Windows – Best way to archive a floppy disk

archivefloppywindows

I have a floppy disk or 2 that I'd like to keep for a long time, and frankly I'm amazed that they've lasted this long. I'd like to make a copy on the hard disk that I can use to recreate the floppy if need be. For CDs they have the ISO format, is there anything similar for floppy disks?

If I were using Linux I'd probably try to use dd to copy all of the disk blocks, but I'm using Windows. Thanks.

Best Answer

If anything ever achieved the status with respect to floppy images that ISO has with respect to CDs, I never heard of it. It's pretty much down to however particular imaging software works, though naturally a straight dd-style image is popular. I'd recommend using the fdimage utility that FreeBSD uses for its install .flp files; at minimum you can be pretty confident you'll always be able to locate it easily for download.

Related Solutions

How to get files out of a floppy image

Try loop mounting the image. Since floppy images don't have partitions this can be done easily:

sudo mount -o loop floppy.img /mnt/tmp
# or
sudo mount -o loop,ro -t udf floppy.img /mnt/tmp

Floppy Images for use with VirtualPCs

You can use a variety of tools to create floppy disk images. If your machine with the floppy drive is running Windows, grab a copy of WinImage and start making images. WinImage is fairly user friendly.

VirtualPC will read the images created by WinImage.

If you want to be able to work with the contents of floppy diskette images on your comptuer w/o a floppy drive, BTW, you'll like the virtual floppy drive driver available here.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to get files out of a floppy image

Floppy Images for use with VirtualPCs

Related Topic