用fstream原始读取启动扇区

Question

fstream file("G:", ios::in | ios::binary);

unsigned char buffer[512];

file.read((char *)buffer, 512);

file.close();

cout << buffer <<"\n";

I want to raw read the boot sector from my flash drive. Can i use for this job fstream?

Answer 1

File stream operations are written to access files . The CPP Reference does not further specify what a 'file' is in this context -- and maybe they are right. After all, it highly depends on the OS what's considered a 'file'.

However: under none of these interpretations is the boot sector a file. You cannot see or read the boot sector in Windows Explorer or OS X Finder -- it's "above and beyond" the level of files .

Your test program fails because "G:" is not interpreted as 'a flash drive', but merely as 'a full path specification'. When working on the level of "boot sectors", there are no paths and drive letter assignments. You are working with physical objects instead: actual disks, and actual sectors.

See http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/28314/Reading-and-Writing-to-Raw-Disk-Sectors for a first taste of raw reading.