Welcome to my project! I have dozens, and dozens, and dozens, and dozens of old games that I'm currently archiving as well. There's a few projects out there, floating around, that are doing the same thing. The one I'm currently interested in is http://www.goodolddays.net. They have a massive library of disk images, but you need to put in work (upload files, scans, etc) to access some of them as its based on a point-system. They have a FAQ about disk images: http://www.goodolddays.net/faq/id%2C-4/

I've been using WINIMAGE and a Dell-branded 3.5" floppy drive (meant for a laptop MODEL# FDDM-101) that has a built-in USB port (it can WRITE 720K DISKS...hardly ANY USB 3.5" drive can do that) and saving the disk images in IMA formats. So far, it hasn't been a problem at all. Winimage can also compare image files with disks, so you know you got a good read. For MOST things, this is 99.999% sufficient IMO. Kryoflux saves a lot more data about the image of the disk, etc...the actual "flux" of the disk. For pure archivists, I can see the pluses. But if you get a good read off a disk and your disk image is complete....you don't need anything more to run that program unless there's a physical disk-copy protection involved...>>>IMO!

For 5.25 you can buy an inexpensive (comparatively) FC-5025 USB floppy controller. I haven't used it yet, but thinking about purchasing this in the next month or two, as i have a TON of early games that are in 5.25. http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html

I'm not archiving JUST the disks though. I'm scanning manuals, boxes, inserts, advertisements, even scans of the disks themselves just in case someone wants to recreate the disk label!

EDIT: added Dell USB floppy model# FDDM-101

Well, yes. Some years ago I backuped lots of Amiga discs (2 weeks... 3000 discs). Did that whit original hardware (Amiga 1200). After that I could mount the images on winuae or fellow (2 well known Amiga emulators, for those who didn't know).

But when you are talking about old discs, I presume you are talking about DOS formatted Discs. That is even more easier, when you have a working 3,5 and 5,25" disc-drive. I use winimage for this. Done that also whit a lots of disks, so you can open the images whit winimage or mount it on a virtual machine like Vbox or VMware. Did not tried to mount it on dosbox yet.

You can get some problems whit some copy protection on some disks making and image. It's just try and error.

And when you talk about Spear of Destiny, did you know there was a X-mas Wolf and a (I think fan made) Wolfenstein Vs Streetfighter. I have those somewhere in my data stack....

Runicen wrote:

I have a boxed copy of Spear of Destiny with a pair of "add on mission" discs that I didn't even know existed and, if the data on those is still sound, I suspect they're a bit of a rarity and should be saved somehow or other.

FYI, those are apparently included in the Steam release (as per wiki).

Teledisk is a popular format for archiving disk images that can be more thorough than the standard .img format, though the details escape me. See Copy Protection & Image Formats .

dogchainx wrote:

Welcome to my project! I have dozens, and dozens, and dozens, and dozens of old games that I'm currently archiving as well. T […]
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Welcome to my project! I have dozens, and dozens, and dozens, and dozens of old games that I'm currently archiving as well. There's a few projects out there, floating around, that are doing the same thing. The one I'm currently interested in is http://www.goodolddays.net. They have a massive library of disk images, but you need to put in work (upload files, scans, etc) to access some of them as its based on a point-system. They have a FAQ about disk images: http://www.goodolddays.net/faq/id%2C-4/

I've been using WINIMAGE and a Dell-branded 3.5" floppy drive (meant for a laptop MODEL# FDDM-101) that has a built-in USB port (it can WRITE 720K DISKS...hardly ANY USB 3.5" drive can do that) and saving the disk images in IMA formats. So far, it hasn't been a problem at all. Winimage can also compare image files with disks, so you know you got a good read. For MOST things, this is 99.999% sufficient IMO. Kryoflux saves a lot more data about the image of the disk, etc...the actual "flux" of the disk. For pure archivists, I can see the pluses. But if you get a good read off a disk and your disk image is complete....you don't need anything more to run that program unless there's a physical disk-copy protection involved...>>>IMO!

For 5.25 you can buy an inexpensive (comparatively) FC-5025 USB floppy controller. I haven't used it yet, but thinking about purchasing this in the next month or two, as i have a TON of early games that are in 5.25. http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html

I'm not archiving JUST the disks though. I'm scanning manuals, boxes, inserts, advertisements, even scans of the disks themselves just in case someone wants to recreate the disk label!

EDIT: added Dell USB floppy model# FDDM-101

That is an awesome project. I suppose it does bring to mind the fact that my labors here might be a bit redundant as well... How hard would it be for me to forego trying to use my "primary" machine for archival purposes and just using my time machines to archive their own software? I have a working P200 system which is my "primary" for this sort of thing and, once I get some kinks worked out (or just find one that doesn't require work), I'm going to have a 486 which is the intended recipient of a 5.25" floppy drive. Using either of them directly saves me the trouble of needing duplicate hardware to get the job done.

Roman78 wrote:

And when you talk about Spear of Destiny, did you know there was a X-mas Wolf and a (I think fan made) Wolfenstein Vs Streetfighter. I have those somewhere in my data stack....

Ok, THOSE I need to see for myself... Oh, and my hat's off to you. 3000 discs in two weeks? What kind of pace were you keeping to make that happen? 😲

I guess this brings up another question. To my mind, simply creating a CD-R and plopping the contents of "Disc 1," "Disc 2," etc. into separate folders so I have a relatively stable copy of the software and its installation media would be sufficient. That said, I'm also a novice getting back to this older tech and I'm half afraid this will be like my early attempts to digitize my CDs in mid-range MP3 format vs. getting a little older and wiser and realizing that ripping to FLAC using a decent program was going to give me bit-perfect digital copies of my collection which double handily as an archive. I don't want to get shoddy copies of the media only to have it turn out that I lost rare software when the original discs crap out as they are sure to do. What's the best middle line between being a total archivist and "I just want to make sure this stuff is preserved in a usable format?"

If you don't want any nagging feelings about having less-than-perfect copies, then you might as well get a Kryoflux now. (Another product with similar functionality is the Catweasel.)

To give an example: the MS-DOS version of Robot Odyssey (much beloved) apparently uses a "flaky bit" on the floppy media to verify authenticity, without which the game will actually run just fine until you really get started and try to use the in-game soldering tool. Of course, the copy protection can be easily patched out and the flaky bit may already be decayed on many original copies of the media, so it doesn't necessarily matter that much.

Such fanciful copy protection techniques didn't necessarily last very long though and in many cases a standard image will do just fine. Note that if you don't want to pay for Winimage, many freeware alternatives such as RaWriteWin will probably do the same job just as well. Also note that floppy images are readily usable in DOSBox directly and in Windows (via Virtual Floppy Drive). Hardware floppy "emulators" are also a thing nowadays: they operate just like a floppy drive as far as a computer's hardware is concerned but supply data from floppy images stored on an SD card.

Another benefit of images vs just a file copy is that in some cases important deleted files can be recovered from the floppy that could include source code or documentation.

Runicen wrote:

Ok, THOSE I need to see for myself... Oh, and my hat's off to you. 3000 discs in two weeks? What kind of pace were you keeping to make that happen? 😲

I guess this brings up another question. To my mind, simply creating a CD-R and plopping the contents of "Disc 1," "Disc 2," etc. into separate folders so I have a relatively stable copy of the software and its installation media would be sufficient. That said, I'm also a novice getting back to this older tech and I'm half afraid this will be like my early attempts to digitize my CDs in mid-range MP3 format vs. getting a little older and wiser and realizing that ripping to FLAC using a decent program was going to give me bit-perfect digital copies of my collection which double handily as an archive. I don't want to get shoddy copies of the media only to have it turn out that I lost rare software when the original discs crap out as they are sure to do. What's the best middle line between being a total archivist and "I just want to make sure this stuff is preserved in a usable format?"

I used an Amiga 1200 whit harddisk and sweex CF-cardreader, don't know the software on the Amiga any more, have to look on it again. But the software makes an disk image of the disk. Than I copied to the CF card and tested it on a PC. So wile the Amiga was making the image I tested the previous one on the PC. A vacation well spend....

And to you: I would not use CD's to store the data on. They last even shorter that old disks. Just save it onto a set of harddisks (at least 2, so you have a spare copy if one is failing). You can use tools like FreeFileSync to sync the both harddisk.

Than, if you copy data is is always a bit perfect copy of the original. Making a MP3 file is converting and compressing the data to safe space. (think you noticed that one minute sound in Flac is about 10 MB and in a 320 MP3 2,3 MB) If you use tools like winimage (also has a free version of it) you will have one-one copy. If you just coping the data onto the harddisk in subfolders, make sure the copy works, some setup programs are only working from a diskdrive and not from the harddisk (or CD)