binder@DECVAX.DEC.COM (A complicated and secret quotidian existence) (05/29/88)
Actually, it's my daughter who needs it. She's using an Apple ][+ with an oldstyle Microsoft SoftCard, and two Disk ][ floppy drives. She's been getting a unusual number of format errors that show up as bad sectors some time after the disk is formatted -- usually in the middle of a WordStar save, which is catastrophic if the file is new and large. So the question is, since Microsoft wasn't kind enough to supply me with its driver sources way back in '82, I don't know how to write a program that can verify the format by reading each sector directly. BIOS calls appear able to read only real files via the FCB, which means that I can only read tracks 4-34, and that only if I turn that area into a 126K file by writing it first. There's gotta be a better way! What makes this more difficult is that I'm not really a CP/M wizard -- I don't know how to go poking around looking for things in a running system, and wouldn't know what to look for if I did. Any offers of help, suggestions, what have you? Maybe an existing program that does what I need? If that's the case, I'll happily pay for the mailing of a disk with said program on it -- sources included if possible, please, so I might not have to ask a question like this again. Thanks, Dick Binder (The Stainless Steel Rat, feeling a little rusty around the edges at present...) DEC Eat: FLUME::"binder@caliph.dec.com" uucp: decvax!caliph.dec.com!binder Internet: binder%caliph.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com