File System Check (fsCheck)
The fsCheck tap analyses the file system of a Toppy disk. This eliminates the need to attach the disk to a pc so that it can be analyzed using TopfHDRW (although TopfHDRW may still need to be used if the file system needs to be repaired).
The tap can normally be run while other taps are running irrespective of whether or not the Toppy is Time Shifting or Recording (but you may have to run without other taps if memory is “low”).
As this tap is primarily for use when the disk structure is suspect, it needs to be loaded onto the Toppy in anticipation of a future problem (this avoids modifying the file system when it may be corrupted).
Installation
The tap can be installed by using the TopManager "Tools| Install Files| fsCheck" option.
To install manually, download/unzip the kit. Copy fsCheck.tap to the Toppy's \ProgramFiles\Utilities folder (not "\ProgramFiles\Auto Start\").. Alternatively, store it in \ProgramFiles where it is more likely to be available should the disk suffer a minor corruption.
Please take time to read the "File System Check.pdf" file !
After downloading/installing the tap, please run it and paste your report into the fsCheck Reports thread on the forum.
The Report
When run, fsCheck scans the disk and produces a report that contains the following sections
A summary of issues numbers of each type of issue and type of fix
The issues numbers of each type of issue and type of fix
Disk Geometry sectors, clusters, FAT size
SMART data output similar to that produced by the HDDInfo tap
SMART Interpretation an interpretation of the SMART data – see pdf file
Performance Statistics memory usage/analysis time
The “report” is built up in memory and is displayed on the TV screen and also output to the RS232 serial interface (for those who can process this data).
For a “normal” toppy, this report will look very boring as there should be no issues (assuming one treats any flagged Time Shifting or “Recording in progress” as comments).
When the number of issues is “large”, some may be suppressed from the onscreen display (it is unlikely that anyone wants to scroll through hundreds of lines using button presses) and from the serial interface (to improve performance because this is a slow device). Note: Both outputs have their own suppression point (and they may not be the same!).
The full report can be stored to disk by pressing the Record or Archive buttons on the remote control (you should really only do this if the disk doesn’t appear corrupt!).
The file will be normally be written to \ProgramFiles\Logs\fsCheck_yyyy-mm-dd_hh-nn.log where the yyyy, nn, dd, hh, and nn represent the current date, month, day, hours and minutes respectively.
Note: This file may be written to \ProgramFiles if the Logs folder does not exist and the file system appears to be corrupted.