RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk FAT32/16/12 v3.0 Release 3 gets an Editor's Choice Award from FreeTrialSoft.com
RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 SoftDepia Editor's Choice Award

Technical Support


If one or more of the questions below does not reflect your requirements, please feel free to ask us at support@BestDiskRecovery.com.

Is there an example of a customer using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 and recovering his files successfully when first FAT sector of his floppy got bad?

Installing RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2

How do I know if my floppy's Boot Sector ( Sector 0 ) is bad?

How do I know if my floppy's Boot Sector ( Sector 0 ) is bad when I don't have RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2?

What can be done if my floppy's Track 0 got bad?

What to do if I get this error message "Error getting drive parameters" when running RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2?

What disk problems does RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 aim at?

Can I recover files and Folders after reformatting the disk with the command "FORMAT A: /U"?

Can I recover files using a backup of the Root Folder structure (created by some other program) which cannot be restored to disk because of disk surface damage?

What about recovering fragmented file content (fragmented parts of a file)?

Can RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, recover all files (binary and text)?

Why does TopQualityFreeware.com regard RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk as a Boot Disk utility?

Where is the Boot Sector located?

Where are File Allocation Tables located?

Where is the Root Folder located?

What are Head, Track, Cluster and Sector briefly?

What is a Track?

What is a Sector?

What are Heads or Sides?

Table showing location of Boot Sector, FAT copy 1, FAT copy 2, Root Folder, Starting Data Sector for floppies (INT 25H interpretation)

What about recovering files from damaged floppy disks on OS's supporting FAT32 file systems like WINDOWS ME, WINDOWS 2000 and WINDOWS XP?

What about FAT32?

Recovering files from reformatted Drive

Restoring a folder to its original location on disk

Is there an example of a customer using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 and recovering his files successfully when first FAT sector of his floppy got bad?

One customer asked for technical help when v2.1 was the latest one available. He stated his problem in these words:

I tried to open the 1.44 MB floppy on the PC and couldn't. I tried to open it on two more PC's.

The OS in each was different. One was win95, win 98, win 98SE. Win 95 said that

the device wasn't ready, Win 98 & SE said that the disk needed to be reformatted.
Though we know that this behavior of the OS relates to a floppy with bad Boot sector or bad first FAT sector, we recommended ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.1 FREEWARE. The customer came up with this disk error analysis:

I ran arfd.com and got these error codes:

boot sector        0-green 
fat copy 1         1-red   2345678 all green
fat copy 2         ABCDEF 10 11 12 all green
root folder        13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 all green

the only thing that was red was the "1" all else was green in this chart.

Will your RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.1 definitely recover the data (spreadsheets)

from the floppy?
This is how a bad first FAT sector (first sector in FAT copy 1) can simulate a bad Boot sector error and render a floppy disk useless under WINDOWS 95/98/98SE.

We asked the customer to buy RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.1 to recover his spreadsheets.

This was what he wrote after recovering his spreadsheets:

"I used the 2.1 software successfully. I recovered all files that were on the floppy. There were 45 spreadsheets. I don't know how you came up with this recovery software, but it worked perfectly, every file was retrieved!"

RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 can be used in the same way to recover files from floppy having damaged first FAT sector.

If finding bad sectors is not the thing for you, you can buy RECOVER Floppy Pro v1.0 to recover files from inaccessible or reformatted floppy disks.

Installing RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2

Installation of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 is as simple as unzipping the program archive into the Folder you choose. One may install it into a Folder other than "RFD". It is recommended that you keep a copy of the executable on the emergency Boot disk.


Will installation change any of my system settings or does something that I become dependent on?

No. You never become dependent on anything as no system setting is changed and no special arrangement takes place. That is, if all of a sudden your emergency Boot disk becomes unreliable, you can just find a good floppy and create another emergency Boot disk at any time and just unzip the program archive into the new disk or copy the executable only.


Can I install it into a FAT32 partition? And if I do so, will RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 run from it as well as from a FAT16 or FAT12 partition?

Yes. The installation Folder or Partition does in no way affect the functionality of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. can be used to recover files and folders (directories) from FAT16 and FAT12 partitions ONLY. (FAT12 file system includes floppies). Having FAT32 partitions in between FAT16 partitions or FAT16 partitions in between FAT32 partitions on the same hard disk drive has no detrimental effect on the functionality of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2.


During the recovery process, can the destination for recovered files be a FAT32 partition?

Yes, it can very well be.


How do I know if my floppy's Boot Sector ( Sector 0 ) is bad?

Run ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 to know if Boot Sector got physically damaged.

We use the INT 25H interpretation for sector numbers. For INT 25H, the first Sector is Sector 0 and the last Sector on disk is Sector n-1 (Total number of Sectors minus One).

Note: INT 13H interpretation, for a floppy disk, is that Sector 1 is the Boot Sector (first sector on Track 0) and there is no Sector 0, because, for INT 13H, Sectors are always numbered from 1 while Tracks and Sides are always numbered from 0.

If you run RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, and you get the error message:

Bad Boot Sector. Try again specifying Switch -SBn; n = 1 | 2 | 3 | 4.

then you know, the floppy disk's Boot Sector got damaged.

Here 1 is for 360 KB floppies, 2 for 720 KB, 3 for 1.2 MB, 4 for 1.44 MB.

If you are running RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 in a DOS box in WINDOWS, due to some monitoring by WINDOWS it takes a lot of time for the program to display the error message. Please wait till something comes up on screen.

If you want to get quick results, boot your machine into True DOS and run ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE.


How do I know if my floppy's Boot Sector ( Sector 0 ) is bad when I don't have RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2?

Please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE and run it on the floppy. A single run is enough to show bad sectors in system area of floppy disk.

If you run RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v1.4 FREEWARE on the floppy and if you get the error message "Bad Boot Sector", then you know you can get RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 to recover files from the floppy whether or not entire File Allocation Table (both copies of them) got damaged..


What can be done if my floppy's Track 0 got bad?

May be it is Sector 0 that is bad rather than entire Track 0. If you use INT 25H interpretation, Sector 0 is the Boot Sector. If you use INT 13H interpretation, Sector 1 is the Boot Sector. We use the INT 25H interpretation.

If Sector 0 alone got bad, RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 can supply a Boot Record and recover files when run with the "Supply Boot Record" command line switch.

If Track 0 really got bad it means that both Boot Sector and almost the whole of File Allocation Tables got bad. In that case, RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 can use two switches to recover files from the floppy disk supplying a Boot Record for the damaged Boot Sector and ignoring the damaged File Allocation Tables. If the floppy was defragmented in the recent past, 100% recovery is most likely.

Please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE and run it on the floppy. A single run is enough to show bad sectors in system area of floppy disk.

If you run RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v1.4 FREEWARE on the floppy and if you get the error message "Bad Boot Sector", then you know you can get RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 to recover files from the floppy whether or not entire File Allocation Table (both copies of them) got damaged.


What to do if I get this error message "Error getting drive parameters" when running RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2?

When first FAT sector of FAT copy 1 gets damaged, this is a nightmare for the OS itself, WINDOWS 95/98/98SE simply goes mad and says "Nothing is ok"; so RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 report the error as "Error getting drive parameters".

Please visit this page for a complete analysis of the problem and tutorial on recovering files from such a floppy disk.


What disk problems does RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 aim at?

RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 are for recovering files from damaged floppy disks and hard disks.

Floppy Disk Recovery:

The list below describes the various disk error conditions that can be handled by RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, for recovering files from damaged floppy disks. The way to handle each disk error condition is also clearly and briefly explained. To what extent files can be recovered is also specified.

  1. when Boot Sector of floppy disk ( Sector 0 ) got bad (unreadable)


    2. Just a command line switch makes up for the lost Boot Record in the damaged Boot Sector. 100% recovery is ensured even if the floppy disk was never defragmented.

    For the purpose of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk, we use the INT 25H interpretation for sector numbers. For INT 25H, the first Sector is Sector 0 and the last Sector on disk is Sector n-1 (total number of sectors minus One).

    Note: INT 13H interpretation, for a floppy disk, is that Sector 1 is the Boot Sector (first sector on Track 0) and there is no Sector 0, because, for INT 13H, Sectors are always numbered from 1 while Tracks and Sides are always numbered from 0.

  2. when both copies of the File Allocation Table


    3. In short, if disk defragmenter has been run on the floppy disk, any kind of damage to File Allocation Table, including complete surface damage to all sectors in both FAT copies, will not lead to anything more than a special way of recovering (rather copying) files by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. This is a superpower option that you have when you posses RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. Because no one on earth can claim he / she can do without the File Allocation Table unless he / she has RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2.

  3. when only one copy of the File Allocation Table


  4. when Root Folder


  5. when Boot Sector, File Allocation Tables, and Root Folder of floppy disk got damaged all at the same time


    6. If we assume that all got damaged in their entirety,

    1. a command line switch to make up for damaged Boot Sector,
    2. recent defragmentation of the file system on the floppy disk,
    3. and a raw image of Root Folder from backup


    together can ensure 100% recovery of all files.

    If File Allocation Tables, and Root Folder got damaged only partially, and the floppy has a bad Boot Sector

    1. a command line switch can make up for the damaged Boot Sector


    Recovery depends on extent of damage to Root Folder (when its raw image is not available from any backup) and extent of damage to FAT (if disk defragmenter was never run in the past).

 Hard Disk Recovery:

The list below describes the various disk error conditions that can be handled by RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, for recovering files from damaged hard disk drives. The way to handle each disk error condition is also clearly and briefly explained. To what extent files can be recovered is also specified.

  1. when both copies of the File Allocation Table for any Hard Disk Drive / Partition


    2. In short, if disk defragmenter has been run on the Hard Disk Drive / Partition, any kind of damage to File Allocation Table, including complete surface damage to all sectors in both FAT copies, will not lead to anything more than a special way of recovering (rather copying) files by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. This is a superpower option that you have when you posses RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. Because no one on earth can claim he / she can do without the File Allocation Table unless he / she has RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2.

  2. when only one copy of the File Allocation Table


  3. when Root Folder for any Hard Disk Drive / Partition


  4. when File Allocation Tables, and Root Folder of Hard Disk Drive / Partition got damaged together at the same time


    5. If we assume that all got damaged in their entirety,

    1. recent defragmentation of the file system on the Hard Disk Drive / Partition,
    2. and a raw image of Root Folder from backup


    together can ensure 100% recovery of all files.

    If File Allocation Tables, and Root Folder got damaged only partially,

    recovery depends on extent of damage to Root Folder (when its raw image is not available from any backup) and extent of damage to FAT (if disk defragmenter was never run in the past).
RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 are aimed at managing physical damage to or complete erasure of the File Allocation Table and / or the Root Directory (Root Folder). When it comes to floppy disks, physical damage to the Boot sector can also be handled very easily by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. But some disk problems like loss of FAT or Root Folder requires safeguards to have been provided beforehand. Hard disk data recovery and floppy disk data recovery cannot be cheaper than $20 USD which is the price of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and $15 USD which is the price of RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. These programs are more powerful as a data safeguards and recovery utility. Some firms offering data recovery services ask you to pay, say, $50 USD, if they fail to recover and say, $200 USD if they succeed in recovering all data from your floppy. By using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 one can learn to keep files and folders (directories) in such a way that one can always recover all of his / her files and save about $180 dollars. Other disk utilities may keep the user in the dark for another 5 years. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 are the choice of all working on DOS 3.1 to WINDOWS 98/98SE. If you are one waiting for the version with FAT32 support, you go for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3. If one has RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 he / she can deliberately reformat a floppy after providing for some safeguards and recover all of his / her files.


Can I recover files and Folders after reformatting the disk with the command "FORMAT A: /U"?

Sorry, no disk utility on earth can recover anything in such a case. You have to approach the Grand Grand Daddy of Data Recovery firms who can look beneath the surface and get data hiding under what was newly written on the disk by the FORMAT utility.


Can I recover files using a backup of the Root Folder structure (created by some other program) which cannot be restored to disk because of disk surface damage?

Yes. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk is the first disk utility on earth that accepts a raw image of a folder supplied as a file on command line; this is a very convenient way of bypassing hurdles created by the OS in accessing files / subfolders when Root Folder on disk got damaged physically. All good system backup programs have an option to backup the Root Folder. When the part of the disk surface that contained the Root Folder gets physically damaged, it becomes impossible to restore the backed up Root Folder back to the disk where it originally belonged. This makes accessing files / subfolders difficult. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 come up with an easy solution to the problem. All one has to do is extract the Root Folder from the backup and supply it on the command line to RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk. Now accessing files and subfolders becomes as easy as copying files surpassing the hurdles the OS itself cannot do anything about. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. have a command line option to backup / recover Root Folder or any specified folder. When the folder is backed up as a file we call it a DirEntriesFile. The DirEntriesFile contains the raw image of a the folder backed up / recovered. From RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.0, this file has a header. The raw folder structure (raw directory entries) of the folder backed up / recovered follows the header. The size of the header is 512 bytes (200h bytes). The DirEntriesFile approach reduces cumbersome data recovery chores to simple copying.


What about recovering fragmented file content (fragmented parts of a file)?

File fragmentation detail is usually stored in the File Allocation Table (two copies of them are there). When Disk Defragmenter was not run on a file system (whether FAT12, FAT16, or FAT32) for sometime, file contents tend to get fragmented. If FAT is lost at this stage, locating fragmented parts of a file is not easy. Though RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 can handle up to a thousand fragments for a file when FAT is available, RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk (both versions) recover a file only if its contents are located in contiguous disk sectors when FAT is not available. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 insist on the need for keeping all the drives defragmented regularly so that when the File Allocation Tables are lost, it is as much as nothing is lost because the contents of each of the files remain in contiguous disk sectors (that is, entire file content for each file remains in one chunk in the disk sectors located side by side). If FAT is lost at this stage, recovering files by using RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 is as simple as copying them to another drive. You have to experience it to believe it. So put some sophistication into your system by running Disk Defragmenter quite often.

Fragmented file content is what people who develop valuable data are always afraid of - until they defragment their file system, in some environments, at the end of everyday.


Can RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, recover all files (binary and text)?

Yes. For RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2, all file types are the same. No distinction is made between binary and text files. Because recovery does not depend on file type or file name extension. Any file that has its contents in contiguous disk sectors has 100% chance of recovery irrespective of its file type / file extension. If just the Boot Sector of a floppy disk is bad, contents of files on that floppy disk need not reside in contiguous disk sectors; that is, the floppy disk need not be one that was defragmented. Only when FAT has errors, the defragmentation of the disk in the recent past (before the error(s) developed) is put forth as a requirement.


Why does TopQualityFreeware.com regard RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk as a Boot Disk utility?

TopQualityFreeware.com regards RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk as the best FREEWARE data recovery utility because RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk is something that was denied to everyone for more than a decade and a half. No program shows the readability status of File Allocation Table (both copies of FAT, that is) as clearly as RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk. Not a single utility on earth shows the starting sector of files and folders except RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk. Before RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk, your files resided somewhere on the disk and the OS would always control access to them instead of you having unfettered access to your own files. From the analytical point of view and data recovery point of view, RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk is one that can be kept on the boot disk. If you want extraordinary power, keep the Root Folder of the important drive / disk on the same boot disk.

TopQualityFreeware.com has given Quality Rating 5 to RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v1.4.


Where is the Boot Sector located?

If you like INT 25H interpretation, the Boot Sector for a floppy disk is its very first Sector, that is Sector 0. On a Hard Disk Drive, Sector 0 is the Boot Sector (again INT 25H interpretation), but the Boot Sector is not the very first Sector on disk.

If you like INT 13H interpretation, the Boot Sector for a floppy disk is the first Sector ( that is, Sector 1 ) on Track 0, Side 0 near the outer edge of a floppy disk. On a Hard Disk Drive, the Boot Sector is not the first sector because Master Boot Record has to be there. Exact location of Boot Sector depends on other drive parameters.

One can always use the INT 25H interpretation and access the Boot Sector (of course, if it is readable) on a HDD by using Sector number 0 with the Load command of DEBUG.EXE.

For floppies, please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE.


Where are File Allocation Tables located?

On floppy disks, the first FAT (File Allocation Table) immediately follows the boot sector. The second FAT follows the first. For example, on a 1.44 MB floppy, if we use INT 13H interpretation, FAT copy 1 occupies sectors 2 through 0Ah on track 0, side 0 and FAT copy 2 occupies sectors 0Bh through 12h both on track 0, side 0 and sector 1 on track 0, side 1.

On a 1.2 MB floppy, if we use INT 13H interpretation, FAT copy 1 occupies sectors 2 through 8 and FAT copy 2 occupies sectors 9 through 0Fh both on track 0, side 0.

For floppies, please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE.


Where is the Root Folder located?

The Root Folder is located after the FAT copies. For instance, on a 1.2 MB floppy it starts with sector 1 on track 0, side 1; on a 1.44 MB floppy it starts with sector 2 on track 0, side 1. Remember that the first sector ( sector 1 on track 0, side 0 ) on a floppy disk is the Boot Sector. Also remember that the Root Folder is on side 1, and the Boot Sector is on side 0.

Note that (INT 13H) Sector 1 is the Boot Sector not Sector 0, because Sectors are always numbered from 1 while Tracks and Sides are always numbered from 0. This is INT 13H interpretation.

For floppies, please download ANALYZER for RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v0.3 FREEWARE.


What are Head, Track, Cluster and Sector briefly?

Head - Read/write head
Track - A sub-unit of disk surface
Sector - A sub-unit of a Track
Cluster - A cluster is an allocation unit. It consists of one Sector or a bunch of Sectors


What is a Track?

A track is a circular area of the disk surface. Tracks are circular pathways that end in themselves. Hence the alternate name Cylinders. The read/write heads of the disk drive ski in the air to get to the next sector or track. Tracks are numbered from 0. Track 0 is the first track. It is located near the outer rim of disk surface.


What is a Sector?

A sector is a small part of a track. A track gets divided in to a number of sectors. On a 1.2 MB floppy, a track is divided into 15 sectors; on a 1.44 MB floppy disk, 18 sectors. One sector of disk surface can hold 512 bytes of data. INT 13H counts Sectors from 1; the scope is a Track. Each Track starts with its own Sector 1. INT 25H counts Sectors from 0; the scope is entire floppy disk / hard disk drive / partition. RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk uses INT 25H interpretation. This is what DEBUG.EXE uses too.


What are Heads or Sides?

Heads or Sides are either the actual number of read/write heads (one disk surface [Side] needs one head) or simulated read/write heads (sides) in the case of large disks. The words head and side are used interchangeably. Heads (sides) are numbered from 0. That is, the first head is head 0.


Can you list the Boot Sector number and starting sector numbers for FAT 1, FAT 2, Root Folder, and Data for floppies?

The following table lists the Logical Starting Sector numbers for system and data areas for floppies that will be useful when running DEBUG.EXE. All numbers (excl. column 1) are in hex.

We have used here INT 25H numbering scheme for sectors. Accordingly, the Boot Sector is Sector 0. For the purpose of DEBUG.EXE, the following table uses zero based Sector numbers as does INT 25H.

Disk TypeBoot SectorFAT 1FAT 2Root FolderData
360 KB01350Ch
720 KB01470Eh
1.2 MB0180Fh1Dh
1.44 MB010Ah13h21h






By accessing these sectors in DEBUG.EXE, you can manually check if they are ok (readable). If DEBUG.EXE cannot read a sector, you know that sector got physically damaged.


What about recovering files from damaged floppy disks on OS's supporting FAT32 file systems like WINDOWS XP, WINDOWS 2000, and WINDOWS ME ?

We recommend you buy RECOVER Floppy Pro v1.0


What about FAT32?

Fragmentation of Root Folder on a FAT32 File System:

This is problem number one for all those who never defrag their FAT32 file system.

If you never run Disk Defragmenter (Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Defragmenter), even the Root Folder would get fragmented. File Allocation Table is required to locate fragmented parts of the Root Folder. If File Allocation Table is lost, instead of recovering files, one would have to recover the Root Folder first which is difficult unless you know of a disk utility that can do it and have run it at least once for the same purpose - recovering lost Root Folder fragments or recovering all files starting with entries in the fragmented Root Folder (with most fragments lost).

Never defragmenting a FAT32 file system is, in itself, inviting trouble for the future. Fragmentation of Root Folder never happens on other file systems (FAT16 / FAT12). On a 2 GB FAT16 partition, subFolders never get fragmented under normal working conditions; so there is no trouble of looking for folders first for accessing the files having entries there.

Now to Fragmentation of subFolders on a FAT32 File System:

On a FAT32 File System to avoid fragmentation of Folders without ever having to defrag the drive, no Folder should hold more than 128 files / subfolder entries. That is, 8 sectors * 16 entries per sector. If the partition is really large, it is 256 entries, that is, 16 sectors * 16 entries per sector. If the entries are long file name entries, it falls to at least half of what is stated above (64 and 128 entries respectively).

Now a FAT16 File System (a FAT16 HDD partition) looks like heaven for those who produce data / code that is as valuable as their lives.

On a FAT16 File System to avoid fragmentation of Folders, without ever having to defrag the drive, no Folder, for instance on a 2 GB drive, should hold more than 1024 files / subfolder entries. That is, 64 sectors * 16 entries per sector. Even if there are only long file name entries, one can hardly fill up one (single first allocated) cluster of Folder space under normal usage conditions. This ensures that Folders never get fragmented. To that extent defragmentation would take lesser time. Files also get 64 sectors in each cluster allocated to them. Sectors in a cluster are always contiguous. The more the number of sectors in a cluster (allocation unit), the lesser the files get fragmented. And the defragmenter gets to do a smaller job and completes faster. The lesser the defragmenter takes to defrag a drive, the more the user will use it to get his / her files and Folders defragmented. The lesser the files are fragmented, the higher the safety and availability of files / Folders at all times (including when both copies of FAT are lost). One can think of 100 percent recovery of files from an accidentally reformatted drive which had all the files and Folders defragmented. If you have the Root Folder image, just get RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2. FAT16 File System is a blessing in disguise for so many of us from programmers to those who never defrag. On a FAT16 File System files don't get fragmented every now and then and Folders never get fragmented under normal usage conditions. Defragmentation is faster.

 If one can think that disk space usage optimization is more important than optimization of safety and availability of data, sometimes source code, he / she is really having a great time enjoying life at its best. Programmers really envy that.



Systech Software answered a query on a popular forum on hardware. The query and Systech Software's reply are given below:

Help!

On my WINDOWS 95 system, my E: drive was reformatted inadvertently.

I think I kept the files there in good order. I have the backup for the Root Folder only.

Can I recover anything?

I think I need a data recovery util other than a sector level one to recover files quickly.

Can experts please reply?

Thanks.

This is our current reply.

Please buy RECOVER Floppy Pro v1.0. 100% recovery is assured if the reformatted floppy disk has only folders in the Root Folder.

This was our old reply.

Yes.

You can recover your files.

Possibilities are 100% if you have defragmented drive E: last time you updated any files there. If so it is as much as nothing has happened, because as you say you kept your files in good order, your files can be recovered without using the File Allocation Tables (which holds only zeros now). And you have Root Folder of drive E: available in a backup.

Take out the Root Folder from backup stripping off any header (use a hex editor). Raw directory structure (Folder entries) is what is needed.

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This DOS program doesn't need FAT and Root Folder on disk (works on WINDOWS 95/98 too). Supply the Root Folder in the form of a file on command line (switch -Lfilename), specify drive letter, switch -DO (directories only), switch -X, and switch -I (to ignore FAT copies which contain useless zeros).

That's it. You get all the subfolders in E:\ recovered.

When you have reached intended Folder, just remove O in switch -DO, to recover your files (and more subfolders if any).

If working from Folder to Folder is quick enough for you, now you have angels on your shoulder.

Great times!


Can I restore a folder to its precise location after I have deliberately erased it? And is it easy to train myself on doing it?

Yes and yes.

First a word of caution. Though we encourage this kind of playing, you need to be very careful. Until you can gain the confidence and keep your concentration to what you are doing, play with floppies only.

RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 can recover the Root folder or any specified folder. If you have noted down the precise location of a subfolder when you backed it up, you can use DEBUG.EXE to put the subfolder back on its original location. When it is the Root folder, pass the file you get to RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 or RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 on the command line without specifying any switches to know what the starting sector is for the Root folder on the particular partition (drive).

Putting the Root folder back on its original location

When the Root folder is backed up it is backed up in its entirety whether or not it contained file and subfolder entries to the brim. Before putting a Root folder back on its original location, you need to calculate the number of sectors originally reserved for the folder. The formula is:

(file size / 512) - 1

Here file size is that of the file involved, that is, AROOT.DIR (for drive A:), BROOT.DIR (for drive B:) or CROOT.DIR (for drive C:) and so on.

Putting a Subfolder back on its original location

Before putting a subfolder back on its original location, you need to calculate the number of sectors originally reserved for the subfolder. The formula is:

Sectors per Cluster * Number of Clusters (for the subfolder)

"Sectors per Cluster" is shown by RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v3.0 Release 3 and RECOVER Fixed/Floppy Disk v2.2 in decimal notation. Number of Clusters reserved for the subfolder is available under the column "#Clusters". You have to convert it into decimal if it is more than 9 (you know up to 9, hex and decimal notations are the same).

For the calculation you can use WINDOW's CALC.EXE (Start->Programs->Accessories->Calculator).

After getting the product of the required formula, convert the result into hex for use with DEBUG. This is the number of sectors we would request DEBUG to write.

For example, for a subfolder called FOLDER1, if "Sectors per Cluster" is 32, and "#Clusters" is 1, number of sectors for use with DEBUG is 20h (trailing h is not required by DEBUG). The file FOLDER1 in the DEBUG name command (-N) below is the backup file for that folder. It must be remembered that folders are backed up in their original names.

Now use DEBUG as follows.

If your folder had originally been on from sector 1000h, the following DEBUG commands will write the folder back on its place:

DEBUG <ENTER>
-NFOLDER1 <ENTER>
-L100 <ENTER>
-W300 3 1000 20 <ENTER>
-Q <ENTER>

The difference between 300h in W (Write command) and 100h in L (load command) is due to the header in the DirEntriesFile FOLDER1 (the common name for the file that contains the backup for any folder is DirEntriesFile). By requesting a write from byte at memory location 300h you skip the header which is 200h (512) bytes long.

In the DEBUG Write command here above, the drive number is specified as 3 which means drive D:. For drive A: the drive number is 0, for drive B: it is 1 and for drive C: it is 2. DEBUG wants a zero-based drive number.

If "Sectors per Cluster" is 64, and "#Clusters" is 1, number of sectors for use with DEBUG is 40h (trailing h is not required by DEBUG).

First try it on a floppy until you get the feeling you can do it even if a supposedly trusted guy sits beside you always quoting the wrong number!. Entering decimal numbers instead of hex might itself be disastrous. You have to be very careful.

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