12 November 2017, 23:08 | #1 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
[SOLVED] Catweasel MK3 CD-R
Hi All,
I recently decided to create a backup image of the CD-R which was supplied with my Catweasel MK3 PCI/Flipper card, but it failed because of read errors. The Volume Name is "Catweasel_Emulator_CD" and it contains PC and Amiga driver software, plus a comprehensive selection of Computer and Console emulators for running on Amiga (some observers might call this a bunch of stale emulators ). The disc contains 4376 files in 1419 directories, amounting to about 100MB of data. I have tried to recover the disc using Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier. However, I have only been able to salvage 4105 files. The others may not be totally unrecoverable, but selecting more retries increases the estimated time to complete the task far beyond acceptable limits. Does anyone have a Catweasel MK3 CD-R which is more readable than my own and could upload a backup image of it for me, please? Even discs which are readable to a lesser degree may still prove useful - see below: These discs will all be old by now, so it's possible that nobody will have a disc which is completely readable. Even so, other partially-readable discs would be useful if they could be salvaged by the same method I have tried. If the required total of 4376 files can be salvaged overall, then I can compile a composite disc image and distribute it (on CD-R if required) to everyone who has contributed to the effort. Thanks in advance to any contributors to this effort. Edit: I attach a zip archive of the full directory listing of the original CD-R and one of the Windows hard drive directory containing the successfully salvaged files. The files as yet unrecovered are highlighted in red. Last edited by prowler; 25 November 2017 at 21:52. Reason: Attachment updated; 4110 files salvaged. |
13 November 2017, 01:48 | #2 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Worksop/UK
Age: 59
Posts: 1,328
|
Daft as it sounds, I have successfully recovered both CD's and DVD's in the past by using metal polish on them. It was good enough to get a read off them to back them up.
I had a DVD disc that was particularly bad and had been scratched and scuffed to the point it wouldn't read at all. I used some fine grade automotive valve grinding paste on the surface until the scratches wasn't visible any more, after that I used some chrome polish to bring it to a mirror finish. Worked a treat long enough to get all the files off it! |
13 November 2017, 02:04 | #3 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
I know that GameStation used to provide a CD-ROM and DVD polishing service to remove scratches and restore them to as good as new.
But this is a CD-R and I suspect that exposure to sunlight may have erased some of the recorded data, or at least made it more difficult to read, thus I suspect that method may not be applicable in this case. Edit: There aren't any visible scratches on the disc surface anyway. However, the previous owner of the Catweasel card said that he had bought it from a second-hand (charity) shop, and I'm thinking they had displayed it in the window, and that's what caused the deterioration. And I used drivers I had downloaded to test the card after I received it, so I had no cause to use the CD-R at that time. Now, I am just trying to recover the files purely for preservation purposes. Last edited by prowler; 13 November 2017 at 02:09. |
13 November 2017, 02:34 | #4 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Worksop/UK
Age: 59
Posts: 1,328
|
Too much sunlight will degrade the dye and make it unreadable that's for sure. A couple of the CD's I rescued was effected by this and taking off the top layer with polish allowed a good enough read to back them up. These CD's contained photo's that wasn't backed up anywhere else so I had nothing to lose really, they wouldn't read anyway so nothing more lost by trying.
It was a fun experiment at the time, and luckily served its purpose to retrieve the pictures. The badly scratched DVD was just to see if it would work really, there was nothing on it important or not backed up elsewhere. I was surprised it worked considering how much polishing and elbow grease it took. |
13 November 2017, 07:50 | #5 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Finland
Posts: 1,186
|
Have you considered just asking Individual Computers? They might just still have it and post it online if you ask, other installation disks are on their wiki nowadays :-)
|
13 November 2017, 21:20 | #6 | ||
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
Quote:
Quote:
Furthermore, if Individual Computers still had a master image of that disc, and could distribute it, then I would expect it to be made available on their Wiki also. |
||
14 November 2017, 00:22 | #7 |
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Kansas City, MO, USA
Posts: 683
|
I've done it with both factory CDs and CD-R, CD-RW, etc. and it works great. The side of the CD that the laser shines into is just a layer of clear plastic. For a CD-R, you should be more careful with the top layer, as a heavy scratch on that side could rip through the reflective foil.
|
14 November 2017, 00:41 | #8 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
Thanks for adding here your experience of similar situations .
Before opening this thread, I was convinced that polishing the playing surface could only worsen the problem. I was not aware that the dye layer was protected by a clear plastic surface. |
24 November 2017, 22:22 | #9 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
I have begun my final attempt to salvage more files from this CD-R before resorting to cleaning and polishing it.
I'm not convinced that polishing will necessarily enable all files to be recovered from this disc. There is a small 'nick' on the recorded portion of the disc which looks to the naked eye like a small screwdriver, bradawl or other pointed instrument has been dropped onto it. On closer examination using a loupe, it looks more like a crater with the bottom hidden by deposits of dust, which have settled there and become compacted. I am not sure whether the damage goes right through the clear plastic surface or not, so I will attempt to clear the residue with great caution lest the dye layer is thus exposed. I have earlier this evening recovered three more files from the disc, again using Roadkil's Unstoppable Copier, but this time one file at a time. This enables the program's 'Best Recovery' setting to be used without a persistent reminder that completion of the task is expected to require several days. However, in this session another four files have proved to be unrecoverable by this method. |
25 November 2017, 21:59 | #10 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
4110 files salvaged of 4376. Attachment to first post updated.
As I make progress, I will bump the thread by removing this post and replacing it with another at the end and updating the attachment. In the meantime, if anyone can supply the files highlighted in red in the Wordpad document in the first post attachment, that would be a great help. |
15 January 2018, 17:23 | #11 |
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Lahti / Finland
Age: 52
Posts: 452
|
I also have only a corrupt CD-ROM. Here is the image file of it. Hopefully you can find a few missing files - intact.
http://apollo-accelerators.com/files/shk/C64_DRIVERS.7z A quick Catweasel MK3 test on Windows 10: [ Show youtube player ] e. oops, I think this was not the CD-ROM what you was looking for e2. it was this one? this is in 100% working order : http://apollo-accelerators.com/files...Emulator_CD.7z Last edited by ShK; 15 January 2018 at 18:25. |
16 January 2018, 00:20 | #12 | ||
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
Quote:
Nice work! That doesn't sound bad at all for the 8580! I can't wait for the 6851 test. Oh wait, that is the 6851 test! Quote:
Edit: Is that CD the one in this picture? Last edited by prowler; 16 January 2018 at 00:37. |
||
16 January 2018, 22:25 | #13 | |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
Quote:
I'll see what the C64 driver CD image looks like tomorrow. That's what I like best about EAB: If you post a request, there will almost always be someone out there who can provide what you need eventually if you are prepared to wait for it. |
|
16 January 2018, 23:04 | #14 |
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: London / Sydney
Age: 47
Posts: 20,420
|
Well done all involved
|
17 January 2018, 06:58 | #15 |
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Lahti / Finland
Age: 52
Posts: 452
|
Yes, this is the same CD-ROM disk.
This disk contains original CW3 drivers and I find that it works better with ACID64Player than latest one. For some reason latest driver sometimes detects CW3 as CW4 and does not find SID, and if it finds, music playback sounds bad. Catweasel MK3 Quick Installation Guide advises to use 6581 jumper if the real 6581 is installed. On my case I needed to left it open with 6581R3 SID. With 12V setting sound was a very loud and all channels didn't work. WinUAE 3.6.0 works OK on Win10 (32bit) with Catweasel MK3, but you need to install TVicPort. It allows you to access and control hardware directly without using the Windows DDK. Also WinUAE is needed to start from command line with directcatweasel parameter: "-directcatweasel 0xyzzzz" y = CW model (3 or 4, 3 is default), zzzz is io address in hexadecimal. On my case it's "WinUAE.exe -directcatweasel 0x3D000". cw_config.exe shows io address: |
17 January 2018, 22:26 | #16 |
Global Moderator
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Sidcup, England
Posts: 10,300
|
Even if it was a mistake, I certainly appreciate you uploading the C64 driver CD image as well, and thanks for those additional hints above, my friend.
|
14 August 2019, 14:43 | #17 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Sweden
Posts: 1
|
Does anyone have the CD-R file for the Catweasel mk3 or know where it could be found? The link posted ( http://apollo-accelerators.com/files...Emulator_CD.7z ) is not working anymore.
EDIT: Please, anyone? Last edited by storhemulen; 17 August 2019 at 19:34. |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
Thread Tools | |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
WTS: Catweasel MK3 | David | MarketPlace | 2 | 20 June 2012 03:47 |
Catweasel MK3 | Arnie | support.WinUAE | 3 | 21 February 2009 15:28 |
I need Catweasel MK3 (flipper) | zimgr5 | MarketPlace | 3 | 01 February 2009 17:17 |
WANTED: Catweasel MK3 | CU_AMiGA | MarketPlace | 9 | 02 December 2006 23:12 |
Catweasel MK3 | gizmomelb | MarketPlace | 1 | 30 November 2005 09:50 |
|
|