>'UTIL7
>N1
>f
 
 
                            preform - utility
                                  - # -
>X
preform
=======
 
 
tHE preform uTILITY IS A COMPREHENSIVE dISK rE-fORMATTER uTILITY.  iT ALLOWS THE USER TO EASILY REPAIR "SECTOR NOT FOUND" AND "CRC ERRORS".  oNLY 5" fLOPPY dISKS MAY BE OPERATED ON, INCLUDING sINGLE/dOUBLE dENSITY, sINGLE/dOUBLE sIDED DISK SYSTEMS.  tHE SYNTAX OF THE preform COMMAND IS:
 
          =====================================================
          !  preform,:A,B,C                                   !
          !                                                   !
          !          :A  = DRIVE TO BE RE-FORMATTED (0-7)     !
          !          B   = y OR n (PAUSE ON FAULTY SECTORS)   !
          !          C   = STARTING CYLINDER (DEFAULT 0)      !
          !                                                   !
          !  ABBR: none                                       !
          =====================================================
 
     wHEN THE DESIRED PARAMETERS HAVE BEEN SELECTED, THE SPECIFIED DRIVE WILL BE READ TO DETERMINE THE DISKETTE TYPE (CYLINDERS, DENSITY, SIDES).  iF THERE IS NOT ENOUGH MEMORY FOR THE RE-FORMAT UTILITY TO OPERATE, THE PROGRAM WILL ABORT WITH A CORRESPONDING MESSAGE.  iF MEMORY IS SUFFICIENT, THEN THE RE-FORMAT OPERATION WILL THEN PROCEED AS FOLLOWS:
 
tHE CURRENT TRACK WILL BE READ INTO MEMORY SECTOR BY SECTOR.
tHE TRACK WILL BE FORMATTED.
tHE TRACK WILL BE RE-WRITTEN BACK SECTOR BY SECTOR.
 
     iF ANY ERRORS OCCUR DURING ANY OF THE 3 STEPS, AND THE y OPTION WAS SPECIFIED, YOU WILL BE ISSUED AN ERROR MESSAGE, AND ALLOWED TO r>ETRY, s>KIP, OR a>BORT.  iF THE n OPTION WAS SPECIFIED, PROCESSING WILL CONTINUE WITH NO ERROR MESSAGES.  wHEN THE ENTIRE DISK HAS BEEN RE-FORMATTED, THE DIRECTORY TRACK WILL BE READ INTO MEMORY, AND WRITTEN BACK WITH THE PROPER READ-PROTECT DATA ADDRESS MARKS.
     iF YOU WISH THE PROGRAM TO ABORT, YOU MAY PRESS THE break KEY, AND THE ROUTINE WILL TERMINATE AFTER THE CURRENT TRACK HAS BEEN COMPLETED.  tHIS WILL ALLOW NORMAL TERMINATION OF THE PROGRAM.  iT IS not SUGGESTED TO PRESS THE reset BUTTON TO ABORT THE PROGRAM, AS THE CURRENT TRACK MAY BE TOTALLY LOST.  iF THE PROGRAM IS ABORTED, AND THE DIRECTORY TRACK HAS ALREADY BEEN RE-FORMATTED, IT WILL NOT BE READ-PROTECTED.  iN THIS CASE, YOU MUST ISSUE A "REPAIR (ALIEN)" COMMAND TO GAIN ACCESS BACK TO THE DISKETTE.
     iF ANY crc ERRORS EXISTED ON THE DISKETTE, THEY WILL BE CORRECTED (IF THE MEDIA IS ok).  iF ANY not found ERRORS EXISTED ON THE DISKETTE, THEY ALSO WILL BE CORRECTED, BUT THE PREVIOUS CONTENTS OF THE SECTOR WILL BE COMPLETELY LOST.  tHIS WILL ALLOW THE DISKETTE TO BE REUSED WITH MINOR LOSSES.  iF THE FAULTY SECTOR WAS ON THE DIRECTORY TRACK, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME FILES RECORDS MAY HAVE BEEN LOST ALSO.  iT IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED THAT THE USER MAKE FREQUENT BACKUPS OF VALUED DATA SO MINIMAL LOSSES WILL BE EXPERIENCED.  iF SECTORS ARE LOST DURING THE RE-FORMATTING PROCESS, IT IS ADVISED THAT THE USER RECOPY THE PROGRAMS THAT WERE ASSIGNED TO THE FAULTY SECTORS.  tHE pss uTILITY WILL ASSIST THE USER IN RESOLVING THIS. (SEE UTILITY DISK #6)
     tHIS PROGRAM WILL ALSO "FRESHEN" A DISKETTE.  tHE DISKETTES THAT ARE USED HAVE A "SHELF" LIFE OF ABOUT 5 YEARS ACCORDING TO MOST MANUFACTURERS.  bY RE-FORMATTING A DISKETTE, THE DATA WILL BE STRENGTHENED, AND THE SHELF LIFE WILL BE EXTENDED.  iF ALL SECTORS ARE READABLE BEFORE RE-FORMATTING, THEN NO LOSS OF DATA WILL OCCUR.

