42 replies to this topic

[Wonko the Sane]

I have now built a few of the libyal libraries for use with devio and ImDisk:
http://reboot.pro/to...vio-and-imdisk/

Very good
And the given example:

Example, to mount a multi-part image called image_multipart.001, image_multipart.002 and image_multipart.003:

start devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen shm:proxy1 image_multipart.001+image_multipart.002+image_multipart.003
imdisk -a -t proxy -o shm -f proxy1 -m #:

seems like solving the OP issue without even needing the descriptor file.

Last time I looked closely at fsplitw/fsplit32 source code was probably many years ago so I didn't remember. But now I realize that they both read a whole file part into memory and then write it out to the corresponding split file. This might actually not be very good for splitting iso images etc. That design probably made sense when I wrote it, because back then the most common use was to split a large file to store the parts on 1.44 MB floppies... Oh well.

Yep, I suspected as much .
Now, if Misty comes around, he might want to check rawcopy speed against the other tested tools:
http://reboot.pro/to...st-and-results/
http://reboot.pro/to...d-on-clonedisk/
last time the trick worked with erwan.l, as he promptly made a faster clonedisk .


Wonko

[misty]

...Now, if Misty comes around, he might want to check rawcopy speed against the other tested tools:
http://reboot.pro/to...st-and-results/
http://reboot.pro/to...d-on-clonedisk/
last time the trick worked with erwan.l, as he promptly made a faster clonedisk .


Wonko

You called! What are you trying to trick me into Wonko? - I'm no programmer. Happy to run some imaging test in a couple of weeks - I need to sort some hardware out first.

Regards,

Misty

[Wonko the Sane]

You called! What are you trying to trick me into Wonko? - I'm no programmer. Happy to run some imaging test in a couple of weeks - I need to sort some hardware out first.

Actually you are not the victim, you are just some means , I am trying to let you determine whether rawcopy is already a valid competitor in the "disk imaging speed challenge", and, if it is not,  trick Olof into bettering/make it faster .

 

Wonko

:

[erwan.l]

Telling you guys : dont try to outperform CloneDisk

[ilko]

Thanks to all of you, now I could successfully mount under Windows XP a split in two parts ISO file using both

devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 XIAOPAN.0.4.7.2.iso1+XIAOPAN.0.4.7.2.iso2

and

devio --dll=libvmdk_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 XIAOPAN.0.4.7.2.isi

then

imdisk -a -t proxy -o shm -o ro -o cd -f proxy1 -m Z:

XIAOPAN.0.4.7.2.iso was split in two parts using splitiso.cmd.

Now I only need to confirm that everything works under different WinPE versions from Vista onwards, both 32 and 64 bits.

 

@Wonko

Pismo mount tool is nice, but I'd need to install and use it in PE environment, which might be tricky. So far imdisk has been reliable and solid and I'd rather stick with known and trusted program. Pismo could be just as good or better, but I just don't have the time to test it.

 

 

[Olof Lagerkvist]

Thanks for testing, glad that you found this solution useful!

 

Regarding those lib*.dll and corresponding lib*_devio.dll together with devio.exe and ImDisk, I have done some quick testing of 32 bit versions under Windows NT 4.0 up to Windows 8.1 and 64 bit versions under Windows XP/Server 2003 up to Windows 10. They seem to work fine as far as I can see. They should not rely on anything that might be unavailable in a PE system either. I would think that you could even use "extremely minimalistic" Windows or Win PE environments such as PicoXP and similar.

[Wonko the Sane]

@Ilko
Good.

The Pismo thingy, once stripped to the bare essentials is actually similar to IMDISK, at it's core it has a driver and I don't think (but I haven't tested it in a minimal environment) that it has particular dependencies/issues, but of course, particularly in a PE it is better to have the less amount of added files, though the CISO format has (maybe) some advantage as the split .iso's can be additionally compressed.

So, when and if someone of the good programmer guys will have the time and will, I still would like to have handy a "libCISO.dll".

Between the "RAW" and the "VMDK" approach I would personally prefer the "VMDK" one, because at the end of the day the .isi file represent a "trace" of what has been done, which (when we will become old and forgetful ) may remind us that the .iso1 and .iso2 are split files and seemingly one can add to it comments prefized by #.



Wonko

[ilko]

Quick test in stock Windows 7 PE x64- both methods worked fine.

 

[ilko]

A little glitch- if the file name contains "+" in its name, devio treats it as a delimiter as expected, but enclosing these file names in quotes does not help. For example:

devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 "XIAOPAN+0.4.7.2.iso1"+"XIAOPAN+0.4.7.2.iso2"

Haven't tested with other weird characters, but think quotes should be honoured as the file names may contain space as well.

[Wonko the Sane]

 

Haven't tested with other weird characters, but think quotes should be honoured as the file names may contain space as well.

But have you tried:

devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 "XIAOPAN 0.4.7.2.iso1"+"XIAOPAN 0.4.7.2.iso2"

and it doesn't work?

 

I mean the fact that a + inside a quoted string is not respected is not by itself a proof that a [SPACE] won't be respected.

 

Wonko

[Olof Lagerkvist]

A little glitch- if the file name contains "+" in its name, devio treats it as a delimiter as expected, but enclosing these file names in quotes does not help. For example:

devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 "XIAOPAN+0.4.7.2.iso1"+"XIAOPAN+0.4.7.2.iso2"

Haven't tested with other weird characters, but think quotes should be honoured as the file names may contain space as well.

 

Only + has a special meaning here and is recognized as separating files. Other "weird" characters should not be a problem. If any of the file names contain spaces, you need to enclose the entire parameter with quotes, like:

devio --dll=libsmraw_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:proxy1 "XIAOPAN 0.4.7.2.iso1+XIAOPAN 0.4.7.2.iso2"

Your ..."+"... approach does not work because there is unfortunately nothing in devio.exe or libsmraw_devio.dll that recognizes the three character sequence "+" as something with special meaning.

[ilko]

Thanks Olof, got it with the spaces, but how to use files with "+" in their names?

Or isn't it better another delimiter to be used, one which is not allowed in file names anyway, like "|" or ":" ?

[Wonko the Sane]

Thanks Olof, got it with the spaces, but how to use files with "+" in their names?

Or isn't it better another delimiter to be used, one which is not allowed in file names anyway, like "|" or ":" ?

A more evoluted parsing engine may well distinguish [SPACE]+[SPACE] and [TAB]+[TAB], i.e. [blank]+[blank] from [anythingBUTblank]+[anythingBUTblank], but as soon as Olof would eventually implement this, someone will come out whining about the program being unable to parse correctly a filename with a "[SPACE]+[SPACE]".

 

Using the ":" may be a valid idea (though far from being intuitive).

Using the "|" is NOT a good idea because it would need to be escaped from batch . 

 

Of course I am getting old (and if possible grumpier) but how would you rate the actual problems caused by the "by design" limitation in 

You (§@ç#ing) CANNOT use the plus sign (+) in a filename of a multi-part iso to be mounted through devio!

 

in a priority scale ranging from 1 to 10?

 

As I see it it has a nice place at -217 , right after this one (JFYI):

http://www.msfn.org/...vers-installed/

but BEFORE this one:

http://www.msfn.org/...81-dialog-bugs/

 

 

Wonko

[ilko]

Umm, Jaclaz, you know what I am using this for, right?

Do you think I personally put + in file names or cannot simply rename the file? At the same time, I cannot tell every user of WinSetupFromUSB not to use weird characters in their ISO files, can I?

What I could do, and I am doing it, is to inform Olof that there is a potential issue and/or seek advice how to get around it, and take care of those weird file names within the application renaming them when there is such need.

So in short- it is not a big issue for me at all, I got my way around it, but it might be appropriate and useful, for others too, this to be looked at, by finding a way to escape such file names, or simply using other, safer delimiter, whatever it is. Developer decides himself where to put this in the priority list and whether to put it there at all, if the report makes sense.

 

And to be fair, you do seem to start getting grumpier than usual, I really do not need, nor deserve this ear pulling out of nowhere, and I am not whining at all, just being informative and strict, just as usual

 

[Wonko the Sane]

Umm, Jaclaz, you know what I am using this for, right?
Do you think I personally put + in file names or cannot simply rename the file? At the same time, I cannot tell every user of WinSetupFromUSB not to use weird characters in their ISO files, can I?
What I could do, and I am doing it, is to inform Olof that there is a potential issue and/or seek advice how to get around it, and take care of those weird file names within the application renaming them when there is such need.
So in short- it is not a big issue for me at all, I got my way around it, but it might be appropriate and useful, for others too, this to be looked at, by finding a way to escape such file names, or simply using other, safer delimiter, whatever it is. Developer decides himself where to put this in the priority list and whether to put it there at all, if the report makes sense.
 
And to be fair, you do seem to start getting grumpier than usual, I really do not need, nor deserve this ear pulling out of nowhere, and I am not whining at all, just being informative and strict, just as usual
 

Sure you were not whining , but someone soon will, about this or any other minor limitation, I was only using my crystal ball to see the future.

Seriously I cannot see why you cannot insert this (IMHO really teeny-tiny) limitation to WinSetupFromUSB :

DO NOT use the + characters in filenames!

 

Someone will whine about it nonetheless, I know, and you (or Olof or both) will be accused of censorship , sloppy programming or not caring for customers requests/bug reports .

 

Out of curiosity, would the VMDK/.isi approach work with files with the + in the name?

 

IF it does, than the limitation would be even minor....

... and what if - without telling anyone - WinSetupFromUSB would programmatically, silently and sneakily  change the "+" in filenames to (say) "_" (underscore)?

 

In any case a "good" separators (more "logical" than the : ) IMHO could be the "," (comma) or the ";" (semicolon) as though "legal" from a pure filename viewpoint:

https://support.micr...en-us/kb/177506

are rarely used in filenames.

I believe that though not "very strict/exact", this is a good list of what should NOT be in a filename:

http://www.mtu.edu/u...aracters-avoid/

 

 

Wonko

[ilko]

... and what if - without telling anyone - WinSetupFromUSB would programmatically, silently and sneakily  change the "+" in filenames to (say) "_" (underscore)?

As mentioned above, I am already doing that, after a few hours spent wondering why the heck one source was working and the other one was not, under limited PE where debugging is tricky, until spotted that tiny little + in 50+ all kind of characters file name.

Might save some head-scratching to others using this approach by notifying in the thread and asking developer to keep it in mind in future releases.

 

 

 

Seriously I cannot see why you cannot insert this (IMHO really teeny-tiny) limitation to WinSetupFromUSB

DO NOT use the + characters in filenames!

 

 

 

Well, you know the answer, you wrote it already

[Wonko the Sane]

As expected , the VMDK+.isi approach seemingly works .
 

26/05/2015  21.18               182 Core+current.isi
29/04/2015  10.31         4.193.280 Core+current.iso1
29/04/2015  10.31         4.092.928 Core+current.iso2
02/02/2014  16.51            22.016 devio.exe
29/04/2015  22.16           570.368 libvmdk.dll
21/07/2014  18.28            92.160 proxy.dll
30/04/2015  13.46           885.071 proxy_VMDK.zip
29/04/2015  21.33            67.072 zlib.dll

start /b devio --dll=proxy.dll;dllopen shm:test_proxy Core+current.isi
imdisk -a -t proxy -o shm -o cd -f test_proxy -m Z:

I have tested it with erwan.l's proxy.dll, will do the same with Olof's libvmdk_devio.dll and report .
 
Confirmed :

26/05/2015  21.09               180 Commandnotes.txt
26/05/2015  21.28               182 Core+current.isi
29/04/2015  10.31         4.193.280 Core+current.iso1
29/04/2015  10.31         4.092.928 Core+current.iso2
11/01/2015  18.38            23.040 devio.exe
29/04/2015  22.16           570.368 libvmdk.dll
29/04/2015  22.30             9.216 libvmdk_devio.dll
29/04/2015  21.33            67.072 zlib.dll

 

start /b devio --dll=libvmdk_devio.dll;dllopen -r shm:test_proxy Core+current.isi
imdisk -a -t proxy -o shm -o cd -f test_proxy -m Z:

So, all in all WinSetupFromUSB could use this "VMDK" approach and allow the "+" whilst the "bad" guy would be only Olof that can well ask that users DO NOT use "+" (which is a separator) in the filenames to be used with libsmraw_devio.dll and that can point to me as the grumpy old bastard that advised him that such a limitation is not a real issue.

Everything seems to me cool and dandy now.

 
 

Wonko

[Wonko the Sane]

For NO apparent reason, an updated version of splitiso.cmd and writeisi.cmd.

 

Now the splitiso will only split the .iso and has an optional /writeisi switch to also write the .isi descriptor file.

 

Added provisions for names (or paths) with spaces.

 

Wonko

Attached Files

•  splitisowriteisi_003.zip   2.43KB   470 downloads