I have been backing up my collection with a program called winima40. It
WinImage only makes images of unprotected disks. If you have used it to make any images of protected disks (any game made before 1990), your images are useless.
By they way does anyone actually know what the lifespan of a floppy is? I read somewhere once that it was supposed to deteriorate after about 10 years. My Mystery House disk is 20+ years old and it still boots...
It ranges based on how much information is packed into how large a physical surface area. 3.5" high-density disks 10-15 years; typical 5.25" low-density disks 20+ years. I myself have a Microsoft Flight Simulator (PC, 1982) that still boots fine. The label has come off the disk due to the amount of oil passed on from fingers and hundreds of hours of use, but hey, the disk still works :)
What about hardware?? I do not look forward to the day my 486 (nicknamed "Sierra 1") doesn't turn on....
ebay. 486s are $25 or even less. Shipping is the only "gotcha". But I do feel your concern; I have two Tandy 1000s, two IBM PCjrs, three IBM PC 5150s (the original IBM PC), etc. because I have a crawlspace I can stuff them into.
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Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
World's largest electronic gaming project: http://www.MobyGames.com/
A delicious slice of the demoscene: http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/
Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings: http://www.oldskool.org/
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