global menu:
FLOPPY DISKETTE UTILITIES
2M -Formats floppies to higher capacities.
Fdformat -Formats floppies to higher capacities.
* * * *
2M -If you want to squeeze a few more files on your 1.44MB floppies - and save a few pennies in the process, 2M will help. 2M can reformat a 1.44MB floppy to either 1.7 or 1.8MB. These disks are readable/writable only when running the supplied 2mdos TSR program. You normally can't use these disks on a PC lacking the TSR. Yet each 2M disk can function as a 2M boot disk: simply boot a computer from a 2M disk and the TSR is automatically loaded. A pretty nifty feature.
Tip from a reader: "The distribution archive also contains small drivers that add 1.44 and 1.2 MB drive capability to XT's and earlier AT's. For hardware support the author has you mount a 16-bit multi-function card -- yes, even in an 8-bit slot (which also provides functional com and lpt ports). Using this technique I successfully added a 1.44 drive to an XT clone -- though in this case the driver supported only one floppy, not the two it was supposed to. However, the standard 5 1/4 drive was still boot able (of course)."
Author: Ciriaco García de Celis, Spain. Cardware.
Drawbacks:
Fdformat -An older, similar utility is Fdformat which has better 3rd party support and remains very popular. Win9x note: FDF disks are readable under Win9x; the TSR is not required. FDF is not compatible w/ WinNT40.
download 2m30.zip (2M, 256K)
download fdform18.zip (Fdformat, 102K)
HD-COPY- Fast diskette copier and high capacity formatter.
* * * *
From the docs...
"HD-COPY is the fastest copy-program I know (and I know many) --- there's definitely no faster one. You can also use it to format disks at various formats (from 720 Kb to 1.764 Mb in this version of HD-COPY), which is faster than DOS' FORMAT and produce s less errors.
The following DD formats are supported:
* 320 Kb, 360 Kb, 720 Kb; "special" DD formats: 400 Kb, 800 Kb, 820 Kb and similar
The following HD formats are supported:
* 5 1/4 inch drives: 1.2 Mb, 1.44 Mb, 1.48 Mb and similar
* 3 1/2 inch drives: 1.2 Mb, 1.44 Mb, 1.48 Mb, 1.72 Mb and similar
Note: To use non-standard disks (i.e. 5 1/4 disks with more than 1.2 Mb or 3 1/2 disks with more than 1.44 Mb) outside HD-COPY, you have to install a TSR program like FDREAD (included), because the DOS/BIOS doesn't like disks with an unusual number of s ectors. HD-COPY itself doesn't need FDREAD, since it has its own routines to handle special formats." Author: Oliver Fromme (1995) Germany. Cardware.
download hdcp20ae.zip (English, 103K)
download hdcp20ad.zip (Deutsch, 82K)
VGA-COPY/486- VGA floppy diskette copier, foramtter, and image manager.
* * * * [added 2001-10-29]
v6.25 reviewed 2001-11-11, rlg
This respected shareware disk copier is now (2001) freeware. Beneath the VGA gui interface (and included screen savers and game) is a good disk copier, formater, and disk image file creator. VGACOPY is best used under plain DOS- in my experience it corrupts floppies when formating or writing to floppies under Win9x.
Among disk copiers, VGACOPY is a good choice if you need to back up a collection of aging floppies to more reliable media. By default VGACOPY will generate compressed VCP disk image files. These compressed files are actually ARJ archives and they can be optionally encrypted within VGACOPY. You can also provide a 40 char. descriptive comment which is also included in the ARJ archive (as a file_id.diz file).
VGACOPY stores image files in a user-defined directory and conveniently displays all image files with their associated descriptions (but if you have a v. large collection of image files, VGACOPY's list box can only display the first 22 or so files). Other features:
Requires 4MB RAM, VGA, 386+ PC.
Latest version is Version 6.25 (2001) which does not currently include a manual. See the v6.23 package for an old manual (useful for learning shortcut keys, etc.). German and English language versions included. English users should run english.exe first.
Author: Thomas Mönkemeier, Germany (2001). Home Page. Suggested by Lars-Erik Sandberg.
download vgacp625.zip (228K) from Home Page.
D2D- Floppy copier uses conv, ems, (ram)disk and/or xms memory.
* * * * [added 1999-07-12]
D2D/98 is a 35K command-line driven interactive disk copy utility for floppy disks. Use extended memory, expanded memory or your hard/ram disk to store the data that won't fit into conventional memory. Make multiple copies with a single source read. Inc ludes destination formatting capability. For FAT-based floppies, unused tracks at the end of a disk are neither read nor written. Uses device drivers rather than hardware allowing non-standard formats to be read.
usage: C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\D2D-2.EXE from: to: [/#] [/a] [/b<str>] [/D]
[/e#] [/n] [/o] [/q] [/r] [/td:[<path>]] [/u]
[/v[s]] [/w] [/x#] [/?]
/# number of copies (/12)
/a copy all tracks
/b<str> override BPB of disc (/b720kB)
(<str> is one of: 160k,180k,320k,320S,360k,360S,720k,1.2M,1.4M,2.8M)
/D disable boot code on destination
/e# specify EMS usage in kB (/e128)
/n non IBM-compatible BIOS (seldom helps)
/o keep old serial number
/q don't use bell
/r data recovery -- continue after read errors
/t<str> temporary drive [and path] for swap file (/tC:\tmp)
/u unconditionally format destination disk
/v[s] [smart ]verify after write (/vs)
/w write destination disk without asking
/x# specify XMS usage in kB (/x1024)
/? display this explanation
GPL license w/ source, Author: Ulrich Windl, Germany (1998)
download d2d-98.zip (68K)
Also see: XDSKCPY: "Copies entire diskettes in one drive....using Extended Memory (XMS) or hard disk space for buffering to avoid disk swapping. Also make several copies of one diskette with a single read of source diskette."- http://shh.thathost.com/pub-dos/files/xdcpy200.zip
QUIKCOPY- DISKCOPY replacement: Copies floppies in one pass using extended memory.
* * *
From the docs: "QUIKCOPY is a replacement for DOS's DISKCOPY command. Like DISKCOPY, which is found in DOS 6.2, QUIKCOPY can copy an entire disk in one pass, but it uses extended or expanded memory rather than a RAM disk. It can also speed the process b y copying only used clusters." If you plan on running QUIKCOPY under Windows, you'll need an adequate chunk of contiguous XMS memory. Doesn't compare read clusters with written clusters. Authors: Bob Flanders and Michael Holmes. (1994)
http://www.geocities.com/rlcgreen/bin/ get quikco.zip (50K)
IMG- Create/ restore floppy image, add-extract files to/ from image.
unrated [added 1999-01-23]
Writes a floppy disk to an image file on your hard disk allowing you to restore it to a floppy at a later time. IMG is unique because individual files within an image can be extracted (you don't have to restore to floppy first). IMG also has the ability to add files to an existing image file, or create a brand new image file using a list of individual files. "Supports disk images created by HD-Copy and VGA-Copy (uncompressed) or other programs which create raw disk image files in an y way. " Included is FDRW which images floppy disks to a file and also writes the image back to floppies.
Author: Falk Huth, Germany (1996). Tip from: The valuable DOS Freeware page.
download img2_0e.zip (50K, English)
or
download img2_0d.zip (52K, German)
FIRM- Floppy disk imager; can write to floppies having larger capacities than original.
unrated [added 2000-02-26]
"FIRM.COM [14.5K] is a simple to use DOS Floppy image reader/maker. It is compatible with files used by many other disk image reader/writers. It is capable of reading/writing disks of other systems, Unix, Linux, later Mac and some other disks. Image fil es can be written back to disks of a larger capacity than the original for at least FAT systems. [e.g., a 1.2MB floppy image can be written to a 1.44 floppy]." Firm cannot create a floppy image without a floppy (cf. IMG). Performs limite d bios-level error checks. Includes graphical progress bar.
Author: Dave Burley (1999). Suggested by Bjorn Simonsen.
download firm.zip (11K)
DiskImager- 1.44MB floppy disk imager can also create self-extracting (EXE) images.
unrated [added 2000-03-08]
This simple tool can create/restore imagefiles or self-extracting (EXE) imagefiles from 1.44MB floppy disks. Major limitations: only supports 1.44MB floppy format.
Author: Fredrik Johansson (1999). Suggested by Michael Wann.
download dskimg11.zip (6.8K)
Floppy Tool Kit- Floppy drive analyzer, tuner, cleaner utilities.
unrated
From the documentation:
... a collection of 8 small utilities which will help you use your floppy disks more effectively. Since you probably worry more about how to get better speed and storage out of your hard disk, this may not be a matter of pressing concern to you. However , floppies are going to be used for quite a while and by spending a few minutes with these utilities you can make things go a little bit faster each time you use a floppy. Programs are provided to:
download flpkit11.zip (69K) link fixed 1998-11-23
RESQFLPY and FIXBOOT- Generates clone(s) of damaged or unreadable floppy disks for recovery purposes.
unrated [added 2000-09-10]
From the docs: "Probably the worst mistake people make when attempting to recover data from inaccessible disks, either floppy or hard, is that they perform operations on it directly....
Floppies usually develop defects in those areas where data is written. Sometimes, however, the physical sectors where the boot sector or root directory are placed become defective. If the sector is critical for accessing the floppy...then DOS will be un able to read the floppy.... Yet if you can read or write to it, then the floppy only has defects in areas where the data is written. Portions of your data...are then inaccessible. The latter problem can often be recovered using either CHKDSK, RECOVER, SCAN DISK or another disk repair tool. When these tools are used, however, the changes are generally irreversible. If the result is worse than the original condition, then there is no easy method to reverse the changes you have made.
Unfortunately disk copy programs typically abort when trying to read, copy, or duplicate a floppy with media defects. Even though there may be completely intact files on it, DOS copy tools generally abort preventing users from copying or accessing even intact files.
RESQFLPY solves this problem by producing an image file of a SOURCE floppy even when it has defective sectors in data area, root directory, or boot sector. Defective sectors are ignored, or read by force where possible, during generation of the image fi le.... Once you have successfully created an image file, run RESQFLPY again to copy the image to a CLONE disk....When the boot sector of the source floppy is bad then you can install a fresh one to the clone with FIXBOOT [included]....You are now ready to perform any recovery procedure you might wish on the CLONE floppy without fear of causing any further damage to the original."
Author: NetZ Computing, Israel (1998). Home Page. License: RESQFLPY and FIXBOOT are freeware, but are packaged together with commercial tools comprising the RESQ software suite.
download resq.exe (326KB, WinZip SFX)
Also see NetZ's other products: virus protection, data defense, and disaster prevention/ recovery. NetZ Home Page.
Also see: The totally free (GPL) D2D has a data recovery option ( /r - continue after read errors).
DISK CATALOGERS
1. CD Navigator- Floppy, HD, CD cataloger.
* * * * [added 11-97 updated 1998-03-06]
Although this cataloging program was designed with the audio CD user in mind, it also functions very well as a floppy or hard disk cataloger. The Norton Commander-like text mode interface is mouse compatible and easy to navigate. Unlike the more basic freeware Disk Manager, CD Navigator can 1) store user file notes (or 4DOS descriptions) and 2) read and store a disk's formatted label. Multiple disks can be cataloged together into larger groups. A quick disk scan feature ( MSCAN) is especially nice if you are cataloging a large collection of floppies at one time. CD Navigator includes a robust search engine for finding disk or file names, notes, and CD audio tracks. Also plays audio CD tracks and includes a screen saver. Thi s package also includes a basic (but neat looking) stand-alone audio CD player (PCDN) which can read CD Navigator generated data files. Author: Tomoga János. Hungary (1998).
Limitations:
download cdnav42e.zip (111K)
Multilingual capability: language files are available at the CD Navigator site
Also see:
FCAT: a multi-tool disk and archive cataloger package; more complex but fairly versatile. Doesn't appear to allow storage of file comments?
DRIVE IDENTITY UTILITIES
[09-11-00] Need to add: ADQ- Hard disk information utility.
1. IDEATA- Displays detailed IDE-ATA drive identity information.
2. ATAHD - IDE-ATA drive identitifier and analyzer.
3. ATAPICD- Displays detailed ATAPI CD-ROM drive identity information.
unrated
1. IDE-ATA Drive Identification Program v2.6 "displays...useful information about ATA drive(s) attached to your PC. ATA-1, ATA-2, ATA-3 specifications are supported...Useful features: - Support of four EIDE standard controll ers, user-defined hardware addresses to find ATA drive, polling/interrupt methods to detect ATA drive, read/write identification sector from/to file." Notes: Older, doesn't ID some newer drives. Author: Dmitry V. Stefankovy, Russia (1997)
download ideata26.zip (26K)
2. ATAHD unrated [added 1999-10-30]- Features: " Shows which ATA/IDE ports are active and to which ports drives are connected; Will detect and display data for a drive when the drive has not yet been recognized by the BIOS; Will detect and display data for drives on an active ATA/IDE port, even if the primary port is disabled or non-functional; Reports on the "command queuing" capability of the newest drives; Reports the spindle rotation speed of almost all drives; Recognizes up to 8 ATA/IDE hard drives using the standard port addresses of 1F0h, 170h, 1E8h & 168h; Small, fast program will fit on just about anyone's emergency boot floppy; Supports drives larger than 8 gigabytes. Author: M.B.Mallor (1999)
download atahd20.zip (27K)
3. ATAPICD Drive Identification Program v2.03 "displays...useful information about ATAPI CD-ROM drive(s)... ATAPI v1.2, ATAPI 2.5 and ATAPI 2.6 specifications are supported...Useful features: - Support of four standard EIDE controllers, user-defined hardware addresses to find ATAPI drive, polling/interrupt methods to detect ATAPI drive, writing raw dump of identify information to files." Author: Dmitry V. Stefankov, Russia (1997)
download atacd203.zip (40K)
DISK COMPRESSION
JAM- Disk compression package.
unrated [added 1998-08-16]
Untested. The commercial viability of this shareware package likely evaporated when DOS 6.x appeared with disk compression software. JAM appears to represent a compact, memory-efficient package that is apparently still living on some older computers and palmtops. Includes a full suite of diagnostic and optimization utilities.
Can I recommend it? Not until I try it, or receive feedback from experienced users. The risk of data corruption is significant when using disk compression software. In short, I wouldn't "play" with a program like this unless you have the luxury of owning a second PC that you can use for program testing.
Authors: JAM Development Team, Ukraine (1995).
Shareware status: Registration not required for individual, private use.
download jam125sw.zip (210K)
DISK DEFRAGGERS (not for Win9x/Me/NT)
1. DEFRAGR- Defragments FAT-16 Disks.
2. Disk OrGanizer- Defragments FAT-16 disks.
1. DEFRAGR: * * This PC Magazine utility was originally published around 1993. I can only recommend it to faithful users of DOS 5.0 (DOS 6.x and OpenDOS come bundled with good defrag utilities). I don't know if it works with earlier DOS versions. You'll want to run a disk scanning/ repair program first (DEFRAGR will not run if it detects any errors in the drive's structure.). Defrag is small (39K )and has worked flawlessly on the uncompressed portion of my laptop hard drive.
Not to be used with Win9x.
download v12n04.zip (66K)
2. Disk OrGanizer: unrated. I haven't tried this one- but it offers more options and saftey features than DEFRAG. Thanks to Yves Bellefeuille's freeware list for pointing me to this one..
Not to be used with Win9x.
download dog316.zip (53K)
DISK PARTITION UTILS
Free FDISK- Disk partition management utility.
unrated [added 2000-04-18 updated 2001-09-23]
Free FDISK is Open Source and licensed under the GNU GPL.
Author: Brian Reifsnyder (2000).
2001-09-23: v1.0, Release Candidate 2 (09-01) available.
See Free FDISK Home Page for latest versions.
XFDisk (eXtended FDisk)- Open source FDISK replacement with boot manager.
unrated [added 2000-12-13 updated 2001-09-19]
Currently (2000) undergoing beta testing, XFDisk is an open source FDISK which resembles OS/2's FDISK. XFDisk can also function as a boot manager. Requires 286+ processor, HGC, MDA, EGA or VGA card (80x25 display), DOS 3.3+.
German, Dutch, and English versions available, but only a German manual is currently available (distributed with German version). XFDisk is distributed under the GNU Public Licence (GPL). Source available at home page.
Authors: Florian Painke & Ulrich Müller, Germany (2001). Home Page. Suggested by Timo Gransch.
2001-09-19: v0.9.3 Beta (09-01) available from home page.
(Ranish) Partition Manager- Disk partition and boot manager, FAT16/32.
unrated [added 1998-06-15 updated 2001-02-13]
(revise description). Please see home page for latest version info and other language versions: Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish. Also available on home page: CVT: conve rts FAT16 to FAT32 Author: Mikhail Ranish (2000)
"Private users, educational and non-profit organizations may evaluate the program for the period of 10 years, then they must pay registration fee of $10 per household/classroom/department or stop using the program. If you cannot afford $10, you m ay send me a postcard with a nice view of your city, and I will count you as a registered user." Commercial users: see docs.
02-11-01: v2.38beta has become v2.40 (no changes).
02-13-01: v2.41 beta available. "incorporates minor changes from 2.40 plus command line interface similar to gdisk".
PRESIZER- Non-destructively resize disk partitions, FAT16/32.
FIPS- Non-destructive partition splitting program, FAT16/32.
Presizer: unrated [added 1998-06-15 updated 2001-01-20] From the docs: "This program does not intend to replace FDISK. It's rather complementary to it. You will still need FDISK if you want to create and delete partit ions. Partition Resizer processes only existing partitions. Also, Partition Resizer does not convert FAT16 (older DOS partitions) into FAT32." Author: John Lagonikas, Greece. (2000). Home Page.
download presz134.zip (96K)
FIPS: unrated [added 1999-01-30] A veteran DOS utility that's been updated (v2.0, 5-98) to handle FAT32. GNU GPL, source included. Author: Arno Schaefer, Germany (1998) Home Page.
download fips20.zip (162K)
DFSee- Disk analysis and repair utility ([V]FAT[32], HPFS, NTFS).
unrated [added 1998-07-05 updated 2001-05-01]
07-24-01: beginning with v4.0, DFSEE is now pay shareware.
Display File Systems is a comprehensive disk sector and file systems information/ repair utility for power users. Handles information from HPFS, NTFS and various FAT partitions. Includes OS/2, DOS and NT versions. Capabilities include sector reading, du mping and editing, bad sector scanning, sector checksums, file system analysis (e.g., displays errors in FS), MBR walking, file recovery, clear partition-tables sectors (MBR/EBR), clear LVM information sectors and/or all partition boot-records...and so on. Recent versions include an FDISK module that also supports the OS/2 bootmanager...."you can FDISK your system from a DOS diskette, without any user intervention....reboot and restart a particular partition from DOS or Windows NT. Virtual disks allow exper imenting with partitions without modifying the real physical disk." Author: Jan van Wijk, Netherlands. (2001), home page; Suggested by Lars-Erik Sandberg.
Last freeware version was 3.42 (05-2001), linked to below.
download dfsee342.zip (858K)
Savepart- Save, restore and copy hard-drive partitions.
unrated [added 2001-08-14 updated 2001-10-30]
Savepart is a DOS program to save, restore and copy hard-drive partitions. With this program you could save all data of a partition into a file and then backup this file (e.g., to a CD)...If something goes wrong with a partition...you can then restore t he saved partition...Savepart is able to compress data (using the gzip algorithm) and is also able to split a partition file into several files...Nearly all partition types are supported.
Author: D. Guibouret, France (2001). Savepart Home Page. Suggested by Lars-Erik Sandberg.
2001-10-30: v2.21 available (10-2001).
Savepart download page (savepart.zip, 525K).
ZPart- Compresses/ restores IDE disk partitions on multiple computers.
unrated [updated 1998-07-20]
From the docs: "ZPart is a DOS 32-bit utility developed to compress the contents of a hard disk partition into a disk file, to load compressed partition and to save or load current contents of master boot record (MBR). ZPart has been tested only on IDE- compatible HDDs. Starting from version 1.00, ZPart can move partitions across HDDs with differing geometries (if there's enough room)." ZPart requires a 386+ PC, 2 Mb RAM minimum, and a DOS 5.0+ compatible environment.
"ZPart may be useful if one needs to maintain easily restorable uniform software configuration on many computers with identical system components (in our case, with identical HDDs numbers and types)...Maintaining a computer class is a good example. 150- 200 Mb partitions...compress in 10-30 minutes, depending on contents, and decompress in 5-7 minutes (our computers are 5x86 133MHz), which is quite reasonable time. Another way to use ZPart is to store the boot partition of fragile and administrator-hostil e systems such as Windows'95.....when your '95 goes crazy and dismembers beyond recognition...you can easily restore it in several minutes...."
Limitations:
See home page for a FAQ and version history. Author: K. Boyandin, Russia (1998)
download zprt111.zip (?110K)
TestDisk- Checks partition and boot sectors, recover lost partition.
unrated [added 1999-08-29 updated 2001-09-29]
Supports: FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, Extended Partition, NTFS, Linux EXT2FS, Linux Swap, IBM Multiboot, BeFS, UFS, Nettware. Author: Christophe Grenier, France (2001).
2001-10-14: v3.9 (09-01) available.
download testdisk-3.9.zip (caution: zip contents w/ long filenames. 164K, w/ source)
GDisk- Command line alternative to MS-DOS's FDISK and FORMAT (for fixed disks).
unrated [added 2000-01-01]
Not appropriate to this freeware list- but people are always searching for it. GDISK used to be distributed separately as a free beta; it is now distributed as part of the huge Ghost Enterprise suite available from Sy mantec (search for trialware page). The most current version of the complete suite can be downloaded as time limited trialware (packed in a Win9x exe). Not sure if the included GDISK is itself time limited. GDisk is an enhanced, command line alternativ e to FDISK. Additional capabilities include ability to hide partitions, deletes any type partition, and can work in batch mode. Win9x compatible. Requires a 386+.
Author: Symantec Corp.(1999).
Disk Utils- Misc. c-line disk utils for experts.
unrated [added 2000-01-01 updated 2001-09-30]
This group of command line disk sector and partition tools are intended for advanced users. Minimal documentation. Includes:
Author: Svend Olaf Mikkelsen, Denmark (2001). Home Page.
2001-09-30: GB32, Chsdir, Pqrp added, other tools have been updated.
See home page for download links to individual programs
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