----------------------------------------------------------------- STACKER NOTE STACKER NOTE USING DISK REPAIR UTILITIES ON STACKER DRIVES (Applies to All Stacker Versions) STAC FAX 31408 (01/13/94) ----------------------------------------------------------------- BACKGROUND When an application exits improperly, a damaged file, such as a temporary swap file or a document, may be left behind. This damaged file is present whether or not Stacker is on your system. You can use multipurpose disk repair utilities such as Norton Disk Doctor or PC Tools Diskfix to fix most file system problems. If you don't have a disk repair utility, you can use CHKDSK instead, but its repair capabilities are limited. NOTE: The Stacker utility CHECK is referenced throughout this document. If you use a version of Stacker prior to 3.0, use SCHECK instead of CHECK. SOLUTION First, run CHECK Run the disk repair utility DOS issues unrelated to Stacker First, run CHECK 1. Type CHECK /F and press . 2. When CHECK prompts you to repair the drive, type yes and press . NOTE: If CHECK reports IOCTL ACCESS DENIED ERROR #27, see StacFax #3702 3. If CHECK reports damaged files, it will prompt you to "delete the damaged files listed above so that all the errors may be corrected?" read StacFax #2701. Run a disk repair utility Start your disk repair utility and follow its instructions. Remember, if you're using CHKDSK, you have to specify the /F switch to correct errors: CHKDSK /F . NOTE: SCANDISK is a disk repair utility included with MS-DOS 6.2. When you run CHKDSK, it'll urge you to run SCANDISK instead. It's perfectly safe to run SCANDISK on a Stacker drive, but if it reports a bad cluster or a read error or a decompression error, it won't be able to fix it. Run CHECK /F instead and allow it to perform a disk surface test. DOS issues unrelated to Stacker The following DOS errors and conventions are not widely publicized, and due to their relative obscurity, they are sometimes mistaken for Stacker errors. However, they are not compression-related and can occur whether or not Stacker is on your system. Consult your DOS user's guide or disk repair utility's documentation for details on correcting these DOS errors. CONVERTING LOST CHAINS TO FILES. Files consist of smaller units called clusters that DOS "chains" together. The starting cluster "points" to the second cluster, the second to the third, and so on. If a file chain is broken, all of the clusters past the break become "lost chains." If you convert lost chains to files using a disk repair utility, you'll wind up with one file for each lost chain. Unless you are an expert at data recovery, you probably won't be able to piece the chains together. If you don't convert lost chains to files, the disk repair utility reclaims them as free space. CROSSLINKED ENTRIES are files or directories which incorrectly share the same space on the disk. Most disk repair utilities correct this problem, but CHKDSK can't. If you don't have a disk repair utility, you have to delete the crosslinked files manually. INVALID SUB-DIRECTORY ENTRIES represent corrupted directory structures. Most disk repair utilities correct this problem, but CHKDSK usually can't. If you don't have a disk repair utility, you have to remove or delete the invalid sub- directory entires manually. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1994 Stac Electronics