This is FIPS v1.1 FIPS is a program for non-destructive splitting of harddisk partitions. IMPORTANT: Please _carefully_ read the file FIPS.DOC for instructions on the use of FIPS. FIPS is _not_ self documenting. One frequent problem people encounter is that their defragmentation program leaves unmovable sectors at the end of the partition. It is addressed in detail in FIPS.DOC. If you use OS/2 or a disk compressor, please absolutely read the relevant sections in FIPS.DOC. The changes from the previous version are listed in the file HISTORY.TXT FIPS is free under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE (GPL). See the file COPYING. You may freely redistribute FIPS under the condition that you include all of the files listed below without changes. If you modify it, you must follow the conditions of the GPL. FIPS has been in public beta test for some time. It has been used by several people on the Internet successfully. No serious bugs have been reported. Nevertheless one can never be sure one hundred percent. FIPS reads and writes the essential harddisk sectors, so an undiscovered bug may still corrupt your harddisk. Use at your own risk! If you want to make sure not to lose any data, make a complete backup before using it (in this case you at least save yourself the time needed for re- storing if it works). However, every effort has been made to provide a maximum of safety. When there is anything suspicious with the hard disk, the program will typically exit with an error message, even if DOS doesn't complain. If an error occurs, an error message is displayed together with a short explanation. If you don't know what to make of it, contact me. If you are sure your hard disk is ok or if you can't resolve the problem, please make a transcript of your session using the -d switch and send it to me at schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de. I will usually answer imme- diately after receiving your mail. You may also drop me a line if FIPS works on your disk, along with a short description of your configuration (type of drive, the information shown by FIPS and the OS version), so I know on which configs it works. If you happen to know something about hard disk structures or if you want to know how FIPS works, please read the file 'techinfo.txt'. I have made some assumptions that need not necessarily apply to all hard disks, so if anybody can confirm or correct this, please let me know. As of release 0.3 FIPS is written in C++. The old C sources are still avai- lable (contact me at schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de), but I will probably not keep them up to date with the C++ version. The latest version of the C-sources is 0.2.3 which is functionally identical to 0.3. I hold the copyright of FIPS. If you want to use parts of the source code in your programs, you may do so under the conditions of the GPL. Of course I would like to hear about it. If you want to use the code in a program that is not covered by the GPL (shareware or commercial), I will probably agree also, but you must ask me first. You should have received the following files in this archive: CALCULAT.CPP - calculation of the new root-/bootsector CHECK.CPP - checking of the root-/bootsector CMDL_ARG.CPP - evaluation of commandline arguments DISK_IO.CPP - low level disk io FAT.CPP - some operations on the FAT GLOBAL.CPP - global procedures HDSTRUCT.CPP - harddisk specific code FIPSSPEC.CPP - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes INPUT.CPP - User input LOGDR_ST.CPP - operations on logical drive MAIN.CPP - main() SAVE.CPP - saving root- and bootsector HOST_OS.CPP - OS detection DISK_IO.H - low level disk io classes FAT.H - FAT classes GLOBAL.H - global definitions HDSTRUCT.H - harddisk specific classes FIPSSPEC.H - FIPS-specific adaption of harddisk classes INPUT.H - user input prototypes LOGDR_ST.H - logical drive classes TYPES.H - global type definitions HOST_OS.H - The class host_os RTYPES.H - type definitions for RESTORRB RESTORRB.C - a program that restores root and boot sector FIPS.EXE - the executable of FIPS RESTORRB.EXE - the executable of RESTORRB COPYING - the GNU general public license README.1ST - this file FIPS.DOC - the documentation of FIPS TECHINFO.TXT - technical info on FIPS ERRORS.TXT - a brief explanation of FIPS' error messages HISTORY.TXT - the revision history If you lack any of these files, try to get the original archive. If you can't find it, contact me. Arno Schaefer schaefer@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de