[OFFER] DiagSoft QAPlus v4.21

retrorenovations

This is version 4.21 of the QAplus PC diagnostic software from DiagSoft.

https://archive.org/details/diag-soft-qaplus-v-4.21.7z

ibmpc5150

Thanks very much.

But also this disk dump seems to be incomplete.

I hope you can dump it by teledisk as possible.

retrorenovations

It is odd that using the ibm.scan mode of Greaseweazle the image sizes were all different. Is this a bug in GW? I'll re-image all the disks using explicit ibm.360 and ibm.1200 modes.

retrorenovations

I've removed the archive until I correct the erroneous images. Sorry for any confusion.

SomeGuy

That is a limitation of flux level dumping programs. They don't normally know what format you are dumping, and simply return whatever sectors they find. If they can't find one, it does not know it is supposed to be there and does not include anything for it in the resulting image. If it finds extra stuff that would not be read normally, it includes that even if you don't want it.

So it is always up to you to sanity check disk images.

Personally, I like to use the HxC tool for that since it gives a nice graphical display. Decoding errors show up as red spots, and many copy protections show up as extra sectors, or orange invalid sectors with no red spots indicating they are supposed to be that way.

In this case, I suspect the disks have a large amount of damage or contamination. You should carefully inspect the surface of the disks with a bright light and see if there is any residue or scratches. If so, use a damp q-tip to clean. Also, run a cleaning disk through your drive.

In the case of a damaged disk, I would actually lean toward using Trixter's Disk2img. It is specifically designed to retry sector reads at a very high rate of speed, will save all readable tracks first, and will make a log of all bad sectors.

retrorenovations

Thanks for the tips.

In the case of this QAPlus disk (and the Northgate disks), it does appear to have physical damage-no spots, mildew or other residue. The damage to the QAPlus disk unfortunately seems to be located where the main executable or it's packed data file lives.

Disk2Img was able to make some corrections to a few of the Northgate disks, but it's unlikely that a fully usable set of images can be pulled from them. It seems these disks were rescued from the e-waste bin a little too late.

If anyone else would like to try, I'd be happy to mail the disks to you.

02k-guy

To answer part of the earlier question: Teledisk, along with DiskCopyFast, DiskDupe, and a host of others once were the standards for floppy imaging. TeleDisk is able to handle non-PC formatted disks, including the early Macs, and handled things like sector interleave and sectors larger that 512 bytes.

It has no particular talent iirc, for reovering damged bits, and for that the only tool we had during its heyday was Spinrite.

I freely admit that @SomeGuy has much better knowledge of what works today, and pay attention to the advice he offers.

ibmpc5150

These days, dumps are being dumped on the Internet using SCP, Flux, or Teledisk/ImageDisk.

There are more than 10,000 types of data that I have dumped to disk here and there on the Internet, but on the other hand, the number that I have purchased and dumped with my own money easily exceeds 5,000 types.

Those incomplete dumps are separated into the BADDUMP folder.
Verified/unverified/original items that have already been modified are separated and backed up/distributed for storage in more than 4 locations.

I have been doing dump work for almost 25 years, but among the ones I have purchased myself,
Almost half of them are still not published anywhere on the Internet, or even if they are,
It contains many files that are already broken or whose files or sectors have been modified.

Recently, someone dumped 15 pages of Windows 3.0 (360KB).
I used to wait 8 years until it was fully verified.
*Still, I was confident that the SHA1 checksums would be the same.

My principle is that in order to be properly verified, at least the same version of the software is required.
At least 2 copies must be dumped for comparison/verification.

The topic was derailed for a moment, but when doing dump work, it is important to record the location and information about which stone had an error even if there is a bad sector due to an error in the middle, and even if you do not rank in the marathon, it is important to finish the race to the end.
As mentioned by SomeGuy, the dump operation is just as meaningful as Flux, and the dump with the standard image tool continues to the end even if there are errors.
The dump operation can be completed.

I mainly use DCOPY.EXE
DCOPY A: DISK1.IMG

It's done like this.
Of course, if an error occurs, do not upload data through Offer until it is resolved.
It is completely prohibited.

If an error occurs or an intentionally modified disk image is uploaded, which
It is irresponsible to cause confusion as to whether what is being verified is correct.
There is no need to get caught up in pointless explanations or controversy.

If an error occurs during the dump, I run ANADISK.EXE disktrack/sector.
After attempting to read several times and analyzing the location of the error, there are cases where it is 100% restored without error, but even if that is not possible, you can use multiple diskettes and record various tracks/sectors.
After dumping from different diskettes, edit/recovery is done using a binary editor in a Windows environment.
The success rate is over 90%, but there are still some diskettes that just don't work.

In fact, if you try to remove mold or foreign substances from the diskette surface,
Fortunately, the surface of the diskette is badly scratched or damaged by magnets.
If it is lost, there is no solution, and in that case, you will continue to fight against time and money until you purchase another identical diskette software.

Lastly, it is important to complete the dump to the end even if there are errors, and any errors or parts will be resolved later.