Disk ID software

From: Iggy Drougge <optimus_at_canit.se>
Date: Fri Nov 2 17:42:38 2001

XenoSoft skrev:

>On 2 Nov 2001, Iggy Drougge wrote:
>> Haven't you ever ended up with a disk which you don't know what it might
>> contain. For all intents and purposes, it might contain the VAX/MIPS
>> sources.
>> =)
>> So what do you do? Plug it into every computer where it would fit? That
>> could become quite tiresome. So, to get to the point, is there any software
>> out there which might identify what OS or filesystem is on a disk? It
>> really shouldn't be too difficult, just a matter of identifying some
>> hundred partition tables, MBRs, RDBs or boot blocks, right?

>1) check for FM / MFM / GCR recording on the first side. You now know
>density.

Oh, I was thinking of hard drives. Doing it on floppies would require
something akin to a Catweasel, or at least a more capable controller than that
of the PC, which for example will never read Commodore formats.

[snip]

>That's a start. There are LOTS of further weirdities, many of which are
>OS specific (such as an MS-DOS format where the Directory is NOT on track
>0), or Various "Stand-alone BASIC" formats that have differing concepts of
>disk center.

It would suffice to recognise the disk format, actually reading it is better
left to the proper OS/DOSDriver/computer.

--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6a.
Fernsehen ist das einzige Schlafmittel, das mit den Augen genommen wird.
--- Vittorio de Sica
Received on Fri Nov 02 2001 - 17:42:38 GMT

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