Best hardware / software for archiving floppy disks? (3.5")

[sadikyo]

Hello!

So I have several games that are in 3.5" floppy format. My current machine does not have a floppy drive (obviously) -- I know there are several different USB floppy drives available that are compatible with current machines and capable of reading floppy disks. I've also been reading around on here about some of the different software options for ripping the floppy disks.

My question is basically, what is the preferred method of ripping floppies for here, and do you all recommend any specific USB floppy readers, or is that a no-no and for some reason provides incorrect data?

I have searched the forum a bit and I see discussion about devices such as the Kyroflux and software such as WinImage, but I haven't really seen much discussion of the usb-style floppy drives I'm referring to. I apologize for my ignorance here - I am somewhat new to this and still trying to learn and improve my understanding of making the best quality archives.

Any help is appreciated!

[JustZisGuy]

USB floppy drives are next to useless for archival purposes. Typically they only support bog-standard 1.44mb floppy disk formats. They will not read Microsoft DMF formats, they will not read copy protected disks, it can be hit and miss if they can do anything with non-DOS formats.

If you search really hard you may be able to find USB drive models that support 720k low density and Japanese "Mode 3" disks. But retailers almost never advertise such support.

If you just have a pile of old PC data disks, then a USB floppy drive might be fine. But for factory pressed media, a Kryoflux is preferred.

Kryoflux is increasingly becoming the standard. It has many useful features, such as the ability to tell if a user "modified" sectors, archiving disk mastering tracks, duplicating most copy protection, and the ability to create images for almost all non PC-formats.

Also, you may want to evaluate the SuperCard pro, a device that is very similar to the Kryoflux.

[sadikyo]

Thanks for the input! I assumed that might be the case from my reading around here, but I just wanted to check and see if there was perhaps another hardware option out there. It sounds like the USB drives are not the answer here, for this purpose.

I just looked up the Kryoflux, and yeah...unfortunately I don't think I really have enough valuable items to make that purchase worthwhile. I don't think I really have anything fantastic anyway - a handful of old PC / Dos games.

I'm a very small fish in this pond - I was just trying to upload what I can to help the cause.

Thanks for much for the info!

[YKK]

Have you checked your mobo for a floppy disk controller? I was looking at those USB drives as well, more as a point of interest, and ended up coming home with a more standard internal 3.5" floppy drive. I thought I would need to get an old mobo and cobble together something to read and image the disks, but it turns out that the machine I'm currently using actually has a real internal controller. Just check around the motherboard, it's worth noting at the very least if it is there or not.

[eightbit]

What I personally do is use a Gotek floppy emulator in conjunction with a real floppy drive. That combined with WinImage (or some other apps I have used that escape me at the moment) it is possible to rip the real disk to a floppy slot on the gotek and then export to an .img file. It is actually really fast and easy as well.

[Alma73]

I also use Gotek floppy emulator in conjunction with a real floppy drive

[Lotus Expeditor]

Disk2FDI would be a good solution but I dont't know if they still selling the adapter or how to make a adapter.

[Sword7]

Yes. I strongly recommend KryoFlux because it can record copy-protection and non-DOS format (like Commodore 64 GCR format) into nibble format.

I have old 5.25" low-density FM-format disk drive and successfully dumped TI-99/4A disks into image files. I plan to dump my old C64 disks into image files soon.

There are HxC floppy emulators also. Check google for more information.