PowerCopy Pro

[BarryB]

Menace is the only Psygnosis game I own that thwarts my attempts to backup, but it's no biggie as it's dumped and IPF'd. Having compatible hardware helps too, don't posess the Power Hardware Dongle only Cyclone, but that's given 99% success!

I still have an issue where clicking the DEVICE button and choosing 'DEV Path' produces an unresponsive requester, same if you try to load a parameter and you haven't assigned 'Parameters:' to anything, both these instances force a reboot.

*UPDATE*

Figured out why Menace wouldn't copy Cut a long story short, re-aligned the internal floppy head some more so some older disks I had would read past track 40 on the upper head without errors! After that I could copy Menace without a problem using Cyclone on 'Index Copy' to copy the whole disk then used 'APWM Index Copy' on track 79-1 to copy the protection track, disk then loaded and didn't go into 'demo mode' allowing me to play. Unfortunately the game isn't A1200 friendly and crashes with graphic corruption seconds into the game, just like the original.

[Retro1234]

: Does it make a difference removing your CF card before clicking DEVICE

I should probably test this before posting but on Maverick 5 theres a Parameter for Menace that doesnt mention removing the protection or using backup-buddy?

:Maverick 5 did seem to create a successful eADF I havent tried writing back to real Floppy, I guess if it does work then despite Mavericks description it removes a protection check.

[BarryB]

Boo Boo, i tried PowerCopy under WinUAE and it did the same thing so either I'm doing something wrong or not understanding how the Device button works? I'm also a bit wary about unplugging the CF while the Amiga is on!!

I also tried Maverick 5 on Menace but it goes so far then gets stuck on the protection track I think and it stops loading!! Power Copy parameter won't copy it anyway as it needs the hardware or a Speed Adjust drive (or a finger pressing on the hub to slow it down, lol )

[Retro1234]

Uplugging while on is not a problem - After clicking Device click Volumes

Try Wriing the Device in the Zone

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by BarryB

I'm also a bit wary about unplugging the CF while the Amiga is on!!

I confirm that unplugging is safe. Compact Flashes were manufactured with hot plugging in mind.
I had the same worry some time ago, searched the Web for info and found confirmation.
I hot-swapped my CF (it's inserted in my PCMCIA adapter) many times between my A600 and my PC (for hundreds of .adf files transfers) with no problems at all. The Amiga detects the removal/insertion on the fly.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm talking about an EXTERNAL CF, connected to the Amiga via the PCMCIA adapter. Of course I'm NOT talking about an internal CF connected to the IDE port (via an IDE/CF adapter). This CF CANNOT be hot-swapped.

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by Supamax

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'm talking about an EXTERNAL CF, connected to the Amiga via the PCMCIA adapter. Of course I'm NOT talking about an internal CF connected to the IDE port (via an IDE/CF adapter). This CF CANNOT be hot-swapped.

I was of course talking about CF>PCMCIA -Thanks for pointing that out Supamax - I was not clear.

[BarryB]

Thanks, my CF is in a CF>IDE adapter so obviously can't be unplugged on 'the fly' hence my query.

@Boo Boo: What does 'Try Wriing the Device in the Zone' mean? Sorry if I didn't understand.

[Retro1234]

writing
a working copy of Menace made with Maverick

Anyways any of you techis hyperthetically with some kind of variable resistor could you slow the motor down and write a longer track or this would just cause the drive not to function.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

Anyways any of you techis hyperthetically with some kind of variable resistor could you slow the motor down and write a longer track or this would just cause the drive not to function.

Me and Denis asked the same question (more or less), some time ago, in a thread where we got a negative answer from a SPS member (can't remember the thread right now).
The rotational speed of modern floppy drives' motors are electronically regulated, so it's not so easy to slow them down...

[BarryB]

@Boo Boo: lol, my bad! Wrote your devicedrawer back to disk with PowerCopy and it works perfectly. So I tried again with Maverick on my original and had success using DF1: to DF0: and DF0: to DF1:. So I made a copy of the Maverick image to a devicedrawer with PowerCopy on 'Backup Nibble' and wrote it back to disk and it worked Did all this on a 'real' A1200 of course

[Retro1234]

I wonder how kryoflux writes long tracks if modern drives cant be slowed

[BarryB]

Must write smaller flux patterns so it fits?

[IFW]

KryoFlux can write any bitcell width (flux transition time) at will for any cell.

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by IFW

KryoFlux can write any bitcell width (flux transition time) at will for any cell.

This means very little to me but thanks for your reply.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

This means very little to me but thanks for your reply.

The track length, i.e. the number of sectors on a track, depends on the bit cell width, which in turn depends on the flux reversal or transition rate, i.e. the data rate.

It is not possible to significantly increase the data rate to an Amiga floppy drive due to design limitations of the controller, so the only alternative is to slow down the drive, which is also problematic because the drive rotation speed does not respond smoothly to pulse width modulation of the drive signal.

However, the KryoFlux USB controller is able to increase the data rate to the floppy drive to lengthen the track (i.e. shorten the sectors) to the required degree, removing the need to slow down the drive.

[Retro1234]

Still over my head but thank you Sir

[dlfrsilver]

Kryoflux can write any copy protection on a disk

[BarryB]

Quote mr.vince about Kyroflux: "This is not a hardware copier", now you make it sound like it *IS*

[IFW]

Not really, it is a mastering device - very similar to the ones used back in the day, apart from the size and the price

[dirkies]

kryoflux will get popular once it can write ADFs, as that is the main reason I bought it for now, got tons of ADFs but not in the mood to save them from PC on USB, then connect to my USB equipped A4000, write them to floppy and then use them on a A500. Kryoflux will make this easier! I did buy also the A500 SD card floppy card but it is kinda "non genuine" as I really want a standard A500 rerun my floppy games without any USB/SD gimmicks.