FIZ(1)FIZ(1)NAMEfiz - analyze damaged zoo archive for data revovery
SYNOPSISfiz archive[.zoo]
DESCRIPTION
Fiz is used to analyze damaged zoo archives and locate directory
entries and file data in them. The current version of fiz is 2.0 and
it is meant to be used in conjunction with zoo version 2.0. Fiz makes
no assumptions about archive structure. Instead, it simply searches
the entire subject archive for tag values that mark the locations of
directory entries and file data. In a zoo archive, a directory entry
contains information about a stored file such as its name, whether com‐
pressed or not, and its timestamp. The file data are the actual data
for the archived file, and may be either the original data, or the
result of compressing the file.
For each directory entry found, fiz prints where in the archive it is
located, the directory path and filename(s) found in it, whether the
directory entry appears to be corrupted (indicated by [*CRC Error*]),
and the value of the pointer to the file data that is found in the
directory entry. For each block of file data found in the archive, fiz
prints where in the archive the block begins. In the case of an undam‐
aged archive, the pointer to file data found in a directory entry will
correspond to where fiz actually locates the data. Here is some sample
output from fiz:
****************
2526: DIR [changes] ==> 95
2587: DATA
****************
3909: DIR [copyrite] ==> 1478
3970: DATA
4769: DATA
****************
In such output, DIR indicates where fiz found a directory entry in the
archive, and DATA indicates where fiz found file data in the archive.
Filenames located by fiz are enclosed in square brackets, and the nota‐
tion "==> 95" indicates that the directory entry found by fiz at
position 2526 has a file data pointer to position 95. In actuality,
fiz found file data at positions 2587, 3970, and 4769. Since fiz found
only two directory entries, and each directory entry corresponds to one
file, one of the file data positions is an artifact.
Once the locations of directory entries and file data are found, the @
modifier to zoo's archive list and extract commands can be used and the
archive contents selectively listed or extracted, skipping the damaged
portion. This is further described in the documentation for zoo(1).
In the above case, commands to try giving to zoo might be x@2526,2587
(extract beginning at position 2526, and get file data from position
2587), x@3090,3970 (extract at 3090, get data from 3970) and
x@3909,4769 (extract at 3909, get data from 4769). Once a correctly-
matched directory entry/file data pair is found, zoo will in most cases
synchronize with and correctly extract all files subsequently found in
the archive. Trial and error should allow all undamaged files to be
extracted. Also note that self-extracting archives created using sez
(the Self-Extracting Zoo utility for MS-DOS), which are normally exe‐
cuted on an MS-DOS system for extraction, can be extracted on non-MSDOS
systems in a similar way.
SEE ALSOzoo(1)BUGS
Random byte patterns can occasionally be incorrectly recognized as tag
values. This occurs very rarely, however, and trial and error will
usually permit all undamaged data to be extracted.
DIAGNOSTICS
Fiz always exits with a status code of 0.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Automation of data recovery from a damaged archive is potentially
achievable. However, since damaged archives occur only rarely, fiz as
it currently stands is unlikely to change much in the near future.
AUTHOR
Rahul Dhesi
Jan 31, 1988 FIZ(1)
