Best disk imaging software?

lloyd · 05 May 2012, 01:29

Mods, please move to correct area if I've put this in the wrong place.

Guys, I'm looking for a bit of software that will archive an Amiga floppy disk to a file - like DMS does.

I've used DMS - several different versions. They all seem to be totally unreliable producing maybe one bad file in ten. Whilst that may be considered good enough by some, it means that I have to go back and recheck EVERY file, redo the ones that are bad, and then recheck.

I don't care how long it takes to make a file, I don't even care if it creates a compressed file - all I want is something I can rely on.

Any ideas?

I have a lot of DMS files, from the 17Bit CD series, the UPD Gold CDs etc. All I want to be able to do is to catalogue them, make my own catalogue of what I have etc.

The text files that came with the original CDs often refer to images that do not exist on the CD, there are files on the CD that are not mentioned at all in the text files, some of the files are corrupt. So really, I have no way to actually know what I have, unless I work my way through the 30,000 or so DMS images I have, and remake the catalogue text files.

So, I want to unpack the disk image from its original file, test the files, and rearchive the disk, update the catalogue text file. But there is no point in me even starting to do this until I know the software isn't going to mangle the new archived floppies.

I will be using a real A1200 with 2 megs chip, 8 megs fast, 4gb HD and an external floppy drive. Virtual floppy drives are set up on it to reduce the wear and tear on the external drive.

TIA

Hewitson · 05 May 2012, 14:14

DIC from the WHDLoad package is a nice piece of software.

lloyd · 05 May 2012, 19:41

Thank you sir, I shall look into that.

As a long time ZX Spectrum user, I love your sig

prowler · 05 May 2012, 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by lloyd

Mods, please move to correct area if I've put this in the wrong place.

Moved to request.Apps

Quote:

Originally Posted by lloyd

Guys, I'm looking for a bit of software that will archive an Amiga floppy disk to a file - like DMS does.

I've used DMS - several different versions. They all seem to be totally unreliable producing maybe one bad file in ten. Whilst that may be considered good enough by some, it means that I have to go back and recheck EVERY file, redo the ones that are bad, and then recheck.

I don't care how long it takes to make a file, I don't even care if it creates a compressed file - all I want is something I can rely on.

Any ideas?

DMS is very reliable in my experience. Have you considered that your floppy drive may have problems reading some of your floppy disks?

This could be because the disks are becoming flaky, or the disk drive might have a slight misalignment of the read heads.

lloyd · 05 May 2012, 22:26

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I can see what you're getting at - only thing is, I use two virtual floppy drives. The software sets up a file for each floppy on my hard drive. Now I suppose the virtual drive software could have issues? I try not to use my real external floppy drive, it's a proper Amiga slimline drive and I don't want it worn out any time soon. Same goes for the internal drive - it gets used once in a while to make sure the gears stay greased but thats about it.

Most of the problems I get with DMS are when I use it to create a DMS file - unpacking from CD is usually ok, but sometimes the original file contains errors - which is fine, sometimes you can restore the disk. A lot of the early 17 bit disks contain stuff from the Fred Fish archive - so lots of the early 17 bit library disks can be restored easily enough. But then, 1 in 10 times, I DMS the new disk only to find it gets corrupted.

I've got the Fred Fish collection - as Lha files, I assume 99% of Amiga PD fans have the same collection

I have a script for DOpus that formats the virtual floppy, I then name the disk. The script then unarchives the lha file contents to the disk, and then archives the disk with DMS.

At least 1 in 10 of the DMS files turn out to be smaller than the original Lha file, and every time, that file has proven to be bad.

I spend a significant amount of time testing DMS archives, and I keep finding bad files - there has to be a better way.

prowler · 05 May 2012, 22:44

I see. Well, that rather eliminates disk drive errors (unless the device driver is buggy).

My disk imager of choice is EAB member Thomas Rapp's TSGui:
http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.de/download.html
http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online...oads/tsgui.lha (v2.5b15)
It creates .ADF images by default (and .DMS too, I believe) and allows retries for disks with flaky sectors.

You can choose any valid floppy disk device to work with (including both your virtual drives I should imagine), and the GUI is quite straightforward.

lloyd · 05 May 2012, 23:24

That sounds good to me

Thanks very much for the advice, appreciated.

05 May 2012, 01:29	#1
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 61 Posts: 242	Best disk imaging software? Mods, please move to correct area if I've put this in the wrong place. Guys, I'm looking for a bit of software that will archive an Amiga floppy disk to a file - like DMS does. I've used DMS - several different versions. They all seem to be totally unreliable producing maybe one bad file in ten. Whilst that may be considered good enough by some, it means that I have to go back and recheck EVERY file, redo the ones that are bad, and then recheck. I don't care how long it takes to make a file, I don't even care if it creates a compressed file - all I want is something I can rely on. Any ideas? I have a lot of DMS files, from the 17Bit CD series, the UPD Gold CDs etc. All I want to be able to do is to catalogue them, make my own catalogue of what I have etc. The text files that came with the original CDs often refer to images that do not exist on the CD, there are files on the CD that are not mentioned at all in the text files, some of the files are corrupt. So really, I have no way to actually know what I have, unless I work my way through the 30,000 or so DMS images I have, and remake the catalogue text files. So, I want to unpack the disk image from its original file, test the files, and rearchive the disk, update the catalogue text file. But there is no point in me even starting to do this until I know the software isn't going to mangle the new archived floppies. I will be using a real A1200 with 2 megs chip, 8 megs fast, 4gb HD and an external floppy drive. Virtual floppy drives are set up on it to reduce the wear and tear on the external drive. TIA

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05 May 2012, 14:14	#2
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 41 Posts: 3,772	DIC from the WHDLoad package is a nice piece of software.

05 May 2012, 19:41	#3
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 61 Posts: 242	Thank you sir, I shall look into that. As a long time ZX Spectrum user, I love your sig

05 May 2012, 22:26	#5
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 61 Posts: 242	Hi, thanks for the reply. I can see what you're getting at - only thing is, I use two virtual floppy drives. The software sets up a file for each floppy on my hard drive. Now I suppose the virtual drive software could have issues? I try not to use my real external floppy drive, it's a proper Amiga slimline drive and I don't want it worn out any time soon. Same goes for the internal drive - it gets used once in a while to make sure the gears stay greased but thats about it. Most of the problems I get with DMS are when I use it to create a DMS file - unpacking from CD is usually ok, but sometimes the original file contains errors - which is fine, sometimes you can restore the disk. A lot of the early 17 bit disks contain stuff from the Fred Fish archive - so lots of the early 17 bit library disks can be restored easily enough. But then, 1 in 10 times, I DMS the new disk only to find it gets corrupted. I've got the Fred Fish collection - as Lha files, I assume 99% of Amiga PD fans have the same collection I have a script for DOpus that formats the virtual floppy, I then name the disk. The script then unarchives the lha file contents to the disk, and then archives the disk with DMS. At least 1 in 10 of the DMS files turn out to be smaller than the original Lha file, and every time, that file has proven to be bad. I spend a significant amount of time testing DMS archives, and I keep finding bad files - there has to be a better way.

05 May 2012, 22:44	#6
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	I see. Well, that rather eliminates disk drive errors (unless the device driver is buggy). My disk imager of choice is EAB member Thomas Rapp's TSGui: http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.de/download.html http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online...oads/tsgui.lha (v2.5b15) It creates .ADF images by default (and .DMS too, I believe) and allows retries for disks with flaky sectors. You can choose any valid floppy disk device to work with (including both your virtual drives I should imagine), and the GUI is quite straightforward.

05 May 2012, 23:24	#7
lloyd Mehh :D Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bristol, SW UK Age: 61 Posts: 242	That sounds good to me Thanks very much for the advice, appreciated.

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