#harddisk
12 messages in this thread
help!!!! Well it finally happened! My hard disk continues to crash and
will not let me write to it. At first i got he message, "Error Validaing
Disk dh0 key 18468 already set." This happened only minutes after I copied
arp.library to df0:libs and dh0:libs and arpexe to df0:c and dh0:. I also
installed wordperfect during this period. Naturally it would crash before
I got Backer to work (Starsoft Hard Drive Backup Utility) crashed my
machine every time I tried to use it. Now its too late. Now I am getting a
new error message: Error validaing disk dh0: key 1073492344 out of range.
Tell me, Is it all gone? If only that Starsoft utility had worked two
weeks ago! Please help me if you can.
There is a way to fix it, but you need a sector editor and a GOOD
understanding of the Amiga file structure. BAsicaly, you go to sector
18468 and look for it's parent. Then you have to find another directory
block pointing to that same block and zap the one that doesn't belong
there. (probably one of the files you just copied). To fix the other one,
you'd need to find the out of range pointer and zap that also. Again…if
you don't know what you are doing (or have a good idea anyway)…you could
do more harm than good.
Don, Can you recommend a good sector editor? Are there any good Amiga file
utilities such a pctools, norton utilities, qdos, etc? I was able to get
Backer to work, finally. Do you think I should back up all the files on the
hard disk and then reformat it or do you think I should study up on the Amiga
file structure and take my chances? I don't care what you say, I will defer to
you….
odell
Odell,
The best thing to do is first back-up the drive. Then run diskdoctor on
it. Diskdoctor will list every file on your drive as unreadable. Ignore those
messages. It will then ask you if you want to delete bad files in ?????
directory. Answer NO to all of those. (It will ask this for each dir on your
disk.) When it finnishes, your drive will re-validate and 95% of the time will
be just fine. If Diskdoctor reports a hard-error, you will have to reformat the
drive, but that probably won't happen with a key error.
Diskdoctor is not one of Amiga's better utilities but the above
proceedure
works very well with key conflicts.
Dale
Odell,
Sectorama is one of the best sector editors. i think it's in either the
'tools' or 'system software' LIB as something like SEC2.ARC
Not sure what you want for file utilities, not being familiar with Norton's,
but if you could tell us what they do, we might be able to point you at some of
the equivalents.
-larry
Odell,
Very definately back up the drive FIRST, no matter what you do. If you
can get all (or most) of your files backed up…you're way ahead to start.
As Larry mentioned, Sectorama is a very good disk sector editor, but
again…you do have to know what you're looking for and what it means.
The easiest way is to do the backup, try using DiskDoctor to see if it
will fix your drive (as Dale mentioned) and if so…fine. If not, go ahead and
'play' with sectorama after reading up on the Amiga file structure in the
AmigaDOS manual (the book from Bantam Books). You can't do any more harm than
is already done and you will have a backup.
If the above doesn't work, you'll have to reformat and then restore
what you can. Once you've got it restored, and added any files you lost, then
make another backup and then 'play' with sectorama so you can study the
filestructure in case something like this occurs in the furture.
Don
Odell,
There are two sector editors in our libraries that should help you. One,
DiskX, is by Steve Tibbetts. Steve is around here a lot, and you could
probably get help using that one. The other is SECTORAMA. Both are god, but
they are not quite the same in the way you use them.
The KEY you are reading about is the sector number. On a floppy, that key has
to be between 0 and 1759. Your hard disk will have many more.
When you got the "Key 18468 already set" message, it meant that sector 18468
was being used by another file. In other words – you had two different
programs claiming that sector, hence two files had gotten intermingled.
Some people have restored hard drives with DISKDOCTOR, but I'd keep that as a
last resort.
One thing you could do is to find out which program is using the bad sector.
Then, with SECTORAMA, find out thehash value of that program. It will be a
number between 6 and 78. Then, count the longwords from the beginning of the
directory to the one you need, and replace the number in that longword with
zeros. That will lose the file that is in trouble, but will save the rest of
your disk. Should this file not bethe first in the hash chain, it will also
lose the whole chain, so be aware of what you are getting into.
This is pretty complicated, and I really would not recommend it if there is any
other way!! (But it can be done.)
Betty
Betty: thanks! I am going to go for it. Wish me luck. I will let you know
how it goes. On second thought, I think I'll wait unti the week end when I'm
not so tired. I'll keep you posted.
thanks, odell
Odell,
In addition to what Betty said, there is a file (in 'system software' LIB I
think) that explains the file system quite nicely. It even gives examples of
using Sectorama. Oh, and with Sectorama, when you select the 'hash' function,
it will ask you for the name, then highlight the entry it calculates.,
-larry
Good luck, Odell. BTW, if you do zero out a file name, first jot down the
number you replace. Then, if you see you did something wrong, just edit some
more and put them right back. It will only get you back to the same place –
but it lets you have a second chance.
Betty
Betty: Thanks for your guidance. I will back up everything first then play
with sectorama. I down loaded it as you suggested, also diskx. After examining
sectorama and diskx, I decided to try diskdoctor first. I understand it a
little better. If it doesn't work I will just reformat and retore. thanks for
you help. I am really impressed with the concern and suggestions I got from my
fellow ami friends. Thanks again!
Odell