Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AMIGA questions.
Message-ID: <1580@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Mar-87 16:35:07 EST
Article-I.D.: cbmvax.1580
Posted: Fri Mar 20 16:35:07 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Mar-87 15:42:45 EST
References: <2865@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 46

> I'd just like to point out that DISKSALV isn't perfect, and sometimes fails.

I know.... I'm working on it.  Though, at least on occasion, the thing you're
trying to read is completely trashed, and nothing short of some serious
magick would help it.  That's, of course, what backups are for.

> Not a programming fault, it is just that sometimes diskdrives aren't aligned
> correctly, or the disk isn't put in perfectly.  Don't run DiskDoctor on a
> disk if there is a prayer in the world of saving it other wise.  

And that's my major problem with DiskDoctor; it writes to the bad disk.  In
my development of DiskSalv, at least at the beginning, I only had one bad
disk to play around with.  So I decided that I wouldn't do anything with the
original.  Even if I ended up fixing it, there goes my test disk.  I eventually
got a copy of DiskEd, so I could make my own bad disks (and I learned a few
tricks about when to pull your floppy to create bad tracks), but I kept the
philosophy of not changing the bad disk.  If the bad disk really is the only
disk with my IMPORTANT STUFF on it (in my original case, it was), I didn't
want to make things worse.  The DiskSalv program recovered everything that
I knew how to get anyway, so why muck with the original.  That way, possibly
another program could come along and maybe extract a few things that DiskSalv
missed.  I haven't needed DiskDoctor yet, but it may be a reasonable tool
for recovery, I don't know.  My advice, for the moment, would be to try
DiskSalv (and any other program that only READS the bad disk) first, then
try DiskDoctor.  Maybe DiskDoctor knows a few thing that DiskSalv doesn't.
But certainly running DiskDoctor first could burn a bridge or two that
DiskSalv know about.

I'm (very slowly) working on a version of DiskSalv that supports hard
disks and other DOS devices.  There are several problems with this, though.
Any device that uses an alternate Handler could very easily provide a 
completely different disk layout (maybe optomized for directory access
or something) so no program's ever going to be perfect.  But if you want
to hear about pain, talk to an owner of an MS-DOS or similar disk-format
computer when they've got some restoring to do from a trashed disk.

> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> Randy Spencer      P.O. Box 4542   Berkeley  CA  94704        (415)284-4740 
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Haynie     Commodore Technology              // /|  ___   __   __   __ 
  {ihnp4|caip|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh          |\  // /_|     | /  \ /  \ /  \
Commodore rarely admits to knowing me,        \\// /  |  +--+ |  | |  | |  |
  much less sharing my personal opinions.      \/ /   |  |___ \__/ \__/ \__/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~