M U L T I - C O P Y.

by JITZ-SOFT

Copyright, 1986.


FUNCTION:

MULTI-COPY is used to facilitate the production of several copies of the
same source diskette. It reads the entire content of the source into
memory and then formats the target diskette and writes the stored data
on to it.

In other words, it does much the same job as DISKCOPY except that it
only has to read the source ONCE, irrespective of how many copies are
required. This save both time and wear-and-tear on the drives of the
computer.

The write process may be repeated as often as required and the program
keeps , and displays, a tally of the number of copies made from each
master.

Users have the option to verify the copy. This extends the time of the
operation a little and is not normally needed unless the disks or drives
are suspect or the accuracy of the copy is very important.

When sufficient copies have been made, the user has the option of reading
another source diskette and repeating the write process.

MULTI-COPY assumes that the source is a standard DOS format. It checks
the format of the source disk (and displays this data) and formats
the target disk accordingly. Because of this assumption, MULTI-COPY is
unlikely to be of any assistance in copying "copy-protected" software.



USAGE:

Firstly, ensure that your source diskette is write-protected. This
is just good practice and protection from finger trouble.

To use MULTI-COPY it is only necessary to enter at the DOS prompt:

MULTCOPY [/V][/source drive] .

The /V Switch in the command line is optional. If present, MULTI-COPY
performs a verification after the disk has been written. If any errors
are detected they are reported in a table on the right of the screen by
three numbers separated by colons, e.g. 2: 0: 7. The numbers are:-
Track No. : Side No. : Sector No.

Notice that the status of the Verification selection is shown in the
top right hand corner of the screen. To change the selection it is
necessary to exit and re-invoke MULTI-COPY.

The source drive may be optionally entered as a parameter in the command
line; either /A or /B. If this is entered, MULTI-COPY adopts this for
all copying and it is necessary to exit to change the selection of the
source drive. If no drive parameter is entered, then user is requested
to supply this information by the program.

Parameters may be in either upper or lower case and in any order. They
may be separated by spaces but this is not essential. MULTI-COPY is
very understanding.

Respond to the simple instructions as they appear on the screen. That
is all! The User is kept informed of what is going on at all times.

At any time, the running of MULTI-COPY may be aborted by pressing the
Control and C keys at the same time. This will not harm the source
diskette but if the process is aborted during the formatting or writing
process, the target disk may contain garbage and should be re-formatted
and re-written.



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

MULTI-COPY requires the following environment to operate:

IBM PC/XT or close equivalent.

PC-DOS or MS-DOS 2.1 or higher.

2 Floppy Drives.

HEAPS of RAM. Unlikely to run with less than 512k installed
but this depends on what else you have loaded. MULTI-COPY
checks available RAM when it is run and will abort if
insufficient is available.



WARNING!!!!

MULTI-COPY takes some liberties with the Operating System of the
computer in that it by-passes DOS and calls the BIOS directly. It
also allocates memory without reference to DOS. For these reasons,
it may give problems on some "compatibles".

It is strongly recommended that you check the validity of a couple
of your initial copies using the DISKCOMP utility furnished with DOS
to ensure that MULTI-COPY runs on your system.


ERROR MESSAGES:

1. 'Invalid request to Controller'
See Note below.
2. 'Sector ID invalid or not found'
See Note below.
3. 'Invalid drive in DOS Func. 36H call.'
See Note below.
4. 'Requested Sector not on Diskette'
See Note below.
5. 'Direct Memory Access failure'
See Note below.
6. 'Cannot DMA across 64K boundary'
See Note below.
7. 'Parity invalid in Read attempt'
See Note below.
8. 'Diskette controller failure'
See Note below.
9. 'Head move failed'
See Note below.
10. 'Probably open door or no disk'
Check it out and try again.
11. 'Insufficient RAM available'
Maybe you have too many co-resident programs
loaded. If not, fit more RAM into your system.
12. 'Source format is not DOS recogniseable'
The source disk has a non-standard DOS format.
MULTI-COPY recognises DS and SS disks, either 8 or 9
sectors per track.
13. 'Target Disk Write Protected?'
Remove Write protect tab from Target Diskette.
14. 'Too many paraameters in command line.'
Read the instructions and try again.

NOTE. Hopefully you will never get any of the messages
numbered 1 through 9. If you do, it probably
represents incompatibility or hardware failure.
It remains possible, of course, that it is a
software problem despite our best endeavours.



A SUGGESTION:

If you use MULTI-COPY and like it, send us any reasonable contribution
that you can afford. If you cannot, well, just send us a note of
appreciation. If you don't like it, pass it on to some unsuspecting
person whom you don't like very much. Actually, we would like you to
pass a copy along even if you do like it.

PLEASE dont sell it to anyone since that would be a breach of our
Copyright and, what is worse, would not be a nice thing to do.

Any bug report, suggestions or constructive criticisms will be much
appreciated.

David L. Jitts
JITZ-SOFT
24 Regent Street, East Brighton.
AUSTRALIA. 3187. 18th. June, 1986.




----------------end-of-author's-documentation---------------

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