www.pudn.com > fips15.zip > readme.1st
This is FIPS v1.5 FIPS is a program for non-destructive splitting of harddisk partitions. IMPORTANT: Please _carefully_ read the file FIPS.DOC for instructions on the use of FIPS. FIPS is _not_ self documenting. I urge you to read at least sections 2, 5, 7 and 8. In case of problems read 4, 9 and 10 and the file FIPS.FAQ. Muto Toshihisa has been so kind as to translate the docs into japanese. They are available in Japan from NIFTY-Serve as FPCUPRO LIB1 #463. Japanese users will hopefully know what this means. One frequent problem people encounter is that their defragmentation program leaves unmovable sectors at the end of the partition. It is addressed in detail in FIPS.DOC. Other frequently asked questions are answered in the file FIPS.FAQ. If you use OS/2, a disk driver like OnTrack Disk Manager or a disk com- pressor like Stacker, please read the relevant sections in the file SPECIAL.DOC. The changes from previous version are listed in the file HISTORY.TXT. The latest version is available from my FIPS WWW page at http://www.student.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/~schaefer/fips.html FIPS has been out for about two years by now. It has been used by many people on the Internet successfully. No serious bugs have been reported. Nevertheless one can never be sure one hundred percent. FIPS reads and writes the essential harddisk sectors, so an undiscovered bug may still corrupt your harddisk. Use at your own risk! If you want to make sure not to lose any data, make a complete backup before using it (in this case you at least save yourself the time needed for re- storing if it works). However, every effort has been made to provide a maximum of safety. When there is anything suspicious with the hard disk, the program will typically exit with an error message, even if DOS doesn't complain. If an error occurs, an error message is displayed together with a short explanation. If you don't know what to make of it, read FIPS.DOC and FIPS.FAQ. If you still can't resolve the problem, make a transcript of your session using the -d switch and send it to me at schaefer@rbg.informatik. th-darmstadt.de. I usually try to answer within two or three days. Please understand that the support for FIPS takes a considerable amount of time, so that it may happen that I put back some of the harder problems and then forget about them. In this case it may help to send another mail. If you want to know how FIPS works, read the file TECHINFO.TXT. If you have additions or corrections to make, please let me know. FIPS is free under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL). See the file COPYING. You may freely redistribute FIPS under the condition that you include all of the files listed below without changes. If you modify it, you must follow the conditions of the GPL. I hold the copyright of FIPS. If you want to use parts of the source code in your programs, you may do so under the conditions of the GPL. Of course I would like to hear about it. If you want to use the code in a program that is not covered by the GPL (shareware or commercial), I will probably agree also, but you must ask me first. You should have received the following files in this archive: CALCULAT.CPP - calculation of the new root-/bootsector CHECK.CPP - checking of the root-/bootsector CMDL_ARG.CPP - evaluation of commandline arguments DISK_IO.CPP - low level disk io FAT.CPP - some operations on the FAT GLOBAL.CPP - global procedures HDSTRUCT.CPP - harddisk specific code FIPSSPEC.CPP - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes INPUT.CPP - User input LOGDR_ST.CPP - operations on logical drive MAIN.CPP - main() SAVE.CPP - saving root- and bootsector HOST_OS.CPP - OS detection DISK_IO.H - low level disk io classes FAT.H - FAT classes GLOBAL.H - global definitions HDSTRUCT.H - harddisk specific classes FIPSSPEC.H - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes INPUT.H - user input prototypes LOGDR_ST.H - logical drive classes TYPES.H - global type definitions HOST_OS.H - The class host_os PRIMPART.H - class for primary partitions GETOPT.C - Simple UNIX getopt clone for commandline parsing GETOPT.H - prototypes etc. for for GETOPT.C VERSION.H - FIPS version RTYPES.H - type definitions for RESTORRB RESTORRB.C - a program that restores root and boot sector RVERSION.H - RESTORRB version FIPS.EXE - the executable of FIPS RESTORRB.EXE - the executable of RESTORRB COPYING - the GNU general public license README.1ST - this file FIPS.DOC - the documentation of FIPS SPECIAL.DOC - special topics: OS/2, Stacker, OnTrack Disk Manager FIPS.FAQ - some frequently asked questions with answers TECHINFO.TXT - technical info on FIPS ERRORS.TXT - a brief explanation of FIPS' error messages HISTORY.TXT - the revision history If you lack any of these files, try to get the original archive. If you can't find it, contact me. Arno Schaefer schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de