19 Apr
1999
19 Apr
'99
10:26 a.m.
--- John Foust <jfoust(a)threedee.com> wrote:
At 11:52 AM 4/17/99 -0700, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Done. Used a *new* drive in case my regular drive was dirty, too.
I am attempting to back up some floppies from a
project I did a few years
ago.
Try several different drives on different machines. Try reading them on other types of machines, like Macs
or Amigas with
proper DOS-reading abilities.
That was my next trick. The Amiga reads disks strangely (one track at a
time in MFM mode, then converts MFM to binary data by using a portion
of the graphics hardware to run a miniterm transformation on the buffer;
it uses a 4096-bit shift register in the sound chip to slurp up the track
in the first place, the major reason why C= sold 1/2-speed high-density
drives that work on Amigas going back to 1985 with no hardware modifications).
I'll try the Amiga route this week.
Another good trick is to hold the disk between your
thumb and first finger, >
then whack each edge on the table-top.
I've done that. My question is, how does that work?
Also, get out the can of compressed air to clean out
each drive before you
try this, and open the shutter on each disk and blow them out, too.
I typically blow gently on the open shutter, being *very* careful to keep
the airstream dry. I am not blessed with a collection of canned air.
Thanks for the tips,
-ethan
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