DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-13, 15:14:

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

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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.

This sounds interesting but there's no rush, whenever you can it's fine. Cheers!

Ok, I have placed in in a "temporary drop" area of my site, you should be
able to get it from my site at:

1   https://dunfield.themindfactory.com/Drop/FDR.ZIP

Be sure to read the enclosed FDR.TXT

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-15, 15:12:

Ok, I have placed in in a "temporary drop" area of my site, you should be able to get it from my site at: […]
Show full quote

Ok, I have placed in in a "temporary drop" area of my site, you should be
able to get it from my site at:

Copy code to clipboard

1   https://dunfield.themindfactory.com/Drop/FDR.ZIP

Be sure to read the enclosed FDR.TXT

Hi, Thanks for sending this! I will try it later today.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-08-13, 17:46:

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

You don't understand, the data on this diskette is not unique, it is free to download from the internet, there is no point in trying to restore content.

100% copy of what Decrypt have on this Doom diskette floppy is available online as floppy image. So he can alway overwrite image to floppy, making it back authenticity.

And recording the image will be better and more reliable than any recovery.

It would be a different matter if it were a unique floppy disk that did not have backups anywhere.

MAZter wrote on Today, 12:38:

You don't understand, the data on this diskette is not unique, it is free ...
It would be a different matter if it were a unique floppy disk that did not have backups anywhere.

You're right - I don't understand - if the data is free and you just want to restore the diskette to "readable", then
it's trivial - just bulk erase the diskette, then format and write on the replacement data.

If the diskette is physically damaged and can't be formatted, and you want to recover the original for "posterity",
then you're mostly OOL - I have restored distribution diskettes which were physically damaged by opening
them and replacing the media "disc" with one from a new/umdamaged diskette - but doing so with non-obvious
results can be very difficult.

Unless you want the actual original diskette in working condition, it's much simpler to just write the data onto
a new diskette - if you really want to be able to "show" the original as a historically significant bit of software,
you are unlikely to want to be reading it (putting further wear on it) - so does it really mater if it's not readable?

DaveDDS wrote on Today, 13:45:

then it's trivial - just bulk erase the diskette, then format and write on the replacement data.

I just wanted to write that in some cases formatting is not enough, and after touching with a magnet formatting goes without errors.

MAZter wrote on Today, 17:27:

DaveDDS wrote on Today, 13:45:

then it's trivial - just bulk erase the diskette, then format and write on the replacement data.

I just wanted to write that in some cases formatting is not enough, and after touching with a magnet formatting goes without errors.

go all scorched earth on that floppy which is what i had to do with hdds intentionally wipe them then screw it up so the software sees nothing on it and therefore can fully format it. I call it computer hiccups or tainted drive where theres files from before like a virus smeared itself on the drive and the only way to wipe it is physically magnet next to platters. I take old hdds and use the magnets for these purposes, small enough to hit the area but not too big or strong that i fry the electronics