[PLUG] tool for reading raw sectors from diskette?

Steve Bonds 1s7k8uhcd001 at sneakemail.com
Sat Jan 8 00:39:24 UTC 2005


On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 15:46:02 -0800, Don Buchholz wrote:
 
> Does anyone know of a tool which I can use to read raw sectors from
> a floppy diskette?  I've got one which apparently got mangled (won't
> "dd if=/dev/fd0") and there's some stuff on there which is only
> backed up via hardcopy.  I'd rather not re-enter the data.

I apologize for the vague references-- if nobody comes up with
something better I'll dig around for more specifics.

I used to use a free tool for DOS that would read a floppy to an
image, bypassing the BIOS for speed.  One of its features was a
configurable number of error retries before giving up.  On moderately
damaged floppies, setting this to a few hundred gave pretty reliable
reads.  Eventually the floppy would be read in such a way that the
embedded ECC would correct the errors.

I can probably find the name of it given a 30-60 minute search through
my Ancient Software collection-- if nobody comes up with something
better.  ;-)

  -- Steve



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