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Image for DOS Hangs When Using BIOS (direct) or Saving Direct to CD/DVD

Problem:

  • The system hangs when the BIOS (direct) bus method is used.

  • The system hangs when saving directly to CD/DVD.

  • The operation completes successfully, but then hangs after the completion message.

Cause:

  • This occurs when the BIOS attempts to access the SATA/AHCI drive and either times-out or is unable to return.

  • In the case where the hang occurs after completion and the save log option is enabled, Image for DOS is unable to save the log file because the BIOS has lost access to the drive and saving the log uses the BIOS.

Solutions:

  • When selecting to access any drive using the BIOS (direct) method or when saving directly to CD/DVD, make sure to use BIOS (direct) as the access method for all involved drives. For example, select BIOS (direct) for the partition being imaged as well as for the partition to which the image is being saved.

    When backing up directly to CD/DVD media, make sure to use the BIOS (direct) method to access the source drive.

  • Disable low level SATA/AHCI support. This can be done when the boot media is created by selecting the Disable SATA option. Additionally, you can specify the /nsata command line option or place NoSATA=1 in the IFD.INI file.

Details:

Image for DOS (IFD) includes support for bypassing the BIOS when accessing SATA/AHCI drives. Due to system specifications actually in use, this requires IFD to initialize and communicate directly with the SATA controller.

Unfortunately, the hand-off mechanism as implemented by many systems is one direction only. This means that once one of those BIOSes gives up control of the SATA controller, it won't attempt to take it back. As a result, when a BIOS request is issued for a SATA drive, the BIOS hangs up.

When the BIOS (direct) method is selected, IFD attempts to match BIOS drives to SATA drives. If it can't--such as when a BIOS doesn't provide the correct information needed--then the BIOS is used to access the hard drive. In this case, the system will hang until the BIOS returns control (if ever).

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