User manual ACRONIS DISKEDITOR 6.0

[. . . ] User's Guide DiskEditor 6. 0 Compute with confidence www. acronis. com Copyright © Acronis, 2000-2002. All other mentioned trademarks may be registered trademarks of their respective owners. Distribution of materials from this Guide, both in original and/or edited form, is forbidden unless a special written permission is obtained directly from it's author. THERE ARE NO EXPLICIT OR IMPLIED OBLIGATIONS, CONFIRMATIONS OR WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO SOFTWARE MARKETABILITY AND SUITABILITY FOR ANY SPECIFIC PURPOSES, TO THE DEGREE OF SUCH LIMITED LIABILITY APPLICABLE BY LAW. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] The listed parameters are bound by this expression: (CYL x HDS + HD) x SPT + SEC ­ 1, Where CYL, HD, SEC are numbers of cylinder, head, sector in the CHS coordinates (Cylinder ­ Head ­ Sector); HDS is the number of heads per disk, SPT is the number of heads per track. You can return to sector from another one by selecting the Back item in the Search menu (or by pressing Ctrl+Backspace key combination). 2. 8 Working with Different Encodings The main window of the program features a list of encodings available in DiskEditor. This list is shown closed and dropped down below. The closed and dropped down list of encodings The list of encodings is intended for correct interpretation of hard disk sector contents. Selecting the necessary encoding, you will be able to view sector contents correctly. This is interpreted in the right part of program's main window in the hex mode. 18 Chapter 2 : Working with Acronis DiskEditor Chapter 3. Main Window View Modes A hard disk of 1. 79 Gb capacity is used as an example of how DiskEditor displays information. All disk partitions were removed and the disk was completely cleared of any information with the help of Acronis DriveCleanser which zeroed all hard disk sector bytes. This is done to demonstrate how data storage structures are created on a hard disk by standard means ­ for example MS Windows (or MS DOS) operating system using FDISK and/or the FORMAT utility. 3. 1 Master Boot Record (MBR) The main window of the program in the view as Partition table mode is shown below. As you can see the disk is empty and contains no partitions. Partition table As a hard disk can contain only 4 primary partitions, 4 lines on the screen are allocated for information about partitions. A hard disk partition is characterized by the following parameters: · Type, for example FAT16/32, NTFS, etc. , · Boot patch flag ­ whether partition is bootable or not, · Begin partition cylinder, · Begin partition head, · Begin partition sector, · End partition cylinder, Acronis DiskEditor 19 · End partition head, · End partition sector, · Number of hard disk sectors allocated for partition. Hard disk partitions are described in the Partition table in two ways simultaneously: (1) in CHS co-ordinates (Cylinder ­ Head ­ Sector; limited and obsolete variant) ­ coordinates of initial and end partition sectors, and (2) partition heading and its length in sectors. Each record of the Partition table contains a partition boot patch flag indicating to the main loader what partition to boot. At the lowest (byte) level MBR structure containing the master boot record and the Partition table can be described as follows: · Bytes 000h ­ 1BDh ­ load code of active partition's bootsector, · Bytes 1BEh ­ 1CDh, 1CEh ­ 1DDh, 1DEh ­ 1EDh, 1EEh ­ 1FDh ­ partition records, · Bytes 1FEh ­ 1FF ­ Partition Table signature equal to AA55h. 3. 2 Creating Primary Partition Using the FDISK utility supplied with your Windows operating system (enabling large disks support), we will create the Primary partition at a 0. 97 Gb capacity (or 1000 Mb) on the selected hard disk. To see changes in the Partition table contents, select the hard disk with the newly created partition for viewing. If we select the created partition for working, the Partition table will be unavailable for viewing. If you select a disk partition for working, DiskEditor will allow you to browse only the space allocated for that partition, and accordingly, to look at its information only. 20 Chapter 3 : Main Window View Modes The creation of a hard disk primary partition will immediately update the Partition table. Primary partition Creating 1000 Mb primary partition on the disk results in filling the 1st line of the Partition table. Partition contains 2048193 sectors total and is of FAT32 type (or 0Bh in hex). Please note that Enter button to the left of Partition type field is enabled; clicking it you can quickly proceed to partition specified by the Partition table record. You must be extremely careful when changing partition parameters. The best way to master DiskEditor capabilities is with an old disk, without important information, that can be used for creating and destroying partitions, formatting and performing any experiments. Please do not experiment with your work disk! Acronis DiskEditor 21 To work with a hard disk you must know where and what data is stored on it. As a complete disk editing program, DiskEditor allows you to create a complete partition on a disk without the use of the FDISK utility (or any other utilities). DiskEditor is also capable of much more: while the FDISK utility allows you to create only FAT16/32 partitions, DiskEditor allows you to create partitions for almost any types known. [. . . ] A folder record has the following structure, or main bytes of a folder record indicate the following values: Offset bytes 0 8 0Bh Length bytes 8 3 1 File name up to 8 symbols. File Attributes: Bit 0 ­ Read-Only (can't update or delete); Bit 1 ­ Hidden (H), hidden file; Bit 2 ­ System (Sys), system file; Bit 3 ­ Volume label; Bit 4 ­ folder attribute (Directory Entry); Bit 5 ­ Archive (A), file was not archived. Last changed (created) time: Bit 0-4 ­ pairs of seconds (0-29), Bit 5-10 ­ minutes (0-59), Bit 11-15 ­ hours (0-23). 18h 2 Last changed (created) date: Bit 0-4 ­ day (0-31), Bit 5-8 ­ month (1-12), Acronis DiskEditor 29 Purpose Bit 9-15 ­ year from 1980 ( 0-119 ). [. . . ]