"Lee K. Seitz" wrote:
>
> Earlier this week I decided to go back and buy the two other Cosmi
> games I'd mentioned finding earlier for myself, since no one else was
> interested. I was disappointed to find the disks don't seem to be
> readable. (I can get a directory listing most of the time, but
> nothing beyond that. I haven't tried using Norton Utilities on them
> yet.)
Do *NOT* use Norton on them yet -- Norton will write bad data back to the disk
if it can't read it either, forever sealing your chances of reading the disk.
If you need the data restored, let me/us know the name of the program and we
might have a cracked version in a .zip somewhere. Or, send the disks to me (if
you trust me ;-) and I can do some non-destructive reconstruction onto a blank
disk with my Option Board.
> This crossed paths in my mind with an article I'd recently read about
> comic book restoration. Do you think one day there will be
> professional software restorationists? The tools for restoring the
> manuals and paperwork would be more or less the same as those
> currently in use for books and such, I assume. (Although the glossy
> paper used for many manuals may cause problems.)
Anything is possible, although this hobby is still in its infancy too much to
tell. There is already a 3-yr-old "market" of people who take copy-protected
games, bootable games, etc. and make them playable from a hard drive without
the original disks. I am one of those people.
> But what about the disks? Will the hardcore collectors one day insist
> on having working disk(s) for each package? How original will they
> have to be? Would moving the original label on to a freshly made copy
> of the disk be satisfactory? What if the program came on a 5.25" disk
> with no notch (to prevent writing to it)? Would they insist the new
> disk also not have a notch? Would notching a previously unnotched
> disk to re-write the data to it impact its value? Or, much like what
> I seem to see today, just having the code, whether it's on the
> original media or not, be satisfactory? Am I just asking weird
> questions no one will ever care about?
I care deeply! Too deeply, my wife would say. In any case, here's my answers
to your questions:
> But what about the disks? Will the hardcore collectors one day insist on having
>working disk(s) for each package?
I do. Well, I will settle for a non-working disk, or a copy, but it's worth
more to me personally if the original disks are intact.
> Would moving the original label on to a freshly made copy of the disk be
>satisfactory?
For my purposes, yes. Even if the copy-protection were still intact (ie. an
EXACT copy).
> What if the program came on a 5.25" disk with no notch (to prevent writing to it)?
>Would they insist the new disk also not have a notch?
Unless you break your drive to write to notchless disks, I don't think many
collectors will go *that* far. There are limits to the practicality of it
all. I say this with the understanding that you will ignore the fact that I
indeed have a "broken" drive and a box of disks without notches...
> Would notching a previously unnotched disk to re-write the data to it impact its
>value?
I don't think so. In fact, I think this would become an acceptable
"restoration" process, especially if the new data were an exact copy of the
original data (which has such "feel-good" features like the original untainted
high-score list, the copy-protection still intact, etc.)
> Or, much like what I seem to see today, just having the code, whether it's on the
>original media or not, be satisfactory?
That is satisfactory to most people, actually. I am one of the odd ones.
> On a similar note, are they still making double density disks,
> particularly 5.25"? (I don't even know anything about the density of
> 8" disks. They were before my time.) I saw several unopened packages
> of blank, 5.25" DD disks at a thrift store yesterday, should I start
> hording them? Will blank disks go bad over time or will freshly
> reformatting them before using them make everything okay?
We touched on the life of disks in a previous thread; check the archives.
I think that DSDD disks are indeed still being made; up until a year ago, you
could buy them at Walmart. I would keep about 50 on hand.
I personally inherited thousands of DSDDs from a school; they threw away their
Apple II systems (NOO!!!!!) and I salvaged the disks. I easily have 2000 in
bags, with and without sleeves, so I'm not worried about running out any time
soon.
> And am I the only one that still has their disk notcher to use the
> backside of floppies on their Apple II? (I used a simple hole punch
I just found mine last week! What a coincidence.
> for a long time, but a true disk notcher takes less time.) What other
> systems also had people notching & flipping disks?
C64, Atari 400/800, Apple II are the ones that come to mind, although surely
there must be more.
> Are you guys sick of my questions yet?
;-)
--
http://www.MobyGames.com/
The world's most comprehensive historical PC gaming database project.
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