Disk Copier

[Pengwin]

Does anyone know of an A8 disk copier that will copy just about anything?

[Urchlay]

Does anyone know of an A8 disk copier that will copy just about anything?

 

Define "just about anything"?

 

I used to use Copy Mate a lot, it'll copy any single or enhanced density unprotected disk, and it'll skip unreadable sectors. I can't remember whether or not it works with double density disks.

 

With protected disks, the best (not cheapest) way to go is to use a Happy drive and the software that comes with it (or anyway software made for it; I don't know what all the options are).

 

If you're wanting to copy protected disks, and you don't have a Happy or other upgraded drive, you could try Black Patch or Chipmunk.

 

If you're talking about non-standard disks (77/80 tracks, 720K/1.2M/etc), you might try MyDOS's "Duplicate Disk" option (I'm not sure whether it copies all sectors, or just the ones marked as being used in the VTOC, though).

[+Larry]

Does anyone know of an A8 disk copier that will copy just about anything?

 

Most capable: Super Archiver with The BitWriter

Most flexible: Happy 1050 (and a useful addition is the Happy Archiver + Super Archiver software)

Good and inexpensive: The Black Patch (excellent sector copier is included)

 

-Larry

[ijor]

I agree with Larry, the one that can copy most software is the Super Archiver with The Bit Writer. I don't have any experience at all with the Bit Writer, so I have no idea how reliable it is. But in theory it can copy everything except the very same Super Archiver II disk.

 

The Happy is perhaps a more useful combination. Not as powerful copier but you still can copy most disks and you get the track buffering speed.

 

If you are more interested in writing back than actually copying, then a Catweasel or a Discovery Cartridge with a 360K 5.25 drive, are even better. You will shortly be able to write back VAPI images with both of them.

[Pengwin]

Tried Chipmunk and Black Patch....failed

Can't find a copy of Super Archiver anywhere yet.

 

I'm trying to get a copy of Cut & Paste done for my site.

 

I'll try MyDos, see if that will do it.

[ndary]

SuperArchiver is a hardware upgrade to the 1050 disk driver.

 

SuperArchiver software v1 can copy Single Sided protected disk while software v2 can copy enhanced density protected disks.

The BitWrite is an additional hardware addon to the Super Archiver hardware to allow copy Synapse special tracks..

 

What software you are tying to copy?

 

 

Tried Chipmunk and Black Patch....failed

Can't find a copy of Super Archiver anywhere yet.

 

I'm trying to get a copy of Cut & Paste done for my site.

 

I'll try MyDos, see if that will do it.

[Pengwin]

SuperArchiver is a hardware upgrade to the 1050 disk driver.

 

SuperArchiver software v1 can copy Single Sided protected disk while software v2 can copy enhanced density protected disks.

The BitWrite is an additional hardware addon to the Super Archiver hardware to allow copy Synapse special tracks..

 

What software you are tying to copy?

 

I'm trying to copy Cut & Paste so that I can share it with the community and also use backup disks rather than the originals.

[ijor]

I'm trying to copy Cut & Paste so that I can share it with the community and also use backup disks rather than the originals.

 

Cut & Past by Electronic Arts can't be copied with a software copier. You need a Happy, SuperArchiver or other similar tool.

 

You can use one of "unprotectors" mentioned above to make a version without copy protection. You can also make an image if you want, but you can't make one to one backups without some hardware solution.

[dwhyte]

I'm trying to copy Cut & Paste so that I can share it with the community and also use backup disks rather than the originals.

 

Cut & Past by Electronic Arts can't be copied with a software copier. You need a Happy, SuperArchiver or other similar tool.

 

You can use one of "unprotectors" mentioned above to make a version without copy protection. You can also make an image if you want, but you can't make one to one backups without some hardware solution.

 

Why not do a straight sector copy then to an .atr or .dcm... is there multiple loads or can it be filed... bad sectors would be zeroed... wouldn't it then be a matter of cracking the protection with a hex editor/disassembler? If I knew the structure of a .pro file, I'd just write a program to remove the extra .pro copy protection information and save it as an .atr, then try to crack it from there...

Edited February 1, 2007 by dwhyte

[ijor]

Why not do a straight sector copy then to an .atr or .dcm... wouldn't it then be a matter of cracking the protection with a hex editor/disassembler?

 

Yes, that could be perfectly done, and probably shouldn't be too difficult. I'd even suppose that cracks are already available.

[+bf2k+]

Does anyone know of an A8 disk copier that will copy just about anything?

 

I used Bruce Blake's "CopyAll" for a long time because I had 2 happy drives and it was FAST, but it will not copy protected disks.