[comp.sys.amiga] even yet another WB1.4 request

JAGBDCD%PANAM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu (11/15/89)

   I was wondering if it would be possible to provide something to check the
integrity of a hard drive along the lines of the UNIX fsck program. DiskSalv
appears to do some of this check already, so maybe an extension of this
program could be written. I think having an fsck could allow people with large
hard drives to sleep easier at night.

Aaron Gonzalez
JAGBDCD@PANAM
jagbdcd%panam.bitnet@ricevm1.rice.edu
Mission, TX

new@udel.edu (Darren New) (11/16/89)

In article <4109@nigel.udel.EDU> JAGBDCD%PANAM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu writes:
>   I was wondering if it would be possible to provide something to check the
>integrity of a hard drive along the lines of the UNIX fsck program. DiskSalv
>appears to do some of this check already, so maybe an extension of this
>program could be written. I think having an fsck could allow people with large
>hard drives to sleep easier at night.

I'm about to send a program to Bob Page that will force AmigaDOS to 
validate your disk.  This would be similar to the automatic fsck that UNIX
does when booting with unsynced partitions.  The documentation is in there.
Look for it in binaries.   -- Darren

cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (11/17/89)

In article <4109@nigel.udel.EDU> JAGBDCD%PANAM.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu writes:
>   I was wondering if it would be possible to provide something to check the
> integrity of a hard drive along the lines of the UNIX fsck program.

Yes it is.

In article <4197@nigel.udel.EDU> new@udel.edu (Darren New) writes:
>I'm about to send a program to Bob Page that will force AmigaDOS to 
>validate your disk.

Validation is not sufficient, you need to fix the structure of the disk.
Several people have written these, DiskSalv and the MDFixer program for
MicroBotics disk come to mind. Dave has mentioned he is looking at an
"in place" fixer which is what fsck is. 

--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@Eng.Sun.COM
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
"If it didn't have bones in it, it wouldn't be crunchy now would it?!"

ENGLER%OSHKOSH.WISC.EDU@cunyvm.cuny.edu (11/20/89)

  It just so happens that there is a disk checking system bult in to even 1.2
workbench file system that will check a disk if things don't appear just right.
This is why, if you have a hard drive, it might do a whole lot of disk accesses
on mounting once in a while.

Hibbard Engler
bitnet address: ENGLER@OSHKOSHW

jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (11/30/89)

In article <4444@nigel.udel.EDU> ENGLER%OSHKOSH.WISC.EDU@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes:
>  It just so happens that there is a disk checking system bult in to even 1.2
>workbench file system that will check a disk if things don't appear just
>right.  This is why, if you have a hard drive, it might do a whole lot of
>disk accesses on mounting once in a while.

Well, the Disk-Validator that lives in the L: directory does not really
fix the file structure.  Its main function is to rebuild the bit map so
that AmigaDos knows which blocks are free to be allocated to new files.
It gets invoked when the bit map has been altered but not yet written to the
disk when your Amiga crashes or loses power.  (It is also invoked when the
floppy is so full that there is no room to write out the bit map.)

C:DiskDoctor has to be invoked manually, and I'm not very impressed with
its success rate.  Release 1.4 could use improvements on this account.
-- 
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@gemini.tymnet.com
BT Tymnet Net Tech Serv | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-D21    | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P,"
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | humorous dislaimer: "My Amiga speaks for me."

jms%tardis.tymnet.com@cunyvm.cuny.edu (12/07/89)

In article <4444@nigel.udel.EDU> ENGLER%OSHKOSH.WISC.EDU@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes:

>  It just so happens that there is a disk checking system bult in to even 1.2
>workbench file system that will check a disk if things don't appear just
>right.  This is why, if you have a hard drive, it might do a whole lot of
>disk accesses on mounting once in a while.

Well, the Disk-Validator that lives in the L: directory does not really
fix the file structure.  Its main function is to rebuild the bit map so
that AmigaDos knows which blocks are free to be allocated to new files.
It gets invoked when the bit map has been altered but not yet written to the
disk when your Amiga crashes or loses power.  (It is also invoked when the
floppy is so full that there is no room to write out the bit map.)

C:DiskDoctor has to be invoked manually, and I'm not very impressed with
its success rate.  Release 1.4 could use improvements on this account.
--
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@gemini.tymnet.com
BT Tymnet Net Tech Serv | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-D21    | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P,"
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | humorous dislaimer: "My Amiga speaks for me."

wally@pallas.UUCP (Wally Hartshorn) (12/10/89)

In article <5517@nigel.udel.EDU> jms%tardis.tymnet.com@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes:
>C:DiskDoctor has to be invoked manually, and I'm not very impressed with
>its success rate.  Release 1.4 could use improvements on this account.

In my opinion, Commodore ought to just drop DiskDoctor entirely and start
shipping AmigaDOS with DiskSalv in its place.  DiskDoctor doesn't even
come close to DiskSalv in terms of success at recovering files and the
directory structure.  My experience has been that running DiskDoctor on
a munged disk is about as effective as running Format on it.  :-(
-- 
Wally (uunet!pallas!wally or wally@athenanet.com)

"Student signature -- Stand clear."

swan@jolnet.ORPK.IL.US (Joel Swan) (12/11/89)

For all the bad press DiskDoctor has gotten, it has saved my hide twice
in the last month. In both cases, DiskSalv (usually very stable) would
barf and guru as it was trying to link a file.  This kept me from recovering
any file on the disk.  Diskdoctor was sucessful in recovering most of the
files on the disk, including the ones I desperately needed.

Joel