
   Display File Systems; version 4.22 12-05-2002  (c) 1994-2002; Jan van Wijk
 ----------------------------[ www.dfsee.com ]-------------------------------


CONTENTS
--------
 Introduction and concepts


Introduction
------------

 What is DFSee ?

 Display File Systems (DFSee) is a generic partition and filesystem
 browser/analyser. DFSee supports partition-tables (FDISK, LVM), (V)FAT,
 FAT-32, HPFS-structures, some NTFS and JFS stuff and it might support
 different file-systems like EXT2 in the future.

 DFSee, starting with version 4.00 is NOT freeware anymore, requiring
 registration and payment for actual use and support.

 Several licence models are available, starting with a cheap single-user
 individual registration for just 20 euro (about US $18)

 DFSee can be used in one of several ways:

 - As a replacement for the classic FDISK program

   DFSee is a complete replacement for the partitioning tools as
   found with DOS, OS/2, Win9x, Windows-NT and Windows-2000

   At the moment (version 4.xx) it is a partial replacement for the
   LVM utility that comes with eComStation, and Warp Server for e-Business

   Apart from the standard create/delete type of functions there are a lot
   of special commands to display information and fix all kinds of problems
   related to partition-tables and LVM information.

   An often used function here is the DFSUNFD script that automates the
   collection of needed information to 'UNDO' an accidental FDISK operation
   or other partitioning related disaster.
   Another important feature is the ability to save and restore ALL partitioning
   information in a regular file that you can keep as a backup on a diskette
   so recovery operations will be MUCH easier (see PSAVE command).

   Finally, this FDISK capability is being used by large organisations
   for automatic (and unattended) roll-out scenarios.


 - As a tool to 'UNDELETE' files that have been accidentaly deleted.

   This feature is implemented for HPFS and NTFS only, but on those
   filesystems it is a very powerfull tool.
   It works by finding all deleted files (DELFIND), and then letting the
   user make a selection based on a wild-card filespecification and a
   recoverability outlook percentage (DELSHOW).
   The actual recover operation will copy the matching files to a
   specified directory, if possible on another disk (RECOVER).


 - As an analysis and recovery tool for most used filesystems.

   This includes boot-sectors, superblocks and low-level directory
   structures. For most supported filesystems some specific commands
   are available that fix common problems with that filesystem.

   To support a large number of possible filesystems, DFSee uses
   specific modes of operation. Every mode has its own set of
   of dedicated commands and recognized data formats (sector types).
   Generic commands (and sector types) are available in all modes.
   On selecting a data-source (disk, partition, volume) DFSee will
   try to recognize the involved filesystem and activate support
   for it automatically.

   The most important modes are:

   - FDISK  for partitioning work, default active at startup
   - HPFS   native filesystem on OS/2, eComStation, WsEB ...
   - FAT    classic PC filesystems including FAT32 and VFAT
   - NTFS   native filesystem on Windows-NT or Windows-2000
   - JFS    journaled filesystem on OS/2, eCS or WsEB
   - AUX    Auxilary mode for unrecognized data


 - As a simple but powerfull binary (or HEX) display and edit tool.

   DFSee can access data on hard-disks, operating-system volumes like
   diskettes or CDROM and (image) files.


 Also check out the intro material and links to other tutorials
 and reviews on the DFSee homepage at:

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



Concepts
--------

Mode
----

 An important concept is the "operating mode", when you startup
 DFSee normally, it will be in "FDISK" mode and know about
 fdisk-related stuff and has fdisk-related commands.

 The mode is always displayd at the status-line near the bottom
 of the screen, together with other relevant details about which disk
 or partition you are currently working on.

 You can get a brief list of the available commands in that mode
 by using the "?" command (a single question-mark).

 There are also a lot of commands that are independant of the mode
 and could be called "generic". You can get a brief list of those
 by using the "??" command (TWO question marks).

 More help can be found in the .txt files, with most of the "generic"
 commands in DFSCMDS.TXT.  The commands are in alphabetic
 order there, but to find things you could use a "search" function
 from the text-editor or viewing program you use ...

 The commands specific to a mode are in DFSmode.TXT, so for
 the FDISK-mode they are in DFSFDISK.TXT and for HPFS they
 are in DFSHPFS.TXT.

 Some hints and tips are in DFSHOWTO.TXT ...

 The mode is set automatically when you start DFSee, and when you select
 some object like a disk or a partition to work with.  Selecting something to
 work on is done with the DISK, PART, VOL or IM command.

 If automatic selection of the mode fails (because the object is damaged), you
 can force a specific/desired mode by using the FS command, as in:

 FS HPFS

 Which will force the HPFS mode to become active.




User interface
--------------

 The user-interface has a command entry-field with history buffer so
 previous commands can be recalled, and a large scroll-buffer for output.
 Output can also be copied to a file for later analysis.

 The classic user-interface can be used as well, start the program with
 the keyword 'nowin' as the first parameter, like 'DFS nowin'

 All DFS executables accept some command-line switches:

   -7           = translate 8-bit ASCII (drawing chars) to 7-bit ASCII
   -a           = switch off usage of ANSI escape characters for color
   -b           = batch option, automatic 'batch on' command at startup
   -f           = frame, use a border-frame on scroll-buffer and desktop
   -f:no        = do not use border-frames. (default NO on 80x25 screen)
   -h   or -?   = help on DFSee commandline switches (this text)
   -i           = ignore lock-errors (no extra popup, OS/2 version only)
   -I           = force use of standard-Int13 when BIOS #cyl is below 1024
   -l:logfile   = start logging immediately to "logfile.log"
   -m           = use 'map' as autoshow command in FDISK mode, not 'part -e'
   -m:autoshow  = specify a user-defined autoshow command for FDISK mode
   -p           = pedantic, allow all warnings, even the more silly ones
   -q           = quiet option, automatic 'screen off' command at startup
   -R           = force Read-only operation, never write back to disk/vol
   -S           = SHELL mode, quit and <F3> disables, no external commands
   -s:separator = specify a command-separator character, default is "#"
   -t           = Include execution timestamp on screen before each command
   -T:level     = set trace level to 'level' 0 .. 100 (trace versions only)
   -x           = Do NOT read all diskinfo at startup (could avoid crashes)


 DFSee commands are single words or (hexadecimal) numbers.
 Most commands have one or more parameters of which some are optional.

 DFSee keeps track of the current- and some other useful SN's so they
 can be referenced faster, without having to type them in. They are:

     Name          Cmd       Description
     ----          ---       -----------
     up            'u'       up in hierarchy
     down          'd'       down in hierarchy
     down          <Enter>   down in hierarchy
     this          't'       this (current)
     xtra          'x'       Extra, alternative

 You can display and analyse either a physical disk, a partition, a volume
 or an imagefile. A physical disk can be opened using the 'disk' command.

 A disk-partition or volume can be opened first with the 'part' or 'vol'
 commands respectively. The next prompt display will show some status info.
 After opening an HPFS partition, using 'Enter' a few times will take you
 to the superblock, root-directory, possible sub-directories upto some file.

 Multiple commands can be chained if separated with a special character,
 the default is '#' but this can be changed with the '-s:xxx' switch.

 An overview of the available commands is given in DFSCMDS.TXT, it can also
 be referenced from within the program using the 'help' command.


HINT: When using DFSee to create a logfile, DO NOT USE ">" REDIRECTION, use
      the DFSee "log filename" command or the "-f" program switch instead.
      This will prevent littering the logfile with ANSI control-codes.

      When browsing an LVM (WsEB, MCP or eComstation) system, set the
      screen-width to over 100 characters when possible. This will allow
      complete display of the volume + partition-names in the 'part' table

