RE: Extracting files off “unknown” 8 inch disks. Any thoughts…

[Bill Gunshannon]

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From: cctalk [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] on behalf of Chuck Guzis via cctalk [cctalk at classiccmp.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2017 12:08 AM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Extracting files off “unknown” 8 inch disks. Any thoughts…

On 03/22/2017 08:39 PM, Terry Stewart via cctalk wrote:

> Chuck, in the highly likely event of the formats NOT being common
> CP/M or DOS ones (i.e. ones I could probably manage), I'll give these
> guys your email (-:

Tez,

Here's what I would do in your situation.

If the disks are hard-sectored, forget it, unless you have the system
that wrote them.

If they're soft-sectored, dig through your pile of PC "tweeners" using
Dave Dunfield's "TestFDC" and see if you can find one that does
single-density.

Then hook your 8" drive to the PC and use his ImageDisk to grab a copy.

That way, you can tinker with the image to figure out what's going on.
Failing that, you can pass the image to the list here and see if it
rings any bells.

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm

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Let's not forget UCSD-Pascal or RT-11. :-)  Lot's of formats, some easier to
recover than others.

bill