FAO Fiath. The impossible dumps
 

I have had another go at dumping some disks on my Amiga (I must like punishing myself or something :) )

I picked a random game out of the attic, which turned out to be Toki, and dumped it 4 times using different configurations...

1. DF1:, Mode 0, caches off, Blizzard installed.
2. DF0:, Mode 0, caches off, Blizzard installed.
3. DF1:, Mode 1, caches on, Blizzard installed.
4. DF1:, Mode 0, caches off, Blizzard installed. Alternative SIMM.

I was going to attempt to dump it with my blizzard removed, but I realised that I would have to get PC2Amiga working since my memory expansion will have to go with it. Maybe I will get it sorted one day...

Anyway, after dumping the disks I transfered them to my PC and compared the dumps using Beyond Compare (a text/binary file comparason application). Supprisingly, they are all significantly different. Even dumps 1 and 4 which I thought should be identical show large differences and very different file sizes.

I am currently uploading them to the FTP in the CraigT folder. Its going to take another 20 minutes or so to upload them (damn 56k :( ). Do you think they will shine any light on my Amiga's problem?

RAW dumps can't be ever identical. It is impossible to start read exactly at the same position.

Don't worry, they are most likely just fine :)

Exactly x 2.

When I have some more time (hopefully tonight, but you never know) I'll take a look. And maybe even catch up with some of my mail (Burseg) ;)

Mental note - Read the FAQ ;)

Cheers for that, Fiath. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Dump 2 worked fine! :D
So I guess maybe it is the drive which was the problem... Wierd.

Anyway, feel free to continue now, but remember to use that setup ;)

Fantastic! Looks like i'm going to have to find some free time to work through the disks i've got :)

Okay great :)
Well, I think it is worth uploading another disk under that config to check - just before you do a dumping blitz and we find something went wrong. I'm sure it'll be fine though.

I'm uploading a dump of Sensible Soccer at the moment.

I dumped it thinking that you didn't have a dump of V1.1. But after looking at the CAPS database again it looks like I missed it :rolleyes

Never mind, it was good to confirm that you have a stable dumping setup now - go ahead, dump the other games :)
btw: the second disk is heavily modified, just in case you are interested.

Just compared the first disk with the others we have and unfortunately your disk is a completely different version of Sensi, although it looks like the other v1.1 ones... too bad the second disk is modified.

So I take it the second disk is the data/play disk and of course it was write enabled ;)

Yes, afaik you can edit teams etc and sadly many people enjoyed those options...

Bit of a shame, really. I picked the game up a couple of weekends ago at a car boot sale for the bargain price of 50p :) I noticed the disks were write enabled just before I dumped them today but couldn't tell if anything had been saved. Ah well... I will start to dump the rest of my stuff :)

[edit] Forgot to mention. This is the version of sensi that I have.

Well you have to remember that most/many people wouldn't have thought about making archival backup copies for their own use, even when many backup/copy utilities were available at the time ;)

The Sensible Soccer MFM disk format cannot be duplicated by normal means