Software information: HForm

Overview

This low level application is used to prepare a disc for use with FileCore, RISC OS’ native filing system. For floppy discs, see *Format.

Installation Instructions

!HForm is usually installed in ‘$.Utilities.Caution’ in the standard HardDisc4 build.

Using !HForm

Pressing ‘Escape’ at any question to abort the process.

1. Plug the device in.
2. Run !HForm from ‘$.Utilities.Caution’, it can be run either from the command prompt or by double clicking on its icon.
3. HForm will prompt you for the device type.
   Press S for a SCSI (or USB-connected) device (disc, thumb drive, card reader).
   Press M for a memory card in an onboard SD card slot
   Press A (ADFS) for an onboard IDE or SATA disc drive.
4. Now you get a list of all available drives of that type. Look for your drive/card, enter its number and press Return.
5. Now HForm will ask you for the disc shape (or formatting parameters) – normally these can just be confirmed since HForm calculates them automatically.
6. HForm will now ask for a defect list. This is used to skip bad sectors, simply press ‘A’ followed by Return assuming no bad sectors exist on the media.
7. You will be prompted if you want to (I)nitialise or (F)ormat the disc. Most disc controllers don’t allow low level formatting, so ‘I’ followed by Return is most common.
8. HForm will ask you if you want to do a ‘soak test’ of that drive. A (S)hort soak test is advisable: this performs one scan of the disc surface.
9. You will now have to decide if the disc should be bootable. There is only one bootable disc in a system (the one with !Boot on it) so normally press ‘N’ and return. A disc can be made bootable at a later date by using *Opt 4.
10. Now you are asked if you want to use long file names. Say (Y)es and press return.
11. You’re at the final question! Confirm by pressing ‘Y’ and Return that you want to format that drive.
12. For drives larger than 512MB, once formatting is complete, accept the allocation size that HForm proposes.

Issues

• The first prompt asks if the device is connected by SCSI or SDFS, and offers S and M as possible responses. It is not immediately obvious that S means SCSI, and M means “memory card” (i.e. SDFS).

If you are experiencing other problems with this software, first check to see if a ticket has been raised on the Bugs page. You may also want to visit the Bugs forum.

If you have a general query related to the software, you can enquire on the Community Support forum.

History of the component

To view the release history for versions available on the ROOL web site, visit the GitLab Commits page (releases are “tagged” with the version number).

Obtaining the software

This software is usually supplied as part of the standard HardDisc4 build.

The latest version of the software can be obtained from the Packages server.

To obtain the source code, visit the GitLab source page.