[offer] Norton utilities 1.0 for Unix system V (SCP, IMG) [3.5, 5.25]

callmejack

This is an interesting version of Norton Utilities, designed for Unix system V ! I didn't know such a version existed !




Unfortunately some of the disks are damaged but I think it's recoverable. There are 2 sets of disks : 5.25 HD and 3.5 HD.

For 5.25 floppies, disk 1 is ok and disk 2 has a physical mark on the disk. I made several dumps with SCP and one with disk2img which was able to recover more data (I think).

For 3.5 floppies, fortunately it's disk 2 which is good but Disk 1 is not. I really had a hard time with this one, it seems like if the disk was partially erased by a magnet. Surface is intact.



Strangely when using disk2img it seems to recover more data when setting it to 9 sectors instead of 18 (although the media is HD). I'm a little confused.

I'm confident someone in this group will find a way to make a working copy out of those dumps.

https://mega.nz/file/LXYhHTrR#howneF-zJZqPo7CQqr9j9ifeEAJy7Rju1q0dWQSuy-Q

johnlennon364

Nice Find @callmejack

SomeGuy

What do the disk surfaces look like? View the surface with a bright light from various angles.

At just a glance, that pattern feels more like surface contamination. Residue from the air that enters around the jacket opening, and in the case of 3.5" disks, the hub, and then sticks to the disk surface. It it not always easily visible.

I'd still try and give the surface a very careful cleaning with a wet q-tip, and see if anything changes.

Edit: Looking at the 5.25" images, they are not so bad. I think all of the sectors are there, just not all at once on the same dump. it looks like a few bits of grime were waltzing around on the disk surface.

SomeGuy

Ok, so here is a repaired copy of the 5.25 disk 2. As I mentioned, all of the sectors are present just not all at the same time in one dump.

Now, looking at the 3.5" dumps - there is something wrong with the hub centering. Some of the dumps have bleed through from neighboring tracks, and different dumps somehow have different centering, which means totally different areas of bad sectors.

Check to make sure there is no crud on the metal hub, and that it is mounting properly in to the drive. I'd try using a different drive and see if there is any difference. Sanity check your current drive.

Since it is still index aligned, I'm guessing the metal hub has not come de-attached, but if it does then it is pretty much game over.

callmejack

I tried with several drives and I had incoherent results. I started to suspect a software problem as the scan would sometimes slow down during the process. I then used another PC that had minimum software installed and I was able to do a clean dump.
https://mega.nz/file/GShxXTRb#hMfZGMUqktpvcZIGBoiZQPJLLq4KzC603QN_SPR1ZjE

callmejack

@SomeGuy thanks for fixing the 5.25 disk !

ibmpc5150

Thanks very much for rare unix version of Norton Utilities 1.0

SomeGuy

Glad you were able to get a read off of that 3.5" disk. A software problem would not have caused what I saw in the images. But issues finding the beginning of the track will slow down some programs. You got lucky that it popped back in to alignment.

And you always have to inspect disks carefully before putting them in the drive - one I looked at the other day looked perfect head on, even in good light. But when I used a flashlight at about a 160 degree angle to the surface, grime and scratches magically popped up. Gave it a good cleaning, and it read fine.

callmejack

you're right, I tried again to make a dump of that problematic 3.5 disk and I had alignment problems again, so as you said I was lucky
I was also surprised about the 5.25 disk as the surface looked absolutely fine. I have to find the right lightning in order to inspect my disks.

AJFA

Hi. I am a total n00b and have no idea how to make it work in an emulation. I really want to see it working. Has anyone succeded in installing it?

AJFA

I was able to install it in AT&T UNIX System V Release 4 Version 2.1 and SCO Unix with ODT 3.0 using the installpkg command.

callmejack

@AJFA very interesting, Dow you have some screen capture that shows how it looks under Unix ?

AJFA

Here are some screenshots.

callmejack

Wow, Thanks for sharing

AJFA

I am now looking for The Almond Utilities For UNIX, which was marketed after buying the license from NU. I was able to find just one program of the whole suite (ScrubFile @ https://archive.org/download/SunSoft_CDware_Sep-Dec_1995).