displayed using `,' or `.'
    as  decimal  separator, but this is not done at Drive type or Disk type. I
    mean 1.44 M will not be written as 1,44 M in Europe.
  5.Disk  repair  tools (like scandisk) cannot handle all disks formatted with
    FR. I should make one for this purpose.
  6.Some  programs  using  direct  disk  access  fail to calculate the correct
    logical structure of the disk. DOS has not such a problem.
    An  example  is Dos Navigator, with direct disk access enabled. Disable it
    to use a bad disk.
    This is not my fault, so no improvement possible.
  7.When  using FR in a DOS box under Windows 95, there are some restrictions.
    The  disk  transfer is done by BIOS using DMA 2; the DMA controller cannot
    cross  64K  boundaries in the same operation, so there is a BIOS error for
    this case. I was surprised to see that this error appears in Windows 95 if
    another  DMA channel is used in the same time with channel 2. For example,
    if  a  sound  is generated (through the sound card) while FR is formatting
    a  disk, the format stops immediatly with `DMA overflown' error message. I
    think this can come in other cases, like networking etc.
    I hope I'll fix this in the Windos 95 version, but I'm not sure.
  8.This  error message (DMA) can appear also in DOS, 'cause I didn't take any
    precautions  to  avoid  it.  If this happens, quit the program and load or
    remove  some  device  drivers or TSRs, then try again. This will surely be
    fixed in the next version, but not now.
  9.You  should  not try to access the floppy drive while formatting it (by My
    computer, Explorer or anything else). I think it's obvious why.
 10.If  you  are  using  a  disk  repair  utility  on a damaged disk formatted
    with  FR,  you  need  special care. The format is not standard DOS, just a
    compatible  one.  That's  why  the  only  repair  allowed  is  to mark bad
    sectors  on  a  surface  check.  Don't try to fix problems like bad FAT or
    lost clusters, because this will damage the disk.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.      FRTSR.

        This  is  used  to  access  boot-damaged  disks. If the boot sector is
physically  damaged,  then  it  cannot  be  read.  FR  will  move it to a good
location,   but  someone  must  tell  DOS  where  to  look.  This  mission  is
accomplished by FRTSR.COM. Load it, then use the disk.

        This  doesn't  work  under  Windows 95, only under bare DOS (including
Ms-Dos command prompt only or Restart computer in Ms-Dos mode).

        To  unload frtsr from memory when no longer needed, the unload utility
is provided. Read UNLOAD.TXT for more info.

        Because  I  wrote  frtsr in assembler, I did not want to complicate my
life  with  command line parameters. That's the reason why parameters to frtsr
are  handled  by  fr.exe.  That's  also the reason fr.exe accepts command-line
parameters :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.      Command line parameters.

        As I said, the parameters reffer to frtsr.

        /status displays the status of frtsr.
        /on enables frtsr (default when loaded).
        /off  disables  frtsr  withouth  unloading  it  from memory. It can be
re-enabled by using /on option.
        /retry:x changes the retry number used by frtsr. Default 3.
        /u  unloads  frtsr  from  memory, using unload.exe (so fails if not in
current directory or path).

        If  you  have some switchar support, replace `/' with whatever you are
using.  In  this case, /u will not work (because unload will not recognize the
parameters), so you have to use unload as stand-alone program.

Notes:
  1.It's  not  difficult  to  make  /u  work  if  you change the switchar, but
    I didn't.
  2.I think frtsr's retry has something to do with the bug 1 at paragraph 7.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10.     Legal disclaimer and copyright notices.

        I  introduce this here because that's the law, and I don't want to get
to court for this program.

        I,  THE  AUTHOR  (VIOREL MUNTEANU), AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY KIND OF
DAMAGES  RESULTED  OF  USE  OR  MISUSE OF THIS PACKAGE. IF YOU USE IT, YOU ARE
ACCEPTING THESE TERMS. USE IT `AS IS', ON YOUR OWN RISK. I GIVE NO WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND FOR THIS PACKAGE (FR), NOT EVEN FITNESS FOR A PURPOSE.

        MS-DOS AND WINDOWS ARE TRADEMARKS OF MICROSOFT CORPORATION.
        DOS NAVIGATOR IS COPYRIGHT OF RIT RESEARCH LABS.
        ANY  OTHER  SPECIFICATED  ARE  COPYRIGHTS  OR  TRADE  MARKS  OF  THEIR
RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.     Shareware and your rights.

        This  program  is  shareware. I suppose you know what this means. Like
it's not for sale, so I'm asking just a small fee for support in case you like
it and decided you want to use it.

        If you use it for a trial period of 30 days, you are asked to register
it.  If you do not register it, it will continue to work (no time limits), but
send me an e-mail. I would like to hear comments about it.

        Registered  users  will  have  some  advantages, described in the file
register.txt. Please read it.

        I  hold  the copyright of this, and you are entitled to copy it, share
with  friends, as long as all the files in the distribution are not changed in
any way, and are all included.

        The files are:
        fr.exe
        fr.txt
        frtsr.com
        unload.exe
        unload.txt
        register.txt

        Please *do not* include fr.cfg when you copy it to anybody else.

        You are not entitled to crack the program.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.     Author and contact address.

        Viorel MUnteanu
        e-mail vmuntean@aeronet.propulsion.pub.ro

        If this doesn't work try
        vmuntean.AERONAVE@aeronet.propulsion.pub.ro
        (it's the same address, in fact)

        If  this  won't work either, I may be in hollydays. So I'll reply when
I'll come back.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        FR.TXT file - Romanian. Not using romanian characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.      Ce face (descriere).

        Acest  program  intentioneaza sa faca dischetele defecte sa mearga din
nou.  Asadar  daca  ai  un  floppy  care  nu mai merge, de obicei incerci sa-l
formatezi.  Atunci  apare  un  mesaj  urit  gen Unusable media, Track 0 bad si
de-astea,  -  Format  terminated. Ceea ce nu-ti mai lasa sperante. Atunci poti
sa-l  arunci,  sau  sa-l dai la copii sa-si faca ochelari de soare. Oricum, un
disc  sau  doua  nu te ingrijoreaza, dar cind se string vreo 50, le pui intr-o
cutie pe care ai grija sa n-o mai deschizi.

        Programul  asta  (FR), a carui documentatie tocmai o citesti, incearca
sa  faca unele (daca nu chiar toate) din aceste dischete sa mearga din nou. In
principiu, este un program de formatare. Asa ca toate datele de pe discheta se
vor  pierde.  Oricum, daca ai ajuns sa-l folosesti, discheta deja nu mai poate
fi citita, asa ca nu conteaza prea mult.

        Programul  poate  sa  formateze  si  dischete bune, caz in care nu vor
aparea  mesaje  de  eroare.  Poti  sa-l folosesti regulat, pe orice disc, fara
probleme. Daca discul e bun, si formatul este DOS standard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.      Precautii suplimentare.

        Aici  sint  citeva  informati cit de cit "tehnice". Daca ai o discheta
defecta  si o formatezi cu FR, s-ar putea sa mearga din nou. Dar nu trebuie sa
ai  prea  multa incredere in ea. Adica nu trebuie sa tragi pe ea ceva deosebit
de  important  (unica  copie  a  ceva  secret): daca discul e defect, se poate
defecta din nou. De ce? Citeste paragrafele urmatoare.

        Dischetele se pot defecta pentru motive diverse.
        a.  Utilizarea defectuoasa. Daca o scapi pe jos, joci fotbal cu ea sau
        o  tii  in  buzunar  in excursia la Polul Nord, e normal sa se strice.
        Asta nu trebuie sa te ingrijoreze.

        b.  Unele  dischete  sint  defecte  din fabrica. Stratul magnetic e de
        calitate  proasta.  In  acest  caz, discul se strica singur, fara sa-i
        faci  nimic.  Discul  asta  nu  mai  trebuie folosit. La un moment dat
        ajungi  sa  formatezi  un  carton.  Poti sa recunosti un asemenea disc
        daca-l folosesti numai in *o*unitate, care stii ca e buna, dar numarul
        sectoarelor defecte tot creste.

        c. Unitati de disc defecte. Daca folosesti un disc pentru a transpotra
        date  intre  doua  sau  mai  multe calculatoare, discul respectiv o sa
        inceapa  sa  se deterioreze. De obicei, una din unitatile de disc este
        defecta,  si  strica  toate  discurile  pe care le introduci acolo. In
        acest  caz,  discul va functiona daca-l reformatezi, dar trebuie sa ai
        grija sa nu-l mai folosesti pe calculatorul respectiv.

        d. Discuri sau unitati murdare. E ceva foarte rau. Daca introduci, din
        gresala, un disc murdar in unitatea floppy, o parte din murdarie se ia
        pe  capul  de  citire/scriere.  De acolo, va murdari alte discuri (cel
        putin  20-30).  Acestea la rindul lor vor murdari alte unitati, si tot
        asa  (bine,  nu  la  infinit, cantitatea de murdarie fiind limitata si
        diminuindu-se  cu  timpul).  Murdaria poate fi cam orice: noroi, praf,
        mincare,  amprente, sau un strat magnetic de la o discheta descrisa la
        punctul  b.  In  acest  caz,  trebuie sa cureti capetele, si sa nu mai
        folosesti  discheta  murdara. De obicei, dischetele murdarite ulterior
        nu  contin  prea  mult noroi, asa ca sint inofensive. Vor avea defecte
        fizice  acolo  unde  este murdaria, si uneori se vor curata singure in
        timp.  Asa  ca  nu  e  imposibil  sa  vezi  o discheta  cum isi pierde
        BADurile. E un caz fericit. Dar rar :(

        Deci,  in concluzie, daca unitatea ta de disc tot distruge dischetele,
trebuie sa o cureti cu o discheta speciala (de curatat). Atentie! Unele dintre
ele  sint  abrazive,  si pot fi folosite doar de vreo 15 ori. Dupa aia, strica
capetele.   Daca  dupa  curatare situatie nu se schimba, scapa de unitatea aia
sau  du-o la un tehnician. E o problema hardware grava, deci daca formatezi un
disc, unitatea il strica la loc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.      Cerinte sistem.

        MS-DOS  (nu stiu versiunea minima). Daca ai DOS 5.0 sau mai bun, e ok.
Nu  am  testat  programul sub DOS 3 sau 4, dar stiu sigur ca in versiunea 2 nu
merge.
        Niste RAM. Nu stiu exact cit, probabile vreo 55-100K.
        Cel putin o unitate floppy (ghici de ce?).
        O placa grafica ce suporta modul text 80x25x16 color.
        Un  monitor  color.  Daca  e  monocrom,  s-ar  putea sa ai probleme cu
meniul, care este pe fond albastru cu optiunea selectata pe fond negru (destul
de greu de deosebit). E un paragraf special pentru chestia asta.
        Mouse (nu obligatoriu, doar suportat).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.      Schimbari de la versiunea precedenta.

        Unii  dintre  voi  ati  folosit  FR  0.01.  Aceasta  a fost o versiune
anterioara,  doar  functionala,  cu  o  gramada de buguri documentate, si unul
nedocumentat.  Afisarea folosea ANSI.SYS, neplacut pentru unii utilizatori, si
toti  parametrii  erau  transmisi  prin  linia  de comanda, la fel de neplacut
pentru alti utilizatori.

        Aceasta  versiune,  numita 1.00 pentru ca nu mai e o versiune test, nu
mai necesita ANASI.SYS.

        Deci: daca inca mai ai o copie 0.01, sterge-o. Scapa de ea. Are un bug
(in realitate o gresala de scriere, am scris 13 in loc de 0, dar am descoperit
prea  tirziu).  In  anumite cazuri, capetele nu se recalibreaza, iar discul nu
mai  poate fi folosit de pe la 55% incolo. E formatat, dar alaturi (pistele nu
sint chiar la locul lor).

        Un  alt  bug  e  in  crearea  FATului,  dar  pe asta nu ai cum sa nu-l
remarci. Discheta respectiva nu poate fi folosita dupa formatare.

        O  alta  schimbare  este suportul pentru discuri de 360K, 720K si 1.2M
adaugat acum.
        360K si 1.2M sint dischete de 5,25 inch, iar 720K/1.44M de 3,5 inch.
        Unele  BIOSuri  suporta formatul 720K in unitati de 5,25 inch, pe cind
altele  nu.  Asa  ca  poti sa selectezi optiunea respectiva, dar poti sa obtii
`Parameters not supported by BIOS', in cazul in care bIOSul tau nu suporta asa
ceva. Exista TSRuri care adauga facilitatea asta in BIOS. Am vazut odata unul,
dar pe vremea aia nu ma interesa amanuntul.

        De  asemenea, FR 1.00 nu incearca sa faca numarul copiilor FAT diferit
de  2. Oricum nu era folositor, ca DOS foloseste oricum 2 copii, asa ca a doua
copie  suprascria  directorul  radacina,  acesta  suprascria zona de date, iar
sectoarele   defecte  erau  marcate  aiurea.  Sau  a  treia  copie  suprascria
directorul radacina, si tot asa.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.      Interfata cu utilizatorul.

        Tasteaza  `fr',  apoi  Enter.  O  sa  vezi un ecran albastru, cu niste
optiuni  si  alte  chestii  pe-acolo.  O  sa incerc sa explic aici despre ce e
vorba.  Desi  pare  destul de usor, recomand citirea atenta a acestei sectiuni
pentru  a  intelege  optiunile  ascunse  sau  cele implicite, precum si pe cea
inaccesibila.

        Nu  exista  help on-line, asa ca nu apasa F1, ca oricum nu se intimpla
nimic.

        Taste folosite:
        ESC  opreste formatarea, sau selecteaza Quit. Daca vrei sa iesi, apasa
ESC,  apoi  Enter.  Asta  poate  fi folositor. Daca calculatorul nu are nici o
unitate floppy, ecranul s-ar putea sa ramina negru. Nu stiu de ce, dar nici nu
ma intereseaza. Daca nu exista floppy, oricum programul nu e de nici un folos.
E  de  ajuns  sa  apesi ESC Enter, si ai iesit. Chestia asta nu se intimpla pe
orice calculator, asa ca ramine un mare semn de intrebare pentru mine.

        Ecranul arata cam asa:

             Ceamacsoft's Format & Repair Damaged Diskettes v1.00
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Drives:   *01|Disks:    *02|Action: None                                 *03|
|A:1.44M drive|A:1.44M disk |                                                |
|B:(none)     |B:(none)     |  ________________________________________*04 0%|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Ignore boot error: TRUE *05       *18 Disk type |Messages:               *24|
|Safer format     : TRUE *06    *19 Begin format |                           |
|Quick format     : TRUE *07           *20 About |                           |
|Retry number     :   3  *08   *21 Save settings |                           |
|Max files in root: 224  *09       *22 DOS Shell |                           |
|Current drive    : A:   *10            *23 Quit |                           |
|Serial number    : ????:????   *11              |                           |
|Volume label     : Dont Format *12              |                           |
|                                                |                           |
|Elapsed time     : 00:00:00 *13                 |                           |
|Estimated time   : ??:??:?? *14                 |                           |
|                                                |                           |
|Total space      : ?,???,??? bytes *15          |                           |
|Available space  : ?,???,??? bytes *16          |FRTSR not installed        |
|Bad space        : ?,???,??? bytes *17          |                           |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                                                         *25|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

(Am mincat doua coloane; sint 80 pe ecran, dar aici doar 78).

        Cifrele  cu  *  (*nn)  nu  sint  acolo, le-am adaugat pentru a descrie
interfata mai usor. Mi-e mai usor sa spun *01 decit coltul din stinga-sus :-)

        Descriere:
*01  Aici  se  arata  unitatile  detectate  de  FR.  Cimpul acesta nu poate fi
    modificat. Daca autodetectia nu functioneaza bine, sorry. Scrie-mi si o sa
    gasesc o solutie.
*02 Aici scrie tipul discului, asa cum l-ai specificat (DD sau HD). Acest cimp
    este modificat prin optiunea Disk type (*18).
*03 Action e un text care arata ce face FR.
*04 Asta e o bara cu procente, care creste in timpul formatarii.
*05  Ignore  boot error. Cind e pozitionata pe FALSE, se va genera o eroare la
    incercarea  formatarii  unui  disc  cu  bootul  defect.  TRUE  va  permite
    formatarea,   dar   discul   va  functiona  numai  din  DOS,  cu  ajutorul
    utilitarului frtsr. Disctinctia e necesara deoarece un astfel de disc nu e
    recunoscut  de  Windows  95.  Citeste paragraful referitor la frtsr pentru
    detalii.
*06  Safer  format.  Asta  ia  ceva  mai  mult,  deoarece  toate  pistele sint
    verificate de doua ori.
*07 Quick format. Asta inca mai sterga datele, dar suprafata e doar verificata
    la erori, nu reinitializata.
    Daca  Safer si Quick format sint active in acelasi timp, dupa formatare se
    executa o verificare suplimentara. E folositor daca unele sectoare defecte
    nu sint detectate la formatare.
*08  Retry  number.  Acesta e un parametru intern, si specifica de cite ori se
    repeta  o operatiune esuata. Minimul recomandat este 3. O valoare mai mare
    de 5 e consumatoare de timp, si nefolositoare. Asa ca lasa-l la 3.
*09  Max file in root. Arata cite fisiere pot fi create in directrul radacina.
    Pe  unele  dischete, unde o parte din directorul radacina e defecta, acest
    numar  poate  fi  foarte  mic.  Minimul  este  16,  dar una din ele e deja
    folosita de eticheta de volum (obligatorie in aceasta varsiune FR).
    Acest  cimp  nu poate fi modificat. El este calculat in timpul formatarii,
    si afisat.
*10 Current drive specifica daca vreii sa formatezi discul din unitatea A: sau
    B:. Daca sistemul tau nu are o unitate B:, tot poti sa o selectezi, dar la
    formatare obtii o eroare.
*11 Serial number este citit de pe discheta la formatare si afisat aici. El nu
    poate  fi modificat de utilizator. Daca discul are un serial number, el va
    fi  pastrat  dupa  formatare. Daca nu, sau nu poate fi citit, se va genera
    unul  aleator  (folosind un algoritm diferit de cel al comenzii format din
    DOS).
    Programul  are  o  optiune  care specifica dacautilizatorul vrea sau nu sa
    pastreze  vechiul  serial  number,  dar  am uitat sa fac o intrare in menu
    pentru ea, asa ca este intotdeauna TRUE.
    In  FR  0.01,  numarul  era  0B40:0000  (sau ceva de genul asta, oricum, o
    constanta). Asta nu avea un scop, a iesit asa din intimplare - era doar un
    bug. Dischetele formatate cu FR 0.01 vor avea in continuare aceasta serie,
    deoarece  este  pastrata  la  formatare. Daca vrei sa o schimbi, formatezi
    discul  si  intrerupi  formatarea dupa track 0. Apoi formatezi din nou, si
    cum  vechea  serie tocmai a fost suprascrisa, va fi generata una noua. E o
    metoda stupida, stiu :-)
*12  Volume  label.  Aici  poti  specifica  o  eticheta  de  volum.  Daca nu o
    specifici,  cea  implicita  este  `Dont  format'.  Daca  o specifici, vafi
    folosita  pe  toate discurile, pina introduci alta. Nu-mi place asta, cred
    ca o sa-i modific comportamentul intr-o buna zi.
    Daca  introduci  o eticheta goala (adica apesi direct Enter, fara sa scrii
    nimic),  eticheta  veche va fi pastrata daca va fi gasita. Ca si la serial
    number,  este  o  optiune careia am uitat sa-i fac intrare in menu, dar am
    adaugat-o  aici,  spre  deosebire de cea de la serial number, care este de
    neatins.
    Pentru discurile fara eticheta de volum, se va folosi `NO NAME   '.
    Intrarea  speciala  din root va fi creata, asa ca command.com va afisa `NO
    NAME'  in  loc de `no volume label'. Daca nu-ti place, poti folosi comanda
    DOS label.
*13 Elapsed time arata timpul scurs de la inceputul operatie de formatare.
    Daca  formatarea are loc in doua etape (format apoi verify), fiecare va fi
    contorizata separat.
    Sub Windows 95, timpul e calculat gresit, deoarece Windows nu da controlul
    rutinei de timer de cite ori ar trebui, motiv pentru care ceasul este mult
    mai lent.
*14  Estimated  time este timpul estimat pina la terminarea actiunii. E destul
    de aproximativ.
*15 Total space arata spatiul total pentru date. Nu e folositor, dar e afisat.
*16 Available space este spatiul care poate fi folosit pentru date.
*17 Bad space este spatiul pierdut prin sectoare defecte in zona de date.
*18 Disk type. Aici apesi Enter pentru a schimba tipul discului.
    Optiuni posibile:
    Drive             Disk types
    -----             ----------
    360 K             360 K
    720 K             720 K
    1.2 M             360 K, 720 K (*), 1.2 M
    1.44 M            720 K, 1.44 M
    2.88 M (**)       720 K, 1.44 M

    (*) Majoritatea BIOSurilor nu accepta asta.
    (**)  Nu  am testat niciodata programul pe o unitate de 2.88 M, si nici nu
    am  vazut  vreuna.  Dar nu cred ca o sa mearga. Daca cineva poate confirma
    sau infirma, e rugat sa-mi trmita un e-mail.

    Nota:  In  unitati HD 3.5 inch, discurile DD nu pot fi formatate la 1.44M,
    nici  cele  HD  la  720K. Trebuie specificat corect tipul discului, altfel
    toate  sectoarele  vor  fi  defecte  din cauza ratei de transfer selectate
    automat  de BIOS, fara a tine cont de selectia ta. Nu am de gind sa moific
    aceasta.

*19  Begin  format. Dupa ce ai terminat cu optiunile, apasa Enter aici si o sa
    vezi ce urmeaza.
*20 About e un textulet.
*21 Save settings salveaza optiunile, cum ar fi discul curent, tipul discului,
    etc. NU va salva eticheta de volum.
*22  DOS  Shell te lasa sa iesi temporar in DOS, de exemplu ca sa mai arunci o
    privire  pe  disc  inainte  de  formatare,  intrucit  FR nu are o asemenea
    optiune.
*23 Quit te lasa sa iesi din program.
*24 Messages box. Aici sint afisate mesajele de eroare, si altele.
*25  Aici  sint  afisate  eroriel  fatale  (cele care opresc formatarea in mod
    brutal), cum ar fi `No disk in drive' sau `User break'.

        Si  acum,  ca  am  terminat  cu  descrierea, o sa vorbesc putin despre
tastele folosite.

        Singurele  taste  folosite  sint:  sageata  in  sus  si sageata in jos
(pentru  deplasarea  in  menu),  Enter  pentru a selecta, si ESC pentru a opri
formatarea  sau  pentru  a  iesi  din  program.  Bineinteles,  se  folosesc si
celelalte taste pentru a introduce eticheta de volum sau Retry number.

        Mouse-ul  poate  fi  folosit  ca  si tastatura, click in loc de Enter.
Clickul este considerat valid daca butonul a fost eliberat, iar mouseul nu s-a
miscat  in timpul clickului (sau a ajuns de unde plecase). In fereastra about,
clickul trebuie facut pe O.K.

        Daca apare o eroare fatala, dispare dupa o tasta oarecare sau un click
cu mouseul.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.      Folosirea unui monitor monocrom.

        Cind nu stii unde esti, apasa ESC. Asta te pozitioneaza pe Quit.

        Scriu  aici  optiunile in ordine, presupunind ca apesi doar sageata in
jos. Optiunile sint numerotate, asa ca trebuie doar sa numeri :-)
        In  dreapta,  numerele  sint inversate, pentru cazul in care folosesti
sageata in sus.
                                       jos              sus
        Ignore boot error               1               11
        Safer format                    2               10
        Quick format                    3                9
        Retry number                    4                8
        Current drive                   5                7
        Volume label                    6                6
        Disk Type                       7                5
        Begin format                    8                4
        About                           9                3
        Save settings                  10                2
        DOS Shell                      11                1
        Quit                           12               12

        Poti de asemenea sa folosesti mouse-ul.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.      Probleme cunoscute si greseli.

  1.Uneori,  cind  iesi  in  DOS  Shell,  la  intoarcere,  numarul  retry este
    pozitionat la 1. Trebuie sa il setezi la loc (3).
  2.Daca  unul din cele doua ultime sectoare (sau amindoua) este defect, el va
    fi  afisat  in  fereastra Messages, dar nu va fi marcat in FAT. Poate o sa
    repar  chestia  asta  inainte  sa incarc programul, dar nu cred. Sint prea
    lenes  pentru  asta.  Pentru  a  ocoli  aceasta  problema, ar trebui sa nu
    folosesti ultimul K de pe disc. Lasa putin spatiu liber.
  3.Mouse-ul  e  putin cam lent. Nu e o defectiune, asa am scris eu programul.
    Asta nu se va schimba in viitor.
  4.Folosind  suportul  international  de  la  MS-DOS,  numerele  sint afisate
    folosind  `,'  sau  `.'  ca  separator zecimal, dar asta nu se intimpla si
    pentru  tipul  discului/unitatii.  Adica  1.44  M nu va fi scris 1,44 M in
    Europa.
  5.Utilitare  de  reparat  discuri  (gen scandisk) nu se inteleg prea bine cu
    toate discurile formatate cu FR. Ar trebui sa fac unul de-asta.
  6.Unele  programe  care folosesc accesul direct la disc (Direct disk access)
    calculeaza  gresit  structura logica a discului. DOS nu sufera de problema
    asta.
    Un  exemplu  este  Dos Navigator, unde trebuie dezactivata aceasta optiune
    pentru a avea acces normal la disc.
    Nu e vina mea, deci nu pot face nici o imbunatatire.
  7.La  folosirea  FR  intr-o  fereastra  DOS  sub  Windows  95, exista citeva
    restrictii.
    BIOSul executa transferul Floppy folosind DMA 2. Controllerul DMA nu poate
    trece  granite de 64K. Exista un mesaj de eroare pentru acest caz. Am fost
    surprins  sa constat ca eroarea respectiva apare in Windows 95 daca se mai
    foloseste  un alt canal DMA in acelasi timp cu 2. De exemplu, la generarea
    unui sunet prin sound card in timp ce FR formateaza un disc, formatarea se
    opreste  imediat  cu  DMA  overflown.  Cred  ca  asta poate sa apara si in
    alte cazuri, cum ar fi retele.
    Sper sa rezolv problema in versiunea pentru Windows 95, dar nu sint sigur.
  8.Mesajul  de  eroare  despre  care  am vorbit poate sa apara si in conditii
    normale,  sub  DOS,  pentru  ca  nu am luat nici o masura sa in evit. Daca
    apare, iesi din program, si incarca sau descarca nista TSRuri sau drivere,
    apoi  incearca  din  nou.  Asta  va  fi cu siguranta reparata in versiunea
    viitoare, dar nu acum.
  9.Ar  trebui sa nu incerca sa accesezi unitatea de disc in timpul formatarii
    (cu My computer sau Explorer sau altceva), din motive evidente.
 10.Daca  folosesti un utilitar de reparat discul, nu il lasa sa repare nimic,
    doar  sa  marcheze  sectoarele  defecte. Daca incearca sa repare FATul sau
    ceva lost clustere sau altceva, corupe datele.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.      FRTSR.

        Acesta  este  folosit  pentru  a  accesa  dischete cu sectorul de boot
defect.  Ascestea  nu  pot  fi citite in mod normal. FR va muta bootul intr-un
sector  bun,  dar  cineva  trebuie  sa-i  spuna DOSului unde sa caute. Aceasta
misiune ii revine FRTSR.cou-ului. Incarca-l, apoi poti folosi discul.

        Asta  nu  merge  in  Windows 95, ci doar in DOS chior, inclusiv Ms-Dos
command prompt only sau Restart computer in Ms-Dos mode.

        To  unload frtsr from memory when no longer needed, the unload utility
is provided. Read UNLOAD.TXT for more info.

        Pentru  a descarca frtsr din memorie cind nu mai ai nevoie de el, poti
folosi utilitarul unload. Citeste UNLOAD.TXT pentru mai multe informatii.

        Pentru  ca am scris frtsr in assembler, nu am vrut sa-mi complic viata
cu  parametrii in linia de comanda. Acesta este motivul pentru care parametrii
pentru frtsr sint transmisi frului. Si tot din cauza asta FR accepta parametri
:-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.      Parametri in linia de comanda.

        Dupa cum am spus, parametrii se refera la frtsr.

        /status afiseaza informatii despre frtsr.
        /on activeaza frtsr (implicit la incarcare).
        /off  dezactiveaza  frtsr  fara  a-l  descarca  din  memorie. Poate fi
reactivat cu /on.
        /retry:x schimba numarul de reincercari al frtsr. Implicit 3.
        /u  descarca  frtsr  din  memorie,  folosind unload. Deci rateaza daca
unload nu este in directorul curent sau in path.

        Daca  ai  suport  pentru  switchar, inlocuieste `/' cu ce folosesti tu
acolo.  In  acest  caz,  /u  nu  mai  merge(pentru  ca unload nu va recunoaste
parametrii),  deci  va  trebui descarcat manual, folosind unload ca program de
sine statator.

Notes:
  1.It's  not  difficult  to  make  /u  work  if  you change the switchar, but
    I didn't.
  2.I think frtsr's retry has something to do with the bug 1 at paragraph 7.

Note:
  1.Nu  mi-ar  fi  fost greu sa fac /u sa mearga daca schimbi switchar, dar nu
    l-am facut.
  2.Cred ca retry-ul de la frtsr are ceva in comun cu bug 1 paragraf 7.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10  si  11  nu  le-am  mai  tradus.  Trebuie totusi citite din partea in limba
engleza. E chiar obligatoriu.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.     Author and contact address.

        Viorel MUnteanu
        e-mail vmuntean@aeronet.propulsion.pub.ro

        Daca nu merge, incearca
        vmuntean.AERONAVE@aeronet.propulsion.pub.ro
        (e aceeasi adresa, de fapt).

        Daca  nici asta nu merge, s-ar putea sa fiu in vacanta. Asa ca raspund
cind ma intorc.
        