DiskPatch

DiskPatch is a menu driven DOS program designed to help you solve a wide range of hard disk related problems.
Mass data loss, a situation where access to an entire disk or partition is lost, is often caused by damage to meta structures such as the MBR, Partition Tables, LDM, or the Boot Sector of an individual partition. By repairing those structures with DiskPatch, data can be made accessible again.

Another common cause for data loss is unreadable sectors; while a few read errors may only have minor consequences and only  prevent access to one or more files, large blocks of unreadable sectors can prevent access to individual volumes or even entire disks. In that case you can use DiskPatch to clone a hard disk (even when conventional cloning tools fail due to bad sectors or file system errors), scan the disk surface for read- and write errors and possibly fix bad sectors.

DiskPatch allows you to edit (patch) your disk using the built-in disk editor, partition table editor and boot sector editor. It also offers basic partition management (hide, unhide, set active) features.

You can 'prepare' for data loss caused by damage to the MBR, partition table sectors, boot sectors, or LDM (on Windows 2000/XP Dynamic disks) by using DiskPatch and it's unique proprietary backup system to create on-disk backups of those structures. Once a backup exists, damage to any of the previously mentioned disk structures can be easily fixed by restoring the backup.

DiskPatch advantages:

• DiskPatch is easy to use: the (automatic) recovery and repair procedure is simple and straightforward:
  - the hard disk is scanned and analyzed;
  - based on the analysis, DiskPatch will present a list of partitions;
  - from this list you simply select all partitions you want to be present after the repair;
  - DiskPatch will then rebuild the partition tables and perform the necessary boot sectors repairs, if possible.
  
  
• DiskPatch is safe to use: you can undo the changes that were made to the disk during the repair procedure. If the repair was unsuccessful or had undesired results, changes made by the program can be 'rolled back'.
  
  
• DiskPatch is quick: if the damaged disk structures can be repaired, the DiskPatch repair procedure is much faster then recovering the files using a file-recovery tool.
  
  
• DiskPatch is reliable: DiskPatch has already helped thousands of users recover Terabytes of data.

#DiskPatch Feature summary:

• MBR Repair (boot code & partition tables)
• Partition Table Repair; unlike other tools, DiskPatch can restore access to logical partitions
• Advanced Boot Sector Repair (FAT, FAT32, NTFS) [*]
• MBR, Partition Table & LDM Backup
• Disk Editor (RAW hex, ASCII, Partition Table, Boot Sector) [*]
• Basic Partition Table Management; Set Active Partition, Partition hiding/unhiding
• Undo feature for all automatic repairs
• Surface Scan; read-only and non destructive read/write [*]
• Disk Cloning, even when logical damage or bad sectors exist [*]
• Forensic mode [**]
• Disk Compare [**]
• Low Level Format (pattern write or wipe) [*]
• State File; once a disk has been scanned (using the demo-version) the scan can be skipped the next time
• Extensive logging
• Boot Disk Builder; from Windows you can easily create a bootable diskette that starts DiskPatch

[*] - Available in Pro or higher Edition only!
[**] - Available in Tech Edition only!

DiskPatch system requirements:

• DiskPatch only operates on hard disks that can be accessed using the extended int13h interface -
  these would include IDE, (x)ATA(x) and SCSI disks. DiskPatch can also operate on hardware RAID arrays.
• Operating System: any MS-DOS compatible DOS version. Freedos is included in the distribution [*]).
• 1.44 Mb floppy drive or CD-Rom (boot capability)
• 80386 (compatible) or higher CPU

[*] - DiskPatch is 100% compatible with MS-DOS 5.0 or higher. The included DOS version, http://www.freedos.org - FreeDOS, aims to be 100% compatible with MS-DOS, but this may not always work out well. Considering the large variety of hardware in the world it is at all possible that FreeDOS may not work well with a specific hardware configuration. If this is the case it would be best to create a DOS bootdisk and place the DiskPatch executable there yourself. For instance, Windows XP offers a compatible DOS version through the diskette format option.

There are 3 DiskPatch versions available. They are defined by both functional differences and license differences:

• DiskPatch Standard Edition: Offers basic MBR, partition table and boot sector repair & backup/restore features. Also, you can examine the disk's surface for read errors.
  When DiskPatch Standard is first executed on a PC, the user must "log on" to the PC by entering a unique PC identifier.
  
  Standard License Detail : you are allowed to run DiskPatch on PCs that you as a private person lease or own.
  
• DiskPatch Pro Edition: In addition to the Standard features the Pro Edition offers powerful disk editing features, read/write surface tests (bad sector reallocation), disk wiping and a powerful disk-to-disk clone option.
  When DiskPatch Pro is first executed on a PC, the user must "log on" to the PC by entering a unique PC identifier.
  
  Pro License Detail : you are allowed to run DiskPatch on PCs that you as a private person lease or own.
  
  
• DiskPatch Technician's Edition: Offers all DiskPatch Pro features and adds a forensic mode.
  The PC "log on" by entering a unique PC identifier is not necessary when using the Technician's edition, making this DiskPatch version suitable for use by a Technician, on multiple PC's.
  
  Tech License Detail : you, a single individual, are allowed to use  DiskPatch on PCs leased or owned by you or the organization you represent, or on PCs owned or used by third parties that you perform (commercial and non commercial) services for.

Detailed comparison of the different versions and functions of DiskPatch :

Order

Platform : Windows XP/2000/2003/Me/NT/98

Goto Developer Web Site

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