VOGONS


First post, by cyclone3d

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Just got a couple 720KB floppy disks I need to image.

I normally use RawWrite for Windows, but although it reads the 720KB floppies just fine, it creates 1.44MB images.
http://www.chrysocome.net/rawwrite

I see mention of WinImage quite a lot but not sure I really want to buy a license for it although I might just go ahead and do that.

I did find another program, OmniFlop which looks like it will work just fine and is free - anybody have any experience with this?:
http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm

And here is another program that popped up- FloppyBase 1.6 - looks like it may only work on up to XP though (will only work on 32-bit Windows):
https://www.hammer-software.com/legacy-downloads/

Any other floppy imaging programs I should know about? Maybe we could make this thread into a list?

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Reply 2 of 23, by derSammler

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You don't need a license for WinImage. The free version only lacks features you are not going to use anyway. It's what I'd recommend if you do the imaging on a Windows system. Get version 8.5, that was the best one (https://www.winimage.com/download/winima85.zip).

OmniFlop is overkill for just imaging ordinary disks. It's more useful for exotic formats.

Reply 3 of 23, by Caluser2000

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If you have a linux box laying around here's a nice tutorial.

https://untitledfinale.wordpress.com/2007/10/ … es-under-linux/

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Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 4 of 23, by zerodiagonal

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derSammler wrote on 2020-05-29, 07:02:

You don't need a license for WinImage. The free version only lacks features you are not going to use anyway. It's what I'd recommend if you do the imaging on a Windows system. Get version 8.5, that was the best one (https://www.winimage.com/download/winima85.zip).

OmniFlop is overkill for just imaging ordinary disks. It's more useful for exotic formats.

I use 9.00, just curious why you recommend 8.5 over the rest. Haven't faced any major issues but I only use WinImage for regular 1.44 disks.

Reply 5 of 23, by pii_legacy

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Omnidisk is great for running in DOS, that's my go-to when i'm not on Win2k or higher.

rmay635703 wrote on 2020-05-29, 03:40:

On a vintage system Herne data systems software works great

http://www.herne.com/mdisk1.htm

Are its image files non-proprietary? Interested if it is compatible with Linux / OmniFlop

Reply 6 of 23, by rmay635703

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pii_legacy wrote on 2020-05-30, 11:25:

Omnidisk is great for running in DOS, that's my go-to when i'm not on Win2k or higher.

rmay635703 wrote on 2020-05-29, 03:40:

On a vintage system Herne data systems software works great

http://www.herne.com/mdisk1.htm

Are its image files non-proprietary? Interested if it is compatible with Linux / OmniFlop

They are raw not compressed and may have a header and may use Unix characters and the like to represent raw data.

But those issues can be worked through just viewing the file in a hex editor

Reply 7 of 23, by Robin4

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Whats the best utility to use when needed re-read again and again to get the data from a floppy disk?? Something that can do low-level reading. So if the disk is bad, so still could get all the data from the disk.

Does anybody knows what Adrian Black uses to image/ backup these disks (that guy from youtube)

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 9 of 23, by Robin4

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That VGAcopy program uses a minium of 386 system to work?

Is there a version which also works on PC XT or 286?
Dont know if vgash103.zip is the same? But iam guess not?

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 11 of 23, by Robin4

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The older version seems to not being available (dont know if there is something which could run on a 8086 or 286 as well.)
If i could buy a license i would do if the software is great working with.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 12 of 23, by Jo22

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On a modern PC, I'm using WinImage 8.x (previously 6.x) occasionally. On Windows, of course.
Mac and Linux still lack a user friendly counterpart (except for special solutions such as FC5025 or KyroFlux).

On a 286+ vintage PC, I'm using WinImage 3.x on Windows 3.1 running Standard Mode.
On a PC/XT compatible PC (808x) and plain DOS, I use Disc Copy Fast (DCF). In the past, I used to use QCopy 4.x here.

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Reply 13 of 23, by Martin8bity

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ImageDisk (IMD) from Dave Dunfield is great in DOS: http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/dos/index.htm It is also advantage to have good floppy controller chip, such as PC8477.

Reply 14 of 23, by Robin4

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Martin8bity wrote on 2021-08-29, 09:29:

ImageDisk (IMD) from Dave Dunfield is great in DOS: http://dunfield.classiccmp.org/dos/index.htm It is also advantage to have good floppy controller chip, such as PC8477.

So i need to use an old style controller without that multi io thingy?
Thanks for the tip on image disk.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 15 of 23, by zyga64

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Back in time very popular was DiskDupe (at least in Poland).

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 16 of 23, by Martin8bity

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Robin4 wrote on 2021-08-30, 01:47:
Martin8bity wrote on 2021-08-29, 09:29:

... good floppy controller chip, such as PC8477.

So i need to use an old style controller without that multi io thingy?

There are different floppy controllers with different capabilities. I found the PC8477 to be great, you can find it sometimes on Adaptec ISA SCSI cards or you can build yourself a Floppy interface. I did some few years ago https://www.8bity.cz/2013/postavte-si-pcxt-3-disketov-radic/, the projects are Open Source.

Theres is TESTFDC.COM program in IMD.ZIP, that will show you the controller capabilities.

Reply 17 of 23, by Martin8bity

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There is also a special hardware to read/copy/preserve floppies, such as KryoFlux https://www.kryoflux.com/, FluxEngine https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine or Greaseweazle https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle, but this is getting off topic.

Reply 18 of 23, by Robin4

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Martin8bity wrote on 2021-08-30, 07:41:
Robin4 wrote on 2021-08-30, 01:47:
Martin8bity wrote on 2021-08-29, 09:29:

... good floppy controller chip, such as PC8477.

So i need to use an old style controller without that multi io thingy?

There are different floppy controllers with different capabilities. I found the PC8477 to be great, you can find it sometimes on Adaptec ISA SCSI cards or you can build yourself a Floppy interface. I did some few years ago https://www.8bity.cz/2013/postavte-si-pcxt-3-disketov-radic/, the projects are Open Source.

Theres is TESTFDC.COM program in IMD.ZIP, that will show you the controller capabilities.

Thanks, nice to know. Taken some time and test this out.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 19 of 23, by Robin4

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Martin8bity wrote on 2021-08-30, 08:17:

There is also a special hardware to read/copy/preserve floppies, such as KryoFlux https://www.kryoflux.com/, FluxEngine https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine or Greaseweazle https://github.com/keirf/Greaseweazle, but this is getting off topic.

I think iam going to use software first. Then i dont have to spend so much of money for nothing.
But maybe it is a last resort, if iam out of other options.

~ At least it can do black and white~