Q. What does Clean Slate do?
A. Clean Slate clears("cleans") all of the partitions on a selected
hard drive. The result is an un-partitioned drive, in it's simplest
form. Of course, all the data in the previously existing partitions
can not be accessed(although it is still there), unless the partitions
are restored.
- Q. Who needs Clean Slate?
A. Granted, Clean Slate is not a program that everyone needs. In fact,
it's better that some don't have it. :-)
Clean Slate is a valuable program for those who have to clear
hard drives on a regular basis, people who like to experiment
with their systems, people who operate with hard drives doing
various operations with them, those who change operating systems
frequently, and there are other uses for it as well.
- Q. How safe is Clean Slate?
A. Clean Slate is a powerful program, not to be used without caution.
Within seconds, you could lose an entire hard drive worth of data,
if you use the program incorrectly, and don't save backups(see the
usage info below to see how to save backups).
This being said, it's safe to say that the operations of Clean Slate
can almost always be undone if you save backups.
Clean Slate only does what you tell it, so be careful what you say. :-)
- Q. Does Clean Slate return any errorlevels to DOS when it exits? I want
to use it in a batch file.
A. Yes. Clean Slate returns the following errorlevels:
Errorlevel 0 = Set when Clean Slate exits successfully
Errorlevel 1 = Set whenever an error occurs
Of course, if Clean Slate reboots when it's done,
no errorlevel is set. :-)
- Q. Can I cheerfully blame you if I lose data on a disk?
A. No. I leave the responsibility on you to use my program
carefully. If you do run Clean Slate on the wrong drive by accident,
restoring the backups you saved will recover all the data. Always save
backups, and you be much better off.
However, if your computer blows up, please send me pictures.
- Q. Will Clean Slate work under Microsoft Windows?
A. No. While it will run, this is not a safe thing to do at all,
especially since Clean Slate reboots your computer after it's done its
operations. Rebooting in a Windows DOS prompt can damage files.
It is not recommended to run Clean Slate under any multitasking
environments.
- Q. You still haven't answered my question.
A. Send me e-mail or snail mail if you have any other questions.
See below for info on contacting me.
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*** Bugs ***
* None found. *
Please report any bugs you may find.
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*** History of Clean Slate ***
Version 1.0 - April 29, 1997. Clean Slate was created. This was the
first version released(on April 30, 1997).
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*** How to use Clean Slate ***
Simply type:
SLATE
Where is the number of the hard drive to 'clean'. For example,
typing "SLATE 1" instructs Clean Slate to clear all the partitions on the
first hard drive. Replacing the 1 with a 2 will clear all the partitions
on the second hard drive, and so on.
And can be any of the following(you may use more than one of
the options at a time):
/S = Saves a backup of the MBR, partitions, and as an added
precaution, the first boot sector of the selected drive
to the floppy drive selected. is the letter of the
floppy drive selected to save to. See below for examples.
/R = Restores the previously saved system data(MBR, partition,
etc.) to the drive selected. Use this if you cleaned a
drive by accident. Again, is the letter of the
floppy drive that the saved data is on. See below for
examples.
/X = Tells Clean Slate not to reboot when it's done. This can
be useful if you want to do more to the drive before
rebooting.
/B = Specifies batch mode. For use in batch files, this does
not ask for any user input. It does the job and reboots or
exits. Note that in batch mode, any errors reading the
disk, etc., will cause Clean Slate to automatically exit
to DOS with errorlevel 1.
Examples of use:
SLATE 1 /SA
That would clear the first hard drive, and save backups of the
system data to the A: drive.
SLATE 2 /SB /X
That would clear the second hard drive, save backups to the B:
drive, and then exit to DOS instead of reboot.
SLATE 1 /RA /B
That would restore the first hard drive, using saved data from
the A: drive, and running in batch mode.
SLATE 2 /SA /X /B
That would clear the second hard drive, save backups to the A:
drive, run in batch mode, and not reboot at the end.
I hope that was fairly straightforward. Let me know if you have any
questions.
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DISCLAIMER(legal stuff)
I EXCLUDE ANY AND ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. I MAKE NO WARRANTY
OR REPRESENTATION, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO THIS SOFTWARE,
ITS QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. I SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR RESULTING FROM THE USE OR MODIFICATION OF THIS
SOFTWARE. IT IS MARKETED UNDER THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT, BUT IS FREE FOR
PERSONAL USE. BUT FOR BUSINESS, CORPORATE, AND ANY OTHER USERS MUST PAY FOR
THEIR COPY(COPIES) IF THEY CONTINUE TO USE IT FOR MORE THAN 30 DAYS. YOU MAY
NOT MODIFY, CHARGE FOR, OR IN ANY WAY DAMAGE THIS PROGRAM. BY USING THIS
PROGRAM, "CLEAN SLATE", YOU AGREE TO THIS ENTIRE DISCLAIMER.
Thanks for reading that. (You did read it, right? ;)
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*** Registration ***
Clean Slate is completely free for personal use! All I ask is that
you send me an e-mail(or snail mail, or postcard) telling me that you're
using it, what you're using it for, what you think of it, any
suggestions, and telling me if you want to be on the free one-way mailing
list for Clean Slate. Thanks for your cooperation.
Clean Slate is not free for business or corporate use. You may use
Clean Slate(shareware version) for 30 days. If you continue to use Clean
Slate after 30 days, you must pay for it.
The cost for a single user license is $20 in Canadian or US
currency. Below are other pricing packages:
2 to 9 licenses : $17 per copy
10 to 49 licenses : $14 per copy
50 to 99 licenses : $10 per copy
100 and above : $7 per copy
See the ORDER.FRM file to order and for more info on pricing, etc.
If you are a fellow computer programmer, and would like to trade
registrations, please contact me, and we'll see if we can work something
out. Also contact me if you any other questions about registering. Don't
send off the form before getting any questions you have answered.
What do you get when you register? First of all, you get the
latest full version of Clean Slate. You also get technical support via
e-mail. You'll receive other software (Freeware and Shareware) by Jad
Saliba, and an optional free subscription to the Clean Slate mailing list.
Thank you for being honest, and for using Clean Slate.
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*** Where can I get it? ***
The shareware version of Clean Slate can be found at the
Clean Slate web site, and is also available at the Garbo FTP
file archives, as well as the SimTel.Net FTP sites.
Garbo FTP: In the /pc/diskutil directory.
Look for the filename "slatexxx.zip",
where 'xxx' is the version number(currently
it is 1.0, so the filename would be "slate10.zip").
SimTel.Net: In the /msdos/diskutil directory.
Look for the filename "slatexxx.zip",
where 'xxx' is the version number(currently
it is 1.0, so the filename would be "slate10.zip").
The Official Clean Slate web site:
http://www.easynet.on.ca/~bluefox/cslate.html
Contact Jad by e-mail if you can't get it from the above sites, and he'll
send the latest version to you via e-mail.
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*** Credits ***
Jad Saliba - Created and programmed Clean Slate.
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*** Contacting the author ***
You can contact me in the following ways:
Internet E-mail: BlueFox@easynet.on.ca
Snail mail: Jad Saliba
123 Gunn Ave.
Cambridge, Ontario
N3C 2Z5
CANADA
C:\WINDOWS>ATTRIB c:\readme.txt /s
C:\WINDOWS>
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Exit Codes:
| 0 | The command was executed without errors |
| 1 | An initialization error occurred.
|
File Details
| File Name | Version | Size | Date | Default Location |
|---|
| Filename |
Win95: Upgrade | Size | 11/07/95 | c:\windows\command |
| Win95: OSR2.5 | Size | 24/08/96 | c:\windows\command |
| Ref.# | From | Title | Newsgroup | Date |
| 1 | Name | Title | Group | Date |
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