Re: Disk imaging

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

"mystix"@direct.ca@direct.ca writes ...
> 
> Well I've started to get my GS going again only to run into a rather serious
> problem. Quite a number of my disks have gone bad. This is quite distressing
> as I have quite collection of software I've bought years ago and I've spent
> no small sum of money on them.
> 
> So I'm wondering, is there a disk imaging program that will reliably produce
> images that I can archive? I also have an SE/30 which I've put back in
> service to assist in such a task. I want to be able to save what is still
> OK.
> 
> The oddest thing is there doesn't seem to be a consistency of the age
> of what can go bad. One of the newest pieces of software I have, Out Of
> This World went bad, and yet something like Epix's Art & Film Director
> is still good.

     There are a number of factors which impact useful life of software on diskette. For instance, software on a 3.5" diskette is likely to have a much shorter life than a that on 5.25" diskette. Copy protected software is likely to have a shorter life than software which is not copy protected. And, software which allows writing to its diskette is likely to get messed up before software which doesn't.

     The best way to archive non copy protected Apple II disks is ShrinkIt. The files are compressed, which saves space; and, ShrinkIt will preserve special DOS 3.3 volume numbering.

     If there is concern that your archive of some out of print software may become corrupted, you can check archive sites to see whether or not it is available. If the software is not on Asimov, the ACN sites, 'Fairway, Uni-kl.de, Ground, the Treasure Chest site, etc., you can upload a copy to an archive.

     For copy protected disks, you can look for information on deprotection or try making direct backup copies using utilities like Copy II Plus or LockSmith. Or, Saltine's Super Transcopy may allow creating a .nib disk image file.



Rubywand