Archiving my floppies: Am I doing this the right way?

[_The Doctor__]

turns out the powers that be realize that there is something hinky going on with the disk slot when used and swapped and have noted they are looking into it. That is in the fujinet testing and bug report thread.

once that's tackled then checking further levels of complexity will be possible.

Edited April 7, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[seastalker_returns]

Hello everyone! I may be looking into getting setup to copy floppies and find this thread better than starting a new one.  My question to the floppy archiving community is this... as of 2023, even if you had to do it all over, what do you think is the best hardware/software combo to achieve the best results.  In my instance, I have working XLs (U1MB and Side 2), a homemade SIO to USB cable, and a soon to be checked 1050 drive. I have worked with Altirra software and RespeQT in the past but can't remember if you can back up real floppies to .ATR files, etc. I can make more cables too. I am open to getting a Fujinet 1.7 or a SIO2SD if need be for many of their other useful features. Kryoflux seems too much if I'm just doing Atari 8 bit, but still a possibility. Others here stated that there are many ways to copy Atari 8-bit floppies... maybe I already have all I need?  Still, if the task will be much easier if I get a Fujinet and it's just all the more reason to justify the purchase, I'm all ears. Those that have used multiple methods may have great insight on how to get an accurate 'rip' (misnomer, I know) as perfect of a 1:1 clone copy as possible for archival quality. 

[+scorpio_ny]

Hi @seastalker_returns,

 

Yes, you can back up real, non copy protected floppies to .ATR files. I just recently backed up my personal floppies. There are a lot ways to accomplish this.
 

My process was:

1. Create one blank formatted single density and double density disk images in Altirra.

2. Duplicate and rename the .ATR’s in way you can track them and identify their density.

3. Copy the ATR’s to an SD card

4. Have a sector copier ATR that you can boot from on the SD card. In my case, I used Copymate 4.3

5. I set my 1050 drive as D2. Connect it to my Atari computer. I connected my SD drive max to my 1050 and use that as D1:

6. Booted Copymate from the Sdmax.

In Copymate I used the following settings:

Source Drive: 2

Destination Drive: 1

Format Destination: Off

Verify writes: Yes

7. Select a blank ATR in the SDrive Max as D1:. Insert the physical  to copy into the 1050 (my 1050 had Speed Doubler installed which was taken advantage of 😀)

8. Rinse and repeat.

In your case, you can probably use RespeQT in place of the Sdrive max. I am not sure if you can daisy chain off the 1050.
 

 

[TZJB]

3 hours ago, seastalker_returns said:

Hello everyone! I may be looking into getting setup to copy floppies and find this thread better than starting a new one.  My question to the floppy archiving community is this... as of 2023, even if you had to do it all over, what do you think is the best hardware/software combo to achieve the best results.  In my instance, I have working XLs (U1MB and Side 2), a homemade SIO to USB cable, and a soon to be checked 1050 drive. I have worked with Altirra software and RespeQT in the past but can't remember if you can back up real floppies to .ATR files, etc. I can make more cables too. I am open to getting a Fujinet 1.7 or a SIO2SD if need be for many of their other useful features. Kryoflux seems too much if I'm just doing Atari 8 bit, but still a possibility. Others here stated that there are many ways to copy Atari 8-bit floppies... maybe I already have all I need?  Still, if the task will be much easier if I get a Fujinet and it's just all the more reason to justify the purchase, I'm all ears. Those that have used multiple methods may have great insight on how to get an accurate 'rip' (misnomer, I know) as perfect of a 1:1 clone copy as possible for archival quality. 

 

Welcome back! It's never a bad time to copy disks to ATR. I have been going through my old Atari8 5.25" disks and initially used a Fujinet 1.6 to duplicate disks to my TNFS server. However there was a bug in the Fujinet firmware that I was unhappy with which I couldn't pin down, but I believe it may now be fixed.

 

I looked at alternative options and settled on RespeQt r5.3 with a home-made USB to SIO cable connected to the SIO port of my 1050 drive SIO chain going back to my 800XL. This is now the obvious best choice for me using an old spare Intel Core 2 laptop ugraded to Windows 10, plus it also runs Altirra 4.01 which can independently verify the copies.

 

Thanks to @CharlieChaplin in this forum, I now use a software combination of DISKCOPY_TurboDOS, which can identify and copy any density and can display directories from a DOS/MyDOS disk, and Super Copymate XE which uses my 800XL 576K expansion to copy in one pass, but (there is ALWAYS a but) it can't identify the few enhanced density disks. Luckily RespecQt can display directories too and it will indicate when a DOS 2.5 disk has been written albeit truncated. The 'but' with DISKCOPY is that it sometimes mixes up Double Density with Quad density which is an invalid option for a 1050 disk drive. These both support D1: to D4: whereas Copymate normally only supports D1: and D2:.This allows more flexibility as I don't need to change D1: i.e. Copier program in RepecQt D1:, 1050 Source Disk in D2: and Destination copy disk in RepecQt D3: or D4:.

 

I create blank ATR images with RespeQt. I then duplicate them with Windows file manager in sufficient numbers for a batch, then name them as I load them into a disk drive postition within RespeQt. Realising the disk density at this point is important in order to load the correct ATR image size.

 

Because of the Windows file manager it is extremely easy to manipulate the files and examine them in Altirra or RespeQt. Much easier than SDrive Max or Fujinet (even AVGcart). This also gives you a speed advantage as you can read a disk into buffer almost as fast as renaming the ATR file ready to receive it in RespeQt. I do use Lazer drives though, with an 8KB memory buffer at 3x SIO speed the same as RespeQt.

 

I use a Windows Samba share to access the TNFS server share, so no actual ATR is created on the laptop unless I want it to. Fujinet has taken a back seat for now but will be able to access all the files I have created.

 

Kryoflux or the cheaper Greaseweazle is probably only useful for the preservation of protected disks. I have one as I have some protected disks. I used my XF551 disk drive mechanism attached to the Greaseweazle to read them to file on the PC.

 

Another disk copy method I had considered is to connect the 1050 drive direct to the laptop PC and copy from it without an Atari attached called 10502PC. However I haven't found the cable specs for that and the software didn't look that great.

 

I hope my method assists you. It's always open to change if something better comes along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by TZJB

[invisible kid]

"It's always open to change if something better comes along."

 

Release the swarm of magnetic nanobots!

[_The Doctor__]

To be candid one bug fixed and then a bunch of others just as annoying appear for the chasing of latest tool-chains continue to hamper the experience. I honestly don't know what the best firmware for the FujiNet device is anymore. I suspect there is one with the least number of critical bugs, I have lost my config for the 11th time in 2 and a half days with the latest firmware. I just want the damn thing to work for more than single session game boots etc. I was going to try to use it for hosting a BBS but it just isn't reliable. I have tried to use it as a SIO2SD but it's just a hassle again. It's a strange thing when each piece is fixed at some point, but never having all of them stitched together... and then when that is about to happen, new tool chain, it's all nuked and now we yank stuff out to support a cross platform experience. Sysop meetings and zoom calls have all ended with, yeah I bought one and it's in a drawer somewhere. Only one or two actually use it to make BBS calls but that's about it.

 

Bar none the best preservation methods used and reliably whether it be 8 years ago or today...

 

KryoFlux/SuperCardPro, bitwriter, Atarimax's APE and SIO2PC usb or rs232(ATX or vapii), will get darn near anything done.

  A MegaSpeedy with all the trimmings(will do many) but not all disks.

Edited May 12, 2023 by _The Doctor__

[seastalker_returns]

Thank you for the replies. I saw a video about Greaseweazle and just forgot to mention it. Could also be a good option, but I am going to try with what I have.  I will be working on an upcoming project to share a handful of formerly commercial games not yet dumped.