----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HD-Copy ~~~~~~~~~ F A Q --- Frequently Asked Questions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright (c) 1992-95 by Oliver Fromme -- All Rights Reserved Oliver Fromme, Klingestr. 2, 38640 Goslar, Germany Internet email: fromme@rz.tu-clausthal.de WWW: http://www.rz.tu-clausthal.de/~inof/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- > I've already sent a postcard to you for an older version. Do I have to send another one for the update...? Of course not. Except if you want to tell me something important. > I'm short of money... is a email message sufficient instead of a postcard for HD-Copy? You must be joking. A postcard isn't that expensive. Don't be lazy, buy a nice postcard and a stamp, write my address and something like "I love HD-Copy" onto it! Well, you may send me email, but I really prefer postcards. I just read email and then delete the message, but of course I keep the postcards. > I'm interested in the source code of HD-Copy. Sorry, but I'm not distributing the source code. I just don't want hacked versions of HD-Copy floating around. > How about reading from drive A and writing to drive B simultaneously, without buffering? This is only possible if you've got two separate disk controllers. Since very few people have these (I don't know anybody), HD-Copy doesn't support this special mode of copying. There are copy programs which claim to read and write simultaneously (using only one controller), but this is definitely NOT POSSIBLE. To mention some reasons, there's only one DMA channel per controller, and the floppy disk cable/connector has only one wire for both reading and writing. Those copy programs read and write each track one after another (read track 0, write track 0, read track 1, write track 1, read track 2, etc.) while keeping the other drive's motor and LED on, so it seems to be active, but actually it isn't. There's no advantage in time doing this. It's just a deception. > How about SmartDrive? Does it work or does it not? How about HyperCache, Norton Cache, Combi-Disk, ... (insert your favourite cache program)? That can't be said for sure in every case. I've tried HD-Copy with SmartDrive 4.0 (the version shipped with Windows 3.1) for some time without any problems. Also, COmbi-Disk v1.13 doesn't cause any problems, because it doesn't support floppy disk caching yet. Some of my friends use HyperDisk under DOS 5.0 without trouble. I think most cache programs will work, but I can't guarantee anything. Another user of HD-Copy tried it with DOS 6.0 and SmartDrive, and it did FOT work. So be careful, do some test copies if you're not sure about your cache program. > I've written a disk using the password option. Well, I forgot the password... Is there anything one could do? Well, I'm the author of HD-Copy, so I know how the password protection is working, and of course I'm able to override the protection and get your data back. BUT I WON'T DO THAT. Why? Because a protection that is circumvented is no protection anymore. There's no way to tell for sure that the data an that disk are yours, so maybe I would help you cracking somebody else's disk! Sorry if you really forgot your password. Better keep it in mind next time! > It would be nice to be able to use the mouse for those yes/no questions, too. No. Those questions appear at somewhat "critical" places, and if you miss the desired field by mistake (this can easily happen if you're using the mouse). It's safer to use the keybord. Besides you can avoid yes/no questions in general by switching the "expert mode" on. > I tried to run HD-Copy under Windows... HD-Copy may not run reliably under Windows or environments with multitasking capabilities. Why? HD-Copy uses its own memory management, DMA and interrupt management. Most multitasking systems (and Windows, too) try the same, which might result in conflicts (or even a crash). No, I'm not going to write a Windows version of HD-Copy, because Windows' resource management is simply too slow. For example it's not possible to program a direct DMA access under Windows. Last minute note: some people reported that they got HD-Copy to work under OS/2. Try it on your own risk. Perhaps I will write an OS/2 version, which might be slower than the DOS version, but that doesn't matter much in a real multitasking environment. > The opening sound is really annoying! Turn off "Sound fx" in the options menu, then "Save configuration" in the special menu. That's it. > How reliable are those special formats (more than 1.2 Mb on 5 1/4 and more than 1.44 Mb on 3 1/2 drives)? They're as reliable as any standard format. There's one restriction: some very old disk drives can only cope with 80 tracks maximum. You have to format only 80 tracks on those drives (resulting in 1.68 Mb instead of 1.722 Mb using 82 tracks). There are rumours that the magnetic layer of some "no name" disks only reaches track 80, but I tried lots of different disks, and I've never had any problems with them. However, I recommend using disks of well known manufacturers (3M, BASF, Verbatim, Scotch, Fuji etc.). About compatibility: I've never had a program which did not accept a disk with a special format. Even compress tools, "disk doctors", and disk editors work (for example, Norton's tools, or Central Point software / PC Tools). Some modern BIOSs don't even need the FDREAD program to be able to use those disks. However, do NOT use utilities which format disks with more than 10.5 Kb per track (i.e. more than 1.76 Mb capacity), because they are very unreliable. Especially don't do that for storing important data, like backups, archives, savety copies etc. > I get lots of read and write errors, at random places! You should try cleaning your disk drive. There are wet cleaning systems available in most computer stores, they work perfectly with HD-Copy's "Clean disk" function. Refer to the manual for more information. Another thing I must mention: Don't misuse DD disks! There are people drilling HD holes into DD disks, using them for 1.44 Mb. DON'T DO THAT! It may work for a while, but since DD disks have another magnetic coercitivity than HD disks, the tracks will start melting into one another. This may happen after a week or after a year -- but it WILL happen! > I've got HD-Copy X.Yz. Is there a newer version? If yes, how can I get it? Via the Internet or on a disk (by mail). Refer to the manual for more information. > I've got some interesting software... games and such... you know. Do you want to swap software? NO. > HD-Copy is great! Why isn't it shareware? Most people wouldn't pay anything anyway, so I made it "cardware". I you'd be willing to pay a shareware fee, then how about sending a postcard instead? I won't keep anybody from sending money or anything else, though... -----------------------------------------------------------------------------