4 ms·

Preserving a floppy disk with a logic analyzer and a serial cable

95 points by fm77 5y ago

tomxor 5y ago
I never tire of being nostalgic about floppy discs. So many good memories.
TomAnthony 5y ago
I have a bunch of 3.5" floppy disks from my BBC Master, which date back to late early 90s. Will the data on them still be ok? If I bought a Kryoflux or similar device would I be able to access and save the data?
- EvanAnderson 5y ago
  Maybe, depending on how they were stored. I haven't done an extensive amount of recovery but my Apple II disks from the late 80s, stored in a basement with little temperature fluctuation, ready-out fine in the mid 2010s. I would encourage you to look at the Greaseweazel[0] in lieu of the Kryoflux. The Kryoflux has an onerous license that only permits personal use. The Greaseweazel has a comparable feature set and doesn't limit user freedom. [0] https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle
  - TomAnthony 5y ago
    Thanks for the detailed reply! The Greaseweazle looks good and is inexpensive. I think I’ll get one. :)
EvanAnderson 5y ago
There was a nice talk from VCF West last year on signal analysis and filtering (focusing more on the analog realm than this article) to recover data from damaged floppies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgH6ov33ieg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgH6ov33ieg
univacky 5y ago
There's a lot of interesting Greaseweazle-y floppy development being done at Adafruit right now. Some days they're posting multiple videos a day showing progress updates. https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy (here are some representative posts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvzZKNvRM0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvzZKNvRM0 https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/01/16/5-25-floppy-reading-with-fluxengine/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/01/16/5-25-floppy-reading-wit... John Morris's Applesauce floppy disk controller hardware and software project continues to add functionality. https://applesaucefdc.com/what-is-applesauce/ https://applesaucefdc.com/what-is-applesauce/

95 points by fm77 5y ago

I never tire of being nostalgic about floppy discs. So many good memories.

I have a bunch of 3.5" floppy disks from my BBC Master, which date back to late early 90s. Will the data on them still be ok? If I bought a Kryoflux or similar device would I be able to access and save the data?

EvanAnderson 5y ago
Maybe, depending on how they were stored. I haven't done an extensive amount of recovery but my Apple II disks from the late 80s, stored in a basement with little temperature fluctuation, ready-out fine in the mid 2010s. I would encourage you to look at the Greaseweazel[0] in lieu of the Kryoflux. The Kryoflux has an onerous license that only permits personal use. The Greaseweazel has a comparable feature set and doesn't limit user freedom. [0] https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle
- TomAnthony 5y ago
  Thanks for the detailed reply! The Greaseweazle looks good and is inexpensive. I think I’ll get one. :)

EvanAnderson 5y ago

There was a nice talk from VCF West last year on signal analysis and filtering (focusing more on the analog realm than this article) to recover data from damaged floppies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgH6ov33ieg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgH6ov33ieg

univacky 5y ago

There's a lot of interesting Greaseweazle-y floppy development being done at Adafruit right now. Some days they're posting multiple videos a day showing progress updates. https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Floppy (here are some representative posts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvzZKNvRM0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvzZKNvRM0 https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/01/16/5-25-floppy-reading-with-fluxengine/ https://blog.adafruit.com/2022/01/16/5-25-floppy-reading-wit... John Morris's Applesauce floppy disk controller hardware and software project continues to add functionality. https://applesaucefdc.com/what-is-applesauce/ https://applesaucefdc.com/what-is-applesauce/