Re: Archiving Apple ][e discs

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Charlie writes ...
> 
> "neodem" <nospam_neodem@fast.net> wrote ...
 ....
> >
> > I still have my ][e and my floppy duodisk and I'm pretty sure they
> > work. What I want to know is this, is there a way to connect the apple
> > to the pc so I can move the data and create the images. I know I can
> > use a null modem cable, but that seems like a huge amount of time and
> > work to move all 400 disks over.
> >
 ....
> 
> The FAQs are not complete in this regard.  There is a way for some PCs to
> read Apple II DOS 3.3 and ProDOS 5.25" floppies.
> 
> By "some PCs" I mean that the PC must have two floppy drives (only one has
> to be a 5.25" drive) and it must be running MS-DOS or Windows 95, 98 or ME
> (It won't work with NT, 2000 and XP).
> 
> You also need a program called "disk2fdi".  A trial version and information
> can be found at:
> 
> http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi
> 
> The program reads the Apple floppy and creates a disk image (.do) on the
> PC.  These images will work on most emulators.
> 
> I have archived at least 150 Apple floppies this way.  The amount of time
> it takes for one floppy varies but it is usually one to two minutes, so it
> is still going to be a lot of time for 400 floppies.
> 
> There are some things it can't do:
> 
> It can't read the back side of the floppies.
> It won't read most copy-protected disks.
> It can't write to Apple II floppies.
 ....


     That's kind of a big breakthrough! Must be nearly a hundred postings on
Csa2 over the years explaining why there's NO WAY to read Apple II diskettes on
a PC without special hardware.

     Tried DISK2FDI on our Windows PC (with a 1.2MB 5.25" drive) and it works
fine for non-protected DOS 3.3 and ProDOS 5.25" diskettes. 

     One caveat, DISK2FDI may have difficulty with a few sectors that read fine
on your real Apple II. Making a fresh copy using Disk Muncher or some other
fast whole-disk copier seems to help.

     Thanks for posting the info. I've updated the FAQs.


Rubywand