R. Loew Electronics Disk Formatting Utility Version 1.0 05/20/2010 Copyright (C) 2010 by Rudolph R. Loew The R. Loew Electronics Disk Formatting Utility provides the ability to precisely format a Hard Drive Partition. REQUIREMENTS DOS, Windows 98, 98SE or ME. BIOS Support for the size of Hard Drive required to run in normal mode. DEMO VERSION The Demo Version supports all of the Options but will not Wtite to the Disk. This allows you to try out the Program but you will not be able to change any Data on the Hard Drive. INSTALLATION/UNINSTALLATION None required. Run Executable from DOS or a DOS Box to use. COMMAND SYNTAX RFORMAT [-BootOnly] [-DOS6] [-Ext EXT] [-LogOnly] DrvLtr|Num 12|16|32|Erase [Secs #] [ClusSize #] [Offset #] [FATSize #] [RootClus #] [DirEnts #] [Align #] [Media #] [Geometry H# S# Slen#] [Base #] [NumFats #] The -BootOnly Option tells RFORMAT to Write Only the Boot Sector(s). This will leave the FAT Table and Directories intact. No Files will be erased. The -DOS6 Option sets the default start field of Logical Partitions for DOS 6. Do not use on Primary Partitions. The -Ext Option changes the expected extension of the Boot File (IO.SYS). This option is useful in Multi-Boot environments where two or more Operating Systems share the same C: Drice. EXT is the desired 3 letter extension to be used. For example: -Ext EBD will Boot IO.EBD instead of IO.SYS. The DrvLtr is the letter assigned to the Partition from A: to Z:. Alternatively the INT 13 Drive Number (Num) can be specified. This is only for Drives that do not have Partitions such as Floppies, SuperDrives and some USB Drives. Using the Drive Number on a Hard Drive or Partitioned USB Drive will overwrite the MNR. A Drive Letter or Number argument is required. The Partition type can be specified as 12 for FAT12, 16 for FAT16, or 32 for FAT32; using E will erase the Boot Sectors. This argument is required. The remaining options override the settings that RFORMAT computes for the Partition. Changing them may degrade operation or possibly corrupt other Partitions. The Secs Option sets the total number of Sectors in the Partition. RFORMAT uses the reported size as a default. If set larger than the Partition size, the following Partition(s) may get overwritten. The ClusSize Option set the number of Sectors per Cluster. RFORMAT uses the algorithm specidied by Microsoft for FAT32 Partitions and uses the smallest Cluster Size allowable for a given Partition size for FAT12 and FAT16. Cluster SIze must be a Power of 2. Setting 128 Sectors per Cluster will cause problems with some Programs and cannot be used as a Boot Partition. Setting 256 Sectors per Cluster requires a Patched IO.SYS and VFAT.VXD to use the Partition. 512 Sector Clusters can only be used with a Patched Windows XP. Contact Author for details on these Patches. If you set the Cluster Size too small, RFDISK will increase it until a Valid Format can be creeted. The Offset Option changes the Offset of the first FAT Table. Increasing this setting can provide space for hidden data, extra boot sectors, or to skip over bad Sectors. The default is 1 for FAT12 and FAT16. The default is 32 for FAT32. The minimum for FAT32 is 9. If the Align Option is also used, the selected Offset will be at least the specified Offset. The FATSize Option sets the number of Sectors in each FAT. Changing this setting will reduce the available space for Files. Increasing this setting may be useful if the Partition will be Clonedm or expanede, to a larger Partition. The RootClus Option sets the initial Root Cluster for FAT32 Partitions. The default setting and minimum setting is 2. The DirEnts Option sets the number of Entries in the Root Directory for FAT12 and FAT16 Partitions. The size will be rounded up to completely fill all Sectors. The Align Option sets the absolute Sector location of the Start of the Data Area of the Partition to have a specific Alignment. RFORMAT will automarically take into account the Start Sector of the Partition. If you are using the Western Digital "Advanced Format" Drive or other Drive with 4KiB Physical Sectors, use Align 8. This is designed for Windows 9X, not XP. The Align value must be a Power of 2. The Media Option changes the Media Byte. Changing this will probably make the Partition unuseable. The Geometry Option sets the Number of Heads, Number of Sector per Track, and the Sector Size. THe default for Hard Drives is 255 Heads, 63 Sectors and 512 Byte Sectors. This Option should only be used if you need a different Geometry. Using Sectors larger than 512 Bytes requires Patches to several DOS and Windows Files to use. All three numbers must be specified if this Option is used. The Base Option set the Partition Start Field in the Boot record. Changing this setting can cause corruption to other Partitions if set incorrectly. The NumFats Option set the number of copies of the FAT Table. DOS and Windows will only recognize Partitions with 1 or 2 FAT Tables. The default is 2. Some RAMDISKs use 1. All arguments and Options, except the FAT Type, can be specified using the First letter of the Option Name. Numerical Arguments (specified as '#' in the syntax) can be entered in Decimal, Hexadecimal as 0x####, Octal as 0o####, or Binary as 0b####. In most cases the defaults should be used as in the following examples: RFORMAT A: 12 RFORMAT C: 16 RFORMAT D: 32 OPERATION When run, RFORMAT will compute the value of Parameters not specified in the Command Line. If the configuration is Invalid, the Program will Print an Error Message and Stop. Warnings will be Printed if non-fatal issues are found. The Program will read any existing Boot Record and compare the results. Depending upon the results, one of three displays will be shown. If no recognizeable Partition exists, it will display the new Partition Settings. If an existing Partition has the same format, it will display one column with the Partition Settings. If an existing Partition has a different format, it will display two columns showing the old and new Partition Settings. You will then be asked to confirm that you want to proceed. Anything other than 'Y' will be treated as No. If you instructed RFORMAT to Erase the Partition, it will Prompt you to Continue and will do so if you enter 'Y'. RELATED PRODUCTS RFDISK Advanced Configurable Partitioner. PARTS Partition Mapper. PATCH137 Large Disk Support Patch for Windows 98, 98SE and ME. BOOTMAN Large Disk Support BIOS Overlay for DOS, Windows 98, 98SE and ME. IO.256 Patch to support 256 Sector per Cluster FileSystems. VFAT Supports 8GB FAT16 Partitions. BIOS Large Disk Support Patches for Tyan S1590 Motherboard and others. EPIA Patched BIOSes to fix bug in VIA EPIA BIOSes from 01/02 thru 06/05. DOS Patches to DOS 6.2 to access Drives larger than 8GB. XPPATCH Updates to Windows XP Original Edition to provide 48-Bit LBA support during installation. PATCHENC Patch to Support Encrypted Hard Drives. CONTACT INFORMATION Rudolph R. Loew 506 Bieling Rd. Elmont, NY 11003 1-516-352-9078 RLoew@hotmail.com Website: http://rloew1.no-ip.com IP = conference.no-ip.org PORT = 8192 (Conference Console)