Hi everyone,
I desperately want to convert my 3" and/or 5,25" physical disks into .dsk images, but don't know which option would be the easiest, given that we are talking about quite some disks (30 to 40 I guess), so a purely manual approach like copying single files using a M4 sounds not very enjoyable. And I would rather transfer more disks than less and curate the files of interest on my Mac/from within an emulator.
I own a 464 with DDI-1 and the matching 3" drive plus a 5,25" 40-tracks drive which I had connected to that DDI-1 as well. I also have a 6128 with M4 and recently bought a Greaseweazle. One problem is connectivity: I don't have the right cables to connect any of my drives to the Greaseweazle and I also can't connect the 5,25" drive to the 6128 which has the M4, so all of it's possibilities are out of reach.
I have attached pictures of all the existing plugs and sockets available to me.
How can I transfer my disks to my Mac using what's available? I figure I am missing some cable, but which one and where would I get that?
PS:
@Gryzor : The forum software is cute! It complains when I try to upload a .jpeg file, because when it comes to JPEGs, it only deems .jpg files as true.
Don't know about the Greazeweazle, but if this works with HxC / Gotek devices:
- 3" discs as source: Make a bunch of HFEs / DSKs and copy the complete disc.
- 5,25" discs in 40 Track SS format:
a. Copy them to 3" then to HFEs / DSKs on floppy emulator
b. see next option...
- 5,25" discs with 80 Track DS formats (Votex, ROMDOS, etc...):
Use a 2nd floppy controller (Vortex F1-D or the new clone from Hans, corresponding thread somewhere in this forum too). Then again do a disc copy.
On 464 the Dobbertin D-DOS can handle one or two drives of 40/80 Tracks SS or DS.
Hope this helps a bit.
Looks like you only need a normal floppy cable to connect the FD1 or the 5.25" to the Greazeweazle. The FD-1 inserts 5V on some of the lanes, so it might be a good idea to either cut those lanes in the floppy cable or remove the 5V injection inside the FD-1.
What I did to copy 3" discs with a 6128: attach a Gotek as Drive B, copy from A to B with a copy tool like Xexor. That worked quite well in both directions.
no worries, @BSC , I'll set it up to accept .jaypegh extensions for you.
Quote from: Gryzor on 16:30, 04 February 23 no worries, @BSC , I'll set it up to accept .jaypegh extensions for you.
highly appreciated (as some dumb Mac software always saves as .jpeg)
Quote from: eto on 17:12, 04 February 23Quote from: Gryzor on 16:30, 04 February 23 no worries, @BSC , I'll set it up to accept .jaypegh extensions for you.
highly appreciated (as some dumb Mac software always saves as .jpeg)
Wait, documentation says jpeg is natively supported, can you email me a sample?
Quote from: eto on 16:03, 04 February 23Looks like you only need a normal floppy cable to connect the FD1 or the 5.25" to the Greazeweazle. The FD-1 inserts 5V on some of the lanes, so it might be a good idea to either cut those lanes in the floppy cable or remove the 5V injection inside the FD-1.
What I did to copy 3" discs with a 6128: attach a Gotek as Drive B, copy from A to B with a copy tool like Xexor. That worked quite well in both directions.
Yeah, Xexor for discs and Parados for files.
Quote from: BSC on 15:05, 04 February 23I desperately want to convert my 3" and/or 5,25" physical disks into .dsk images [...] I also have a 6128 with M4
In this case you can already copy all your 3" discs (if not copy-protected) to DSK on SD card with your existing hardware:
http://www.symbos.org/appinfo.htm?00046
Quote from: Gryzor on 17:21, 04 February 23Wait, documentation says jpeg is natively supported, can you email me a sample?
Easier said then done: PMs do not support attachments and I don't have your email address ;-)
I have uploaded an example in the CPC Wiki discussion.
@BSC As written on the other forum page about Greaseweazle (here (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/technical-support/greaseweazle/)), you simply need a 1:1 34-pin floppy cable without any twists. Often old PC mainboards that still supported 3.5" floppy drives came with such cables, but it should also be easy to source them also via ebay or other electronic shops. Actually, just enter "34 pin ribbon cable" into Google and certainly you will find sources of supply.
When you have the cable, before you connect the drive, please don't forget to open the FD-1 and disconnect the 5V power plug *in* the drive. Otherwise it may burn your Greaseweazle.
Thanks everyone! I was able to start transferring my 3" disks using SymbOS running DiskDumper. Thanks
@Prodatron for that! Unfortunately, a lot of disks have read errors ..
Also thanks
@sb1903, the actual words to search for did not occur to me until you made it obvious by writing them out for me :) But "ribbon" kind of escaped me. The GreaseWeazle would still be my goto-method when converting the 5,25" disks. I'll go on the hunt for a ribbon-cable.
If you need any help, I could prob do something, but I'm in the UK and things are more complicated now. *$**!£$* Brexit.
I've got a PCW, with a 3" A: and a 5.25" B:, which I have used fine as SS, but usually use as DS 360k format.
I'd just use the DU54 prog to create .DSK images. I've got the uIDE system attached, so plenty of space to save the image files. But this does NOT cover any sort of copy protection schemes, so normal format only (I can read CPC formats OK, and DU54 can be TOLD what the format is rather than look for the xDPB data in the first sector.
Though I have to say, one of the reasons I still play with my PCW is that I LIKE playing with the floppy disks. I still have PCs with floppy drives (which helps if I wanted to send .DSK files back to you). I certainly do NOT plan to dump my REAL disks!
Geoff
Quote from: GeoffB17 on 01:56, 06 February 23If you need any help, I could prob do something, but I'm in the UK and things are more complicated now. *$**!£$* Brexit.
That's a really nice offer, thanks! But I already got most of the intact 3" discs transferred, the flawed ones might become possible later. I have also ordered some ribbon cables and plugs which will arrive this week, so connecting my 5,25" drive to the GreaseWeazle becomes a possibility. And Prodatron wants to provide a new version of DiskDumper that will hopefully make it possible to import some of the erroneous 3" disks.
Thanks for the note.
Earlier in Jan I was rescuing some files from some 3" disks here, someone's father had been writing some memoirs from his days in India.
Generally, the branded disks were OK, just the odd bit gave trouble and needed a few tries, but I found that when machine and disks were cold there were problems, then as things warmed up the reading got a little better, but there was a peak to the improvement after which things got problematic again.
BUT, the batch of disks contained some grey unbranded disks, and these were a serious problem, although it was worthwhile making repeated tries as things could improve - I suspect here that the problem was more mechanical. The 3" disk includes some anti-static (?) material inside, and I think that in the grey ones this material was coming unstuck, and this was causing the disk inside the shell to not rotate smoothly.
Luckily, most of the disks had at least one copy, and usually one copy was much better than the other.
It IS however worthwhile to keep trying. And each disk is a law unto itsself.
best of luck.
Geoff
I actually can't transfer my 5,25" disks because, apparently, that drive has some motor / belt issues. You can hear it spin when no disk is inserted, but as soon as I close the lid after inserting a disk, it stops spinning. If I only had another drive..
Sounds like a problem with the connection to the FDC.
Have a look through this thread also. I've started using Greaseweazel on some 3.5" disks (don't want to remove the 3" from the CPC just yet). Main thing to note is the pins are swapped around
https://muckypaws.com/2020/09/03/greaseweazle (https://muckypaws.com/2020/09/03/greaseweazle)