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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:FUNYET::ANDERSON
Created:Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1433
Total number of notes:10312

188.0. "SECTOR.PRG .nes. NOVICE" by KERNEL::FLOWERS (Hero of the Green Screen...) Mon Aug 08 1988 11:45

    
    	Hello All,
    
    		Tis me again and this time I am wondering if I should
    	stay away from computers!!!!
    		Could anybody give me any pointers on where I can find
    	out about how the Atari writes to disk ( sectors, FAT's etc.)?
    	Also what is the most versatile disk hacking?? program that
    	is currently available??? Ideally it should be able for me to
    	specify sectors and extract them to another disk as a file...
    		The reason I ask is that just recently I have been playing
    	with a sector editor and trashed two disks (luckily there was
     	nothing important on them) and the only way I could use them
   	was to re-format. That in itself was not too bad, however in
    	a late hacking session last night I managed (don't ask me how
    	it is too embarrassing) to delete the FAT off of my system disk.
    		I really would like to get the files back as it contained
    	many useful things I had picked up along the way.
    
    	Thank for any assistance,
    
    	Jason.
    	
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188.1But of hope, but thats allTEA::PETERSDon Peters, CTS1-2/H6, 287-3742Mon Aug 08 1988 13:0510
    When you say you deleted the FAT, can you be more specific? For
    example, there are, I think, two copies of the FAT. One is located
    on sectors 1 thru 5, and the other on sectors 6 thru 10. So one
    can serve as a backup for the other. But, sectors 11 thru 10 also
    hold disk pointer info, and that's not backed up.
    
    I suppose with some effort you could reconstruct text files since
    you could tell by the verbal context how to arrange the sectors
    of text. But it would be pretty hopeless for any other type of file.
    
188.2The truth!!KERNEL::FLOWERSHero of the Green Screen...Mon Aug 08 1988 13:3211
    
    Ok here is some more (embarrasing!) info.  I was checking out a
    prog that I had aquired (public domain) that allowed you instead
    of deleting all files on a disk or re-formatting just wiped out
    the FAT ('s?) so it LOOKED like the disk was empty.
    	I have scanned the disk and can pick up most of the text files
    using a sector editor but I have nothing (do not know how) to extract
    sectors as files.
    
    Desperate,
    		Jason.
188.3BAGELS::BRANNONDave BrannonMon Aug 08 1988 23:3013
    
    is the duplicate FAT destroyed?
    
    One possibility not mentioned so far.... There are programs for
    the ibmpc that can recover lost files, the ST uses the same format
    for disks (with minor differences).  Maybe something like the Norton
    Utilities has a program to recover the text files?  That might
    even run under pc-ditto.  You might ask in NAC::IBMPC for pointers
    to any public domain programs that will do that (If there is source code
    you might be able to port it to the ST)
    
    -Dave
    
188.4Undelete for the STMILRAT::WALLACETue Aug 09 1988 15:4510
    Since Jeff gave a pointer to his PD files in 9.3 a reckon he won't
    mind if I point you there.  You may be interested in:
    		PRNSYS::DUA1:[LOMICKAJ.HOBBY.ST]UNDELETE.DOC
       				-- and --	
       		PRNSYS::DUA1:[LOMICKAJ.HOBBY.ST]UNDELETE.PRG
    The .DOC file explains a bit about FATs, DIRs, and how files are
    delete and recovered, you might find some usefull information in
    there even if you don't run the program.
    
    	Ray