
Installation
============

The standard distribution of DFSee (DFSEE.ZIP) contains all the
files you will need to use it. There are several versions of the
DFSee executable (DOS, Win-NT and OS/2) and there are some batch
files like DFSUNFD. Then there are a bunch of dfs*.txt files that
contain detailed information about DFSee and the commands.

So, just unzip DFSEE.ZIP in a directory of your choice ...

IMPORTANT: When you are new to DFSee,  I recommend you use the
           DFSTART script to start with.  It will collect some
           very usefull backup files the first time it is used

DFSee is a swiss-army knife of disk-tools packaged in a single
executable file (.EXE). There is really no need for 'installing'
anything, as long as the executable can be found.
(in the PATH for instance).

So make sure the executable is in a tools directory or a directory
of its own, and make sure that directory is in the PATH to make it
more convenient. The only thing that IS a bit important is that
the registration file needs to be in a directory in the PATH as
well, and must be renamed to the fixed name: 'dfsee.reg'.

Available executables:

- DFS.EXE       The OS/2 executable, full function including REXX
- DFSNT.EXE     The Win-NT/2000/XP executable, full function no REXX
- DFSDOS.EXE    The standard DOS executable, almost full function,
                but requires a lot of memory! (over 650 Kb)
- DFSMDOS.EXE   The memory-restricted DOS version, no specific support
                for HPFS, FAT, NTFS etc. Required for DFSUNFD.BAT
                Runs in about 370 Kb of free memory.
- DFSLDOS.EXE   The lowest-memory DOS version, only has minimum set
                of commands to allow partitioning.
                Runs in about 315 Kb of free memory.


Important backups
=================

I advise to keep a copy of DFSMDOS.EXE on a DOS boot-diskette for
emergency purposes. DFSMDOS has no windowed interface but has all
commands needed to recover from partitioning disasters.

Then an important backup command to used on your existing system(s)
as a preventive measure:

DFS.EXE psave * filename  Some short description of your system

Will make a backup of all important partition-table and bootsectors
to a relatively small file that be used in cases or emergency to
restore them (with prestore).

Use a meaningfull 'filename' for each different system you backup.
(of course it works just as well with DFSDOS.EXE or DFSNT.EXE)

For extra information on the systems you could also run the
DFSUNFD.CMD or DFSUNFD.BAT script that comes with DFSee.
It will create one DFSUNFDx.LOG file for each physical harddisk
in the system.

Note: The DFSUNFD and PSAVE stuff above is included in DFSTART,
      so if you use that you are on the safe side!


Online Help
===========

As a command-line program, DFSee has limited online help, usefull
to check the syntax and parameters. The following is available:

'help'  command  : This will display a short introduction and a few
                   important selection commands.

'??'    command  : List all generic commands, available in every mode

'?'     command  : List all commands specific to the current mode

'???'   command  : List sector-types recognized in the current mode

DFSEE   -?       : List available switches for the DFSee executable
                   from the operating-system commandline.
                   The switches set some preferences and options like
                   windowing, using a logfile and batch-mode.
                   (DFSEE.EXE can be DFS, DFSDOS, DFSMDOS, DFSNT etc)

Most commands that require parameters will also display a short usage
and help when called without any parameters, or sometimes when called
with the parameter '-?'

Finally, whenever a (confirmation) dialogwindow is presented to ask a
question or get other input, you can use the <F1> functionkey to get
additional help on that specific dialog or question.


Recommended reading
===================

DFSee is a rather complex program with dozens of commands that could
be used. You will need some time and effort to master that complexity.

All commands and some generic topics are covered in DFSxxxx.txt files:

- DFSINTRO.TXT  = A short introduction to DFSee and its concepts
- DFSTERMS.TXT  = A terminology reference about DFSee and partitioning
- DFSCMDS.TXT   = The main command-reference with all generic commands
- DFSFDISK.TXT  = The FDISK (partitioning) command reference
- DFSHPFS.TXT   = Command reference specific to the HPFS filesystem
- DFSNTFS.TXT   = Command reference specific to the NTFS filesystem
- DFSFAT.TXT    = Command reference specific to the FAT  filesystems
- DFSJFS.TXT    = Command reference specific to the JFS  filesystem
- DFSCRIPT.TXT  = Reference for using command-scripts with DFSee
- DFSHIST.TXT   = History of changes for DFSee, known bugs and wish-list
- DFSHOWTO.TXT  = A collection of recovery scenario's and other usefull
                  DFSee usage examples

There is some additional material on the DFSee website, like links to
reviews and tutorials by others:

        http://www.fsys.demon.nl/dfsee.htm#intro

And a few presentations that explain some background on DFSee and
filesystems. (Lotus Freelance format, and low-quality HTML)

        http://www.fsys.demon.nl/present

