Re: svd drive for backup project

["brad" <mrbrad(remove)@ll.net>]

> "Working copies" of 3000 disks?  You might want to give that some
> thought...  ;-)

reply to above

i know pretty much what i have...look at a brief index walk over and get
floppy
walk floppy to the other side of house or whatever to //e or //c machine
muck with it..

and yeah..i guess you could call them working copies in that most if not all
are
backups of all my various ap2 bbs projects and/or bbs's...so i have to look
thru
them anyway...and the stuff is so old it only works with floppies

of course with the SVD device i prob could eventually get around that...but
yeah..mostly i have to look thru what i have before i can really decide how
to muck with
it..so much of the old stuff is combined on disks (or backsides of disks)
that as i go thru
i may find i want to split the orig to copy up on two 2 or 3 images and /or
floppy disks because they
might be like 3 diff driver programs or some such...unrelated...so the image
files will be
'more organized then the orig floppy images by content or just removing junk

as for making 5.25" floppies...well...that could prob happen as i'm
scratching my head going what the
**** is this mess or what was i thinking when i labeled this in 1983...etc
that kinda fun...





>
> 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.
>

the floppies i'm talking about for the most part are not just a disk of say
Wiz 1...i will prob
have to go thru each disk maybe even run a few programs/drivers to figure
out what it is
if the stuff i have was the stuff on Asmiov etc i could just download...but
like i said it is
bbs backups from my system in the day..and mostly drivers/mods/bbs related
hacks stuff
that unless i dig thru it mainly would be lost...in other words the other
sysop and i ..qazz..
from 1983 when we first put up the bbs tended to grab every
util/hardware/hack text file or
whatever .because someday we figured we would need it to keep the bbs
up...(remember
i had a apple ii internet accessable with fv/metal from 1992 to fall 2002)
so our tastes
were exotic at the time but prob valuable now for hardware etc...

just old text files of sessions on various bbs's from back in that era alone
would be
interesting...(remember safehouse bbs..dual line w/chat apple ii bbs running
on 2 20meg
corvus system and 3 //e's w/1 //e as control box and other 2 //e's running 1
phone line
each...)

so yeah they prob won't be working copies...but as part of the process it
prob an't
gonna slow down much my mucking thru it all...and prob for wiz commercial
stuff i can
just set those disks aside and see if i can find them on the ap2 sites
rather then muck
with them..but out of all my disks ...prob only 1/3 might be considered
comercial main
stream...the rest would be like odd utils etc...

anyway if i get sick of making floppies as part of the process.....the rest
of the process
to image copy on pc and of course MDC is most important...and again this is
just for
floppies...hd backups prosel backups (60 3.5" disks..would need to get them
back to a hd first
before i could image them)

yeah...i need to start a retro computer club just to get this stuff done...


and the floppy copy is the weak link in the chain..if anything gets stripped
out of the process
that would be that....but it has been more then 25 years for some stuff...so
unless i look even if
only briefly....i will have no idea what kinda hairball this is...

maybe i'll get lucky and 1/2 my stuff is commercial and i can get it off the
net..but i never did
save games etc...so i kind think most of it is historical bbs stuff and
drivers...and hacks
(prob text asci klingon warships kinda stuff..boy that is sad...how i wasted
my youth)













> 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.
>

the copy xerox thingy is a side thing at least with the disk backup...just
guick
ref scribble to a page

as for the xerox of the items in the bsmt...yeah it sucks how i did it but i
did get almost done with it..and i have both by item number and by
categories
on the page..so i plan on making another master set by xeroxing indv pages
of stuff and just sort them by category like you would index cards..toss
them in 2nd set of binders....

as for beyond that ....hope for cheap xerox machines in the future that
instead
of putting 100 items in hopper for xerox ...you can do same and make indv
pdf files...people want to see what i have they can go thru the pdf index..
after posting this on some download siet...and go

zowie....item 199 ohio kache card ...then look at pdf file for all info
eprom
info serial or whatever on that...


if nothing else if i do ever get this act together and want to or eventually
put
it in a database at least it can be typed in from the these xerox worksheets
not climbing over rubbermaid containers etc


some other winter project



>
> 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!


you should know by now that i never get to the point on my posts till 2/3
the way thru....but yeah that what it is looking like





>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

yeah i plan on MDC stuff but again may have brief index as i go along
of disk id number/title/brief 1 line info on a clipboard as i go along thru
the process just for guick ref...when done it is will be just a side index
to
grab and glance at...not a biggie...but MDC will be the main method of
looking




>
> 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.
>

yeah i guess in the posting here i've been mentally hashing it out..not
that i really want to do it this way..but it is not like some of these
integer disks and or utils i'd be able to tell what the heck they do by
the title on the disk or the file name...i really may have to muck with
this stuff  and at least for the really old stuff (w like 40 files to a
disk)
run  a few to figure out what the heck i saved this or that for ..it of
course will get easier to use MDC etc as i go along and get to stuff
in which you can just image the whole disk or whatever like for say
an install disk for wildcard or some such made in 1988

and of course i say like 2000 disks or so of stuff 5.25..the vast
majority of those are of course double sided....which means i prob
lost some data that way double using sides....

hopefully....i find a lot of it is ...i can get someplace on the net...is
dupes...etc...but i kinda doubt it...we were big on specific bbs
and hardware related and/or bbs backup stuff etc






>
> 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.





>>
> 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!
>

thats the plan....but i have wierd stuff..like networks bbs system 1981
never used it but disks are protected.....might have to yell for help
on some of the more exotic stuff



>
> 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.
>


well it took me a year to figure out what i have for hardware/stuff (1012
items or some such)
using a clip board and xerox inventory and index sheets....

so i figure this will be another year

then a year after that to put it in a database maybe...

at least i keep myself busy when watching t.v. and i'd prob knit badly

of course it helps to inventory stuff when siders are now going for 125
bucks and i have 18 of them...
i have almost as much stuff given to me of old ibm pc stuff...I have NO
plans on ever inventory that stuff
prob because it is interesting but not worth much...i take that back prob
more to do with sentimental value
of the ap2 being my 1st computer...and such....and i remember when sider's
where 1000 bucks....was easy
in 1999 on ebay to grab them for 15 bucks and shipping them or rescue them
from my buddies pawn shop

anyway...the hardware/books part is basically done on my inventory..i'm know
going thru my file cabinet
of notes/bbs stuff etc (remember the switchback card for char gen chips and
rom swap board..have a diagram
for that) neat stuff like that...b-sider flyers...ohio kache card
flyers...actually kinda neat..that stuff is more
or less organized just needs to be pop'd into the index and binder as i go
thru it on what is in each folder

anyway at least i'm getting it done..i spent 2yrs yelling about not doing it
on here before ...

so now everyone can just hear me complain about doing it....rather then i
should be doing an inventory

(guess it makes little diff it is still prob a pain to hear on here..)

anyway....nothing is in stone....except i plan on getting all the software
approprate to a PC and use MDC
w/ciderpress etc for backup sort..the extra line by line item handwritten
index....the amount of disks i'll
actually copy to floppies...vs what i can find elsewhere that has been
done...etc well we will see

the good news is putting this stuff in cabinets vs rubbermaid..i have like
around 60 rubbermaid containers
for other uses....(that also is a sad comment on my life what kinda lamer
has 60 empty rubbermaid containers?)

brad
former sysop lost gonzo bbs