Is there a practical way to back up CoCo floppies using a modern computer directly?

[+jgkspsx]

I have several boxes of floppies I just got out of my dad’s basement. Assuming any of them have not been degaussed, it would be neat to back them up. I have about six CoCos but I am not sure any is in working condition except for an MC-10 that probably won’t be much help. I do have a couple disk drives as well as a pak splitter, but it has been many years since any of them has been on.

 

I am wondering if there is any way to image and preserve the disk contents directly on a modern computer. Most disks are just common programs, but there are some disks with user-created data, as well as programs typed in or recorded to tape and then written to disk from flexidiscs that came with Rainbow magazine, plus some hacks my dad made to put my and my sister’s names into Candy Co by Intracolor etc. I am resigned to the possibility that most of the data is unrecoverable, but I could live in hope  

[Krebizfan]

Omniflop lists some of the Coco formats so if you have a fairly modern PC that can use the correct size floppy disks, it might just work. 

 

http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/User Guide.htm

[rietveld]

4 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I have several boxes of floppies I just got out of my dad’s basement. Assuming any of them have not been degaussed, it would be neat to back them up. I have about six CoCos but I am not sure any is in working condition except for an MC-10 that probably won’t be much help. I do have a couple disk drives as well as a pak splitter, but it has been many years since any of them has been on.

 

I am wondering if there is any way to image and preserve the disk contents directly on a modern computer. Most disks are just common programs, but there are some disks with user-created data, as well as programs typed in or recorded to tape and then written to disk from flexidiscs that came with Rainbow magazine, plus some hacks my dad made to put my and my sister’s names into Candy Co by Intracolor etc. I am resigned to the possibility that most of the data is unrecoverable, but I could live in hope  

The easiest way to back them up as a modern. DSK image (file) is to use the real hardware with a $75 floppy emulator called cocoSDC.  This device let's you copy a physical disk to a SD cards that can be put on to any modern win 7/10/11 computer 

 

Other than this way the only other way that I know of is to use an old PC that has a BIOS that supports 5 1/4 drives and uses an older DOS program 

 

If you want I can archive the disks for you.   Just cover the cost of return shipping and I can copy and email the digital disk image and return the physical ones.   

Edited September 20, 2021 by rietveld

[DistantStar001]

Personally, I would just use DriveWire for this.  You will need a working Coco (sadly not the MC-10), and a cassette cable to load HDB-DOS, and a DriveWire cable with a 9-pin serial to USB adapter to transfer files between the Coco and your modern computer, but once you have them, it's pretty easy (if a bit roundabout).  

 

Basically, once you have everything set up, and loaded HDB-DOS, you will (first) 'insert' a disk image you don't mind overwriting (best to make a copy of something and label it BLANK for future use) into device 0 in DriveWire on the PC side of things. (Note: on DriveWire, the virtual 'drives' are really 'virtual devices' representing about 250 or so 'virtual floppy drives'.  So stick to Device 0, and ignore Devices 1-3.  It saves a lot of confusion and frustration, and I'm not sure you can copy disks between devices in any case.)

 

Second, type "DRIVE OFF" on the Coco and hit Enter.  This tells the Coco to access the physical drives for drives 0-3 on 'device 0'.  Everything beyond that (4 and up) will be virtual drives you can use for backup. 

 

Third, insert the disk you want to backup into your physical floppy drive (usually physical drive 0), and type "BACKUP 0 TO 4" on the Coco and hit Enter.  Your Coco and DriveWire should then make the virtual backup in drive 4, however to save this backup to a file you can access and archive, you will need to save the image back to virtual drive 0 as that's where your destination image is.

 

To do this, type "DRIVE ON" on the Coco and hit Enter, once again addressing drives 0-3 as virtual.

 

Then type "BACKUP 4 TO 0" and hit Enter on the Coco (it's important to use 0 as the final destination to save your file).  DriveWire will save the backup to the disk image.  After that, 'eject' the disk image from DriveWire and re-name the file.  That's it!  You're done!

 

To make a drive wire cable you will need a male 4-pin DIN, and 9-pin female D connecter and appropriate 4 wire cable.  Personally, I used an old Ethernet cable, but snipping both ends off of an USB will work as well.  Then simply follow the instructions on this website:

https://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_build_a_DriveWire_serial_cable

 

[JamesD]

Greaseweazel usb floppy interface