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Re: svd drive for backup project
brad wrote:
i appreciate the time you took in the prev post on comments etc
i guess it is a case where i plan on making copies of orig disks on another
set of 5.25" copies..while a pain in the butt to do so...i am more likely
to find stuff / ie use stuff if i just walk over to a printed index and get
the floppy....vs...turn on pc....get image and xfer to gs to look at text
file or some
such for getting the old applenet backup...i guess i'm lazy and it is an
ease of use issue with multiple apple //s scattered about...so the copies to
the 5.25 media wold be more or less active use stuff (ie former applenet bbs
dos 3.3 stuff...tpro 4.2f RPG bbs stuff backup whatnot...fv/metal 4.0 bbs
stuff...old text files of other bbs's etc)
"Working copies" of 3000 disks? You might want to give that some
thought... ;-)
There's no way that more than a couple of hundred of them (per year?)
could be classified as "working"! The vast majority are going to sit
there, having already taken up your time to create them.
anyway..it is like my inventory process..that never got done (but almost is
now) i should have used a database program and put it in by hand etc..but
spent 2yrs mucking around looking at such programs etc and never getting to
it...the conclusion i came to was i PROB could make 2 xerox templates..one
an inventory sheet like they use in a warehouse...and a clipboard and a
second xerox blank index sheet to put it down by nuumber (1-25) or so..item
number then 1 line of what it is...and just put the works in a
binder....once everything is haphazard in binder by each item with pencil
and clipboard i can walk around and over rubbermaid containers with in bsmt
etc ...ease of use...i then will just spend the damn money to make a xerox
of the works then sit down and sort it out that xerox by the categories i
put them by on inventory sheet..ie...hardware/sider hardware/corvus or
whatever..punch holes in the works and put that on a 2nd shelf of 3 ring
binders..with copy of index in 1st binder...it sucked..but i found it was
ugly but worked because i was not tied down to the computer per say and
could walk away in the middle of a project etc w/o thinking to hard on what
to do...of course i really hope that i can find 'cheap' or 'free' access to
one of these xerox machines to take said two sets of stuff..toss them in a
large bin..and viola ..instead of xerox...it pumps out .pdf pages for
format..but those machines are pretty spendy that do that...
And the problem with that method is that it keeps the items on a page
together, even when you'd like to sort them differently. And any notes
you make on a copy don't show up on the original or any other copy, etc.
anyway back to my point.....i know i'm gonna put the works on 5.25 to work
with..in the future..and do have the disks....just for maybe my own weird
reasons...
There's no disputing tastes. I was just pointing out that doing that
is more obsessive-compuslive than practical. Making working copies of
things you need when you need them is much more practical. (Of course,
creating backup images themselves is always a good idea.)
and it also will allow me to look at the info on each disk and play with
said stuff on the disk...give me an idea of what i have on said disk and
disk image...i might have to make a hand written index sheet for software
via xerox because most of this stuff will have a mess of unrelated stuff on
them...ugly..but i guess it has been llike 25 yrs for some disks and prob
and even 20 for the majority of the files/stuff...
Ah, so this is really not a backup project, but an *exploration*
project! Now that's something you can really get involved in. In my
experience, I can easily spend a good part of a day looking over an old
disk and the programs on it, trying them out, and tearing into the ones
that seem interesting...
You have enough disks to keep you busy for the next decade!
so i guess....maybe the SVD disk thingy is not really needed (of course i
want to justify getting one etc)
Yes, I thought so--the "gadget" interest of an SVD is medium-high. ;-)
but assuming the above ...that i want to
really look at each disk to figure out what i have...prob will have to make
at least an index (line or 2) for each disk as a guick ref xerox to find
such (but of course have to look at disk to figure out what that is the
really old stuff has like 40 items on each side of indv programs or files)
No, that's what the MDC is for. A computer search is *much* faster
and more accurate than a visual scan of a bunch of Xeroxed handwriting.
.....i guess i'd want to do that kinda looking on a copy of the floppy and
all its problems...verify the floppy and fix the problems after the
fact...not using original...in other words...take disk 1 ...make an image of
it (in whatever manner) get it to PC....using or not...the SVD device after
checking image maybe add it to Master Disk Catalog (MDC) at PC end...turn
around before anything else is done....copy it back to a mint 5.25 blank via
prob SVD again (or some other method) ...then check that disk look at
contents....add to a brief grab index xerox sheet...after looking at it (to
describe what is on it) if problems are found on it...make another copy
maybe work disk ..fix problems or delete files if not needed ...clean it
up...then maybe turn around and make a image of the fixed disk (image 1a) to
PC..add it also to MDC....with fixed notation as sep disk not touching orig
image) ....all checks out....no need to muck with this stuff anymore...got
to play with some old stuff and/or tweak disk ...move on two making a disk
image 2
OK. So it seems like you really didn't want any suggestions after all--
you know exactly what you want to do. Cool. But the process you are
describing will take a very long time and will get quite monotonous
around disk #242. If that's the purpose, fine, but if you have other
things you would like to do as well, life is short.
i guess it is a matter of process....and maybe i want to look at the stuff
....or heck i just like the sound of floppy drives grinding....but i can see
myself getting so wrapped up in getting this stuff archived to the PC as a
disk image..that i would not have time to review or look it over...but again
if i try to do a mass archive and end up looking over/reviewing stuff as i
do it..well...you kinda lose the flow...in my wierd manner above....at least
when i have done a disk to image/ made a 5.25 floppy...maybe had to make a
spare floppy of same with fixes...write down on index xerox sheet by number
an 1 line what is unigue off hand on this disk...and THEN move on ...i THINK
i would feel like i accomplished something ..rather then just a bulk copy
chore
The feeling of progress comes from looking at the stack/boxes/crates of
floppies that you have *completed* archiving.
of course 5 disks into this process i could post on this newsgroup that your
were right and i was an idiot...but anyway i think you see the direction i'm
coming from...
I think so.
thanks for the reply i found it very helpful..in figuring out why i want to
do it this way....(or maybe it is like the xerox method of inventory i have
had ciderpress for 1yr...and look how far i've got .zip...maybe i just have
to make a production out of it in order to get things moving)
on a side note...if you make a bit copy image with copy ii plus say...of wiz
I....and it don't work...don't you have to tweak those type programs anyway
and get them to work on a 5.25 floppy before you make a disk image out of
them?...or you just have an image of something that won't work...(ie in disk
image you put down such and such drive speed of drive it worked on etc) i do
have some orig disks i'd like to backup that are that touchy....
You have to normalize them. That means removing the protection
completely, and (usually) replacing the altered DOS with a normal
one. The deprotecting/normalizing process is a great deal of fun
for someone with a puzzle-solving mentality, and, when practiced,
can usually be done in a half-hour to a half-day (with occasional
*very* interesting exceptions ;-).
You will usually find it much easier to download a normalized version
of a disk than to try it yourself--unless, of course, deprotecting
is really the fun part!
In general, most games are protected. Many applications are not.
anyway....whatever gets the job done..thanks for the help
Hope what I've said can help--you're embarking on a long and
involved process. If you choose to do it, enjoy it! If it
seems daunting, simplify it.
"A modest project completed is worth more than ten great
projects uncompleted."
-michael
Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."