[Coco] Megaread problems

[Bill Pierce]

Dave, Ded allows "@" due to the fact it only reads 256 bytes at a time. Again, a definite byte count, therefore "@" is just used to tell ded to start at the raw beginning of the device instead of a file location, which is actually handled in 256 byte sectors after the file is located anyway.
Ded ALWAYS reads just 256 bytes (1 sector) at a time regardless of whether it's a file or raw device.
Giving ded a filename is just a way of saying "start at sector xxxx and follow this sector pattern...".
Giving ded "@" just tells it "Start on sector 0 and read the sectors contiguously".
Using "@" on a file (ded /dd/cmds/dir@) gets the same results as it does without the "@". It will stop on the end of the file.

Instead of adding "@" to copy, a better solution is "diskcopy" or "dsave", or even "backup" (when source and destination are of the same type & size), all of which will copy an entire disk.
Then again, the ability to use "copy /dd /d1" would be handy....
"One utility to bind them, one utility to rule them all!"
:-)

 

 


Bill Pierce
"Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going, no way to slow down!" - Ian Anderson - Jethro Tull

 

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