Newsgroup: it.comp.retrocomputing
Titolo: How to backup ZX-Spectrum floppies?

I have 2 floppy disks from a Lithuanian ZX-Spectrum clone. I would like to 
make backups (if they are still readable).
 
I have a 386 with MS-DOS and Win 3.11 and if needed I can connect a 5,25" 
drive to WinXP computer.
 
How should I proceed without damaging the disks:
 
  1.. To make a RAW disk image (and later copy to another disk)
 
  2.. Browse the software/run on an emulator
 
Thanks!
 

 drive to WinXP computer.
 
Are they 5.25" floppies?  Do you know how the drive was connected?
 
The only Spectrum with a floppy port was the +3.
There were third party interfaces that presumably had an FDC chip.
 
There was no common Spectrum DOS, so as I understood it every interface
manufacturer did their own thing, with their own on-disc format.  Apparently
TR-DOS was popular in the USSR.
 
My point being you need to know how the interface lays out the
tracks before you can image a floppy.
 
If it is TR-DOS, there are some tools to make images using a PC here:
https://speccy.xyz/trdos.html
 
 
Theo

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   1.. To make a RAW disk image (and later copy to another disk)
 
Using teledisk on a msdos computer and a 360K drive you can take the raw 
image og the disk and then create a copy.
Use only the copy into your computer and take the master copy in a safe 
place.
 
Regards
Giuseppe
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> like to make backups (if they are still readable).
 
I've take a look to the link and saw the disk photo.
 
A question is: Are these disk DS=Double side QD= Quad density???
I think that with a PC floppy drive you can only read Single or Double 
density (180/360K) or High density (1.2M).
 
Regards
Giuseppe
 
 

Il 13/01/21 20:01, Giuseppe³ ha scritto:
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Looking at these datas:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_density
 
 
Maybe you can read the QD disk using a 1.2M floppy drive and teledisk, 
but the problem will be write the image on a new disk.
 
 

Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of floppies those are.
 
"Giuseppe³" <miaooaimATt...@xxx.xxx> wrote in message 
news:rtngh5$r6k$1...@gioia.aioe.org...
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 Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of floppies those are.
 
At the top of the disk label I can read "DS QD".
 
Is it correct?
 
If yes them are Double side/Quad density.
 
I never saw it before :)
 
Regards
 
 
 
 

 I never saw it before :) 
 
Ciao,
try to have a look at that:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-12435.html
 
 
Dino
comPVter

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I would connect it to the winxp
and use DD (Disk Dump) 
http://www.chrysocome.net/dd
 
That will create 100% same images from the floppies.
 
Then I would also do a copy /a (copy /? I think that's how it's done in 
DOS) to copy all files into a folder and zip it up.
 
That's how I did my VC++ 20 disks
https://archive.org/details/MicrosoftVisualStudioC1.01993
 
 
----------
http://mgarcia.org/
 

Might be, not sure :)
 
"Giuseppe³" <miaooaimATt...@xxx.xxx> wrote in message 
news:rtq37i$1s2f$1...@gioia.aioe.org...
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Thanks, I will try that.
 
"Mike Garcia" <mi...@mgarcia.nospam> wrote in message 
news:ru2iaj$18nn$1...@gioia.aioe.org...
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 That will create 100% same images from the floppies.
 
That doesn't appear to handle floppies with sector numbering or track layout
that isn't the same as DOS uses.  For example, I doubt it will handle discs
with sectors numbered from zero (as some retrocomputers do) instead of one
(as DOS does).
 
Apparently:
https://sinclair.wiki.zxnet.co.uk/wiki/TR-DOS_filesystem
 
TR-DOS floppies are 40 or 80 track, 16 sectors per track, 256 byte sectors
(it appears to only refer to sectors 1 to 15, so it's unclear how sector
numbering works).  I'm not sure how that handles quad-density floppies, but
presumably the same disc layout but with more sectors per track.
 
Meanwhile, the PC 1.2MB floppy uses 80 tracks, 512 byte sectors, and 15
sectors per track.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_floppy_disk_formats
 
 
These formats are incompatible.  I think it is possible to program Windows
XP to read a different layout of floppy disc if you install a suitable
driver (it's easier on DOS or Windows 9x), but you won't be able to simply
image them with regular tools.
 
Theo

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oh thought I read he has a XP machine... 
If it's a DOS/XP issue, maybe making a boot USB/CD/floppy and using linux 
will provide the correct drivers for that floppy?
 
 
 
-- 
 
Mike Garcia
http://mgarcia.org
 

I can use any OS on PC really.
 
"Mike Garcia" <mi...@mgarcia.nospam> wrote in message 
news:ru55n3$nk2$2...@dont-email.me...
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> 
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Hi,
 
thanks for the info, DOS on 386 is not a problem :)
 
"MaveRick" <computeli...@gimeil.comm> wrote in message 
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