Fixed: HxD doesn't read entire partition? (misses final sectors?)
Posted: 03 May 2018 01:26
version 1.7.7.0 - running on WINNT 4.0 (Windows NT 4.0)
HxD will not read the final sectors/clusters on a logical drive.
It seems okay with physical drives (e.g. HDD 0), but truncates logical drives (e.g. C:). I do not know if this is a WINNT 4.0 flaw.
So far as I can tell HxD truncates the logical drive by the same number of system-use sectors (i.e. Boot Sector, Fats #1 & #2, Root Dir).
For example, a 16gb FAT32 flash drive has 31258592 sectors. Of these, 32 sectors are hidden (MBR) so we're down to 31258560 sectors. Of these, 8192 are system sectors. And HxD only sees 31250368 sectors which is 8192 sectors short of the logical drive's true sector count.
Furthermore, the flash drive has 16,000,188,416 bytes - at least according to WINNT. Divide by 512, and we have 31250368 sectors which is the incorrect number of sectors HxD sees.
This problem happens regardless of file system (FAT16, FAT32) or disk size.
Is it possible that HxD is misreading the Boot Sector, and taking "Total Sectors" and subtracting "Hidden sectors" (correct) but also subtracting "Reserved sectors" and "Sectors per FAT" (incorrect)?
I also notice that HxD will not load a flash drive as a physical device, only a logical device. The disadvantage here is that we can't see the MBR sectors.
Sorry if I sound churlish. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to create a highly useful product.
Thank you in advance!
HxD will not read the final sectors/clusters on a logical drive.
It seems okay with physical drives (e.g. HDD 0), but truncates logical drives (e.g. C:). I do not know if this is a WINNT 4.0 flaw.
So far as I can tell HxD truncates the logical drive by the same number of system-use sectors (i.e. Boot Sector, Fats #1 & #2, Root Dir).
For example, a 16gb FAT32 flash drive has 31258592 sectors. Of these, 32 sectors are hidden (MBR) so we're down to 31258560 sectors. Of these, 8192 are system sectors. And HxD only sees 31250368 sectors which is 8192 sectors short of the logical drive's true sector count.
Furthermore, the flash drive has 16,000,188,416 bytes - at least according to WINNT. Divide by 512, and we have 31250368 sectors which is the incorrect number of sectors HxD sees.
This problem happens regardless of file system (FAT16, FAT32) or disk size.
Is it possible that HxD is misreading the Boot Sector, and taking "Total Sectors" and subtracting "Hidden sectors" (correct) but also subtracting "Reserved sectors" and "Sectors per FAT" (incorrect)?
I also notice that HxD will not load a flash drive as a physical device, only a logical device. The disadvantage here is that we can't see the MBR sectors.
Sorry if I sound churlish. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to create a highly useful product.
Thank you in advance!