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DM Universal Edition User Manual
Source: collected from the Internet
There are still many experiences and tricks in using the DM Universal Edition waiting to be explored. We hope all netizens and users will write them down and send them to us, so your article can be recognized by the broad community in the practical articles section, and let more friends benefit from it.
After typing DM you will enter the DM interface. If your hard disk is not IBM, a red box may appear; just ignore it and press ENTER. After that the main menu will appear:
Easy Disk Installation
Advanced Disk Installation
Upgrade Disk Manager
Maintenance Options
View/Print Online Manual
Exit Disk Manager
If your hard disk is not large, or if you only want one partition, choose Easy Disk Installation. Then the system will let you choose the physical hard disk to partition, then whether to format the partition as FAT32, and finally DM will automatically format the hard disk (at this time DM will ask you to insert a system boot floppy so it can copy IO.SYS;MSDOS.SYS;COMMAND.COM to the hard disk so the hard disk can boot by itself). Finally just restart.
Advanced Disk Installation is the option for advanced partition setup. After selecting it, the system first lets you choose the physical hard disk to partition and whether to format it as FAT32. After that, the submenu has 3 options. The first 2 are allocated by the system automatically; generally we choose the third option, Define your own. Then enter the capacity of each partition one by one. After that, choose YES for all the prompts that appear (during this process the system will prompt you to insert the system boot disk). Finally just restart.
The function of Upgrade Disk Manager is to modify and upgrade the hard disk driver ONTRACKD.SYS in DM according to the physical parameters of your hard disk, and when your hard disk (IBM only) is larger than 8.4G and the motherboard BIOS cannot recognize it, install the driver onto the hard disk so the system can recognize hard disks larger than 8.4G.
There are many options in Maintenance Options.
The first can create a system emergency boot disk.
The second loads and unloads the dynamic recognition program (the one that lets the system recognize hard disks larger than 8.4G).
The third is for backing up and restoring the hard disk master boot record.
The fourth and fifth load and unload some related drivers.
The sixth performs some tests on the hard disk (note: some tests in there will erase all files on the hard disk, so do not test casually!!!).
The seventh displays hard disk information.
The eighth converts partition formats. The last returns to the main menu.
View/Print Online Manual mainly contains some help information and jumper setting diagrams for master/slave settings of common hard disks. If you're interested, you can read it slowly.
Exit Disk Manager means exit DM; surely you can understand even this English.
Detailed Explanation of Using the DM Universal Edition
By/Wang Jinzhu Zhang Shijun
I. About the “Universal Edition”
DM is a long-established hard disk management tool developed by ONTRACK. In actual use it is mainly used for hard disk initialization, such as low-level formatting, partitioning, high-level formatting, and system installation. Because of its powerful functions and extremely fast installation speed, it has been favored by users. But because hard disks of various brands all have their own special internal formats, DM software developed for different hard disks is not interchangeable, which has caused inconvenience for users. The DM Universal Edition completely removes this limitation. It allows IBM's DM software to be used with hard disks from any manufacturer. For users who like this software, this is undoubtedly something gratifying.
The DM Universal Edition consists of two parts. One part is the original IBM-DM software, and the other part is a companion program specially developed for this software, DM.COM (DM Partner). That is to say, the DM Universal Edition is actually DM with the companion program, also called DM&P (Disk Manager&Partner). If you have IBM-DM software (it must be version 9.43), you only need to copy in the companion program DM.COM.
II. Main functions
1. It provides two installation modes, easy and advanced, to meet the various needs of different users. The easy mode is suitable for beginner users, while the advanced mode is mainly designed for advanced users.
2. It fully supports the FAT32 file system, can format a drive larger than 2GB in one partition, and when using advanced installation mode, allows changing the hard disk cluster size.
3. It breaks the 8.4GB limit. When installing an IDE/ATA drive larger than 8.4GB, you can use either multiple FAT12/16 partitions or a single bootable FAT32 file system partition.
4. The hard disk diagnostic functions provided can help you locate interrelated problems in the hard disk subsystem.
5. It is compatible with multiple operating systems, including DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.x/95/98, and Windows NT.
6. It supports IDE power management.
7. It supports multi-sector read/write on IDE/ATA drives, speeding up data transfer.
8. It quickly formats IDE/ATA/SCSI drives. In the vast majority of cases, complete installation of a drive takes no more than 1 minute.
9. It supports high-speed data transfer for enhanced IDE/Fast ATA.
10. The low-level format program it provides is much more advanced than many BIOS-supplied Low Level Format programs, and can even bring some hard disks with problems on track 0 back to life.
III. Installation and running
1. Installation
Users can download this software from www.newhua.com.cn After extracting the downloaded archive, you will get two programs, IBM-DM.EXE and DM.COM. When using them, first extract IBM-DM.EXE (just double-click the file in Windows9x), and when prompted to insert a floppy disk, insert it as requested. After completion, copy DM.COM to the floppy disk and installation is complete.
2. Running
Although DM can run from a hard disk, in actual use it is more common to run it from a floppy disk, since it is mainly used for hard disk initialization operations. In addition, you should prepare a boot disk, or simply make the DM installation disk into a boot disk.
The software provides two operation modes, easy and advanced.
If you want to start in easy mode, please enter: DM（Enter）
If you want to start in advanced mode, please enter: DM /M（Enter）
If you want to get the software's other command-line switches, please enter DM /?（Enter）
The switches are explained as follows:
/B Display system BIOS information, if there are display problems.
/C Force monochrome display on a color monitor.
/D=X Drive search limit (X=1-16).
/F Disable quick format.
/G Disable opening graphics display mode.
/H Call online help.
/L=X Load dynamic drive overlay option (X=0-2).
/M Manual operation mode (advanced users only!).
/N Use BIOS standard format (non-DOS compatible format).
/O Ignore all extended INT13H hard disk BIOS calls.
/P- Disable Fast ATA hardware detection.
/S Disable second controller support.
/T,/T- INT 13H extended support.
/V=X Dynamic drive overlay flag option (detailed) (X=0-2).
/U Force use of available ATA/IDE transfer mode.
/X Do not load XBIOS.
/Y,/Y- Request/disable dynamic drive configuration.
3. Notes
Repartitioning and formatting will erase all data on the hard disk! Low-level formatting will cause damage to the hard disk, so unless absolutely necessary, do not low-level format the hard disk. If necessary, please back up important data to avoid unnecessary loss.
IV. Easy mode (automatic mode)
First boot the computer with a boot disk. After that, execute: DM（Enter）
Press Enter twice to enter the software main menu, as shown in Figure 1: 〖Note: figure omitted〗
The main menu has 6 options. When the highlight bar moves to an option, a corresponding quick explanation will be displayed on the right, making it convenient for users.
1. Easy Disk Installation (easy disk installation)
Using easy disk installation, DM will automatically install the entire hard disk capacity as one partition. It cannot be changed manually. The whole operation process is very simple; you only need to answer a few questions according to the prompts.
Choose Easy Disk Installation and press Enter. DM will automatically find the installed hard disk and display a hard disk list. If correct, choose Yes; otherwise choose No. Here choose Yes, press Enter twice, and the next dialog box will prompt you whether to use the FAT32 file system (note: this dialog box only appears when the computer is booted with a boot disk that supports FAT32 partitions. If the system is booted with a DOS 6.x disk, this prompt will not appear. But if the hard disk capacity exceeds 8.4GB, an operating system selection dialog will appear, asking you to choose the operating system to install. If you choose to install DOS 6.x, it will also prompt you to install the support file Ontrackd.sys. You must choose Yes so as to access the full capacity of the hard disk. The same applies in the following advanced installation, and will not be repeated). The next dialog box prompts that DM has detected a partition on the current hard disk. If you continue, the data on the hard disk will be lost. Press Alt+C to continue; any other key cancels. After pressing Alt+C, the dialog box that appears displays relevant information about the current hard disk, and reminds you once again that if you continue, all data on the hard disk will be deleted. Choose Yes to continue, and DM will quick-format the hard disk. A little later, it will prompt you to insert the boot disk. After inserting it, press any key, and DM starts copying the system. After completion, the dialog box that appears prompts that the hard disk has been successfully installed. Press any key to continue. The next dialog box prompts that if you intend to install DOS and Windows 3.1x and want to install Ontrack's enhanced 32-bit access driver, then after DOS and Windows 3.1x are installed, run DM again, choose Windows 3.1x Driver Options from Maintenance Option, and then execute Install Drivers. Press any key to continue, and the Disk Manager Status dialog box will appear, indicating that hard disk installation has been successfully completed. Remove the disk and restart by pressing Reset or Ctrl+Alt+Del, then follow the prompts. At this point, hard disk installation is complete.
2. Advanced Disk Installation (advanced hard disk installation)
The advanced installation here does not refer to the advanced mode discussed below. In advanced installation, users can define hard disk partition sizes themselves, making it more flexible than easy installation.
Select Advanced Disk Installaion in the main menu and press Enter. Select the hard disk, then choose Yes. The following dialog box prompts whether to use the FAT32 file system. After choosing, press Enter twice again, and the dialog box shown in Figure 2 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
This dialog box provides 3 partition choices. Among them, Option(A) and Option(B) are partition sizes predefined by DM according to the current hard disk. If you want to define partition sizes yourself, choose Option(C). Here, choose Option(C), move the highlight bar to Option(C) Define your own, and press Enter. The dialog box that appears displays the current hard disk's maximum partition capacity, which can be changed. Press Enter after entering each value. After completion, the dialog box shown in Figure 3 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
In this dialog box, you can see information such as the type of each partition, the number of cylinders, heads, sectors, and so on. You can also delete, recreate, or change partition sizes. For example, if you want to delete an extended partition, move the highlight bar to that partition, press the Del key, and when prompted, press Alt+D to delete it. If you want to recreate partitions, press N, which will delete all partitions already created. If inserting a partition, move the highlight bar to a blank position and press Ins. At this time the hard disk must have unpartitioned space. If you want to modify a logical partition in the extended partition, press Tab to return. If there is no problem, move the highlight bar to Save and Continue and press Enter. In the dialog box that appears, press Alt+C again. The following dialog box prompts whether to use quick format. If the hard disk hardware is in good condition, it is best to choose Yes, which will reduce installation time; otherwise choose No to perform a full check of the hard disk. After choosing, when the dialog box prompting deletion of hard disk data appears, choose Yes again to begin processing. When prompted to insert the system disk, insert it as required, then press Enter to start formatting each partition and copying the system. After completion, restart, and the installation is complete.
Upgrade Disk Manager (update DM)
Automatically updates DM and all support drivers from Ontrack. After selecting it, press Enter, then choose Yes in the dialog box that appears to start updating. After completion, exit DM for the update to take effect.
4. Maintenance Options (maintenance options)
After selecting it, press Enter to bring up the Maintenance Menu. This maintenance menu has 9 options. The explanations are as follows:
Create Ontrack Boot Diskette Create an Ontrack boot diskette. When the hard disk fails to boot, after booting the computer with this diskette, large hard disks can be recognized. It has 2 options: Make this diskette an Ontrack Boot Diskette (copy DDO files to the floppy disk; the floppy disk must be a boot disk) and Copy this diskette (if you already have an Ontrack boot diskette, you can use this option to copy it directly).
Dynamic Drive Overlay Options Dynamic drive overlay options. This dynamic driver lets old machines recognize large hard disks, hereafter referred to as DDO. It has 2 options: Update Dynamic Drive Overlay (update DDO) and Remote Dynamic Drive Overlay (delete DDO from the specified drive).
Master Boot Options Master boot record options, used to update the system master boot record and restore it when the master boot record has been damaged by a virus or other program. It has 2 options: Write MBR Root Code (update the master boot record) and Restore MBR with Backup Copy (restore the master boot record from backup).
Windows 3.1x Driver Options Windows 3.1x driver options, for installing and removing the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver. This driver can only be installed after Windows 3.1x has been installed. It has 2 options: Install Drivers (install the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver ONTRACKW.386) and Remove Drivers (remove the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver ONTRACKW.386).
ONTRACKD.SYS Driver Options Install, update, and remove the ONTRACKD.SYS driver so that DOS and Windows 3.1x can access hard disks larger than 8.4GB. It has 2 options: Install ONTRACKD.SYS Driver (install and update the ONTRACKD.SYS driver) and Remove ONTRACKD.SYS Driver (remove the ONTRACKD.SYS driver from the system).
Hard Disk Diagnostics Hard disk diagnostics, including tests for a single drive and tests for master/slave drives. It has 3 options: Individual Drive Tests (single drive test), Master/Slave Drive Tests (test data transfer between master/slave drives), and Change to Through Test Mode (change test mode; there are two kinds, quick and integrity. Quick testing only takes 1 minute, while integrity testing takes 1 hour. You can choose according to the hard disk's condition).
Display Drive Information Display detailed hard disk information.
Convert Drive Format Convert the drive format to Ontrack drive format.
Return to previous menu Return to the previous menu.
5. View/Print Online Manaual View/print online help.
6. Exit Disk Manager Exit DM.
V. Advanced mode
Execute: DM /M（Enter）
After startup, press Enter twice, and the dialog box shown in Figure 4 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
This dialog box has 7 options. When the highlight bar moves to an option, a corresponding quick explanation is displayed on the right for convenient use.
1. Edit/View Partitions (edit/view disk partitions)
This option is used to view existing partition information on the disk, create new partitions, and edit existing partitions. After selecting it, press Enter, and a disk list dialog box appears. After selecting a disk, press Enter. In the dialog box that appears, choose whether to use FAT32 partitions. After selecting, the following dialog box is exactly the same as Figure 3 in the advanced hard disk installation of easy mode〖Note: figure omitted〗. Here users can delete existing partitions, create new partitions, and change partition sizes. The difference is that if there are multiple partitions of different types on the hard disk, you can also change the boot partition here. Just move the highlight bar to that partition and press function key B. Of course, an extended partition cannot be set as a boot partition. In addition, when creating a new partition, for example after pressing N or Ins, a Select Partition Type dialog box will appear. If the machine was booted with a Windows 95/98 disk that supports FAT32, there are 4 choices: DOS-FAT32, DOS-FAT12/16, EXTENDED, OTHER. If the machine was booted with a DOS disk, then there are only the last 3 options, and FAT32 partitions cannot be created at that time. When OTHER is selected, it requires entering the partition type. For example, entering 2 creates a XENIX partition, 99 a UNIX partition, and 100 a NETWARE/286 partition. After the partition has been created, move the highlight bar to Save and Continue and press Enter to save and return to the main menu.
2. Format/Check Partitions (format/check disk partitions)
This option is used to format partitions or check partition errors. Created partitions should be formatted here. After pressing Enter, select a disk and press Enter. The Select a Format Option dialog appears, with 3 options:
Format All Partitions (format all DOS partitions)
After selecting it, press Enter. When the dialog box appears warning that formatting will erase all data on the disk, choose Yes. Then the next dialog box asks whether to use quick format; here choose Yes. The following dialog box is used to change the partition cluster size. In the Select Cluster Size box, the default value marked with “*” can be changed to other values using the cursor keys. After selecting it, press Enter. After that, it will prompt you to insert the system disk. Insert it as required, then it will start formatting partitions and copying system files. After writing is complete, press Esc to return. At this point, hard disk installation is complete. You can exit DM, restart the computer, and try the result.
Format a Single Partition (format a single DOS partition)
This option lets you select a partition to format. The operation process is the same as formatting all partitions, except that it will prompt you to enter the partition volume label.
Check a Single Partition (check any formatted DOS partition)
This option is used to perform an integrity check on a formatted partition.
3. Maintenance Options (maintenance options)
Basically the same as the maintenance options in easy mode, except that there is one more option in the maintenance menu: Utilities (utilities), used for hard disk zero-fill operations and low-level formatting. Move the highlight bar to Utilities and press Enter, select a disk, then press Enter again. A Select Utility Option dialog box appears. This dialog box has 2 options:
Zero Fill Drive Write zeros to a sector of the hard disk; this will erase all data on the hard disk.
Low Level Format Hard disk low-level format. After selecting it, press Alt+C in the dialog box that appears to start low-level formatting of the hard disk.
4. CMOS Options (CMOS options)
Used to automatically or manually change the CMOS disk type. After selecting it, press Enter and in the dialog box that appears, choose the disk to change. Press Enter, and in the Enter CMOS drive type dialog box that appears, enter the CMOS hard disk type. After entering it, press Enter to return. Move the highlight bar to Update CMOS and Continue and press Enter. When prompted to update, restart by pressing Reset or Ctrl+Alt+Del. Note that if the CMOS hard disk type is changed improperly, it will cause the computer to fail to boot. If possible, settings should be made in the system BIOS.
5. View/Print Online Manaual (view/print online help)
6. ALT-A Go to Automatic Mode (press ALT-A to enter automatic mode, that is, easy mode)
7. Exit Disk Manager (exit DM)
VI. Other functions
1. Quick switching between easy mode and advanced mode
As we know, DM has two operation modes: one is easy mode prepared for beginner users, and the other is advanced mode. Usually these two modes can be specified at startup using command-line switches. But advanced users may want to switch between easy mode and advanced mode at any time, and it would be very inconvenient to repeat the command-line method every time. The hotkey Alt-M lets you enter advanced mode at any time from the easy mode main menu, while in the advanced mode main menu you can use the hotkey Alt-A to return to easy mode, which is very convenient.
2. Hotkeys for advanced system options
There is a system options menu in DM, whose menu items are as follows:
Disk Overview Hard disk drive overview. It can provide the drive model, the maximum number of sectors that can be read/written per interrupt, the size of the hard disk's internal buffer, the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the start and end addresses of each partition, the controller type, and the transfer mode.
System Setup Menu System setup menu, with the following 3 options: CMOS setup and configration (CMOS hard disk parameter setup), Replace BIOS Parameters (replace hard disk parameters in the BIOS), and Use BIOS Parameters (use hard disk parameters in the BIOS).
Machine Information Computer information.
XBIOS Information XBIOS information.
Chipset Information Disk controller chipset information.
Image System Area to File Back up the hard disk system image to a file, including the master partition table, partition boot record, FAT table, directory, and so on.
Dm Universal Edition User Manual
All of the above information is very useful for advanced users, but it does not appear on the main menu, nor can it be called from the command line. Users can call up the above advanced system options from the main menu using the hotkey Alt-T.
VII. Related notes
1. If DM does not find the installed hard disk, it may be caused by improper hard disk installation. Please check whether the hard disk cable, CMOS parameter settings, and hard disk jumpers are correct. When installing a large hard disk on some old machines such as a 486, some BIOSes may be unable to set the correct disk type, such as Phoenix BIOS. In that case, as long as you correctly enter the number of heads and sectors of the hard disk, installation can proceed smoothly.
2. To create a FAT32 partition, the computer must be booted with a Windows 95/98 disk that supports the FAT32 file system, and the partition size must not be less than 540MB. If you boot with a DOS disk, then FAT32 partitions cannot be created, and no similar prompt will appear. This is the same regardless of installation mode.
3. When the hard disk capacity is 8.4GB and the installed operating system is DOS/Windows 3.1x/Windows 95/95OSR1, since these operating systems cannot directly access hard disks larger than 8.4GB, DM will prompt you to install the support program Ontrack.sys so the operating system can access the full capacity of the hard disk.
4. For some old hard disks, such as ST506, when performing hard disk low-level formatting, the interleave factor can be modified, but IDE hard disks do not support this function.
5. For ease of description, the operations in this article are based on a Windows 95/98 boot disk that supports the FAT32 file system and an 8.4GB hard disk. Because of differences in hard disk capacity (meaning below and above 8.4GB) and differences in the installed operating system (such as whether it supports the FAT32 file system), the prompt dialog boxes that DM displays may differ somewhat, so please take note.
DM Universal Edition User Manual
Source: collected from the Internet
There are still many experiences and tricks in using the DM Universal Edition waiting to be explored. We hope all netizens and users will write them down and send them to us, so your article can be recognized by the broad community in the practical articles section, and let more friends benefit from it.
After typing DM you will enter the DM interface. If your hard disk is not IBM, a red box may appear; just ignore it and press ENTER. After that the main menu will appear:
Easy Disk Installation
Advanced Disk Installation
Upgrade Disk Manager
Maintenance Options
View/Print Online Manual
Exit Disk Manager
If your hard disk is not large, or if you only want one partition, choose Easy Disk Installation. Then the system will let you choose the physical hard disk to partition, then whether to format the partition as FAT32, and finally DM will automatically format the hard disk (at this time DM will ask you to insert a system boot floppy so it can copy IO.SYS;MSDOS.SYS;COMMAND.COM to the hard disk so the hard disk can boot by itself). Finally just restart.
Advanced Disk Installation is the option for advanced partition setup. After selecting it, the system first lets you choose the physical hard disk to partition and whether to format it as FAT32. After that, the submenu has 3 options. The first 2 are allocated by the system automatically; generally we choose the third option, Define your own. Then enter the capacity of each partition one by one. After that, choose YES for all the prompts that appear (during this process the system will prompt you to insert the system boot disk). Finally just restart.
The function of Upgrade Disk Manager is to modify and upgrade the hard disk driver ONTRACKD.SYS in DM according to the physical parameters of your hard disk, and when your hard disk (IBM only) is larger than 8.4G and the motherboard BIOS cannot recognize it, install the driver onto the hard disk so the system can recognize hard disks larger than 8.4G.
There are many options in Maintenance Options.
The first can create a system emergency boot disk.
The second loads and unloads the dynamic recognition program (the one that lets the system recognize hard disks larger than 8.4G).
The third is for backing up and restoring the hard disk master boot record.
The fourth and fifth load and unload some related drivers.
The sixth performs some tests on the hard disk (note: some tests in there will erase all files on the hard disk, so do not test casually!!!).
The seventh displays hard disk information.
The eighth converts partition formats. The last returns to the main menu.
View/Print Online Manual mainly contains some help information and jumper setting diagrams for master/slave settings of common hard disks. If you're interested, you can read it slowly.
Exit Disk Manager means exit DM; surely you can understand even this English.
Detailed Explanation of Using the DM Universal Edition
By/Wang Jinzhu Zhang Shijun
I. About the “Universal Edition”
DM is a long-established hard disk management tool developed by ONTRACK. In actual use it is mainly used for hard disk initialization, such as low-level formatting, partitioning, high-level formatting, and system installation. Because of its powerful functions and extremely fast installation speed, it has been favored by users. But because hard disks of various brands all have their own special internal formats, DM software developed for different hard disks is not interchangeable, which has caused inconvenience for users. The DM Universal Edition completely removes this limitation. It allows IBM's DM software to be used with hard disks from any manufacturer. For users who like this software, this is undoubtedly something gratifying.
The DM Universal Edition consists of two parts. One part is the original IBM-DM software, and the other part is a companion program specially developed for this software, DM.COM (DM Partner). That is to say, the DM Universal Edition is actually DM with the companion program, also called DM&P (Disk Manager&Partner). If you have IBM-DM software (it must be version 9.43), you only need to copy in the companion program DM.COM.
II. Main functions
1. It provides two installation modes, easy and advanced, to meet the various needs of different users. The easy mode is suitable for beginner users, while the advanced mode is mainly designed for advanced users.
2. It fully supports the FAT32 file system, can format a drive larger than 2GB in one partition, and when using advanced installation mode, allows changing the hard disk cluster size.
3. It breaks the 8.4GB limit. When installing an IDE/ATA drive larger than 8.4GB, you can use either multiple FAT12/16 partitions or a single bootable FAT32 file system partition.
4. The hard disk diagnostic functions provided can help you locate interrelated problems in the hard disk subsystem.
5. It is compatible with multiple operating systems, including DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.x/95/98, and Windows NT.
6. It supports IDE power management.
7. It supports multi-sector read/write on IDE/ATA drives, speeding up data transfer.
8. It quickly formats IDE/ATA/SCSI drives. In the vast majority of cases, complete installation of a drive takes no more than 1 minute.
9. It supports high-speed data transfer for enhanced IDE/Fast ATA.
10. The low-level format program it provides is much more advanced than many BIOS-supplied Low Level Format programs, and can even bring some hard disks with problems on track 0 back to life.
III. Installation and running
1. Installation
Users can download this software from www.newhua.com.cn After extracting the downloaded archive, you will get two programs, IBM-DM.EXE and DM.COM. When using them, first extract IBM-DM.EXE (just double-click the file in Windows9x), and when prompted to insert a floppy disk, insert it as requested. After completion, copy DM.COM to the floppy disk and installation is complete.
2. Running
Although DM can run from a hard disk, in actual use it is more common to run it from a floppy disk, since it is mainly used for hard disk initialization operations. In addition, you should prepare a boot disk, or simply make the DM installation disk into a boot disk.
The software provides two operation modes, easy and advanced.
If you want to start in easy mode, please enter: DM（Enter）
If you want to start in advanced mode, please enter: DM /M（Enter）
If you want to get the software's other command-line switches, please enter DM /?（Enter）
The switches are explained as follows:
/B Display system BIOS information, if there are display problems.
/C Force monochrome display on a color monitor.
/D=X Drive search limit (X=1-16).
/F Disable quick format.
/G Disable opening graphics display mode.
/H Call online help.
/L=X Load dynamic drive overlay option (X=0-2).
/M Manual operation mode (advanced users only!).
/N Use BIOS standard format (non-DOS compatible format).
/O Ignore all extended INT13H hard disk BIOS calls.
/P- Disable Fast ATA hardware detection.
/S Disable second controller support.
/T,/T- INT 13H extended support.
/V=X Dynamic drive overlay flag option (detailed) (X=0-2).
/U Force use of available ATA/IDE transfer mode.
/X Do not load XBIOS.
/Y,/Y- Request/disable dynamic drive configuration.
3. Notes
Repartitioning and formatting will erase all data on the hard disk! Low-level formatting will cause damage to the hard disk, so unless absolutely necessary, do not low-level format the hard disk. If necessary, please back up important data to avoid unnecessary loss.
IV. Easy mode (automatic mode)
First boot the computer with a boot disk. After that, execute: DM（Enter）
Press Enter twice to enter the software main menu, as shown in Figure 1: 〖Note: figure omitted〗
The main menu has 6 options. When the highlight bar moves to an option, a corresponding quick explanation will be displayed on the right, making it convenient for users.
1. Easy Disk Installation (easy disk installation)
Using easy disk installation, DM will automatically install the entire hard disk capacity as one partition. It cannot be changed manually. The whole operation process is very simple; you only need to answer a few questions according to the prompts.
Choose Easy Disk Installation and press Enter. DM will automatically find the installed hard disk and display a hard disk list. If correct, choose Yes; otherwise choose No. Here choose Yes, press Enter twice, and the next dialog box will prompt you whether to use the FAT32 file system (note: this dialog box only appears when the computer is booted with a boot disk that supports FAT32 partitions. If the system is booted with a DOS 6.x disk, this prompt will not appear. But if the hard disk capacity exceeds 8.4GB, an operating system selection dialog will appear, asking you to choose the operating system to install. If you choose to install DOS 6.x, it will also prompt you to install the support file Ontrackd.sys. You must choose Yes so as to access the full capacity of the hard disk. The same applies in the following advanced installation, and will not be repeated). The next dialog box prompts that DM has detected a partition on the current hard disk. If you continue, the data on the hard disk will be lost. Press Alt+C to continue; any other key cancels. After pressing Alt+C, the dialog box that appears displays relevant information about the current hard disk, and reminds you once again that if you continue, all data on the hard disk will be deleted. Choose Yes to continue, and DM will quick-format the hard disk. A little later, it will prompt you to insert the boot disk. After inserting it, press any key, and DM starts copying the system. After completion, the dialog box that appears prompts that the hard disk has been successfully installed. Press any key to continue. The next dialog box prompts that if you intend to install DOS and Windows 3.1x and want to install Ontrack's enhanced 32-bit access driver, then after DOS and Windows 3.1x are installed, run DM again, choose Windows 3.1x Driver Options from Maintenance Option, and then execute Install Drivers. Press any key to continue, and the Disk Manager Status dialog box will appear, indicating that hard disk installation has been successfully completed. Remove the disk and restart by pressing Reset or Ctrl+Alt+Del, then follow the prompts. At this point, hard disk installation is complete.
2. Advanced Disk Installation (advanced hard disk installation)
The advanced installation here does not refer to the advanced mode discussed below. In advanced installation, users can define hard disk partition sizes themselves, making it more flexible than easy installation.
Select Advanced Disk Installaion in the main menu and press Enter. Select the hard disk, then choose Yes. The following dialog box prompts whether to use the FAT32 file system. After choosing, press Enter twice again, and the dialog box shown in Figure 2 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
This dialog box provides 3 partition choices. Among them, Option(A) and Option(B) are partition sizes predefined by DM according to the current hard disk. If you want to define partition sizes yourself, choose Option(C). Here, choose Option(C), move the highlight bar to Option(C) Define your own, and press Enter. The dialog box that appears displays the current hard disk's maximum partition capacity, which can be changed. Press Enter after entering each value. After completion, the dialog box shown in Figure 3 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
In this dialog box, you can see information such as the type of each partition, the number of cylinders, heads, sectors, and so on. You can also delete, recreate, or change partition sizes. For example, if you want to delete an extended partition, move the highlight bar to that partition, press the Del key, and when prompted, press Alt+D to delete it. If you want to recreate partitions, press N, which will delete all partitions already created. If inserting a partition, move the highlight bar to a blank position and press Ins. At this time the hard disk must have unpartitioned space. If you want to modify a logical partition in the extended partition, press Tab to return. If there is no problem, move the highlight bar to Save and Continue and press Enter. In the dialog box that appears, press Alt+C again. The following dialog box prompts whether to use quick format. If the hard disk hardware is in good condition, it is best to choose Yes, which will reduce installation time; otherwise choose No to perform a full check of the hard disk. After choosing, when the dialog box prompting deletion of hard disk data appears, choose Yes again to begin processing. When prompted to insert the system disk, insert it as required, then press Enter to start formatting each partition and copying the system. After completion, restart, and the installation is complete.
Upgrade Disk Manager (update DM)
Automatically updates DM and all support drivers from Ontrack. After selecting it, press Enter, then choose Yes in the dialog box that appears to start updating. After completion, exit DM for the update to take effect.
4. Maintenance Options (maintenance options)
After selecting it, press Enter to bring up the Maintenance Menu. This maintenance menu has 9 options. The explanations are as follows:
Create Ontrack Boot Diskette Create an Ontrack boot diskette. When the hard disk fails to boot, after booting the computer with this diskette, large hard disks can be recognized. It has 2 options: Make this diskette an Ontrack Boot Diskette (copy DDO files to the floppy disk; the floppy disk must be a boot disk) and Copy this diskette (if you already have an Ontrack boot diskette, you can use this option to copy it directly).
Dynamic Drive Overlay Options Dynamic drive overlay options. This dynamic driver lets old machines recognize large hard disks, hereafter referred to as DDO. It has 2 options: Update Dynamic Drive Overlay (update DDO) and Remote Dynamic Drive Overlay (delete DDO from the specified drive).
Master Boot Options Master boot record options, used to update the system master boot record and restore it when the master boot record has been damaged by a virus or other program. It has 2 options: Write MBR Root Code (update the master boot record) and Restore MBR with Backup Copy (restore the master boot record from backup).
Windows 3.1x Driver Options Windows 3.1x driver options, for installing and removing the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver. This driver can only be installed after Windows 3.1x has been installed. It has 2 options: Install Drivers (install the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver ONTRACKW.386) and Remove Drivers (remove the enhanced 32-bit disk access driver ONTRACKW.386).
ONTRACKD.SYS Driver Options Install, update, and remove the ONTRACKD.SYS driver so that DOS and Windows 3.1x can access hard disks larger than 8.4GB. It has 2 options: Install ONTRACKD.SYS Driver (install and update the ONTRACKD.SYS driver) and Remove ONTRACKD.SYS Driver (remove the ONTRACKD.SYS driver from the system).
Hard Disk Diagnostics Hard disk diagnostics, including tests for a single drive and tests for master/slave drives. It has 3 options: Individual Drive Tests (single drive test), Master/Slave Drive Tests (test data transfer between master/slave drives), and Change to Through Test Mode (change test mode; there are two kinds, quick and integrity. Quick testing only takes 1 minute, while integrity testing takes 1 hour. You can choose according to the hard disk's condition).
Display Drive Information Display detailed hard disk information.
Convert Drive Format Convert the drive format to Ontrack drive format.
Return to previous menu Return to the previous menu.
5. View/Print Online Manaual View/print online help.
6. Exit Disk Manager Exit DM.
V. Advanced mode
Execute: DM /M（Enter）
After startup, press Enter twice, and the dialog box shown in Figure 4 appears〖Note: figure omitted〗:
This dialog box has 7 options. When the highlight bar moves to an option, a corresponding quick explanation is displayed on the right for convenient use.
1. Edit/View Partitions (edit/view disk partitions)
This option is used to view existing partition information on the disk, create new partitions, and edit existing partitions. After selecting it, press Enter, and a disk list dialog box appears. After selecting a disk, press Enter. In the dialog box that appears, choose whether to use FAT32 partitions. After selecting, the following dialog box is exactly the same as Figure 3 in the advanced hard disk installation of easy mode〖Note: figure omitted〗. Here users can delete existing partitions, create new partitions, and change partition sizes. The difference is that if there are multiple partitions of different types on the hard disk, you can also change the boot partition here. Just move the highlight bar to that partition and press function key B. Of course, an extended partition cannot be set as a boot partition. In addition, when creating a new partition, for example after pressing N or Ins, a Select Partition Type dialog box will appear. If the machine was booted with a Windows 95/98 disk that supports FAT32, there are 4 choices: DOS-FAT32, DOS-FAT12/16, EXTENDED, OTHER. If the machine was booted with a DOS disk, then there are only the last 3 options, and FAT32 partitions cannot be created at that time. When OTHER is selected, it requires entering the partition type. For example, entering 2 creates a XENIX partition, 99 a UNIX partition, and 100 a NETWARE/286 partition. After the partition has been created, move the highlight bar to Save and Continue and press Enter to save and return to the main menu.
2. Format/Check Partitions (format/check disk partitions)
This option is used to format partitions or check partition errors. Created partitions should be formatted here. After pressing Enter, select a disk and press Enter. The Select a Format Option dialog appears, with 3 options:
Format All Partitions (format all DOS partitions)
After selecting it, press Enter. When the dialog box appears warning that formatting will erase all data on the disk, choose Yes. Then the next dialog box asks whether to use quick format; here choose Yes. The following dialog box is used to change the partition cluster size. In the Select Cluster Size box, the default value marked with “*” can be changed to other values using the cursor keys. After selecting it, press Enter. After that, it will prompt you to insert the system disk. Insert it as required, then it will start formatting partitions and copying system files. After writing is complete, press Esc to return. At this point, hard disk installation is complete. You can exit DM, restart the computer, and try the result.
Format a Single Partition (format a single DOS partition)
This option lets you select a partition to format. The operation process is the same as formatting all partitions, except that it will prompt you to enter the partition volume label.
Check a Single Partition (check any formatted DOS partition)
This option is used to perform an integrity check on a formatted partition.
3. Maintenance Options (maintenance options)
Basically the same as the maintenance options in easy mode, except that there is one more option in the maintenance menu: Utilities (utilities), used for hard disk zero-fill operations and low-level formatting. Move the highlight bar to Utilities and press Enter, select a disk, then press Enter again. A Select Utility Option dialog box appears. This dialog box has 2 options:
Zero Fill Drive Write zeros to a sector of the hard disk; this will erase all data on the hard disk.
Low Level Format Hard disk low-level format. After selecting it, press Alt+C in the dialog box that appears to start low-level formatting of the hard disk.
4. CMOS Options (CMOS options)
Used to automatically or manually change the CMOS disk type. After selecting it, press Enter and in the dialog box that appears, choose the disk to change. Press Enter, and in the Enter CMOS drive type dialog box that appears, enter the CMOS hard disk type. After entering it, press Enter to return. Move the highlight bar to Update CMOS and Continue and press Enter. When prompted to update, restart by pressing Reset or Ctrl+Alt+Del. Note that if the CMOS hard disk type is changed improperly, it will cause the computer to fail to boot. If possible, settings should be made in the system BIOS.
5. View/Print Online Manaual (view/print online help)
6. ALT-A Go to Automatic Mode (press ALT-A to enter automatic mode, that is, easy mode)
7. Exit Disk Manager (exit DM)
VI. Other functions
1. Quick switching between easy mode and advanced mode
As we know, DM has two operation modes: one is easy mode prepared for beginner users, and the other is advanced mode. Usually these two modes can be specified at startup using command-line switches. But advanced users may want to switch between easy mode and advanced mode at any time, and it would be very inconvenient to repeat the command-line method every time. The hotkey Alt-M lets you enter advanced mode at any time from the easy mode main menu, while in the advanced mode main menu you can use the hotkey Alt-A to return to easy mode, which is very convenient.
2. Hotkeys for advanced system options
There is a system options menu in DM, whose menu items are as follows:
Disk Overview Hard disk drive overview. It can provide the drive model, the maximum number of sectors that can be read/written per interrupt, the size of the hard disk's internal buffer, the cylinder number, head number, and sector number of the start and end addresses of each partition, the controller type, and the transfer mode.
System Setup Menu System setup menu, with the following 3 options: CMOS setup and configration (CMOS hard disk parameter setup), Replace BIOS Parameters (replace hard disk parameters in the BIOS), and Use BIOS Parameters (use hard disk parameters in the BIOS).
Machine Information Computer information.
XBIOS Information XBIOS information.
Chipset Information Disk controller chipset information.
Image System Area to File Back up the hard disk system image to a file, including the master partition table, partition boot record, FAT table, directory, and so on.
Dm Universal Edition User Manual
All of the above information is very useful for advanced users, but it does not appear on the main menu, nor can it be called from the command line. Users can call up the above advanced system options from the main menu using the hotkey Alt-T.
VII. Related notes
1. If DM does not find the installed hard disk, it may be caused by improper hard disk installation. Please check whether the hard disk cable, CMOS parameter settings, and hard disk jumpers are correct. When installing a large hard disk on some old machines such as a 486, some BIOSes may be unable to set the correct disk type, such as Phoenix BIOS. In that case, as long as you correctly enter the number of heads and sectors of the hard disk, installation can proceed smoothly.
2. To create a FAT32 partition, the computer must be booted with a Windows 95/98 disk that supports the FAT32 file system, and the partition size must not be less than 540MB. If you boot with a DOS disk, then FAT32 partitions cannot be created, and no similar prompt will appear. This is the same regardless of installation mode.
3. When the hard disk capacity is 8.4GB and the installed operating system is DOS/Windows 3.1x/Windows 95/95OSR1, since these operating systems cannot directly access hard disks larger than 8.4GB, DM will prompt you to install the support program Ontrack.sys so the operating system can access the full capacity of the hard disk.
4. For some old hard disks, such as ST506, when performing hard disk low-level formatting, the interleave factor can be modified, but IDE hard disks do not support this function.
5. For ease of description, the operations in this article are based on a Windows 95/98 boot disk that supports the FAT32 file system and an 8.4GB hard disk. Because of differences in hard disk capacity (meaning below and above 8.4GB) and differences in the installed operating system (such as whether it supports the FAT32 file system), the prompt dialog boxes that DM displays may differ somewhat, so please take note.
