(Current version is: 11.5, released 01-01-2013)

FDISK - PTEDIT - HEX EDIT - SCRIPTED RECOVERY UNDELETE - IMAGING - CLONING - MOVE - RESIZE

OS2/eCS, DOS, Windows, Mac and Linux version in one package!

DFSee is NOT free software, however a fully functional evaluation version is available without requiring immediate registration. For regular use several licence models are available, starting with a single-user individual registration for just € 49

DFSee can be used in one of several ways:

1. As a replacement for the classic FDISK and LVM programs

   DFSee is a complete replacement for the partitioning tools as found with DOS, OS/2, Win9x, Windows-NT/2000/XP and Linux.
   It is also a replacement for the LVM utility that comes with eComStation, and all OS/2 versions 4.50 or newer.
   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. A fully interactive partition-table editor is included as well (PTEdit).

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

2. To recover from partition problems and disasters (UNFDISK)

   An often used function here is the DFSDISK 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.

3. As a tool to copy whole disks or partitions

   Two main functiones are available:

   IMAGING

   Whole disks, partitions or parts of partition can be saved to an imagefile, either RAW or in a compressed format. The imagefiles can be restored to the same or a different location resulting in backup or copy functionality. For large images, and using removable media to store them, it is possible to limit the size of the generated files and create multiple numbered files for one image. For direct writing to removable media like diskettes, CDR or DVD-R (streaming) it will prompt for media-change too.

   CLONING

   Cloning can make an exact copy of (part of) a partition or disk to another area on the same or another disk. This can be used as a very fast backup facility (speeds of 30 MB/sec are not uncommon) and to move partitions arround. Check the CLONE, MOVE and COPY commands and menu-items ... On the bootable CD, the bootimage uses an Ultra-DMA driver to allow maximum speeds on modern ultra-DMA IDE disks.

   These DFSee functions are comparable to programs like Norton GHOST and PowerQuest DriveImage

4. 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).

5. 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 -2000 or -XP
   JFS	journaled filesystem on OS/2, eCS or WSeB
   EXT2/3	native filesystem on Linux, EXT3 is journaled
   REISER	journaled filesystem on Linux by Hans Reiser
   HFS	the journalled filesystem HFS+ for MAC OSX
   AUX	Auxilary mode for unrecognized data

   Commands specific to a mode are available in that mode only, except for the FDISK commands that are available all the time just as all the generic commands are.

6. As a simple but powerfull binary (or HEX) display and edit tool, including an x86 disasssembler. .

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

Disclaimer

Only use DFSee and any function in it, if you know what you are doing, or when instructed by someone who does!
Really READ warning and confirmation messages, don't just acknowledge them!

Known bugs

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Created by Jan van Wijk:   May 2005, last update:   23-Aug-2012