AmiBack Tools and PFS3

[orange]

Would AmiBack Tools work with PFS3 on >4Gb HDD? (at least some options like 'antiseptic' that, IIRC, wipes free space)

[buzz]

No. It doesn't even support >4gb hd with ffs as I remember.

[orange]

ah, ok.
Could someone please write a trivial program that would make file full of zeros to fill HDD?

[Thomas]

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24219

[orange]

thanks, your program is quite fast, it made 1Gb file in a matter of few minutes. But there is a small problem, PFS has 2Gb max filesize limitation, so ideally I'd need program that would:
1) find amount of free space on partition
2) fill it with temp directory full of 2Gb pieces..



..argh, no, put down the chair.. :egad:




 ;-)

[Thomas]

Code: [Select]


/* rexx */

numeric digits 14 /* make it work with numbers >= 2 GB */

do i=1 to 10000

size = 2 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024   /* size in bytes (2 GB) */
file = "work:empty"||i          /* file name appended with current file number */

buffsize = 32768
buffer = left("",buffsize,'00'x)

if Open(out,file,write) then do

do while (size >= buffsize)
call WriteCh(out,buffer)
size = size - buffsize
end
if size > 0 then
call WriteCh(out,left(buffer,size))

call Close(out)
end
end


Let it run until you get a "volume xxx is full" message, then press Ctrl-C in the Shell window and click on Cancel.

Don't you think that formatting the drive would be easier than that ?

Bye,
Thomas

[Piru]

My version, with deleting of the files when it gets full. You still need to hit cancel to 'Volume xxx is full' -requester.

Code: [Select]

/* filldrive.rexx */

options results
parse arg dir
if dir = '' then do
    say 'Usage: rx filldrive.rexx <DIRECTORY>'
    exit 0
end

if ~exists(dir) then do
    say 'Directory' dir 'does not exist.'
    exit 5
end

if ~show('l', 'rexxsupport.library') then do
    if ~addlib('rexxsupport.library', 0, -30, 0) then do
        say 'rexxsupport.library required'
        exit 10
    end
end

lc = right(dir, 1)
if (lc ~= ':' & lc ~= '/') then do
    dir = dir || '/'
end
path = dir || '_fd_tempfile'

maxfill = 512 /* max fillsize in GB */
size = 2000000000
buffsize = 32768
buffer = left('', buffsize, '00'x)

say 'create fill files'
do i = 0 to maxfill/2
    say 'create' path || i

    if ~open('out', path || i, 'w') then leave

    s = size
    do while s >= buffsize
        if writech('out', buffer) < buffsize then do
            close(out)
            leave i
        end
        s = s - buffsize
    end
    if s > 0 then do
        if writech('out', left(buffer, s)) < s then do
            close(out)
            leave i
        end
    end

    close('out')
end

say 'delete files'
do i = 0 to maxfill/2
    delete(path || i)
end


[orange]

great, thank you very much both.  :-)
I don't want to format the drive, I just need it as clean as possible to be able to easily restore important (not deleted) files in case of failure. I remember using Deksid or similar tools on diskettes, salvaging files is always a nightmare especially if disk was defragmented.

[Thomas]

@orange:

Sorry for the delay, I just noticed your answer today.

What you try to achieve is not possible with PFS. PFS stores all directory data in a reserved area in the beginning of the partition and all data in the remaining space of the partition. The data portion does not contain any meta data, i.e. it is not possible to recover any files from the data portion if you lost the directory portion. (In a similar manner it is not possible to tell if files are corrupted if only the data portion has been overwritten and the directory is intact).

Now storing big files with zeroes does only wipe the data portion with no effect on later recovery actions. If you want to make recovery easier, you have to wipe the directory portion. This is not possible with DOS means, you have to access the HDD directly. For example you could create a big image file filled with zeroes and use an image program like TSGUI to write the image to the partition. Then the directory area will be wiped.

However, the same can be achieved by just formatting the drive (with standard format, not quick).

So my initial idea of "isn't it easier to just format the drive" is still and even more valid now that we know what you want to do.

Bye,
Thomas