README.TXT

Program:  FSCK.EXE

Version:  1.0C

Author:  Andreas M. Rosenberg
	 andy@rosen-berg.de

Description:  file system check utility for FAT16 and FAT12 (floppy)

Compiler:  Borland Turbo C++ 5.0 (Program is written in C)
           (also compiles with 3.1 or even less)

Licensing:  Licensed under the GNU GPL Version 2.
            For more information, please see the web page at:
            http://www.fsf.org/ or the included file GPL.TXT

Warranties:  This program does not have any warranties, either stated or
	     implied.  By using this program, you are assuming full
	     responsibility for the outcome of the program's execution.

Operating systems this program is known to work under:
	 MS-DOS 6.22 (probably any DOS version > 3.3)
	 MS-Windows 95 (all 4 versions)
	 MS-Windows 98 2nd Edition
	 FreeDOS

Operating systems this program will not work under:
	 MS-Windows NT 4.0 - NT prohibits BIOS based disk access
         OS/2 - same as NT


Usage: FSCK [drive:] [option]
 OPTION: -sr show root sector info  
             Shows a list of all partitions (but primary and logical) - experts only
             
         -sb show boot sector info
             Shows important values of the boot sector - experts only

         -sd show dir info
             Walks through your directory tree without using DOS functions
             (hardly usefull - I made this an option, because it it part of
             the internal routines)

         -sf show fat info
             Shows a graphical map with the free and occupied areas of your disk.
             This may give you an indication about the fragmentation of your disk

         -cd check directories
             Examines the directory entries. If you have accessed a drive with 
             Win9x or WinNt, you may receive messages: "Reserved area not empty for
             xxxxxx.xxx". This is normal, because some parts of the extended
             filenames may be stored there. If you have a badly corrupted file
             system this check may encounter files containing illegal characters.
             
         -cf check fat
             This is the default option, if nothing else specified.
             The most usefull test. It looks for lost and crosslinked clusters.
             This may happen, if your computer crashes or reboots while a file
             has not been completely written. The file has ususally a size of 
             zero, but there is already space marked used. FSCK can free this
             used space with the additional option "-f". 
             
         -b  backup MBR&BOOT sector
             Another usefull function. You can backup the partition table and
             the boot sector of your disk. If one of these sector is lost or
             corrupted (a main target for viruses) your entire disk is 
             inaccessable. If you have this backup, your chances to recover the
             contents of the disk are increased. A file named "FSCK_BAK.BIN"
             is being created in the current directory.

         -r  restore MBR&BOOT sector
             Restores MBR and BOOT sector from the file created by the above 
             function. DON'T MIX UP FILES FROM DIFFERENT DRIVES. You should 
             reboot your computer after writing the sectors.


END of README