Category : Tutorials + Patches
Archive   : DOSTIPS6.ZIP
Filename : DOS4MAT

Playing With Fire
(PC Magazine Vol 6 No 3 Feb 10, 1987 User-to-User)

If you've installed third-party hard disks driven by Western
Digital controller cards (ROM Version 6.0 or earlier) and either wish
to experiment or did not receive adequate instructions on how to low-
level-format your hard disk, it's easy to do so.
The following procedures will also let you change the drive
designation and the interleave if you so desire. (Make sure this is
what you want!)
First, load DEBUG and at the "-" prompt enter:

RAX

When DEBUG responds with a ":" enter the drive designation and the
interleave you want. For example, for a hard disk designated as drive
D: with an interleave factor of 4 you would enter:

0104

since drives are designated 0 through 7 with drive C: equal to 0.
(The relative drive number goes into register AH, and the interleave
factor into AL.) Then at the DEBUG prompt enter:

G=C800:5

Answer "Y" to the question on-screen if you wish to begin low-level
formatting. Finally, use FDISK and FORMAT to complete the setup of
yoru newly configured drive. Remember, this will erase all information
already on your hard disk.
Editor's Note: The only time to try this is when you're first
installing a hard disk or when you're absolutely currently backed up.
If you do experiment, make sure you note the default settings so you
can reset everything to normal when you're done. You obviously will
know what the original drive number is, and the low-level formatter
should print out the interleave factor in its prompt. And, this won't
work on all systems.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Format on the Double
(PC World March 1987 Star-Dot-Star)

To speed up the time-consuming process of formatting many floppy
disks, use the batch file FORMATAB.BAT so you can change the disks in
one drive while formatting a disk in the other.
FORMATAB.BAT relies on a data file called KEYS.DAT to hold the
keystrokes that will be requested by the FORMAT command. Use the BASIC
program KEYS.BAS to create the KEYS.DAT file. The first two characters
in KEYS.DAT supply the input to the FORMAT command's requests, while
the CHR$(3) terminates the FORMAT command if the drive is empty. To
use the batch file, you must have a hard disk or a RAMdisk holding
FORMATAB.BAT, DOS's FORMAT.COM file, and KEYS.DAT.
When you are typing FORMATAB.BAT, you can generate the Ctrl-G
character (the bell) by holding down the key and pressing 7 on
the numeric keypad. Ctrl-G rings the PC's bell when it's time to
change disks. To halt execution of FORMATAB.BAT, simply leave a disk
drive door open. When the "Not ready error reading drive n, Abort,
Retry, Ignore?" message appears, press Ctrl-Break. When you are asked
if you want to terminate the batch file, press Y, and the DOS prompt
will appear.

KEYS.BAS:

100 OPEN "C:KEYS.DAT" FOR OUTPUT AS #1
110 PRINT #1,CHR$(13);"n";CHR$(13);CHR$(3)
120 CLOSE #1
130 END


FORMATAB.BAT:

echo off
cls
echo ************************************************************
echo * Place the first diskette to be FORMATted into drive A: *
echo ************************************************************
pause
cls
:loop
echo
echo
echo
echo
echo *********************************************************
echo * Place the next diskette to be FORMATted in drive B: *
echo *********************************************************
echo ^G
format a: < c:keys.dat > nul
vol a: > nul
echo
echo
echo
echo
echo **********************************************************
echo * Place the next disketter to be FORMATted in drive A: *
echo **********************************************************
echo ^G
format b: < c:keys.dat > nul
vol b: > nul
goto loop