the masterlist of a huge collection of DOS games is on this REMOVED. I checked on the master list file and there are lots if not complete versions of Doom

REMOVED

Hi, thanks for the message and the link! My question is more about recovering this specific floppy disk with the original data, rather than downloading the files online. I already have the original installation files from these disks and the WAD, but I’d like to know if anyone has experience repairing a faulty floppy disk, or if it’s just not worth the effort. If it weren’t Doom, I probably wouldn’t bother.

It's OK to request help with recovering files or part of floppies that a member owns originals of, but please keep links private unless its freeware/shareware.

Decrypt wrote on 2025-08-13, 12:20:

My question is more about recovering this specific floppy disk with the original data, rather than downloading the files online.

1) Touch floppy disk with strong magnet
2) Format floppy disk using USB floppy drive
3) Download Doom v1.2 floppy disk #1 image (attached)
4) Write disk image using USB floppy drive using RaWrite utility

No need to format when raw writing after. But I am curios if the Magnet would destroy track Zero Index Mark making the Disc unusable.

Pretty sure the magnet thing was tongue in cheek, but you can use one of those "bulk erasers" to fully randomize all magnetic particles on the disk surface so you can reformat it from scratch. This has worked for me in the past for about 25% of bad disks.

In any case, you are not going to fix the original disk. What you could do though is get one of those USB direct floppy control devices like the Greaseweazle and read whatever's on the disk as raw magnetic flux data. That would give you an idea at least of what part of it went bad.

I've been working on/mostly finished a little tool which might be of use:

1Floppy Disk Recover
2
3use:    FDR <drive>: file[.FDR] [options]
4
5opts:   -L      Low density
6        -N      New
7        -M      force Monochrome
8        -?F     show Format of .FDR
9        -?I      ""  Interactive keys
10        -R      Review .FDR (no updaate))           FDR file.FDR
11        -I      Convert .FDR to raw .IMG              ""    ""   outfile
12
13FDR can help recover diskette sectors which fail "normal" reads, but may be
14read with minor drive alignment adjustments or other treaks.
15
16It will auto-read the entire disk, show the read-status of the tracks/sectors,
17then let you manually seek, select and try reading individual       ""      as
18you "tweak" the drive.

Regretable I'm travelling at the moment, and won't be able to properly update
my site for about a week - if you need it sooner, we could find a way to get
it to you.

I recall using Norton Disk Doctor (ndd.exe) - a program from Norton Utilities package to repair floppies. And it even sometimes helped.

AncapDude wrote on 2025-08-13, 14:52:

Magnet would destroy track Zero Index Mark making the Disc unusable.

I have repaired at least 2 floppy disks using a magnet before formatting, don't write nonsense.

I said I am curios it was just a thought to consider not a fact so dont blame me. If you dont like nonsense then dont suggest formattings before raw writes.

Removed attachment to possibly copyrighted doom software from a post

Bondi wrote on 2025-08-13, 15:54:

I recall using Norton Disk Doctor (ndd.exe) - a program from Norton Utilities package to repair floppies. And it even sometimes helped.

I never got into Norton stuff much - to be honest I've always preferred to
write the tools I needed than thirt-party. Seems most vendors go out of their
way to both simplify beyond the point of maximum capability, avoid and need
for technical knowlege by user and make their offering as unique as possible.

I've always preferred to make my stuff "as close to how the underlying stuff
actually works as it can be"...

--

In recovering a damaged floppy, my first "go to" would be ImageDisk - it can
do a lot of stuff that other copiers/imagers can't because I designed it to be
able to image ANY floppy format that the PC FDC could physically read.

It therefore does not use DOS or BIOS, it accessed the FDC hardware directly
and sometimes in what mainstream devlopers might consider "unusual" ways.

For this reason, it requires a full "original PC comptible" FDC ...
ie: a Nec765 (or good compatible) and must run under DOS (no need to deal with
restrictions or access permissions to access the hardware, and very consistant
real-time performance).

It also works at a very low-level. Doesn't know (or care) about OR or BIOS disk
configuration - it can read/write LOTs of disk formats that MS and BIOS don't
deal with. It can even do 8" drives (with a cable adapter).

This means you really have to "know what you are doing" and can be somewhat
tricky for a novice to "figure out". You can do a lot - but some things (like
stitching together strings or recovered sectors into a full error-free image
cam take a fair bit of work).

Even so, the PCish of the hardware can impose other limitations, for example
the Nec765 (and ImageDisk) is quite capable of doing Single-Density. But the
PC never used single-desity, and some of the "system chips" which incorporate
the FDC and associated data-seperator have been "cost reduced" by not having
single-density capability.

For this reason I wrote (and include with ImageDisk) TESTFDC which will
evaluate your floppy subsystem and identify what it can/can't do. It's not
uncomon for heavy IMD users to use TESTFDC to pick "the best" system they
can find!

--

FDR on the other hand, isn't designed to handle non-PC formats... It only uses
BIOS to access the drive, which means it can run on more common environments
which don't have original PC FDC. This can include non-Nec765 and USB systems.

It still runs under DOS but like IMD I plan to release a "boot floppy image"
with DOS, FDR and related tools which you can use even if you don't have native
DOS.

If there's enough interest, I may make it allow direct hardware methods like
IMD ... but it remains to be seen how many others care enough about "obsolete"
storage methods to make it worthwile.

MAZter wrote on 2025-08-13, 16:44:

AncapDude wrote on 2025-08-13, 14:52:

Magnet would destroy track Zero Index Mark making the Disc unusable.

I have repaired at least 2 floppy disks using a magnet before formatting, don't write nonsense.

If you want to recover ANY of the original data on the diskette, DON'T go near it with a magnet!

I think what was being referenced is recovering a badly written disk... so you can format it fresh.

Technically you should never need a magnet, format will lay down new track data with new index
marks etc.

Sometimes you can have problems due to drive alighment - if you write a disk on a misaligned drive,
then again on a differently misaligned drive, the edges of the original track may persist enough to cause
problems reading with the original drive.

And a magnet won't make a disk "unusable" - it will simple make it's content unreadable, and you
can always format it again.

When I want to truly make sure a disk doesn't have any of it's original content recoverable (with specialized
equipment which can read "edges" of tracks )- I bulk erase it - this is a very strong electromagnet with an
alternating field... never had a problem formatting and re-using such bulk-erased disks!

If I understand correctly, Your more wanting to still use the disk then recover the existing files.

NDD is basically a slightly more powerful version of scandisk. That may be enough to "fix" the disk.
This is as far as I ever go but if it still doesn't work you really want to keep the original disk.
Try the magnet method above.
Carefully open the disk and replace the insides with another disk
https://youtu.be/JVuYA77Q0yI?si=0YtRclNKWbyy-Zmq

I've noticed with later versions of DOS that even if you want to format, it still makes sure that track 0 is correct first. If not - disk is rejected out of hand.

So, putting the disk through the bulk eraser gets rid of track 0 entirely, and then DOS is happy to format the disk (or try to).

Robbbert wrote on Yesterday, 01:20:

I've noticed with later versions of DOS that even if you want to format, it still makes sure that track 0 is correct first. If not - disk is rejected out of hand.

So, putting the disk through the bulk eraser gets rid of track 0 entirely, and then DOS is happy to format the disk (or try to).

I do have a vague recollection of something like that in later DOS - saveing enough of the file system so it can be "recovered" and then only clearing, Fat and dir entries, but I thought there was a command line switch to do a raw (unrecoverable) format.

I never found much reason to go beyond DOS 5 though

chinny22 wrote on Yesterday, 01:19:

If I understand correctly, Your more wanting to still use the disk then recover the existing files. ...

I played DOOM a lot back in the day, but always kept the original floppies in the game boxes (which I kept for yeats - I think later Doom2 Tnt etc. Might have been CDs) - but to run/play it I just had it copied to my hard drive where it ran fine.

DaveDDS wrote on Yesterday, 01:40:

chinny22 wrote on Yesterday, 01:19:

If I understand correctly, Your more wanting to still use the disk then recover the existing files. ...

I played DOOM a lot back in the day, but always kept the original floppies in the game boxes (which I kept for yeats - I think later Doom2 Tnt etc. Might have been CDs) - but to run/play it I just had it copied to my hard drive where it ran fine.

Yep, I upgraded from shareware to Ultimate Doom which was on CD, as was my bargain bin copy of Doom 2 (just the CD jewel case no manual or box)

For my games that did come on floppy I also backed them up onto CD and later hard drive and left the originals in the box. did the same with CD's once hard drives became big enough.
Save wear and tear on the original media.

Sounds like OP has also backed up. I'm guessing they more want it as a collectable, having a working original box copy of Doom as it were.

Thank you all for the replies, there's a lot of good info in there. I think I'm going to try some soft fixes before I resort to magnets or replacing the disk.