BFIX Version 0.6 - A Toolkit for the Repair of Novell Btrieve (TM) Files

16-Nov-89

Copyright (C) Larry Vaden Company 1989. All rights reserved.


INTRODUCTION

Necessity is often the mother of invention; the genesis of these
programs was the crash of a USDA FCIC Master Marketer's Novell ELS II
system using Btrieve 4.11b and TAS Professional 3.0.

The crash resulted in eight (8) major application files being split
into seven hundred ninety-three (793) fragments. These pieces were
recovered using Novell's VREPAIR (actually VREP286) as VF000000.F00
through VF000792.F00. Had the crash occurred under DOS, the files
fragments would have been recovered using CHKDSK, and the resultant
database pieces would have been named FILE0000.CHK through FILE0793.CHK.

One could consider the VF*.F00 files as pieces of a puzzle. The
problem (or opportunity, per Kemmons Wilson, founder and former CEO
of Holiday Inns, once said) was to properly put these pieces back
together in order to allow BCOPY2 or BUTIL -RECOVER to process the files.

But first, you must find the pieces, concatenate them into a single
file, and then, if any piece is missing, sequentially renumber the
Btrieve pages in the concatenated (resultant) file.

The BFIX Toolkit for Repair of Novell Btrieve (TM) Files, therefore,
currently consists of two utilities:

1. BFIX01 - A program which searches through specified files
looking for a specified BTRIEVE page number. This program
is a read only program.

For instructions on how to use BFIX01, enter BFIX01 from
the command line. BFIX01, when executed without parameters,
will issue usage examples.

2. BFIX02 - A program which will sequentially renumber the
BTRIEVE page numbers in a file. This program, if used as
directed, writes a new file.

To execute this program, enter BFIX02 from the command line
and answer prompts.


LIMITATIONS AND DEFICIENCIES

Version 0.6 supports only Btrieve files with a page size of 512 bytes.
It is furthermore limited to files of less than 32,768 pages. These
limitations are primarily a result of a lack of information available
to the author at the time the programs were written and the tools
available to write them in (Turbo Pascal 3.0).

Furthermore, you may wish to contact the author prior to using these
programs.


SHAREWARE

BFIX is a ShareWare product.

You should feel free to use it in any situation similar to that
discussed above.

If you choose to use BFIX and find it was useful, please send $40 to:

Larry Vaden Co.
S.H. 121 and Texas Street
P. O. Box 128
Trenton, TX 75490-0128

214-989-2666 VOICE
214-989-2411 On-request Customer Support BBS

Once you have sent your ShareWare fee to Larry Vaden Co.,

1) You will be registered as a licensee of BFIX.
2) You may submit enhancement requests and problem reports.
3) You will be notified of product enhancements and upgrades.

BFIX is a ShareWare product, and may be distributed from person to
person, and on BBSs, subject to the following restrictions:

1) The software must be supplied in its original and unmodified form,
including this documentation file.
2) No fee may be charged.

Feel free to give a copy of BFIX to friends and associates in case they
have need for the product. Please inform them that, if they choose to use
BFIX and find it useful, they must send a $40 fee to Larry Vaden Co.

CUSTOM VERSIONS OF THE BFIX - FILE REPAIR PACKAGE

Please read the section on limitations and deficiencies. If you require
any modifications or changes to the software, we are would be pleased
to discuss your requirements with you. Please call or write us describing
the changes you are interested in.

Thank you for supporting ShareWare and BFIX.

Sincerely,




Larry Vaden