No 98SE 'AutoScan' options

"Kentiguous" wrote in message
...
| PCR wrote :
| Thanks for the clarification about "=0". I have no inclination to
| verify
| whether it works/not, & will continue to believe it does. And I don't
| care what your network administrator may say.
|
| Ooh, snippy! It's quite possible that what works on your machine, may
| not work on _all_ machines, running the same version of the OS.

I guess I'll go with that, now that this thread is making me loony.
Lord, what a mind-bender Scandisk has turned out to be. And, really, it
would be difficult & unwise to intentionally test some of the working of
Scandisk. I certainly don't want to force a bad shutdown, not to mention
one that would cause a serious enough error to see whether Scandisk asks
permission before fixing it. After all, it is said, Scandisk may not do
a great job on big errors. See...
http://cquirke.mvps.org/9x/
....which actually may contain a few of the answers we seek.

|
| I've just finished reading a second definition of AUTOSCAN=2; one says
| (paraphrasing), "Prompt before auto-running Scandisk", and, the other
| says, "Auto-run Scandisk, but prompt before repairs". Can you (or,
| anyone else) provide a little clarification, here?

Don't make me click that cquirke URL!

|
| | I wasn't aware that SCANDISK will respect the /CUSTOM settings,
when
| it
| | auto-runs after a bad shutdown. After taking a peek at WIN.COM, I
can
| | see that it does; thanks for the tip.
|
| Suddenly, I do dimly recall a thread in which there was some
contention
| over this. "C:\Windows\Command\Scandisk.ini" says...
|
| ; -------------------------------------------------------------------
| ; The [CUSTOM] section determines ScanDisk's behavior when ScanDisk
is
| ; started with the /CUSTOM switch. You can adjust these settings to
| ; create a customized "version" of ScanDisk. This can be especially
| ; useful for running ScanDisk from a batch file. The [CUSTOM]
settings
| a
|
| I'm afraid I don't recall the outcome of the discussion. Personal
| experience fails me in the issue, as the only messages I've seen
during
| an Auto-Scandisk were...
|
| (a) DOS name length, &
| (b) Whether/not to save a... lost cluster, I guess.
|
| Although I am set to...
|
| DS_LostClust = Fix ; Internal lost clusters
|
| Check out "LostClust", in SCANDISK.INI.

Huh? What will I see?

|
| ...I don't know whether it would still ask to save them with that
| setting. I do believe it would be DUMB for the Auto-Scandisk to
| actually
| ignore "/Custom" settings. Why provide that kind of control, & THEN
not
| have the Auto- honor it!
|
| See above.

See above.

|
| | I wasn't aware that SCANDISK will respect the /CUSTOM settings,
when
| it
| | auto-runs after a bad shutdown. After taking a peek at WIN.COM, I
can
| | see that it does; thanks for the tip.
|
| What did you see?
|
| I saw the parameters "/CUSTOM" and "/SIMPLEUI", inside the executable
| (along with a later occurence of "/SURFACE"). I'm thinking that the
| choice of which parameters will actually be used will be tied to an
| analysis of the Scandisk flags on the disk (in conjunction with the
| associated setting in the MSDOS.SYS file).

That was a good thought. However, WIN.com is not DOS; it is Windows.
That Auto-Scandisk is running in DOS. IO.sys & Command.com are DOS.
Still... I'm not sure, but... finding "/CUSTOM" even in IO.sys probably
doesn't prove Auto-Scandisk uses it.

|
| | scandisk /ALL /NOSUMMARY
| | if not errorlevel 1 goto scend2
| | echo Errors found! Press a key to re-scan/fix local drive(s)...
| | pausenul
| | scandisk /ALL
| | :scend2
|
| I don't like the looks of that. The second run will not find any
| errors.
|
| Yes, it will (see below).

OK.

|
| The first run did not record it's summary. (It may be the summary &
the
| error report are two different things, though, not sure.)
|
| They are two different things; but even if they weren't, the
| non-creation (or deletion) of SCANDISK.LOG will not affect Scandisk's
| ability to detect subsequent errors.

OK, they're different. STILL, the second run will not find the errors
that were fixed in the first run. Therefore, it is important to select
"append" for the .log, not "overwrite", if you are going to run it twice
in a row!

|
| Ken
|
| --
| Remove the '4' to reply via email

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

Well, here is a post from my "Keepers" that mentions "/CUSTOM" of
Scandisk. Not fully sure what to make of it, as I AM SURE we both
decided there is no "(prompt) to run ScanDisk", but possible some day
we'll see a prompt as to whether we want to fix an error. HOWEVER, this
does appear to be informative. For instance, you did earlier mention
Win.com & I mentioned IO.sys. We both did well with that!

............Quote...................
This info is from an old KB article that has since been revised and the
info is no longer included in the current article:

OSR2 includes versions of the Io.sys and Win.com files that check the
Clean
Shutdown and Hard Disk Error bits in the Virtual File Allocation Table
(VFAT)
during startup. If either of these bits is turned on (that is, cleared
to 0) on
any drive present in real mode, you are prompted to run ScanDisk. If you
do not
press a key within 60 seconds, ScanDisk runs anyway.

The Clean Shutdown and Hard Disk Error bits are the two low-order bits
of the FAT
entry for cluster 1. If bit 0 is 0, it indicates an unclean shutdown; if
bit 1
is 0, it indicates that a hard disk error occurred on that drive. These
bits are
turned on by VFAT; they are turned off only by ScanDisk. The Clean
Shutdown bit
is turned off upon completion of a standard run. The Hard Disk Error bit
is
turned off upon completion of a surface scan (regardless of whether
errors were
repaired).

If either of these bits is on for a real-mode drive, Win.com displays
the
appropriate error message. Pressing any key starts the following
command:

SCANDISK.EXE /CUSTOM x: [[y:] ...]

If the Hard Disk Error bit is on for any drive, the /SURFACE switch is
included
in the command. Note that if the Clean Shutdown bits are off, but one or
more
Hard Disk Error bits is on, you receive a different error message about
why
ScanDisk is being started.

If ScanDisk does not find any errors, or if you choose to fix all
errors,
ScanDisk should finish and Windows 95 should continue loading. Note that
the
default behavior of the /CUSTOM switch is that ScanDisk displays a
summary
screen if any errors are found, but if not, ScanDisk quits silently.

If Scandisk.exe is not found, Win.com displays the following error
message:

SCANDISK.EXE could not be found. You may have problems on your
disks(s) that
require repairing. Press any key to continue starting Windows...

If you quit ScanDisk early, leaving errors on the disk, or if ScanDisk
is unable
to finish, Win.com displays the following error message:

There was an error running SCANDISK.EXE, or it was canceled. You may
still
have errors on your disk(s). Press any key to continue starting
Windows...

NOTE: If ScanDisk does not reach the point where it turns the Clean
Shut- down
and Hard Disk Error bits off, ScanDisk runs again the next time your
computer
starts.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP W95/98 Systems
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo
.........EOQ........................


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Kentiguous" wrote in message
...
| I started this thread by saying that the various "AutoScan" options
for
| Scandisk, in MSDOS.SYS, weren't working in my installation of Win98SE.
|
| The above statement was incorrect, and was based on the following
| incomplete definitions for "AutoScan" (and, a lack of testing g):
|
| 0 = Never run Scandisk on startup.
| 1 = Prompt to run Scandisk on startup.
| 2 = Always run Scandisk on startup.
|
| These are the "AutoScan" options, here, based on my test results:
|
| 0 = Never run Scandisk on startup, after an incomplete shutdown.
| 1 = Always run Scandisk on startup, after an incomplete shutdown, and
| automatically fix errors (default).
| 2= Always run Scandisk on startup, after an incomplete shutdown, and
| prompt before making repairs.
|
| Scandisk will also use SCANDISK.INI's /CUSTOM settings, when
| auto-running after an incomplete shutdown.
|
| Sorry for the confusion, and thanks to all, for your input.
|
| Ken
|
| --
| Remove the '4' to reply via email
|
|

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:56:51 -0500, "PCR" wrote:

Auto-Scandisk does NOT ask whether it should run. It doesn't appear to
ask whether it should FIX an error, either. It ONLY asks whether it
should SAVE a lost cluster/whatever

In Win95 and Win98, it is SCANDISK.INI that manages the specifics of
what errors are fixed, prompted on or ignored - not MSDOS.SYS or
Winboot.ini - but while SCANDISK.INI exists in WinME, it's ignored.

That's only polite! WELL, the settings in Scandisk.ini likely do come
into play, & will be the ultimate decider. In that case, it better be
true that /CUSTOM applies to the Auto-Scandisk.

/Custom does invoke Scandisk.ini, and AutoScandisk normally implicitly
invokes /Custom. Perhaps the setting you refer to affects that? I
haven't read it up as I generally like the was Scandisk comes up as
flagged, preferring only to limit what it does to "fix".

HOWEVER, my setting in MSDOS.sys is "=1".

Remember, a C:\Winboot.ini trumps C:\MSDOS.sys :-)

Where on earth is cquirke or Blanton?

waves Hi!



---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Proverbs Unscrolled #37
"Build it and they will come and break it"
---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

"cquirke (MVP Win9x)" wrote in message
...
| On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:56:51 -0500, "PCR" wrote:
|
| Auto-Scandisk does NOT ask whether it should run. It doesn't appear
to
| ask whether it should FIX an error, either. It ONLY asks whether it
| should SAVE a lost cluster/whatever
|
| In Win95 and Win98, it is SCANDISK.INI that manages the specifics of
| what errors are fixed, prompted on or ignored - not MSDOS.SYS or
| Winboot.ini - but while SCANDISK.INI exists in WinME, it's ignored.

OK. That's what I always said. Really! Scandisk.ini /Custom section
WOULD apply to an Auto-Scandisk. Since my HDD crash of 2001, I haven't
had a bad enough error for Scandisk to ask about, though I have set
Scandisk.ini to PROMPT for a few. And it was horribly traumatic in 2001,
too much so for me to recall. Anyway, back then I'm sure I was all FIX
in the .ini. Therefore, I am glad to see arrive to settle the issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q118/5/79.asp
Contents of the Windows Msdos.sys File
......Quote.....
The [Options] section can contain the following settings. You must
manually insert these settings if you want to use them:

• AutoScan=Number
Default: 1
Purpose: Defines whether or not ScanDisk is run after a bad shutdown.
A setting of...
0 does not run ScanDisk;
1 prompts before running ScanDisk;
2 does not prompt before running ScanDisk but prompts you before fixing
errors if any errors are found.
......EOQ........

However, I don't want to know whether I am an "=1" or an "=2". Don't
tell! MSDOS.sys (have no Winboot.ini) says "=1". But surely I would
remember whether the thing asks permission to run. Therefore, very
likely I'm an "=2", &-- well, it depends upon Scandisk.ini settings for
Prompts before fixing.

|
| That's only polite! WELL, the settings in Scandisk.ini likely do come
| into play, & will be the ultimate decider. In that case, it better be
| true that /CUSTOM applies to the Auto-Scandisk.
|
| /Custom does invoke Scandisk.ini, and AutoScandisk normally implicitly
| invokes /Custom.

OK, it does apply.

| Perhaps the setting you refer to affects that? I
| haven't read it up as I generally like the was Scandisk comes up as
| flagged, preferring only to limit what it does to "fix".

I've never tried "Autoscan=2" explicitly. I do believe my "=1" is
behaving as an "=2". Certainly, I've never been asked whether to permit
Scandisk itself to RUN. And I haven't the memory nor the recent
experience to know whether it will ask before doing a FIX.

|
| HOWEVER, my setting in MSDOS.sys is "=1".
|
| Remember, a C:\Winboot.ini trumps C:\MSDOS.sys :-)

That I do recall, & I don't have one.

|
| Where on earth is cquirke or Blanton?
|
| waves Hi!

Good to see you come to the rescue.

|
|
|
| ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
| Proverbs Unscrolled #37
| "Build it and they will come and break it"
| ---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Kentiguous" wrote in message
...
| PCR wrote :
|
| | I'm afraid I don't recall the outcome of the discussion. Personal
| | experience fails me in the issue, as the only messages I've seen
| during
| | an Auto-Scandisk were...
| |
| | (a) DOS name length, &
| | (b) Whether/not to save a... lost cluster, I guess.
| |
| | Although I am set to...
| |
| | DS_LostClust = Fix ; Internal lost clusters
| |
| | Check out "LostClust", in SCANDISK.INI.
|
| Huh? What will I see?
|
| You will see that there is an option for "LostClust", as well as one
for
| "DS_LostClust". The former will control the behaviour to which you
| refer, above.

Very well, but what is the behavior I spoke of? You mean when I said
mine doesn't ask whether to fix "lost files of folders", but only asks
whether to save them? It just happened again, by the way, THIS BOOT. Too
bad...

LostClust = Prompt ; Lost clusters
DS_LostClust = Fix ; Internal lost clusters

....those were my settings. NOW, I have made the second to be "Prompt" as
well. In fact, as a punishment to me, I have changed every single one of
them in that section to "Prompt", where formerly it was only the last
one...

Boot_Sector = Prompt ; Damaged boot sector on DoubleSpace drive
FSInfo_Sector = Prompt ; Incorrect free space count
Invalid_MDFAT = Prompt ; Invalid MDFAT entries
DS_Crosslinks = Prompt ; Internal (MDFAT-level) crosslinks
DS_LostClust = Prompt ; Internal lost clusters
DS_Signatures = Prompt ; Missing DoubleSpace volume signatures
Mismatch_FAT = Prompt ; Mismatched FATs on non-DoubleSpace drives
Bad_Clusters = Prompt ; Physical damage or decompression errors

|
| | I saw the parameters "/CUSTOM" and "/SIMPLEUI", inside the
executable
| | (along with a later occurence of "/SURFACE"). I'm thinking that the
| | choice of which parameters will actually be used will be tied to an
| | analysis of the Scandisk flags on the disk (in conjunction with the
| | associated setting in the MSDOS.SYS file).
|
| That was a good thought. However, WIN.com is not DOS; it is Windows.
| That Auto-Scandisk is running in DOS. IO.sys & Command.com are DOS.
| Still... I'm not sure, but... finding "/CUSTOM" even in IO.sys
probably
| doesn't prove Auto-Scandisk uses it.
|
| There are no references to Scandisk in either IO.SYS or COMMAND.COM,
| in Win98SE. WIN.COM is a DOS executable file.

That's odd. Did you see my quote of Badour...?...

....elsewhere in this thread.

|
| |
| | | scandisk /ALL /NOSUMMARY
| | | if not errorlevel 1 goto scend2
| | | echo Errors found! Press a key to re-scan/fix local drive(s)...
| | | pausenul
| | | scandisk /ALL
| | | :scend2
| |
| | I don't like the looks of that. The second run will not find any
| | errors.
| |
| | Yes, it will (see below).
|
| OK.
|
| |
| | The first run did not record it's summary. (It may be the summary
&
| the
| | error report are two different things, though, not sure.)
| |
| | They are two different things; but even if they weren't, the
| | non-creation (or deletion) of SCANDISK.LOG will not affect
Scandisk's
| | ability to detect subsequent errors.
|
| OK, they're different. STILL, the second run will not find the errors
| that were fixed in the first run. Therefore, it is important to
select
| "append" for the .log, not "overwrite", if you are going to run it
| twice
| in a row!
|
| The first run will not fix the errors, here (hence, the need for the
| second run). If the first run did fix the errors, it would be rather
| difficult for Scandisk to fix them, during the second run, if they no
| longer existed. g Logging is irrelevant WRT Scandisk's ability to
fix
| errors. You can use "SaveLog=Off", in SCANDISK.INI to disable logging.

I thought/think it is "/CHECKONLY" that does that, not "/NOSUMMARY".

|
| Ken
|
| --
| Remove the '4' to reply via email

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"Kentiguous" wrote in message
...
| PCR wrote :
| | http://support.microsoft.com/support.../Q118/5/79.asp
| | Contents of the Windows Msdos.sys File
| | .....Quote.....
| | The [Options] section can contain the following settings. You must
| | manually insert these settings if you want to use them:
| |
| | • AutoScan=Number
| | Default: 1
| | Purpose: Defines whether or not ScanDisk is run after a bad
shutdown.
| | A setting of...
| | 0 does not run ScanDisk;
| | 1 prompts before running ScanDisk;
| | 2 does not prompt before running ScanDisk but prompts you before
| fixing
| | errors if any errors are found.
| | .....EOQ........
|
| I think I'm going batty now. Am I an "=1", or am I an "=2"...?...
|
| Auto-Scandisk does NOT ask whether it should run. It doesn't appear
to
| ask whether it should FIX an error, either. It ONLY asks whether it
| should SAVE a lost cluster/whatever, after it's presumably already
been
| fixed. OTOH, it is possible, in the case of a lost cluster/whatever,
| there is no fixing involved. It's either save the lost one or don't
| save
| it. THEREFORE...
|
| I think that the definition of "AutoScan=1", above, is incorrect, and
| should read:
|
| 1 = Always run Scandisk on startup, after an incomplete shutdown, and
| automatically fix errors (default).

Well, the article (above) just says... "1 prompts before running
ScanDisk". You say, not only does it not Prompt, BUT it will Auto-fix
the errors. Elsewhere in this thread, (I think) you said it was the
setting of...

LostClust = Prompt ; Lost clusters

....that determines what happens with those "lost files of folders",
which are the only ones I can remember clearly, (especially as it just
happened this boot). You also mentioned...

DS_LostClust = Fix ; Internal lost clusters

...., but said that wasn't the one. (Damn, I should go back to cquirke's
site.)

WELL...

(a) I am set to Prompt for LostClust.
(b) I am still =1 in MSDOS.sys.
(c) I have no Winboot.ini & likely never will.

THEREFORE...

My experience/memory of my crash of 2001 is too limited to determine the
issue. WOULD there be a prompt to FIX a lost file or folder, instead of
JUST a Prompt as to whether it should be SAVED? With my =1, I certainly
do not get the former, but I do get the latter.

|
| My FINAL belief is... I am an "=2", which is what I first said (I
| think). And, should there be a fix involved, I presume I will be
asked.
| That's only polite! WELL, the settings in Scandisk.ini likely do come
| into play, & will be the ultimate decider. In that case, it better be
| true that /CUSTOM applies to the Auto-Scandisk.
|
| The /CUSTOM settings work, here, in AutoScan mode, if SCANDISK.INI
| exists (I'm using "AutoScan=2").

Uhuh. That is good to know. It is what I thought to begin with. Also,
cquirke has agreed with us.

|
| HOWEVER, my setting in MSDOS.sys is "=1". THEREFORE, it is "=1" that
is
| the illusion.
|
| If your AutoScan setting is a "1" (in MSDOS.SYS's [Options] section),
| then you are, indeed, a "1" (unless, as Chris said, WINBOOT.INI
exists,
| with a different setting). You could try altering SCANDISK.INI's
| settings to generate the prompts you desire (or, rename SCANDISK.INI,
| and use "AutoScan=2").

See above.

|
| Ken
|
| --
| Remove the '4' to reply via email

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"PCR" wrote in message ...
Well, here is a post from my "Keepers" that mentions "/CUSTOM" of
Scandisk.

...........Quote...................
This info is from an old KB article that has since been revised and the
info is no longer included in the current article:

[snip]

The Clean Shutdown and Hard Disk Error bits are the two low-order bits
of the FAT
entry for cluster 1. If bit 0 is 0, it indicates an unclean shutdown; if
bit 1
is 0, it indicates that a hard disk error occurred on that drive. These
bits are
turned on by VFAT; they are turned off only by ScanDisk.

The KB author says "the two low-order bits", but that isn't right.
The MS FAT spec defines it correctly-

quote
The second reserved cluster, FAT[1], is set by FORMAT to the EOC
mark. On FAT12 volumes, it is not used and is simply always contains an EOC
mark. For FAT16 and FAT32, the file system driver may use the high two bits of
the FAT[1] entry for dirty volume flags (all other bits, are always left set
to 1). Note that the bit location is different for FAT16 and FAT32, because
they are the high 2 bits of the entry.
/quote


"high two bits", not "two low order bits". FAT32 only uses 28 bits
for cluster entries so it will be bit-26 and bit-27 of the dword FAT[1}
entry. That glossed over fact actually drove me insane one day.. :-[]

"Kentiguous" wrote in message ...
cquirke (MVP Win9x) wrote :
On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:56:51 -0500, "PCR" wrote:

Auto-Scandisk does NOT ask whether it should run. It doesn't appear to
ask whether it should FIX an error, either. It ONLY asks whether it
should SAVE a lost cluster/whatever

In Win95 and Win98, it is SCANDISK.INI that manages the specifics of
what errors are fixed, prompted on or ignored - not MSDOS.SYS or
Winboot.ini - but while SCANDISK.INI exists in WinME, it's ignored.

In Win98SE, I've found that AutoScan=2 will cause Scandisk to prompt to
fix errors, if SCANDISK.INI does not exist.

That's good to know. I wonder if that's true for all errors..
What if scandisk.ini does exist? Does it take precedence?

"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
| "PCR" wrote in message
...
| Well, here is a post from my "Keepers" that mentions "/CUSTOM" of
| Scandisk.
|
| ...........Quote...................
| This info is from an old KB article that has since been revised and
the
| info is no longer included in the current article:
|
| [snip]
|
| The Clean Shutdown and Hard Disk Error bits are the two low-order
bits
| of the FAT
| entry for cluster 1. If bit 0 is 0, it indicates an unclean
shutdown; if
| bit 1
| is 0, it indicates that a hard disk error occurred on that drive.
These
| bits are
| turned on by VFAT; they are turned off only by ScanDisk.
|
| The KB author says "the two low-order bits", but that isn't right.
| The MS FAT spec defines it correctly-
|
| quote
| The second reserved cluster, FAT[1], is set by FORMAT to the EOC
| mark. On FAT12 volumes, it is not used and is simply always contains
an EOC
| mark. For FAT16 and FAT32, the file system driver may use the high two
bits of
| the FAT[1] entry for dirty volume flags (all other bits, are always
left set
| to 1). Note that the bit location is different for FAT16 and FAT32,
because
| they are the high 2 bits of the entry.
| /quote
|
|
| "high two bits", not "two low order bits". FAT32 only uses 28 bits
| for cluster entries so it will be bit-26 and bit-27 of the dword
FAT[1}
| entry. That glossed over fact actually drove me insane one day.. :-[]
|

I'll trust you on this, Blanton, because madmen never lie, if only
because they cannot tell the difference. So, thanks!

It's the two high-order (or rightmost) bits of a double-word, then. And
I suppose it applies separately for each partition in the system known
to Windows.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"PCR" wrote in message ...

"Bill Blanton" wrote in message
...
| "PCR" wrote in message
...

| ...........Quote...................
| This info is from an old KB article

| The Clean Shutdown and Hard Disk Error bits are the two low-order bits
| of the FAT
| entry for cluster 1.

| The KB author says "the two low-order bits", but that isn't right.
| The MS FAT spec defines it correctly-
|
| quote
| For FAT16 and FAT32, the file system driver may use the high two bits of
| the FAT[1] entry for dirty volume flags
| /quote
|
|
| "high two bits", not "two low order bits". FAT32 only uses 28 bits
| for cluster entries so it will be bit-26 and bit-27 of the dword FAT[1}
| entry.

It's the two high-order (or rightmost) bits of a double-word, then.

Not the high order bits of the dword,, the high order bits of the 28
bit "subthing". There's no name for that, afaik.. It's a WordByteNybble.

The intel little endian architecture stores bytes "backwards", but
not the bits within the bytes. Dword 0x12345678 would be stored in
memory as 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12, if looking at it from a "low to high"
address point of view. (and is naturally carried over to HD storage)

Considering dword 11111111 11111111 11111111 01111111 the high order
bit (bit-31) is only one clear. If only refering to 28-bits, it would
look like this, with the high order bit cleared-
11111111 11111111 11111111 11110111.

Using the term "right" or "left" just confuses the already insane!


And I suppose it applies separately for each partition in the system known
to Windows.

For each volume ;-). FAT16 and FAT32, but not NT-based systems. They moved
it to the boot sector somewheres..