I hate ADF's :(

[JimDrew]

If you have a PC you could always use WinUAE or similar to mount the .adf and then archive the files.  There are also programs on the PC like TotalCommander that have plug-ins to let you read/write .adf and .hdf files, basically giving you AmigaDOS file systems on the PC.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

So you know what?  After all my bitching and complaining, I just went ahead and dug out a stack of 20-year-old blank disks that I got with one of my parts hauls a few months ago, and just burned the ADF's to disk.  I tried mounting RAD: but the UnArc utility included with 3.9 only gives me options to write to DF0-DF3, and everything else seemed way more complicated than it needs to be.

Granted, I had to burn 10 copies to get three working disks, and had to copy a few files off of each copy of each disk to get around all the media errors, but eventually I got it to work.  And now I am able to relive my childhood of playing MegaBall on my Amiga.

PS - did that game get faster or did I just get old?  :roflmao:

[save2600]

Here's the WHDLoad install of it: http://www.whdload.de/games/MegaBall.html

…cool little Breakout/Arkanoid type game. Never heard of it until now, so thanks!

[orange]

While there are many options of reading an ADF to another media than a floppy. It would still be better to have software archived as lha.

dms,adf and similar do have some advantages over lha.

[danbeaver]

Everything done in the middle of the night that doesn't involve a bed is frustrating!  Early Saturday morning after a large cup of coffee works best for me.

[Matt_H]

MegaBall is one of my favorite games. A true classic.

I don't think there's a need for a WHDLoad install for it. As long as you have a native screenmode available, it should work. Older versions were a little tricky, but v4 is very stable and well-written. I've never had any problems running it on any of my (68K) systems over the years.

I think the trend of ADFs is only going to increase in the coming years as emulation becomes the predominant system for classics. It's the archival format of choice for system-friendly disks. I've also noticed a number of games being released on ADF that are written for 1MB A500s, presumably for the retro/novelty factor (and one-click WinUAE setup). In targeting the retro audience, it's kind of like we're back to the bad old days when developers didn't makes games installable because they assumed no one had a hard drive! Art imitates life.

Am I correct that early (1990s) UAE invented the ADF format? I do wonder why DMS wasn't chosen as the emulated disk image format way back then...

[pVC]

Am I correct that early (1990s) UAE invented the ADF format? I do wonder why DMS wasn't chosen as the emulated disk image format way back then...

I think format has existed long before emulators, but I'm not sure if it was called as ADF back then. It's just direct image of the disk without anything fancy.

BTW. DMS does work with emulators too. At least E-UAE accepts them as well as ADF. Haven't tried with WinUAE, but I guess it goes with all incarnations...

[Matt_H]

I think format has existed long before emulators, but I'm not sure if it was called as ADF back then. It's just direct image of the disk without anything fancy.

If raw disk images did exist, I don't think they were very popular. Space and compression efficiency were most important back then. I can't remember seeing anything that wasn't .lzx, .lha, or .dms (or similar).

BTW. DMS does work with emulators too. At least E-UAE accepts them as well as ADF. Haven't tried with WinUAE, but I guess it goes with all incarnations...

Ah, true, but that's a more recent innovation.

[XDelusion]

mount rad: and TSGUI, all you need. That or a Gotek drive.

http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/tsgui

[Thorham]

DiskImage: http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/diskimage