Resurrecting old files

[Mdloomis]

Greetings,

First post here.  I've got a request and i don't know how feasible this is so I'll just put it out there...

Back in the early 90's I was an Amiga user with an interest in computer graphics and animation.  A quarter century later, I am still working in the animation industry.  Where does the time go?  Anyway, my early days with the Amiga were a formative experience for me.  My first computer images and animations were created on that machine.  I still have a number of (plastic case) floppy disks containing this early work as well as a number of school papers and software.

The problem is, I have no way to read the disks or even know if they are still viable and readable.  Is there anyone out there who may be able to help me resurrect these files?  I'd love to convert some of my Amiga-generated animations to quicktime or other more modern format so these works are not lost forever in the big bit bucket of eternity.  I know I was using Imagine at one point, but I'm a bit foggy on remembering exactly what I might have on these disks.

Can anyone help me?

Michael Loomis

[Matt_H]

Welcome back!

There are a few methods of dumping Amiga disks to disk image files for use in emulators. Kyroflux is probably the best option at the moment. There's also the SuperCard Pro but I haven't heard any reports on how well it works. You'll probably see recommendations for a Catweasel MK4, but those are very hard to come by these days. If you have a PC with a floppy controller on the motherboard, there's an option for that which requires the use of 2 floppy drives. Name escapes me, however. I'm sure someone here knows it.

Once you get the disk images, you can load them into your emulated Amiga. A package called Amiga Forever is an easy way to get started.

Aminet should have some tools to convert your anim formats to something more accessible, although not necessarily fully modern. Alternatively, you could play the animations under emulation and record the emulator's video output directly to a modern format.

[Rob]

Where are you located.

If there isn't anyone nearby that can help there are various options for getting your data.

KyroFlux is the only solution on the market at the moment.  (Forgot about the SuperCard Pro)  
There's various options depending on whether you have a suitable PSU and cabling already.

http://webstore.kryoflux.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=1

Floppy drives are pretty expensive there so it might be better to look elsewhere.  I found another store sell new and used internal drives for more reasonable prices.

http://www.floppydisk.com/drives

Other options were Catweasel MK3 or MK4 PCI cards which are no longer available but it may be possible to find them second hand but could also be pricier due due to the rarity and extra functionality.

Armiga could have been another option but the floppy disk version isn't available at the moment but it could be worth contacting the people behind it.

http://www.armigaproject.com/shop/

If you have access to an older PC that can support 2 internal floppy drives it's also possible to use Adfread.

http://www.winuae.net/download/

If the disks themselves are troublesome then you can open the cases so you can clean the disk surface using an isopropyl solution.

[Mdloomis]

Thanks Matt and Rob for the quick responses.

I should have been more clear in my description...  What I would prefer to do in this case is to find someone who already has the hardware and software necessary to read and translate my files.  I'm not really interested in emulation solutions (probably not possible anyway on the Apple iMac machine I use).  I just want to be able to access my data, if at all possible.

I'm located in northern California.

Thanks again.

[Matt_H]

I think there are some Northern California people here who could help you out. Later in the year there will also be the Amiwest show in/near Sacramento where you can find a whole bunch of other users.

Depending on how many disks you have and what needs to be converted once you have the disk images, it could be a lot of work. Be prepared for the possibility that you'll have to do some of this yourself. The best emulator on OSX is called FS-UAE. If you have Bootcamp or Parallels or VMWare Fusion you can run Windows and therefore WinUAE, the gold standard in Amiga emulation. (FS-UAE uses the same emulation core, but its frontend/UI is not quite as powerful yet). Amiga Forever includes WinUAE and a preconfigured Aniga environment so you can get going in just a few clicks.

[Pat the Cat]

 Is there anyone out there who may be able to help me resurrect these files?/QUOTE]

The short answer is yes.

The complex answer is that there are specialist companies that can help with reading drive data from old or damaged disks, be they floppy, hard, or optical.

Floppies are usually pretty easy and cheap to get at, so even if they don't read on a "real" Amiga, don't think that is the end of the road - it is not.

The funny part is - it is way easier to convert ANIMs to other formats using a machine running AmigaDOS and a suitable app, rather than trying to do it on a MacDOS or PCDOS system.