Copyright 1991-1997 by Symantec CorporationNDDc.o;o' F F :5How to use Help hyperlink' ] Norton Disk Doctor Index$''_!How Disk Doctor Works/,,"Norton Disk Doctor (Main Screen)+Select the Drive to Diagnose66gQuit Disk Doctor&SS$Monitor Drive Diagnosis% Summary Screen())&Norton Disk Doctor Report )Undo Changes"..+ Disk Doctor Options#L1 Surface Test Options$ss6 Surface Test Disk Map!uuX9&Set Custom Message'?#Automatic Repair Options  lE1General OptionsbbNSave NDD Options.O&When the Doctor Finds a Problem  W Found Undo File'YFree Cluster Count Error"\Open files on drive`partitionaFATblost clusters==NdCMOS //eCompressed Drives  iFAT32 Partitions Each tool of the Norton Utilities has context-sensitive help, available at a touch of the ^BF1^n key. Whenever you are using a dialog box and you want instructions on how to proceed, press ^BF1^n. When you've got a menu pulled down, you can move the highlight to any item and press ^BF1^n for help on that item. When you are first getting familiar with a tool, you will find it helpful to select the ^b[Index]^n button at the bottom of any help screen. It displays a list of topics, at least one of which provides background and introductory material. ^hHyperlinks^h are highlighted phrases in a help topic that transfer you to another topic. Select the ^b[Go To]^n button (just press ^bG^n) or double-click the hyperlink text. Select the ^b[Go Back]^n button (just press ^bB^n) to return to the original topic. When more than one hyperlink is on a screen, press ^bTab^n or ^bShift^n+^bTab^n to move among them. With the Keyboard With a Mouse ^BTo access help:^n  Press F1  Press F1 for context- sensitive help ^BTo exit help:^n  Press Esc or select  Click [Cancel] [Cancel] or press C ^BTo select a help topic:^n  Select [Index] or press I  Click [Index]  Press Tab or Shift+Tab to  Double-click the topic highlight a topic  Select [Go To] or press G ^BTo scroll through a topic:^n  Use  and  or press  Drag the slide on the Home End PgUp PgDn scroll bar or click the arrows at top and bottom ^BTo select a button:^n  Press the accented letter  Click the button in the button or use  and  to highlight button and press Enter ^BTo expand a hyperlink:^n  Press Tab or Shift+Tab  Double-click the hyperlink to highlight text in text contrasting color or  Click [Go Back] to return intensity  Select [Go To] or press G  Select [Go Back] or press B to return You're in the expanded topic. If you become hyperactive and get lost, select ^B[Index]^n. Or, press ^bEsc^n to exit the help system. To return to the previous topic, select ^B[Go Back]^n (press B). Do it now.      ^BAbout^B ^h How Disk Doctor Works ^h ^h Compressed Drives ^h ^h FAT32 Partitions ^h ^BCommands^B ^h Diagnose Disk ^h Test the integrity of a disk. ^h Surface Test ^h Test the surface of a disk. ^h Undo Changes ^h Undo Norton Disk Doctor changes. ^h Options ^h Set Norton Disk Doctor options. ^h Quit Disk Doctor ^h Exit Norton Disk Doctor. ^BHelp^B ^h How to use Help ^h Norton Disk Doctor runs numerous tests to determine the health of your disk and warns you if it finds problems. You are given the option of correcting them. The tests and corrections are performed automatically, so you need not have any fear even if the way a computer works is a complete mystery to you. For extra safety, you can even undo any changes the Disk Doctor has performed. Norton Disk Doctor also examines the disk for physical defects and generates a report about your disk. If testing is interrupted, you can print the report on what happened so far. Use the Disk Doctor to diagnose your disk for a variety of possible disk problems: * If you have trouble accessing a disk * If you notice problems when you try to run applications * If files or directories seem to be missing but were never deleted * If your computer does not start and you suspect problems with the boot disk or partition The ^hNorton Disk Doctor^h main screen, which appears when you first start the program, lets you set Disk Doctor to work. ^bTip:^b Practice preventive maintenance by running Norton Disk Doctor daily. Make sure the following line appears in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file: ^BNDD /Q^B With this, a quick test of your hard disk will be run every time you start your computer. Norton Disk Doctor (NDD) automatically diagnoses and repairs damaged disks. It runs numerous tests to determine the integrity of all parts of a disk. When it finds a problem, it tells you about it and fixes it (at your option). It prints a detailed report about your disk and all problems found and all measures taken to correct them. In this screen, you are given five options. Use ^B^B and ^B^B to highlight an option and press ^BEnter^B to select it. ^bDiagnose Disk^b: Select this first. You will be prompted to select one or more of your drives and then Norton Disk Doctor will begin its comprehensive diagnosis. If Norton Disk Doctor finds an error, you can choose to fix the problem or leave it alone. ^BSurface Test^B: This test verifies the readability of disk sectors and is usually run automatically after Diagnose Disk. If you are having trouble with elusive read errors, you can jump straight to the surface test. ^bUndo Changes^b: When Norton Disk Doctor fixes a problem, it can save the original data of anything it changes (it creates an "undo" file, typically on a different disk). You will use this only option if you want to change a disk back to its previous condition before Norton Disk Doctor changed the disk. ^bOptions^b: This button lets you preselect surface-testing options, skip certain tests (some take a long time or may not be compatible with your system), and create a custom message to be displayed when Norton Disk Doctor finds a problem. ^bQuit Disk Doctor^b: Select this when you have finished using Norton Disk Doctor. This dialog box lets you pick which drives you want Norton Disk Doctor to diagnose and repair. ^BTo pick a single drive:^B * Use ^B^B and ^B^B to highlight the drive name and then press ^BEnter^B. Testing will begin immediately. ^BTo pick two or more drives:^B * Use ^B^B and ^B^B to highlight a drive and press ^BSpacebar^B to mark it for diagnosis. A check mark is displayed by each drive you have selected. * Press ^BEnter^B to begin diagnosing the first disk that's tagged with a checkmark. When Disk Doctor is finished with that disk, it begins on the next. With a mouse, click on any drive you want tested and then select the [Diagnose] button. Select this command to exit (or just press ^bEsc^b). 6 2 Norton Disk Doctor displays its actions as it diagnoses your disk. If all goes well, you need do nothing while the screen is displayed. If NDD discovers a problem, it describes that problem, recommends an action, and lets you choose to have the problem fixed or leave it in place. ^BIt is always best to let the^B ^BDoctor fix your disk.^B All changes can be undone, so even in the rare case where the Doctor slips a stitch, you can easily get back to the original state. ^bAnalyzing Boot Record^b tests the readability and contents of the very first sector on the diskette (or hard disk ^hpartition^h). This sector contains the DOS start-up program and important information about the disk. ^bAnalyzing File Allocation Tables^b tests the readability and verifies the authenticity of both copies of the ^hFAT^h. ^bAnalyzing Directory Structure^b looks at each directory on the disk to make sure it is readable and is, in fact, a directory. This also makes sure that the special directory entries ^b.^b and ^b..^b really link to self and parent. ^bAnalyzing File Structure^b checks each file entry in each directory, looking for oddities and invalid entries. ^bAnalyzing Lost Clusters^b makes sure that each entry in each directory correctly links into the FAT, that each FAT chain is unbroken, that each chain is owned by a single file, and that no ^hlost clusters^h exist. ^bAnalyzing Compression Structures^b is performed if you're using a compressed drive, which is really a special file on your hard drive. If this file is damaged, you may not be able to access data on your compressed drive. This screen summarizes the test results and problems found for the selected disk. Select ^b[Report...]^b (just press Enter) for detailed information on the disk and problems found. If any problems came up, it is wise to print a report for future reference. Select ^b[Done]^b (or just press ^BEsc^B) to skip the report and get back to the opening screen. If you previously specified to diagnose more than one disk, the analysis for the next disk will begin immediately. The Disk Doctor report is a scrolling list of text describing the disk and documenting the test results. Use ^B^B and ^B^B and ^BPgDn^B '0PgUp^B to examine the report on screen. Select ^b[Done]^b or press ^BEsc^B when you are finished reviewing the report. Select ^b[Print]^b to send the text directly to your printer. Select ^b[Save As...]^b if you wish to save the report as a text file. You are prompted for a filename and the text is saved so you can review it or print it out later. ^bWarning:^b Don't save the report to a damaged disk! Before Norton Disk Doctor fixes your disk, it first asks if you want to create an ^BUndo File^B. If you do, a file named ^BNDDUNDO.DAT^B is saved in the root directory of a drive you specify. When you choose Undo Changes, the undo file is located and its contents are used to reverse any changes made by Norton Disk Doctor in its most recent session. ^BWarning:^B Do not use Undo Changes if you have performed ^bany file-writing operations^b (such as copy, move, or erase) on the target disk since the time the Undo file was created by Norton Disk Doctor. Use this option only in the ^Brare case^B that a correction made by Norton Disk Doctor did not provide satisfactory results and you wish to fix the disk manually.     Use ^B^B and ^B^B to highlight a button and press ^BEnter^B to bring up that dialog box. Press ^BEsc^B to return to the NDD main screen. ^h General ^h Lets you customize testing so that you can benefit from Norton Disk Doctor even if parts of your system are not entirely compatible with existing standards, or specify whether to run the Surface Test as part of regular testing. ^h Surface Test ^h Lets you set options to shorten or prolong the most time- consuming of the tests made by the Doctor. It also lets you set up for weekly "deep" testing when you use Norton Disk Doctor on a daily basis. ^h Custom Message ^h Designed for use by PC coordinators and MIS personnel so novice users aren't intimidated by any of the technical messages displayed when Norton Disk Doctor discovers a problem. When activated, a non-technical operator can't make corrections to any disk. ^h Auto-Repair ^h Lets you set the repair action for each type of error that Norton Disk Doctor finds. You'll need to set these if you want to run tests unattended. ^h Save ^h Lets you save the settings of any options you have selected. After saving, these settings will be the defaults each time you run NDD. Alternatively, select ^b[OK]^b so any changed options will apply to the current session only. Use ^BTab^B to move from group to group and press ^BSpacebar^B to select one option in each group. Press ^BEnter^B to accept the settings or ^BEsc^B to cancel. These options pertain to the often time-consuming tests Norton Disk Doctor makes to verify the readability of disk sectors. ^b What to Test ^B  ^BEntire Disk Area^B verifies all parts of the disk.  ^BArea Used by Files^B is faster, but it verifies only those parts of the disk which are currently in use by files or directories. ^b Type of Test ^B  ^BNormal Test^B is a "quick scan" of the disk that checks data on each track, but does not actually verify each and every sector.  ^BThorough^B performs a comprehensive read of every sector, but it takes two to three times longer than the Normal test.  ^BThorough Test only on Fridays^B is a great compromise. When Disk Doctor is run on any Friday (as reported by the system clock), the Thorough test type is performed. On other days of the week, the quick-scan Normal test is used. ^b Passes ^B  ^BRepetitions [...]^B lets you specify how many times NDD should perform the surface test. Move the cursor to the text box and type a number from 0 to 999.  ^BContinuous^B keeps repeating the test until you stop it by pressing ^BEsc^B. You might use these options to flush out an intermittent bad sector, which might not show up without repeated testing. While the Doctor is performing surface diagnosis, this screen monitors the progress. Press ^BEsc^B at any time to pause the test (and, optionally, cancel the rest of the test). In the disk map, each block, such as , represents a portion of the disk (a ^bLegend^b on the screen identifies the different characters). The actual amount of data represented by a block varies, depending upon the size of the disk. The blocks in a bold color (such as ^b^b) have already been tested. The ^BEstimated^B time is a "best guess." It moves around a bit at first, but settles down when some of the guesswork is removed from the guess. &This unique and very useful feature lets MIS directors and PC coordinators restrict non-technical users from making corrections with Norton Disk Doctor. You can disable all modifications to critical system areas and you can have the Doctor display a custom message instructing the user in how to proceed. To enable this feature (and disable error corrections): * Check the ^B[ ] Prompt with Custom Message^b check box. * Press Tab to move into the message box, and type your custom message. For instance, you might type: Press F2 to change text Contact Cam in attribute. PC Wetware Services Extension 1123 Current attribute is ^bBold^b. ^bDO NOT USE THIS COMPUTER^b ^buntil this problem has^b (this changes as you press ^BF2^B) ^bbeen resolved!_^b You can dress up your message with certain color attributes: Normal, Bold, Reverse, and Underline. Just press ^BF2^B to cycle through the choices before typing the text. Finally, press Tab to move to the ^b[OK]^b button and press Enter. Remember to select ^hSave^h in the Disk Doctor Options dialog. ^bTip:^b If you want to see what your message will look like in action, just diagnose a floppy disk in a diskette drive and open the drive door during the system diagnosis. This feature does not affect the action during the surface scan testing, but you can disable corrections there using the ^hGeneral^h options dialog box (and save your setup). # Use ^b^b and ^b^b to choose a test, then press ^bSpacebar^b to select a repair option. For each test that Norton Disk Doctor runs, you can set the repair action. ^bPrompt^b This is the normal setting which lets you decide how to proceed with each error when detected. ^BDon't Repair^B If you're only running diagnostics, Norton Disk Doctor will just report the error. ^bAuto^b If you intend to let Norton Disk Doctor run unattended (such as overnight or with numerous repetitions to track elusive surface errors), select Auto. This lets Norton Disk Doctor repair errors as it finds them and resume immediately. The diagnosis report will list all errors found. ^bWhen auto-repairing directory structures:^b If you select the Auto option for the Directory Structure tests, you can specify what to do with lost clusters. In most cases, reclaimed lost clusters contain nothing of value. If you decide to save them, they appear in the root directory as files with names like FILE0001._DD. Examine them to make sure they have no value, then delete them. In addition, you can have Norton Disk Doctor prompt you to create an Undo file. The Undo file can be used to restore your disk to the way it was before Norton Disk Doctor repaired it. However, if you intend to perform unattended repairs, you should not have Norton Disk Doctor prompt you to create an ^hUndo file^h. 1Press ^BSpacebar^b to select a surface test option. Then, use ^BTab^B to move from check box to check box. Press ^BSpacebar^B to toggle an option on or off. Select ^B[OK]^B (or press ^BEnter^B) when satisfied with your settings or ^BEsc^B to cancel. ^bSurface Test^b The first group of option buttons let you determine if the surface test is automatically performed. By default, you are prompted before the test is run. As the test can take some time, you may want to disable it as part of regular testing. When disabled, Norton Disk Doctor tests only the system areas of any disk, so be sure to explicitly run a surface test occasionally. The next group of check boxes let you disable specific tests. Only disable tests if Norton Disk Doctor has problems with your computer, either because it is a non-standard system or it's an older system that doesn't accurately report a component. ^B[ ] Skip Partition Tests^B tells Norton Disk Doctor not to perform its early test on the ^hhard disk partition^h table. Disk Doctor recognizes all standard partitioning setups, but this lets you skip the tests if you have an incompatible system. ^B[ ] Skip CMOS Tests^B tells Norton Disk Doctor not to perform its early verification of the ^hCMOS^h configuration settings in this computer. This is needed only if your computer uses a non-standard format for its CMOS configuration record. ^B[ ] Skip Compression Test^b tells Norton Disk Doctor not to verify the integrity of a compressed drive. You may want to skip this to save some time if you also use the test utility that came with you compressed drive software. But use something! ^B[ ] Skip Host Drive Test^b causes Norton Disk Doctor to test only the compressed drive, not the host (or uncompressed) drive on which it resides. ^B[ ] Only 1 Hard Disk^B causes Norton Disk Doctor to test only the first hard disk on your system. This overrides the rare case where a system reports two physical hard drives when only one is actually installed. ^B[ ] Drives to exclude^b is a list of drive letters that you don't want tested. You can also exclude specific drives by using the command-line option: ^bNDD /X:d...^B If you want these settings to become the defaults, remember to choose ^hSave^h in the Disk Doctor Options dialog. This option immediately saves all option settings you have specified through the ^bNorton Disk Doctor Options^b dialog and its sub-dialogs. All saved options become the default for the current session and subsequent sessions with the Doctor. Of course, you can override default option settings for one session by selecting options without saving them. - $ When NDD encounters a disk problem, it normally presents a dialog such as: ^bError on Drive B:^b Error reading a sector in the FAT ^bDescription^b The File Allocation Table (FAT) has a physical error. There are 2 copies of the FAT, therefore you have a spare, BUT if both go bad, you could lose files. BACK UP OFTEN! ^bRecommendation^b Correct this situation ONLY if you are unable to access drive B: properly. Do you wish to correct this problem? [ Yes ] [ No ] [ Cancel ] Read the ^bDescription^b and ^bRecommendation^b carefully. In most cases the correct action is to fix the problem (select ^b[Yes]^b), but you can forego the correction by selecting ^B[No]^B or cancel the rest of the testing by pressing ^BEsc^B or selecting ^B[Cancel]^B. The Doctor may ask if you want to create an ^hUndo Information^h file and where to save it. It is always best to hedge your bets by creating the Undo file. You'll need a formatted floppy disk to store the Undo file. ^bNote^b: If a ^hCustom Message^h has been enabled via the Options dialog, the message will be different and the user will have only one choiceto "Cancel." The Doctor has located an Undo file on the chosen disk. ^BWarning:^B Examine the ^bdate and time^b shown in the dialog. If it does not match your expectations, do not proceed with the undo operation. If you've made any changes to your disk since the Undo file was created, don't use it. The Undo file contains ALL CORRECTIONS made to ALL DISKS during the specified session. You cannot selectively undo a single change or pick a single disk. Select ^b[Yes]^b to proceed with the undo or press ^BEsc^B to cancel. Norton Disk Doctor has found an error in the free cluster count. Windows may incorrectly report the free space on this drive due to an incorrect free cluster count as recorded in the boot record. This commonly occurs when your computer is powered down abruptly without first shutting down Windows. Windows stores information about the number of free clusters on FAT32 partitions in the boot record and modifies that number as disk usage changes. When you power down your computer without shutting down Windows, this data may not get updated. Norton Disk Doctor fixes this problem by setting the free cluster count to the correct value. Select ^b[Yes]^b to correct the problem, ^b[No]^b to skip this problem, or ^b[Cancel]^b to exit Norton Disk Doctor. When files are open, it is very likely that Norton Disk Doctor will report errors that don't really exist. In this situation we recommend you skip testing on the drive, and then find out why files are open. For example, some TSRs and DOS Shell programs keep files open at all times. For best results, you should exit to the DOS prompt, unload all TSRs, and try running Norton Disk Doctor again. For the technically inclined... When files are opened, certain "bookkeeping" information is copied from disk into memory. As new data is added on the end of a file, only the bookkeeping information in memory gets updated. The disk is not updated until the file is closed. Norton Disk Doctor can only diagnose problems using information stored on the disk. When the information on disk is no longer current with the information kept in memory, Disk Doctor reports an error, usually Lost Clusters. This "error" does not really exist -- everything will be okay as soon as the files are closed. Each hard disk contains a Partition Table at the beginning of the disk. It describes how the drive has been divided, or "partitioned," into one or more drives, and how the drives are set up for access by one or more disk operating systems. The FAT (File Allocation Table) is a table of information in the system area of each disk. It identifies the use of each cluster on the disk as free, belonging to a file, or bad (unusable). A cluster is the basic storage allocation unit for files. Files are written to disk in pieces called clusters, which are the basic storage allocation units for files. Lost clusters contain valid data but cannot be linked up with any known file. However, lost clusters ^Busually^B contain nothing of value. They may occur, for example, because an application was not exited gracefully: You turned off the power without properly quitting and the application had files open. Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS): A battery-powered chip in 80286 (and more advanced) computers that preserves basic data about the system's hardware. System setup information is stored in this CMOS memory so it will be preserved while power is turned off. 8088-based PC XTs do not have this feature. Norton Disk Doctor also diagnoses and repairs compressed drives. Compressed drives work by storing a large hidden file in the root directory of an uncompressed DOS disk, called the ^bhost^b ^bdrive^b. When testing compressed drives, Norton Disk Doctor makes two passes. The first pass tests the host drive (or uncompressed drive), the second pass tests the compressed drive. For each pass, Norton Disk Doctor prompts you to run a surface test. On the host drive, the surface test verifies the physical disk media. On the compressed drive, the surface test checks the integrity of the compressed drive. When testing a compressed drive, don't worry if Norton Disk Doctor reports different results than the utility software supplied with your compression program. Sometimes, the same error is merely reported differently. For example, one may use a sector number where the other uses a cluster number. At other times, there may be real differences. For example, Norton Disk Doctor can fix "partially erased" files, but other disk repair utilities may not check for them. Norton Disk Doctor also diagnoses and repairs FAT 32 partitions. FAT32 is a new, more robust, more flexible file system from Microsoft that supports very large hard drives and uses disk space more efficiently (especially on large disks). The File Allocation Table (FAT) file system was originally created to store data on floppy disks (FAT12), and was later changed to allow it to handle data on fixed disks such as hard disks (FAT16). However, the FAT16 file system cannot support today's extremely large hard disks--anything over 2 gigabytes in siz--so FAT32 was created to support these larger hard drives (up to 2 terabytes) and to provide more efficient use of disk space. Disk space is allocated in clusters. That means that even if a file is smaller than a cluster, it still takes up a whole cluster, wasting any leftover space in the cluster. Or, suppose a file is large enough to fill 3-1/2 clusters--the file will still be allocated four entire clusters. Since FAT32 drives use a smaller cluster size, typically FAT32 drives have less wasted (slack) space on the drive. In addition, FAT32 systems can relocate the root directory and use the backup copy of the FAT instead of the default copy. Also, the boot record on FAT32 drives now backs up critical data, meaning that FAT32 drives are less likely to fail. Since the root directory on a FAT32 drive is just a cluster chain (instead of being a physical area on the disk), it can contain more entries than a FAT16 drive (up to 65,536) and it can be located anywhere on the drive.