This web page refers to our older busTRACE 6.0 which is no longer shipping. Click here for details on our latest generation busTRACE software.

busTRACE 6.0 This WEB page comes from the busTRACE 6.0 User's Manual. (Table of Contents)

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If you are an existing busTRACE 5.0 customer, this page details many of the new features and improvements in busTRACE 6.0.

New Applications

  • NEW! Includes busSCRIPT 6.0, a new easy-to-use CDB scripting application. Drag and drop simplicity; no programming required for simple scripts; create self-contained executable scripts; CDB execution results can be saved to a busTRACE capture file.
  • NEW! Includes the busTRACE 6.0 Start Menu, a new front-end menuing application that guides you to the tool you are interested in running.
  • NEW! Removed support for the older busTRACE proprietary "green" dongle. Instead, we now only support our busTRACE USB Flash Drives. A free replacement flash drive is available for all customers whose subscription is active (if you have the older green dongle). This has the advantage of using Microsoft's built-in drivers to communicate with the flash drive instead of depending on a proprietary 3rd party driver.
  • NEW! The user's manual is no longer a separate PDF file. It is now an integrated HTML Help file.

All Applications

  • NEW! Full Windows Vista compatibility. This includes having all programs marked for proper Vista access requirements and adjusting the user interface for better Vista compatibility. Our kernel drivers also contain the necessary cross-certificate to be fully compatible with Windows Vista x64's requirement for signed device drivers.
  • NEW! A new busTRACE 6.0 Start Menu option is available on the toolbar of each of our applications. A drop down list can take you immediately to the tool of your choice. This allows you to quickly move from one busTRACE 6.0 application to another.
  • NEW! A new shared CDB Execution Database is stored in an XML format. You can set the location of this database file to a shared network drive and share it among multiple busTRACE users. Any enhancement made by one busTRACE user is automatically seen by all other busTRACE users that are configured to share the same file.
  • NEW! All applications and drivers are now digitally signed as having come from busTRACE Technologies. This ensures that our programs have not been altered.
  • IMPROVED! Significantly improved user interface for dragging and dropping of panes. You can easily see where your new will be be docked, tabbed, or floating.
  • IMPROVED! Child window toolbars no longer wrap around when the window isn't large enough to show the whole toolbar. Instead an "expand" button will appear on the right side of the toolbar which you can click to view the hidden toolbar features.
  • IMPROVED! Enhanced busTRACE subscription handling.
  • IMPROVED! We've enhanced our flash drive recovery tool in case busTRACE is unable to detect its flash drive.
  • IMPROVED! Minor enhancements to our Internet auto-updater.
  • IMPROVED! Shared busTRACE "About" box across all applications.
  • IMPROVED! When you use your mouse wheel, the scroll effect will now occur in the window that the mouse is floating over (instead of only the active window).

Capturing I/O Activity

  • NEW! Kernel Mode CDB Filter. Let busTRACE know exactly which CDBs you are interested in capturing or which CDBs you specifically do not want captured. Unlike our previous filter capability, this new feature causes the kernel driver to skip capturing the CDB altogether. This allows you to capture only the CDBs you are interested in.
  • NEW! When capturing I/O requests generated from ring 3 applications, such as SCSI Pass Through IOCTLs, busTRACE 6.0 will now tell you the the application that generated the I/O request.
  • NEW! SCSI Request Block (SRB) and SCSI Pass Through (SPTI) software defect detection.
  • NEW! View all attached user comments in its own docked pane. Click on a comment and the I/O Capture List will immediately move to that I/O.
  • NEW! Compare two captured I/Os in our new Side-by-Side I/O Comparison feature. You can even compare two I/Os across two separate capture documents. Synchronized scroll bars allow you to visually see any differences between the two captured I/Os.
  • NEW! Track mouse movements over interleaved I/O activity. While viewing interleaved I/O activity, as you move the mouse over each captured I/O, busTRACE will now highlight where the I/O starts, where it finishes, and what I/O activity (if any) occurs in between.
  • NEW! Stop multiple active busTRACE captures. You might have busTRACE capturing I/O simultaneously across multiple networked PCs. You can now have busTRACE stop all capture sessions at the same time.
  • NEW! A new startup capture settings page has been added where you can adjust busTRACE's default capture settings.
  • NEW! Copy one or more captured CDBs and paste into busSCRIPT, our CDB scripting application.
  • NEW! Save any captured CDB to our shared CDB Execution Database and use within busPROBE or busSCRIPT.
  • NEW! Drag and drop a busTRACE capture file (either a .BTD or a .ZIP file) onto the busTRACE 6.0 Start Menu desktop icon and our bus capture program will automatically load and show you the contents.
  • NEW! Find and jump to a specified I/O Counter. Press Ctrl+G, or enter the I/O Counter in the toolbar, and find and jump to any specified I/O Counter.
  • IMPROVED! User can now provide unlimited capture clients while their subscription is active. There is no longer any need to purchase additional capture clients (you must keep your busTRACE subscription active in order to continue using this feature).
  • IMPROVED! Updated our kernel driver to handle drivers that support a dual role of being a bus driver and a filter driver.
  • IMPROVED! Our I/O Capture List now supports Windows XP Themes for its visual display.
  • IMPROVED! Added a user option that allows you to turn on or off the capturing of IOCTL requests.
  • IMPROVED! The capture column IRP Direction is no longer shown by default in the I/O Capture List. Instead, if you configure busTRACE to show interleaved I/O activity, the IRP direction indicator will appear immediately to the right of the Counter field.
  • IMPROVED! Changed default capture behavior to capture Plug and Play (PnP) requests.
  • IMPROVED! Added two new startup options such as having busTRACE automatically launch when Windows starts, as well as automatically starting the capture when the application starts.
  • IMPROVED! Added two new columns you can have added to the I/O Capture List. These are the Device Pointer and IRP Pointer columns. This allows you to view the PDEVICE_OBJECT and PIRP hex values for the captured I/O request. This information is also available in the I/O Details dialog box as well as the Export options. A 64-bit hex value is displayed if the pointers are captured on an x64 system.
  • IMPROVED! Enhanced our protocol between the client and server when doing a remote bus capture.
  • IMPROVED! Icons used to show inbound or outbound data transfer have been adjusted to make it easier to visually note the direction in the I/O Capture List.

Generating I/O Activity

  • NEW! When sending a single CDB through busPROBE, our interface now allows you to type in a CDB filter string. For example, if you're only interested in viewing all available CDBs that contain "Read" in it, you simply type in Read into the edit box and all non-"Read" CDBs will be filtered from view.
  • IMPROVED! Added more built-in CDBs that are available to busPROBE as well as busSCRIPT.
  • IMPROVED! If you loop on sending CDBs within busPROBE, and then save the results to a busTRACE capture file, busPROBE will now save for you the first and last CDB sent along with a descriptive note within the capture. Previous versions only captured the last CDB submitted.
  • IMPROVED! When defining a custom execution CDB, added the ability to define multiple supported device types for a single CDB.
  • IMPROVED! Internal improvements in saving the CDB results to a busTRACE capture file.
  • IMPROVED! Within the CDB Viewer, the sorting option has been removed from the docked Properties window. Instead, you can now simply click on the header control (directly above the list of available CDBs to decode) to sort. Click on the "Opcode" column to sort by opcode. Click on the "Command Descriptor Block" column to sort by the CDB name.
  • IMPROVED! Additional internal improvements have been made across the CDB Exerciser, ATA/ATAPI Identify, CDB Viewer, and the Sense Viewer.