The Advanced Disc Investigator is a disc sector editor - just one of many utilities included in other ROMs. However, the ADI sector editor is the one to end all others. ADI is a 16K language ROM. It is compatible with the model B with an 8271 disc controller, a Master or B+ with an 1770 or even a model B with most types of 1770 upgrades.

ADI has just one command (*ADI) and one screen. This is a mode 0 screen with a picture of a disc in a sleeve. The disc 'label' is the command menu and the 'sleeve' displays status information about the disc drives and all of a disc sector in both hex and ASCII.

The commands are selected either with their initial letter or with a cursor menu system. This is the best of both worlds and a feature well worth imitating.

To cope with the various disc formats ADI can directly use all the parameters affecting the disc controller chip - number of tracks, density, track, sector, head and length IDs and so forth. ADI can also detect what a disc is already using, and defaults accordingly.

Two sets of this status information are displayed - for a source and destination disc. All the parameters can be changed with the cursor keys, although, strangely, the up key is used to decrease a value and the down key to increase it!

Once both discs are set up to your satisfaction some or all of the tracks can be formatted, verified, copied, edited, read or written to/from memory, printed out or 'unformatted'. The most impressive of these functions are the copier and editor. ADI can, with a little manipulation, copy just about any disc. I successfully used it to copy a Wordwise file onto a disc set up to be read by an IBM PC!

The editor is also excellent. This is the best disc sector editor I've seen. It is both fast and flexible. It does little more than other editors but it is pleasant to use - a definite rarity.

The ADI is a powerful package. There is little you'd want to do to a disc that this software can't help with. For serious disc users, this is a must.