ZIPMAN.COM Version 1.41 ========== (June 2000) Quick info: Tool for the Zip-drivers "palmZIP" and "PofoZip". The main purpose is performing a re-formatting. Requirements ------------ To run ZIPMAN, you must have - loaded the driver (POFOZIP.SYS or PALMZIP.SYS) - at least 33 KByte of free memory - the Zip-drive connected and a disk inserted Re-Formatting ------------- If you are using DOS 2.x or 3.x, a Zip-disk must be reformatted before use. ZIPMAN offers two special formats which are opti- mized for DOS 2.x and 3.x. (but can also be used with later versions of DOS). As these formats (must only) have a capacity of 32 MBytes, three partitions can be stored on one Zip-disk. In ZIPMAN, you can first select the desired partition (1-3) and then format it for use with DOS 2.x or 3.x. Besides these two special formats, ZIPMAN 1.40 (or newer) can also generate the original 96M-format which requires DOS 4.0 or later. Program usage ------------- For a maximum compatibility, all Input/Output is done via DOS- function calls. This should enable access even from a remote terminal. The text output is done in the current video mode, it is limited to max. 40 characters per line and does not use any ANSI control sequences. When ZIPMAN starts without any parameters, it displays the below menu: ZIPMAN 1.41 (c)1997-2000 by K. Peichl ---------------------------------------

artition 1=D * 2=E 3=F ype 96M/FAT16 (for DOS 4.x) ormat specified partition ject Zip-Disk ape to DOS The following menu items are available (selected by pressing the corresponding key):

artition: All drive letters created by palmZIP/PofoZip are shown on this line together with the assigned partition number. Typically, for all of the three possible partitions, one drive letter is displayed. To select a partition to be formatted, press

repeatedly until the desired partition is marked with "*". ype: As described above, there are tree format types available: 32M/FAT12 (for DOS 2.x or higher) 32M/FAT16 (for DOS 3.x or higher) 96M/FAT16 (for DOS 4.x or higher) The current selection can be changed by pressing . The default setting tries to match your DOS best. ormat: After confirmation, the selected partition will be formatted with the desired format type. ject: The Zip-disk is ejected from the drive. ape: Terminates the program. Notes: - The Zip-disk must not be write protected - If you are using ZIPMAN for the first time and want to prepare a Zip-disk for use with DOS 2.x or 3.x, three format processes are required to make the whole disk capacity (3x32MB) usable. - It is (of course) not possible to use both 96M and 32M- partitions on the same disk. But as formatting does not erase the whole media, it might still be possible to access an old partition. Be aware that writing may damage your newer data! - 1 MByte is defined here as 1024*1024 Bytes. Therefore 96 MBytes equal 100,663,296 Bytes, 100.431.872 Bytes of which are available for data storage. Command line parameters ----------------------- /Sx Set a new sleep time. The value of x (decimal 1..99, 0=never) describes the idle time in minutes after that the Zip-drive shall turn off the motor. See (*) /E Eject disk. See (*) /MBR Create a new Master Boot Record (see below) /? Display a short info screen The following commands refer to the lowest logical drive created by palmZIP/PofoZip: /Px Switch partition number (x=1..3). See (**) /P? Get current partition number. Errorlevel will contain the result (between 1 and 3). /D? Get current drive letter. Errorlevel will contain the result (for example, 68 for drive D). Remarks: (*) Commands marked with (*) require PofoZIP 1.20 or palmZIP 1.10 (or later versions). (**) For use with old versions of the driver only (palmZIP<1.20 or PofoZip<1.30). Using ZIPMAN in batch programs ------------------------------ Since version 1.1 ZIPMAN accepts input from a control file which simulates all desired keystrokes. An escape character must be present at the end of the file. (Esc can be generated in MSDOS-Edit by pressing +

, ) The below line shows an example call of ZIPMAN which might be part of a batch program: ZIPMAN nul Technical details ----------------- Some characteristics of the special disk formats compared to the original 100 MByte format: 3x32M/FAT12 3x32M/FAT16 96M/FAT16 -------------------------------------------------------------- from DOS version 1.0 3.0 4.0 -------------------------------------------------------------- FAT-type FAT12 FAT16 FAT16 -------------------------------------------------------------- FATs per first: 3 partition since 7/98: 2 2 2 -------------------------------------------------------------- available 3 x 33406976 3 x 33454080 capacity = 100.220.928 = 100.362.240 100.431.872 -------------------------------------------------------------- Cluster size 8192 2048 2048 -------------------------------------------------------------- Root directory 3 x 511 3 x 511 entries = 1533 = 1533 511 -------------------------------------------------------------- Stucture of a partitioned Zip-disk with 3 x 32M/FAT12: SCSI- DOS- # of sector sector sectors usage --------------------------------------------- 0h 1 Master Boot Record 1h 31 hidden 20h 0h 1 Bootsector drive D (e.g.) 21h 1h 12 1. FAT D 2Dh 0Dh 6 free 33h 13h 12 2. FAT D 3Fh 1Fh 6 free 45h 25h 32 Root-Dir D 65h 45h 65248 Data area D FF45h FF25h 187 free 10000h 32 free 10020h 0h 1 Bootsector drive E 10021h 1h 12 1. FAT E 1002Dh 0Dh 6 free 10033h 13h 12 2. FAT E 1003Fh 1Fh 6 free 10045h 25h 32 Root-Dir E 10065h 45h 65248 Data area E 1FF45h FF25h 187 free 20000h 32 free 20020h 0h 1 Bootsector drive F 20021h 1h 12 1. FAT F 2002Dh 0Dh 6 free 20033h 13h 12 2. FAT F 2003Fh 1Fh 6 free 20045h 25h 32 Root-Dir F 20065h 45h 65248 Data area F 2FF45h FF25h 187 free ------ 196608 Total Data area: 100.220.928 Bytes in 8192-Bytes-Clusters Created with older versions of ZIPMAN (before 1.30), this format contained 3 FATs in each partition. Theoretically, DOS would have been able not just to detect errors in the FATs but to correct them. However, there's probably no version of DOS that does so. I had to change the format because Windows 95 seems not to be able to handle media types having 3 FATs. Structure of a partitioned Zip-disk with 3 x 32M/FAT16: SCSI- DOS- # of sector sector sectors usage --------------------------------------------- 0h 1 Master Boot Record 1h 31 hidden 20h 0h 1 Bootsector drive D (e.g.) 21h 1h 128 2 FATs D A1h 81h 32 Root-Dir D C1h A1h 65340 Data area D FFFDh FFDDh 3 free 10000h 32 free 10020h 0h 1 Bootsector drive E 10021h 1h 128 2 FATs E 100A1h 81h 32 Root-Dir E 100C1h A1h 65340 Data area E 1FFFDh FFDDh 3 free 20000h 32 frei 20020h 0h 1 Bootsector drive F 20021h 1h 128 2 FATs F 200A1h 81h 32 Root-Dir F 200C1h A1h 65340 Data area F 2FFFDh FFDDh 3 free ------ 196608 Total Data area: 100.362.240 Bytes in 2048-Bytes-Clusters Structure of a normal 96M/FAT16 Zip-Disk: SCSI- DOS- Sektor- Sektor Sektor Anzahl Inhalt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 0h 1 Master-Boot-Record 1h 31 hidden 20h 0h 1 Bootsector 21h 1h 384 2 FATs 1A1h 181h 32 Root-Dir 1C1h 1A1h 196156 Data area 2FFFDh 2FFDDh 3 free ------ 196608 gesamter Datenbereich: 100.431.872 Bytes in 2048-Byte-Clustern New Master Boot Record: Since version 1.20, ZIPMAN automatically creates a Master Boot Record (MBR) when formatting. For three 32M-partitions, the MBR can also be manually installed with the following command: ZIPMAN /MBR Notes: - The new MBR contains the partition table, but no boot program! - All FAT-type entries (FAT12/FAT16) in the partition table are set to the same value. There could be drivers for the Zip-drive (Mac?) which read these entries and get into trouble if different FAT-types (32M/FAT12 and 32M/FAT16) are used on the same disk. Accessing partitioned disks using Iomega's driver ------------------------------------------------- Iomega's driver assigns only ONE drive letter to the Zip-drive. Therefore only the first partition can be accessed through it. You can get around this problem by replacing SCSIDRV.SYS by ASPIDISK.SYS from Adaptec. The corresponding lines in CONFIG.SYS could look like this: DEVICE = ASPIPPM1.SYS 049 FILE=ECR.ILM SPEED=10
DEVICE = ASPIDISK.SYS /D /R3
On reboot, three new drive letters will be created which correspond to the partitions of the Zip-disk. Appendix -------- Trademarks: Zip and Iomega are trademaks of Iomega Corp. Windows 95 is a trademark of Microsoft Corp. Contact: Klaus Peichl, E-Mail: pei@freenet.de WWW: http://leute.server.de/peichl/palmzip.htm