Diskcomp
| Company type | Command line utility |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computing / Software |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Microsoft, Digital Research, IBM (co-developers) |
| Products | Disk comparison utility for floppy disks |
| Website | docs |
In computing, the diskcomp command is utilized to perform a full comparison between the contents of two floppy disks.
Overview
This command is compatible with several operating systems, such as DOS, Digital Research FlexOS, IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS, SISNE plus, IBM OS/2, and Microsoft Windows. It has been included since MS-DOS version 3.2, IBM PC DOS version 1, Digital Research's DR DOS 6.0, and Datalight's ROM-DOS. The version available in FreeDOS was created by Michal Meller.
diskcomp works exclusively with floppy disk drives of identical size and does not support comparison of hard disks, CDs, network drives, Zip drives, or USB flash memory devices. Additionally, it cannot compare disks formatted as 3.5-inch against those formatted as 5.25-inch.
Examples
To compare floppy disks located in drives A: and B:, use the following command:
diskcomp a: b:
When only a single floppy drive (A:) is accessible, the command can still compare two disks by requesting each disk one after another:
diskcomp a: a:
If the disks are identical, the message "Compare OK" appears; otherwise, it reports "Compare error on side [number], track [number]" indicating where differences were detected.
Further reading
- Jim Cooper, Special Edition Using MS-DOS 6.22, Third Edition, Que Publishing, 2001
- Kathy Ivens & Brian Proffit, OS/2 Inside & Out, Osborne McGraw-Hill, 1993
- Æleen Frisch, Windows 2000 Commands Pocket Reference, O'Reilly, 2001