Archiving floppy disk collection

[awhite2600]

I'm finally considering archiving my floppy disk collection while it is hopefully still readable.  I was inspired by this thread about external 5¼" floppy drives.  

 

My collection consists of original disks (some copy protected), backups of commercial disks (some nibbled to retain protection) and disks of personal program compilations, data, etc.  I'd estimate that I have at least 500 disks in total.  About 50% are C-64 5¼", 40% Amiga 3½", 9% IBM PC - both 5¼" and 3½" and 1% Mac (variable speed 3½").

 

I know that the following options are available.  Each seems to have pros and cons.

 

• Zoom Floppy
• KryoFlux
• FC5025
• SuperCard Pro

 

Ideally I'd like a solution that can archive all of the various formats in my collection.  I'd like the archive files to be compatible with PC based emulators as well as solutions like Pi1541, etc.  I don't really care about the ability to write the archives back to floppy disks.  If a disk is copy protected I'd like the archive to still be usable with an emulator or "disk emulator" connected to native hardware.

 

While the Zoom Floppy is inexpensive, it is limited to Commodore 8-bit formats.  The FC5025 is also inexpensive but is limited to 5¼ disks.  Due to these facts I'm thinking that both solutions are out of the running.

 

The KryoFlux is only a bit more expensive than the SuperCard Pro.  The KryoFlux is considered the "gold standard" for archiving floppies.  The SuperCard Pro is similar to the KryoFlux and may eventually have emulation capability.

 

I have one or two 5¼" HD floppy drives and several 3½" drives.  I also have a couple of Commodore 1541s, a 1581 and Amiga 3½" and 5¼" external drives.

 

I'm looking for feedback from the community.  What are your experiences (good and bad) with any of the above solutions?  What is the software for each solution like?  What is involved in archiving a disk and then making the results usable for emulation?

 

[awhite2600]

I hate to bump, but I started this post last summer and didn't get any feedback.

 

Can anyone offer their option?  Experience with the various products?

 

I've narrowed down my choice between the KryoFlux and the SuperCard Pro (which is currently out of stock).

[+Allan]

1 hour ago, awhite2600 said:

I hate to bump, but I started this post last summer and didn't get any feedback.

 

Can anyone offer their option?  Experience with the various products?

 

I've narrowed down my choice between the KryoFlux and the SuperCard Pro (which is currently out of stock).

Get a Kroflux. We have been using it to archive hundreds of Atari 8-bit disks. The hard part is getting a working  5 1/2 PC drive. I don't know how hard it is to find a working 3 1/2 inch drive. I would imagine it is a lot easier.

 

The Kroflux works great although there is a little bit of a learning curve.

[awhite2600]

23 hours ago, Allan said:

Get a Kroflux. We have been using it to archive hundreds of Atari 8-bit disks. The hard part is getting a working  5 1/2 PC drive. I don't know how hard it is to find a working 3 1/2 inch drive. I would imagine it is a lot easier.

 

The Kroflux works great although there is a little bit of a learning curve.

Thanks for the reply Allan.  I'll likely go with the Kryoflux.  I still have one or two 5¼" PC drives.  They have been sitting on a shelf for years, so I hope that they still work.  I believe that you need to use a high density drive, even when reading double density disks. 

 

Do you happen to know if the Kryoflux software can identify the disk format, either before or after it has been copied?  I ask because I have quite a few disks that aren't labeled.  5¼" disks could be Commodore or PC.  3½" disks could be Amiga, PC, Mac or Commodore 1581.