VGA-COPY/386 6.25: "World-renowned utility for copying and formatting floppy disks."
ImageDisk 1.18 "is a program to read entire diskette images into files (type .IMD), and to recreate a copy of the diskette from that image. A detailed analysis is performed on the diskette, and information about the formatting is recorded in the image file. This allows ImageDisk to work with virtually any soft-sectored diskette format that is compatible with the PC's type 765 floppy diskette controller and drives."
DiskImg: "Read/write complete (physical/logical) disk to/from file."
SpinRite: "Everything SpinRite does for hard disk drives also works on floppy diskettes of any size and density."
cat:
cat /dev/fd0 > floppy.imgdd:
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=floppy.img conv=notruncFrom the manual:
-c sectors Number of sectors to copy at a time.…The number of sectors per track (18 or 9) is a good value for floppies." [emphasis added]-d Use direct disc access…to read from infile, bypassing the kernel cache.…Sector size must be correctly set for this to work.…"1.44MB floppy: ddrescue -b 512 -c 18 -d /dev/fd0 floppy.img floppy.map
DOS floppy imaging/recovering examples from Archive Team (source)
dumpfloppy "is a suite of tools for reading floppy disks in arbitrary formats supported by the PC floppy controller, and for working with the resulting image files. For image files, it uses the IMD format defined by Dave Dunfield's ImageDisk. You can capture an image with dumpfloppy and then write it back with ImageDisk, or use the dumpfloppy tools to examine or extract an ImageDisk file."
No compiling instructions included; found them in BitCurator's bootstrap.sh: aclocal --force && autoconf -f && automake --add-missing && ./configure && make
(apt install automake if missing. Also encountered "make: Warning: File 'Makefile.am' has modification time 63026 s in the future" error; resolved thusly: find -type f -exec touch {} + && make clean && make)
Old fork: "Dumpfloppy dumps floppy disk images to files. Unlike ddrescue, dd_rescue or safecopy, it allows storing multiple CRC-failed reads to get the best possible data from failing floppy disks. Original by Adam Sampson."
safecopy "is a data recovery tool which tries to extract as much data as possible from a problematic (i.e. damaged sectors) source - like floppy drives, hard disk partitions, CDs, tape devices, ..., where other tools like dd would fail due to I/O errors."
BadCopy Pro 4.10: "BadCopy Pro is the leading data recovery software for flash drive, USB drive, CD, DVD, memory card, floppy disk and other removable disks. BadCopy Pro can effectively recover and rescue corrupted or lost data from damaged, unreadable, formatted or defective disks. It works with Microsoft Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10."
Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier 5.2: "Recovers files from disks with physical damage. Allows you to copy files from disks with problems such as bad sectors, scratches or that just give errors when reading data. The program will attempt to recover every readable piece of a file and put the pieces together. Using this method most types of files can be made useable even if some parts of the file were not recoverable in the end."
WinImage 10.0: "WinImage is a fully-fledged disk-imaging suite for easy creation, reading and editing of many image formats and fileystems, including DMF, VHD, FAT, ISO, NTFS and Linux. The disk image is an exact copy of a physical disk (floppy, CD-ROM, hard disk, USB, VHD disk, etc.) or a partition that preserves the original structure. With WinImage in place, you can recreate the disk image on the hard drive or other media, view its content, extract image-based files, add new files and directories, change the format, and defragment the image. All this and more is delivered in one intuitive user interface that enables imaging right out of the box."
WinDiskImg: "Read/write complete (physical/logical) disk to/from file."
Roadkil's Disk Image: "Creates and writes disk images files to hard and floppy disks."
Greaseweazle: "Tools for accessing a floppy drive at the raw flux level"
KryoFlux "is a USB-based device designed specifically for the reliability and precision needed to acquire reliable low-level reads suitable for software preservation."
Archive Team's Rescuing Floppy Disks offers a comprehensive hardware guide.
Floppy Disk Useful Storage Space: "1.44MB Floppy - 80 tracks x 18 sectors x 2 sides x 512 bytes per sector = 1,474,560 bytes"
Maxiumum recovery of data from old floppy discs with padded bad sectors and multiple passes
Recovering "lost" treasure-filled floppy discs with an oscilloscope
Preserving a floppy disk with a logic analyzer and a serial cable
From Adafruit Floppy's FAQ:
Did you know there are USB Floppy Drives for $10 on Amazon?
Yes, we are aware. These are recycled laptop floppy drives with a controller chip that presents a mass storage interface to the sectors on disk. They are great for basic access to 1.44MB IBM PC MFM-formatted diskettes. They will not work for GCR formatted diskettes (we know because we tried) and may not work with non-FAT formatted diskettes (we don't have any but the controller chip is very specialized and may freak out). USB floppy drive controllers will not get you flux-level readings, and can't cope with damaged diskettes to read sector data that does not pass CRC to perform data recovery. They are also, of course, no good with 5.25" floppy diskettes.
Why do you need a flux level reading of disks???
Flux level readings are essential for data recovery, restoration, archiving of damaged or copy-protected floppies.
/misc | Apr 17, 2022