FastCopy

! Please do read -- new informations since version of 13.1.1990 !

                                              Hepberg, 2/5/1989



                             Welcome
                               to

                          FastCopy III

                       Faster than Light!


0. Program-Information

     Concept, Design, Documentation and Development
          Martin Backschat

     Beta-Tester
          Rupert Kaiser & "Gogl", Manfred Messner und Stephan Englhardt

     Designer of the title picture
          Ralph Seth

     Thanks to
          Everybody, who supports the development of FastCopy III,
          Everybody, who critizes contructively,
          Everybody, who financially supports the project,
          Everybody, who financially supported FastCopy 2.00, and
          thus indirectly also supports the III.rd part


1. Installation
FastCopy runs as a program and as an accessory. To start it from 
the Desktop, call it >>FCOPY_3.PRG<<. To make TOS recognize it as 
an accessory call it >>FCOPY_3.ACC<< and put it on the boot-disk 
(A: for drives and C: for harddisks).

2. How to use
You find a brief Survey of all functions FastCopy offers you 
in main menu under >>Help<<. But to exhaust the variety of all 
functions you need the manual. For 50 Deutsch-Mark (30 US $ 
respectively) I'll send you an printed english manual and the 
latest version of FastCopy on disk. In addition to that you'll be 
registered in the update-list, that means you'll always get a new 
version immediately.
The disk also contains a demonstration program. To load it, 
click on the file >>fcpydemo.prg<< (runs in any resolution; I 
recommend low-res!). After a moment the outstanding title 
picture appears on screen and again after a short time an
outstanding digital sound will come out of your monitor 
(extracts of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana). To quit the demo make 
a reset.

3. How to copy
A) FastCopy is Freeware. That means everbody is allowed to copy 
and use it for free. PD-/Freeware-mailing services should 
consider of acting fair against me and of making a special 
donation to the hard working author.
B) You are only allowed to copy FastCopy as a package. This 
package has to contain the following files:

     FCOPY_3.PRG    -    The copy program itself
          and/or
     FCOPY_3.ACC

     FCOPY_3.DOC    -    Text in German (Wordplus)
     FCOPY_3.TXT    -    Text in German (ASCII)
     FCOPY_3.EDC    -    Text in English (Wordplus)
     FCOPY_3.ETX    -    Text in English (ASCII)

5. Please notice...
...that when using the function "New Conf." and converting a 
bigger format into a smaller one while needing two or more 
reading-acts (Insert...) you really have to use two diskettes as 
source and destination. This happens for example if you want to 
convert a 890 KByte-Disk into a 720 KByte one and only have less 
than 890 KByte free.
But when using the function properly, that means converting a 
smaller format (e.g. 9 sectors per track) into a bigger one (e.g. 
11 sectors per track), this problem doesn't appear.

5. What to do in case of...
For all not having read the manual, here some useful hints:

     What to do in case of...
     ...the format function doesn't work, too many damaged tracks?
          Some drives, especially older 5¬-inch ones, may have 
          problems with the Fast-Format. In this case I recommend 
          to switch to the saver regular Format-mode "Format 
          Dest." by <q>.
          The same problem may appear if you are using processor-
          speeders like Hyper-Cache a.s.o. In this case use the 
          regular format mode, too.
     ...copying a strange disk format (e.g. Spectre-128, Minix)?
          In case of formats uncompatible to TOS (and MS-DOS)
          always switch off the automatic configurations 
          recognition ("Read Disk Conf.") by <r>. Read the manual 
          of the emulator (e.g. Spectre, Minix) and install the 
          format they use in the field titled "Set Disk 
          Configuration".
     ...copying only the used sectors (Get Sectors: used) doesn't 
     work?
          This problem can result from several reasons:
          a. The Disk has a strange format
               In this case have a look on the hint above...
          b. The FAT of the disk is damaged
               The table containing the information which sectors 
               are free, used or damaged is unreadable. In this 
               case switch off to the "Get Sector: all"-mode by 
               <g>. In this mode FastCopy ignores the FAT.
     ...the step rate is always set to 3 ms?
          The step rate is installed with help of TOS. 
          FastCopy only supports the official versions 1.0, 1.2 
          (Blitter-TOS), 1.4, 1.6 (STE) and later. Different 
          (inofficial) versions may cause problems. In this case 
          you can't set up the step rate. Solution: Boot an 
          official TOS.


The final Note:

Everbody, for who FastCopy is a precious tool for working with 
the ST, can send their donations and/or their contructive critic 
to

     Martin Backschat
     Bergstr. 16
     8071 Hepberg
     West Germany