Microsoft KB Archive/111639

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Conner AT IDE Hard Drives and Disk Scan Software

Article ID: 111639

Article Last Modified on 11/20/1999



APPLIES TO

  • Microsoft MS-DOS 6.2 Standard Edition



This article was previously published under Q111639

SUMMARY

Microsoft has identified a potential problem in certain Conner AT IDE hard disk drives that can occur in very limited circumstances. If you have never set the MS-DOS or PC DOS VERIFY command to ON, you will not be affected by this problem. The default VERIFY setting on all PCs is OFF.

If the MS-DOS or PC DOS command VERIFY is turned ON while the ScanDisk disk repair utility shipped with MS-DOS 6.2 is scanning, data loss may occur with these certain Conner AT IDE hard drives. Central Point Software has determined that the same obscure problem occurs with these Conner drives and the Surface Scan capability found in the Central Point's PC Tools for DOS DiskFix program.

NOTE: This problem does not occur when you use MS-DOS 6.21 ScanDisk.

MORE INFORMATION

If you are unsure what drive type you have, Microsoft and Central Point recommend that you take the steps outlined below to ensure that the VERIFY command is always turned OFF before you run ScanDisk or DiskFix's Surface Scan.

NOTE: Leaving VERIFY in the default OFF or setting this command to OFF in no way reduces the functionality or performance of MS-DOS or other utilities and applications installed. Very few users change the setting to ON.

  1. Type VERIFY at the MS-DOS command prompt (usually c:\>).
  2. If "VERIFY is off" is displayed, there is no risk of losing data when scanning due to this problem.
  3. If "VERIFY is on" is displayed, type verify off at the MS-DOS command prompt.


This restores the default setting of VERIFY and prevents the problem. You can now safely run ScanDisk or DiskFix's Surface Scan.

After you run your disk repair utility, you can reset the VERIFY command to ON by doing one of the following:

  • If VERIFY=ON is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you can reboot your system to restore the setting.
  • If VERIFY=ON is not in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file or you don't want to reboot, type verify on at the MS-DOS command prompt.

Both Microsoft and Central Point are updating their respective programs to switch VERIFY to OFF if it is set to ON before running the disk scan. When the scan is complete, the programs will turn VERIFY ON if that is the way it was set prior to the scan. Both companies plan to make these updates available on the online forums in the near future. The products included here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.


Additional query words: 6.22 connor hardware diskscan 6.20

Keywords: KB111639