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How to back up TI-99/4A disks?

nullvalue

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I have a bunch of disks for a TI-99/4A system that I got when I purchased the system from its original owner. Some disks include "GREAT TI GAMES", "TI SALES DEMO", "WIZARD'S LAIR" and "SUPER FROGGER".

I'd like to back up these disks and get them into a repository somewhere.

First of all, is there an exhaustive repository somewhere that I could contribute to? If not I could at least get them up on archive.org.

Second, how would I properly back up these disks? Would ImageDisk on a DOS computer with a 1.2MB drive work? If so, what settings should be used?
 
In general, yes, TI-99/4A disks will read with ImageDisk. However, this requires a floppy disk controller that supports FM (single density) encoding.

ImageDisk automatically figures out the geometry, so the only setting you need to worry about is to make sure to specify double-stepping when reading in a 1.2mb drive.

In case you don't already know, writing with a 1.2mb drive is another story. Low density (48TPI) disks written in a 1.2mb drive (96tpi) can not be reliably read in a low density drive.

If you are archiving a lot of factory-original disks then you should seriously consider using a Kryoflux. A kryoflux will handle any oddball formatting and copy protection.
 
Don't forget the FluxEngine and the GreaseWeazle; both are cheaper solutions than the KryoFlux, but might work depending on what you want to do. The FluxEngine creator writes that he has no interest in dealing with copy-protected disk formats for example.
As I don't have any TI-99/4A floppies I can't say for sure if FluxEngine or GreaseWeazle supports that format.
 
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