[RESOLVED] which one of these is the sectors

i cant figure out which numbers to change to up the amount of sectors from one to 5 or 10
thanks

Code:

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Private Sub Command1_Click()
'Read the Primary Master MBR

    Open "c:\mbr.bin" For Binary Access Write As #1
    For i = 0 To (1 - 1)
    DoEvents
    If i < (1 - 1) Then Put #1, i * 512 + 1, rawread("h:", i, False) 'PhysicalDrive0
    If i >= (1 - 1) Then Put #1, i * 512 + 1, rawread("h:", i, True) 'PhysicalDrive0
    Next i
    Close #1
End Sub

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'module

Code:

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Private Declare Function CreateFile Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal dwShareMode As Long, lpSecurityAttributes As Any, ByVal dwCreationDisposition As Long, ByVal dwFlagsAndAttributes As Long, ByVal hTemplateFile As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function SetFilePointer Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, ByVal lDistanceToMove As Long, lpDistanceToMoveHigh As Long, ByVal dwMoveMethod As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function ReadFile Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, lpBuffer As Any, ByVal nNumberOfBytesToRead As Long, lpNumberOfBytesRead As Long, ByVal lpOverlapped As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WriteFile Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, lpBuffer As Any, ByVal nNumberOfBytesToWrite As Long, lpNumberOfBytesWritten As Long, lpOverlapped As Long) As Long
Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (Destination As Any, Source As Any, ByVal Length As Long)

Private Const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1
Private Const OPEN_EXISTING = 3
Private Const GENERIC_READ = &H80000000
Private Const GENERIC_WRITE = &H40000000
Private Const FILE_SHARE_READ = &H1
Private Const FILE_SHARE_WRITE = &H2
Private Const FILE_CURRENT = 1
Public hDevice As Long

Public Function rawread(ByVal rDrive As String, ByVal SectorToRead As Long, ByVal LastSectorToRead As Boolean) As String
If Len(rDrive) < 4 Then rDrive = Left(rDrive, 2)

Dim abBuff() As Byte
Dim abResult() As Byte
Dim nSectors As Long
Dim nRead As Long

iOffset = SectorToRead
cBytes = 512
BytesPerSector = 512
If hDevice < 1 Then hDevice = CreateFile("\\.\" & rDrive, GENERIC_READ Or GENERIC_WRITE, 0, ByVal 0, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0)
If hDevice = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then Exit Function
Call SetFilePointer(hDevice, SectorToRead * BytesPerSector, 0, FILE_BEGIN)
ReDim abResult(cBytes - 1)
ReDim abBuff(1 * BytesPerSector - 1)
Call ReadFile(hDevice, abBuff(0), UBound(abBuff) + 1, nRead, 0&)
CopyMemory abResult(0), abBuff(0), cBytes

rawread = StrConv(abResult, vbUnicode)
   
If LastSectorToRead = True Then CloseHandle hDevice: MsgBox "end"
End Function

Public Function rawwrite(ByVal rDrive As String, ByVal SectorToWrite As Integer, ByVal writestring As String, ByVal LastSectorToWrite As Boolean) As Integer
If Len(rDrive) < 4 Then rDrive = Left(rDrive, 2)

Dim BytesPerSector As Long
Dim abBuff() As Byte
Dim abResult() As Byte
Dim nSectors As Long
Dim nWritten As Long

abResult = writestring
iOffset = SectorToWrite
cBytes = 512
BytesPerSector = 512
   
If hDevice < 1 Then hDevice = CreateFile("\\.\A:", GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_READ Or FILE_SHARE_WRITE, ByVal 0&, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0)

If hDevice = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then rawwrite = 0: Exit Function

ReDim abBuff(1 * BytesPerSector - 1)
CopyMemory abBuff(0), abResult(0), Len(abResult(0))
Call SetFilePointer(hDevice, SectorToWrite * BytesPerSector, 0, FILE_BEGIN)
Call WriteFile(hDevice, abResult(0), BytesPerSector, nWritten, ByVal 0&)
rawwrite = nWritten

If LastSectorToWrite = True Then CloseHandle hDevice
End Function

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512 is bytes per sector, so "i" must be the sector.
Note that you cannot hardcode 512. It is a default value, but can be modified. Drives can have different bytes per sector values

is there a difference between a .bin and a .vhd file?
and is this the right way to write to this type of file?

i found another way to write a bigger file but not sure which would be best.

Code:

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Private Declare Function CreateFile Lib "kernel32" Alias "CreateFileA" (ByVal lpFileName As String, ByVal dwDesiredAccess As Long, ByVal dwShareMode As Long, lpSecurityAttributes As Any, ByVal dwCreationDisposition As Long, ByVal dwFlagsAndAttributes As Long, ByVal hTemplateFile As Long) As Long


Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long


Private Declare Function SetFilePointer Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, ByVal lDistanceToMove As Long, lpDistanceToMoveHigh As Long, ByVal dwMoveMethod As Long) As Long


Private Declare Function ReadFile Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, lpBuffer As Any, ByVal nNumberOfBytesToRead As Long, lpNumberOfBytesRead As Long, ByVal lpOverlapped As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function WriteFile Lib "kernel32" (ByVal hFile As Long, lpBuffer As Any, ByVal nNumberOfBytesToWrite As Long, lpNumberOfBytesWritten As Long, lpOverlapped As Long) As Long


Private Declare Sub CopyMemory Lib "kernel32" Alias "RtlMoveMemory" (Destination As Any, Source As Any, ByVal Length As Long)
    Private Const INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE = -1
    Private Const OPEN_EXISTING = 3
    Private Const GENERIC_READ = &H80000000
    Private Const GENERIC_WRITE = &H40000000


Private Sub Command1_Click()
    Dim hDevice As Long
    iOffSet = 0
    cBytes = 512
    BytesPerSector = 512
   
    Dim abBuff() As Byte
    Dim abResult() As Byte
    Dim nSectors As Long
    Dim nRead As Long
    Dim writer As String
    nSectors = Int((iOffSet + cBytes - 1) / BytesPerSector) + 1
    hDevice = CreateFile("\\.\h:", GENERIC_READ Or GENERIC_WRITE, 0, ByVal 0, OPEN_EXISTING, 0, 0)


    For i = 0 To (2880 - 1) '2880/2 is 1440k


        DoEvents
            If hDevice = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE Then Exit Sub
            Call SetFilePointer(hDevice, i * BytesPerSector, 0, FILE_BEGIN)
            ReDim abResult(cBytes - 1)
            ReDim abBuff(nSectors * BytesPerSector - 1)
            Call ReadFile(hDevice, abBuff(0), UBound(abBuff) + 1, nRead, 0&)
            CopyMemory abResult(0), abBuff(iOffSet), cBytes
            Open "c:\floppy.bin" For Binary Access Write As #1
            writer = StrConv(abResult, vbUnicode)
            Put #1, i * 512 + 1, writer
            Close #1
        Next i
        CloseHandle hDevice: MsgBox "end"
    End Sub

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i googled vhd then iso files ,there verry complacated aint they?

The type of file is not an issue I think unless you want it compatible with some other software. If you can successfully ghost the harddrive, you can use whatever format you want to use so that your app can restore the ghost.

thanks lavolpe for all your help,some of this stuff is hard to understand.
thanks again