Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Retrieving data from prehistoric disk image
254 views
Skip to first unread message
Ymir
May 3, 2015, 3:37:43 PM5/3/15
to
I know it's a longshot, but any help would be appreciated...
I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
HFS disks.
Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
hdiutil does seem to think they are valid images, but containing no
mountable file systems.
Sadly, I cannot for the life of me recall which software was used to
create them. Some have a .img suffix whereas others are .image. The
creator and file types are both blank so no help there, but I suspect it
must have been something other than DiskCopy since I *think* it used
.dsk/.smi.
Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
SheepShaver that might be able to read a wider range of disk image
formats than DiskCopy? (Or a suggestion for OS X software which
implements MFS and might be able to mount and/or extract files from
these images).
Andre
I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
HFS disks.
Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
hdiutil does seem to think they are valid images, but containing no
mountable file systems.
Sadly, I cannot for the life of me recall which software was used to
create them. Some have a .img suffix whereas others are .image. The
creator and file types are both blank so no help there, but I suspect it
must have been something other than DiskCopy since I *think* it used
.dsk/.smi.
Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
SheepShaver that might be able to read a wider range of disk image
formats than DiskCopy? (Or a suggestion for OS X software which
implements MFS and might be able to mount and/or extract files from
these images).
Andre
JF Mezei
May 3, 2015, 4:08:35 PM5/3/15
to
On 15-05-03 15:37, Ymir wrote:
> I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> HFS disks.
This may or may not help.
> I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> HFS disks.
I was able to make physical (block by block) copies of 800k diskettes on
a VAX (backuP/image), transfer the resulting files with name ending in
".dmg", and used OS-X 10.6.8 "diskutil" to open the image and copy them
to a new disk image.
Note: of the old diskettes I had, many yielded too many disk errors
while being read to be of use. Maybe a new diskette drive might have
helped.
Not sure if diskutil OS-X is able to open non HFS diskettes though.
And for classic MacOS, I think you needed a 3rd party utility to open
disk images. I *think* stuffit expander handled them. Someone else with
better memory can probably give better details.
Warren Oates
May 3, 2015, 4:27:38 PM5/3/15
to
In article <agisaak.spamblock-03A6E5.13373903052015@shawnews>,
dd if=/path/to/file.img of=/path/to/newfile.img
BUT I'm not sure of conversion stuff for dd:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_%28Unix%29
--
Where's the Vangelis music?
Pris' tongue is sticking out in in the wide shot after Batty has kissed her.
They have put back more tits into the Zhora dressing room scene.
-- notes for Blade Runner
Ymir <agisaak....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
> SheepShaver that might be able to read a wider range of disk image
> formats than DiskCopy? (Or a suggestion for OS X software which
> implements MFS and might be able to mount and/or extract files from
> these images).
You may be able to copy them using dd:
> Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
> SheepShaver that might be able to read a wider range of disk image
> formats than DiskCopy? (Or a suggestion for OS X software which
> implements MFS and might be able to mount and/or extract files from
> these images).
dd if=/path/to/file.img of=/path/to/newfile.img
BUT I'm not sure of conversion stuff for dd:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_%28Unix%29
--
Where's the Vangelis music?
Pris' tongue is sticking out in in the wide shot after Batty has kissed her.
They have put back more tits into the Zhora dressing room scene.
-- notes for Blade Runner
Message has been deleted
bi...@mix.com
May 4, 2015, 4:06:51 AM5/4/15
to
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> writes:
> On the other hand, early versions of OS X *will* read MFS disk images if
> you happen to have the right tools from Apple which you probably cannot
> get anymore.
>
> I recall getting some data from a 400K or 800K diskcopy file back around
> 10.3 or 10.4 after scouring the Apple Developer page for an MFS utility.
10.4 is required and it's named MFSLives.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/MFSLives -or-
http://sdg.mesonet.org/people/brad/XCode3/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.adc.documentation.AppleSnowLeopard.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/#samplecode/MFSLives/Listings/Read_Me_About_MFSLives_txt.html
This is source code, so you (or someone) has to build it.
Billy Y..
--
sub #'9+1 ,r0 ; convert ascii byte
add #9.+1 ,r0 ; to an integer
bcc 20$ ; not a number
> On the other hand, early versions of OS X *will* read MFS disk images if
> you happen to have the right tools from Apple which you probably cannot
> get anymore.
>
> I recall getting some data from a 400K or 800K diskcopy file back around
> 10.3 or 10.4 after scouring the Apple Developer page for an MFS utility.
10.4 is required and it's named MFSLives.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/MFSLives -or-
http://sdg.mesonet.org/people/brad/XCode3/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.adc.documentation.AppleSnowLeopard.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documents/#samplecode/MFSLives/Listings/Read_Me_About_MFSLives_txt.html
This is source code, so you (or someone) has to build it.
Billy Y..
--
sub #'9+1 ,r0 ; convert ascii byte
add #9.+1 ,r0 ; to an integer
bcc 20$ ; not a number
Ymir
May 4, 2015, 10:24:16 AM5/4/15
to
In article <slrnmkd33r....@amelia.local>,
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <agisaak.spamblock-03A6E5.13373903052015@shawnews>
No, I have neither a floppy drive nor actual disks. Just disk images.
> > hdiutil does seem to think they are valid images, but containing no
> > mountable file systems.
>
> > Sadly, I cannot for the life of me recall which software was used to
> > create them. Some have a .img suffix whereas others are .image. The
> > creator and file types are both blank so no help there, but I suspect it
> > must have been something other than DiskCopy since I *think* it used
> > .dsk/.smi.
>
> Compactor and Crap-- er, Stuffit I believe both created image files with
> .image extensions.
> to 7.x, and maybe to System 6. I know for a fact that Mac OS 8 cannot
> handle the 400K MFS format. Hmm.. That might not apply to iamge files,
> now that I think about it. For reading physical disks though, you would
> have to be running pre-Mac OS 8 software.
That's what I was afraid of. I'm fairly sure SheepShaver is limited to
OS 9. I tried to track down an older copy of DiskCopy to see if it would
run in System 9 and came across the following site which has an archive
of older mac systems (probably not entirely legal)
<https://winworldpc.com/product/mac-os-0-6>
Unfortunately, most of the software here is on images of 400K floppies
which are no more mountable than the images I need to mount. However,
they seem to use the same image format (based both on file extension and
a cursory examination with a hex editor) so at least that suggests that
I didn't use something terribly nonstandard to create them.
I suspect I may be S.O.L. but at least the images aren't compressed or
encrypted so I can at least retrieve those files which were text-based
if I can't find a solution.
Andre
Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <agisaak.spamblock-03A6E5.13373903052015@shawnews>
> Ymir <agisaak....@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I know it's a longshot, but any help would be appreciated...
>
> > I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> > are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> > pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> > HFS disks.
>
> > Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
> > mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
>
> Do you have a 400K floppy drive (or an 800K floppy drive)?
> > I know it's a longshot, but any help would be appreciated...
>
> > I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> > are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> > pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> > HFS disks.
>
> > Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
> > mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
>
No, I have neither a floppy drive nor actual disks. Just disk images.
> > hdiutil does seem to think they are valid images, but containing no
> > mountable file systems.
>
> > Sadly, I cannot for the life of me recall which software was used to
> > create them. Some have a .img suffix whereas others are .image. The
> > creator and file types are both blank so no help there, but I suspect it
> > must have been something other than DiskCopy since I *think* it used
> > .dsk/.smi.
>
> .image extensions.
>
> > Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
>
> Mac OS 9? No, I doubt that will work. You will need to go back at least
> > Any suggestions for software which could be run in OS 9 under
>
> to 7.x, and maybe to System 6. I know for a fact that Mac OS 8 cannot
> handle the 400K MFS format. Hmm.. That might not apply to iamge files,
> now that I think about it. For reading physical disks though, you would
> have to be running pre-Mac OS 8 software.
That's what I was afraid of. I'm fairly sure SheepShaver is limited to
OS 9. I tried to track down an older copy of DiskCopy to see if it would
run in System 9 and came across the following site which has an archive
of older mac systems (probably not entirely legal)
<https://winworldpc.com/product/mac-os-0-6>
Unfortunately, most of the software here is on images of 400K floppies
which are no more mountable than the images I need to mount. However,
they seem to use the same image format (based both on file extension and
a cursory examination with a hex editor) so at least that suggests that
I didn't use something terribly nonstandard to create them.
I suspect I may be S.O.L. but at least the images aren't compressed or
encrypted so I can at least retrieve those files which were text-based
if I can't find a solution.
Andre
Ymir
May 4, 2015, 10:28:41 AM5/4/15
to
In article <mi79ap$n0a$1...@reader2.panix.com>, bi...@MIX.COM wrote:
> Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> writes:
>
> > On the other hand, early versions of OS X *will* read MFS disk images if
> > you happen to have the right tools from Apple which you probably cannot
> > get anymore.
> >
> > I recall getting some data from a 400K or 800K diskcopy file back around
> > 10.3 or 10.4 after scouring the Apple Developer page for an MFS utility.
>
> 10.4 is required and it's named MFSLives.
>
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/MFSLives -or-
> http://sdg.mesonet.org/people/brad/XCode3/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.adc.
> documentation.AppleSnowLeopard.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documen
> ts/#samplecode/MFSLives/Listings/Read_Me_About_MFSLives_txt.html
>
> This is source code, so you (or someone) has to build it.
Thanks for the link -- I found references to this while searching for an
> Lewis <g.k...@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> writes:
>
> > On the other hand, early versions of OS X *will* read MFS disk images if
> > you happen to have the right tools from Apple which you probably cannot
> > get anymore.
> >
> > I recall getting some data from a 400K or 800K diskcopy file back around
> > 10.3 or 10.4 after scouring the Apple Developer page for an MFS utility.
>
> 10.4 is required and it's named MFSLives.
>
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/MFSLives -or-
> http://sdg.mesonet.org/people/brad/XCode3/Documentation/DocSets/com.apple.adc.
> documentation.AppleSnowLeopard.CoreReference.docset/Contents/Resources/Documen
> ts/#samplecode/MFSLives/Listings/Read_Me_About_MFSLives_txt.html
>
> This is source code, so you (or someone) has to build it.
answer but not the actual code. I'll compile it later and see if it
still works on 10.5 (the oldest bootable system I have access to).
Andre
Fred McKenzie
May 4, 2015, 2:06:24 PM5/4/15
to
> I know it's a longshot, but any help would be appreciated...
>
> I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> HFS disks.
>
> Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
> mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
Andre-
>
> I have some ancient files which I need to retrieve. Unfortunately, they
> are stored on equally ancient disk images. By 'ancient' I mean
> pre-System 5. The images are 400K, so I assume they are MFS rather than
> HFS disks.
>
> Obviously, they will not mount in OS X. However, I cannot get them to
> mount using DiskCopy or ShrinkWrap under SheepShaver either.
It is not obvious they will not mount unless you have tried it.
If it didn't, try this: Make a copy and change its suffix to .DMG.
Double-Click it under OS-X.
If that doesn't work, try opening with StuffIt Expander.
Fred
Ymir
May 5, 2015, 1:36:53 PM5/5/15
to
In article <agisaak.spamblock-97E018.08283804052015@shawnews>,
Just an update for the curious -- while MFSLives builds fine under 10.5,
it doesn't actually appear to work. Or at least I thought so at first.
The images still won't mount after installing that, but apparently with
MFSLives installed, Pacifist can open some (though not all) of the
images. Not sure why Pacifist but not Diskutil sees MFSLives.
At least that's some progress.
Thanks everyone who offered suggestions.
Andre
it doesn't actually appear to work. Or at least I thought so at first.
The images still won't mount after installing that, but apparently with
MFSLives installed, Pacifist can open some (though not all) of the
images. Not sure why Pacifist but not Diskutil sees MFSLives.
At least that's some progress.
Thanks everyone who offered suggestions.
Andre
D Finnigan
May 28, 2015, 2:09:29 PM5/28/15
to
Utility you can make an HFS image to mount in mini vMac, then you can mount
the MFS image in mini vMac too. Then just use the emulator to copy the files
to the HFS image.
I'm moving this followup to comp.sys.mac.vintage too.
--
]DF$
The Marina IP stack for Apple II--
http://marina.a2hq.com/
0 new messages