Unattended Advanced Format Hard Disk Information Tool

March 14, 2012

TITLE: Advanced Format Hard Disk Information Tool

VERSION:

1.0 REV: B

DESCRIPTION:

The Unattended Advanced Format (AF) Hard Disk Information tool allows users to view
hard disk detail information including whether the hard disk uses advanced disk format,
the alignment of partitions and if a disk is a Solid State Drive (SSD) based on a Media
Rotation Rate flag. This package is available on supported notebooks, desktops and
workstations that are running a supported operating system.

Note:
The AF-Check.Exe utility will not generate any output for systems with RAID or SAS
controllers, however the VBS scripts will report on partition alignment.
AF-Check.exe does not work on AMD systems with XP Pro (but it does work with
Windows 7).
AF-Check64.Exe utility is for 64-bit Windows and WinPE that has the same functionality
as AF-Check.Exe

HOW TO USE:
1. Download the file by clicking the ""Download"" or ""Obtain Software"" button and" saving the file
to a folder on your hard drive (make a note of the folder where the downloaded file is saved).
2. Run the SoftPaq and follow the on-screen instructions to unzip the files to a directory.
There are four program files:
a. AF-Check.cmd is a sample batch script to manage the output from the other utilities:
- It can a map network drive.
- It runs AF-Check.vbs while redirecting the console output to a file.
b. AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe is an unattended program that runs in various modes to
check for Advance Format disks and Solid State Disks (SSD).
- AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe reports the following disk information:
o Model
o Serial number
o Firmware version
o Physical sector size to indicate Advance Format (AF) Disks
o The Media Rotation Rate flag is checked as an indication of an SSD.
- AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe returns an error level code to indicate AF disks.
c.

AF-Check.vbs is a Visual Basic script for determining partition alignment. It

reports the results from executing AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe to the console (N.B.
console output can be redirected to a file)
- reports select WMI Win32_Partition information
-

- calculates and reports 1MB and 4K partition alignment

d. Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AF-Check.cmd is a sample batch
script that could be used from a CD or read-only USB media.
3. Requirements and restrictions:
a. Use administrative rights when executing the AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe.
b. The administrator account running the programs must have write permission to the folder
with the AF-Check files.
c. AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe does not work on AMD systems with XP Pro (but it does
work with Windows 7).
d. AF-Check.vbs will not work from a UNC path, but it will work if a network drive is mapped
first such as in the sample batch script AF-Check.cmd.
e. AF-Check.vbs and AF-Check.cmd will not work from Read Only media, but the sample
program Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AF-Check.cmd will copy
all the programs to writeable media and run from there.
4. Steps for using AF-Check.cmd (a sample batch script) from either the local system or from a
server:
a. From the local system:
- [optional] Edit the batch script to specify:
o output folder
o output filename
o disable the notepad command to open the output file at the end
- Run AF-Check.cmd by either
o Double clicking on the AF-Check.cmd file from Windows Explorer .
o Executing the command
<path>\AF-Check.cmd
where <path> is the full path to the folder with the AF-Check files. For example,
C:\TEMP\AF-Check.cmd
- An output file will be generated with the results which by default will be .\output\AFCheck.<computername>.txt

b. From a server:
- [optional] Edit the batch script to:
o alter the method of mapping a network drive
o alter the output folder
o alter the output filename
o disable the notepad command to open the output file at the end
- Run AF-Check.cmd by either
o Double clicking on the AF-Check.cmd file from Windows Explorer .
o Executing the command
\\<server>\<shared folder>\AF-Check.cmd
where \\<server>\<shared folder> is the full UNC path to the folder with the AF-Check
files.
- An output file by default will be here:
.\output\AF-Check.<computername>.txt
5. Steps for using AF-Check.vbs (when not using AF-Check.cmd).
a. Method 1:
- Double click on the AF-Check.vbs file from Windows Explorer
- View the output interactively via popup messages on the console screen.
b. Method 2:
- Execute the following command from a CMD window in the folder where it is located:
cd <path to AF-Check files>

cscript /nologo AF-Check.vbs

The output will be display in the CMD window.
6. Methods for using AF-Check.exe/AF-Check64.exe (when not using AF-Check.vbs or AFCheck.cmd). Note that you can substitute AF-Check64.exe for AF-Check.exe in the
instructions below when running on 64-bit Windows or WinPE operating systems.
a. Using AF-Check.exe via Windows Explorer
- double click on AF-Check.exe
- view the results in a file in the same folder called a DriveInfo.ini file
b. Displaying Help for AF-Check.exe via CMD
- Execute the following command from either a script or CMD window:
<path>\AF-Check.exe -?
- Help will look like:
HP Advance Format Disk Check Program - AF-CHECK.EXE, Version:
1.00.2011.1214
Version built on Dec 14 2011
Copyright (c) 2011 Hewlett-Packard Company
Usage:
AF-Check.exe [[drive:][path]filename] [--nolog] [--verbose]
Options:
[drive:][path]filename
- Specifies an output file or if no filename is specified then the
default filename is DriveInfo.ini. UNC paths can be used.
-?
- help screen.
--nolog - do not generate an output file.
--verbose - display the output to the console screen.
The error level return code is defined as follows:
87654321
bit mapped
X X X X X X 0 1 = 01 hex
* Indicates that the first port has a drive attached but is NOT a AF drive.
X X X X X X 1 1 = 03 hex
* Indicates that the first port has a drive attached and IS an AF drive.
X X X X 0 1 1 1 = 07 hex
* Indicates that the first and second ports have drives attached.
* The first port has an AF hard drive attached.
* The second port does not have an AF hard drive attached.

c.
-

Using AF-Check.exe via CMD

Execute the following command from either a script or CMD window:
<path>\AF-Check.exe [[<path\>]filename]
where the output file name and path are optional. For example,
if not exist c:\output mkdir c:\output
c:\temp\AF-Check.exe c:\output\AF-Check.%computername%.txt
Note that the output path must exist beforehand hence the command line with MKDIR.

If no other output file specified then view the DiskInfo.ini file in the current folder when the
command was executed.
For example if the current folder is C:\ while executing C:\TEMP\AF-Check.exe then
view the results in the C:\DiskInfo.ini file.

If the output path file was specified on the command line then view the results in that file.
For example open c:\output\AF-Check.<computername>.txt from the example above.

Here are some example commands:

o
o
o
o
o

Af-check.exe
normal output to the DISKINFO.INI file
Af-check.exe -nolog
errorlevel output only
Af-check.exe -verbose
output to DISKINFO.INI and console screen
Af-check.exe -nolog -verbose console screen (stdout) only
Af-check.exe Test.txt nolog
no output file, errorlevel output only

d. Using the ERRORLEVEL return code from AF-Check.exe

- Execute the following commands from a CMD batch script:
<path>\AF-Check.exe
echo %errorlevel%
pause
- View the result in the CMD window.
- Interpret the ERRORLEVEL return code as follows:
The error level return code is defined as follows:
8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
bit mapped
X X X X X X 0 1 = 01 hex
o
Indicates that the first port has a drive
attached but is NOT a AF drive
X X X X X X 1 1 = 03 hex
o
Indicates that the first port has a drive
attached and IS an AF drive
X X X X 0 1 1 1 = 07 hex
o
Indicates that the first and second ports have
drives attached.
o
The first port has an AF hard drive attached,
o
The second port does not have an AF hard drive
attached.

e. Using AF-Check.exe from Read Only Media.

- Execute the following commands from a batch script:
<path>\AF-Check.exe --nolog
echo %errorlevel%
pause
-

View the result in the CMD window.

Interpret the ERRORLEVEL return code as shown above.

7. Steps for using [Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AF-Check.cmd] (a

sample batch script) from read only media:
a. Before copying the source program to the read only media:
- [optional] Edit the [Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AFCheck.cmd] batch scripts to specify:
o the default target path to where the programs will be copied
- [optional] Edit the [AF-Check.cmd] batch script to specify:
o output folder
o output filename
o disable the notepad command to open the output file at the end
b. After the programs are copied to the read only media:
- Run [Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AF-Check.cmd] by either
o Double clicking on the [Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AFCheck.cmd] file from Windows Explorer.
o Executing the command
<path>\Copy-from-Read-Only-to-Writeable-Media-and-Run-AF-Check.cmd
[<path>]
where <path> is an option to specify on the command line the full path to a writeable
folder where the AF-Check files will be copied. For example,
C:\TEMP\AF-Check Tools
- An output file will be generated by default with the name AFCheck.<computername>.txt

"Copyright (c) 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P."