Re: Disk copying question

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Platypus Monster writes ...
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I just bought an apple //e to play some old apple games that I've
> collected over the past couple of years.  Since many of the games would
> be difficult to replace if damaged I'd like to play from backup disks.
> Unfortunately, I'm having a little difficulty copying them...
> 
> Whenever I try to get ProDos to look at the disk it, the drive light
> goes on and the drive emits this labored noise as it searches it, but it
> finds nothing there.  It's as if there's no disk in the drive.  When I
> boot the disk to play the game, it works perfectly.
> 
> Any suggestions? ....

     There are two likely explanations for not being able to look at an 
old game disk under ProDOS:

 1. the game is on a DOS 3.3 disk
 2. the game disk is, in some way, "copy-protected".

     DOS 3.3 (along with assorted variations) was the dominant Apple II 
DOS of the early 80's. ProDOS cannot CATALOG, RUN, or otherwise make much 
sense of files on DOS 3.3 disks.

     Copy protection is intended to prevent a disk from being copied. 
There are many ways to to do this. Generally, the DOS on the diskette and 
the way files are stored is different from standard DOS 3.3 or ProDOS. 
Sometimes, only a few tracks or sectors incorporate any changes.

     You could boot DOS 3.3 and see whether it can CATALOG a disk you'd 
like to copy. If it can, the disk may not be protected. The COPYA utility 
included on the Apple II DOS 3.3 "Master" disk can copy unprotected DOS 
3.3 and ProDOS diskettes; so, also, can Disk Muncher, Copy II Plus, and 
several other programs which do whole-disk copying.

     To copy protected disks, good resources include Copy II Plus, 
Locksmith, and Essential Data Duplicator. Fairly often, at least one of 
these will be able to successfully "bit copy" a protected disk w/o any 
special settings.

     When the usual settings for a bit copy program do not work, it is 
necessary to change the settings or copy parameters (usually called 
"parms". Custom parms are settings a copy program uses which are tailored 
to copy a specific software product or group of products.

     Originally, Copy II Plus, Locksmith, and E.D.D. parms for various 
games, etc. were discovered and published in Apple II magazines like Hard 
Core Computist. Eventually, the Copy II Plus disk included a comprehensive 
library of parms arranged by product name and version. So, to copy 
protected disks, your best single resource is, probably, Copy II Plus v8.3 
complete with parm files.

     Of course, there are many ways to make backups of protected software 
and, even, produce copies with the protection removed. The best system for 
making deprotected copies is Super IOB developed by Ray Durrah and 
published in Computist. Thanks to the work of Ray, Krackowitz, Brian 
Troha, and other Computist contributors, practically all old Apple II 
software was salvaged and is still available.

     An alternative to worrying about copying your protected wares is to 
look for them on Asimov (apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II). Asimov maintains 
the largest archive of formerly commercial out-of-print Apple II wares.

     Mostly, Asimov's wares are in the form of "disk image" files called 
"DSK's". A DSK is created by transforming information on an Apple II 
game, etc. diskette into a file. A DSK file acts like a disk when accessed 
by an Apple II emmulator running on a PC.

     A DSK file can be transformed and moved back to a regular 5.25" Apple 
diskette using a program like Ron Kneusel's DSK2FILE. (DSK2FILE is 
available on Ground and Apple2.Caltech.) A nice added benefit is that your 
'new' disk will _not_ be copy-protected. 


Rubywand