컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Disk2FDI - Formatted Disk Image creation utility - standalone version Copyright (c) 1998-2001, Vincent Joguin 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Preview Version 0.9� - 4th of November, 2001 Disk2FDI is the utility to read Amiga, Atari ST and PC formatted disks on your PC computer, without any specific hardware extension, except a second disk drive unit. It will save them as FDI files which will be supported in future releases of the Tand-Em and FAST emulators. ADF, ST and IMG fileformats are also supported for Amiga and IBM-formatted disks. 1. Disclaimer 2. Known Problems 3. System Requirements 4. Getting Started 5. Instructions 6. What Is Supported 7. What Is Planed To Be Supported 8. What CANNOT Be Supported 9. Acknowledgment 10. Contact This product is freeware but NOT public domain. You can copy this program as long as it remains in its ZIP form, but you don't have the right to modify any file of it. Future versions could become shareware. If you really appreciate and/or use intensively this program, you are encouraged to send me a small contribution of �uro 15 or US$ 15. Please contact me at vincent.joguin@m6net.fr if you are willing to do so. If you want to include this utility with your own project(s), please contact me (see the Contact section below). 1. Disclaimer Use this product at your own risks! I can't be liable for any damage it could do to your software and/or hardware. This product mustn't be used for purposes infringing national or international copyright laws. 2. Known Problems With this version, some tracks can take quite a long time to be extracted, and can, on rare occasions, put the program in a never-ending reading loop (press the Escape key in such a case, after 5 minutes for example). Most importantly, due to some software-only part of the reading algorithm, some tracks can be read in a wrong way (leading to missing or added sectors or headers, duplicated sector data, ...). This algorithm should hopefully be replaced in version 1.0 with a working one! :-) So please don't bug me if your favorite disk cannot be read or is read incorrectly. 3. System Requirements Minimum requirements - Intel 8088 processor or compatible. - AT-class machine (which usually means at least a 80286 processor). - Hard drive with at least 1 MB free space. - 219 KB free conventional memory. - DOS 2.0 to DOS 7.x (it should also work under Windows 95, 98 an ME with this version). - For FDI and ADF files creation: - 2 floppy disk drives, at least one not being a high-density 5.25" drive. - 1 blank or PC-formatted floppy disk. - For ST and IMG files creation: - 1 floppy disk drive attached of any kind. Best configuration - Pentium-class machine. - 219 KB free conventional memory. - DOS 2.0 to DOS 7.x (it should also work under Windows 95, 98 an ME with this version). - 1 low-density 5.25" floppy disk drives. - 1 high-density 3.5" floppy disk drives. - 1 blank or PC-formatted floppy disk. 4. Getting Started The procedure is quite different if you want to extract a standard ST or IMG file, or if you want to extract an FDI or a standard ADF file. If you want to extract a standard ST or IMG file, a single disk drive is enough, and you are ready to use the program. If you want to extract an FDI or a standard ADF file, it is a little trickier. First, you MUST HAVE TWO (2) FLOPPY DISK DRIVES installed in your computer. If you don't have 2 drives and you don't know how to add one, please ask your local computer dealer to install one for you. A new high-density 3.5" disk drive costs about US$ or �uro 15 nowadays. To read your disks to FDI or ADF, Disk2FDI expects: -> a blank or IBM-formatted disk into one of your disk drive, no matter whether it is low or high density, 3.5" or 5.25". Note that if the disk is blank, its first track will be formatted. -> Your Amiga-formatted or IBM-formatted diskette into the other drive, provided this drive is NOT a 5.25" high-density disk drive. If you only have a high-density 5.25" drive and you want to read a 5.25" disk, you'll have to find a low-density drive from an old XT for example. WARNING: if you insert a floppy disk in the wrong disk drive, Disk2FDI could format its first track (after asking if you bother). So, it is recommended that you write-protect your original floppy disks to avoid bad surprises... Note that the FDI fileformat will remember whether the disk was write-protected. You are then ready to read your floppy disk. 5. Instructions Simply run DISK2FDI followed, if necessary, by the drive letter containing your Amiga-formatted or IBM-formatted disk and the filename you want your disk image to be saved to. Note: the first time Disk2FDI is started, it will create a DISK2FDI.CFG file in the current directory to store the values of the maximum tracks reachable by your disk drives. So be sure to always unzip the original archive when copying Disk2FDI to another computer. A precise description of switches is displayed using the /? switch: C:\DISKUTIL>DISK2FDI /? The /S switch will enable the creation of a standard sector-dumped disk image already supported by existing emulators. The ADF, ST and IMG standard fileformats are supported in this version. For example: C:\DISKUTIL>DISK2FDI Will create an image of disk in drive A to the DISK.FDI file. C:\DISKUTIL>DISK2FDI B: MYDISK Will create an image of disk in drive B to the MYDISK.FDI file. C:\DISKUTIL>DISK2FDI /S B: DEMO Will create an ADF, ST or IMG image of disk in drive B to the DEMO.ADF, DEMO.ST or DEMO.IMG file, depending on the kind of disk you have inserted. The kind of disk is detected automatically. You can also specify the number of tracks using the /T switch, the number of heads using the /H switch, and, for ST and IMG files, the number of sectors per track using the /S switch. For example, assuming disk in drive A is an Atari ST demo disk which is single-sided and has 81 tracks formatted with 10 sectors per track, you can run Disk2FDI as follows: C:\DISKUTIL>DISK2FDI /T81 /H1 /S10 A: DEMO.ST 6. What Is Supported With version 0.9, you can create FDI-type disk image files of MFM disks. The FDI fileformat allows the representation of ALL data present on the disk, even those only readable by the floppy disk controller, such as gaps, headers, ... In other words, most disks, even those protected with bizarre formats, should be read and accurately imaged. The main supported formats are Amiga, Atari ST and IBM PC. Other MFM formats might also work (not tested). In addition to FDI file creation, Disk2FDI also supports: - Amiga Disk File (".ADF"). Such images are ready to be run in such emulators as UAE or Fellow. You can also find many utilities to manage ADF files on the Internet. - ".ST". Such images are ready to be run in such emulators as PaCifiST, SainT, WinSTon or STeem. - ".IMG". Such images are ready to be run in Flopper, or in PC emulators such as MESS. The FDI fileformat is only supported by WinUAE starting with version 0.8.17. The FDI format specification is presented in the "FDISPEC.TXT" file, so that more emulation authors can support this fileformat. 7. What Is Planed To Be Supported Version 1.0 will hopefully feature a far better and faster reading algorithm thanks to a hardware synchronization mechanism. 8. What CANNOT Be Supported With only a standard PC, it is not possible by software to write an Amiga disk, even with 2 disk drives. It is also not possible to write, on a general manner, an FDI file back to disk. This is because the FDC of the PC always encodes data as MFM, so it's not possible to write raw data to disk without the controller to place an extra bit after every bit written. 9. Acknowledgment I'd like to send greetings to Ciriaco Garc죂 de Celis for his excellent 2MGUI program that brought the inspiration to write this program. Also, thanks to David "Splash" Carr둹e, the OWB, and my wife for supporting me in the creation of this software. 10. Contact You can contact me for bug reports or for remarks which don't imply any answer from me (such as "Thanks for this program") but NOT for known problems described in this file or other obvious issues... I accept bug reports if you know it really is a bug, and not a misuse of the program or an unimplemented feature. Also you can contact me if you have troubles understanding the FDI fileformat and you want to support the FDI format in your emulator or other program. My e-mail: vincent.joguin@m6net.fr Catch the latest Disk2FDI release at http://www.oldskool.org/disk2fdi � ApH �