Archiving And Preserving Atari ST Floppy Disks in 2017

One of the things that I have been doing lately with my ST is making backup copies of my ST software, and helping to archive them. There are several reasons for this, the most important being that apart from archiving my data for myself I am helping to preserve it for future generations. A lot of the software and documentation for the ST are over 30 years old and mostly stored on floppies or paper (like software from the Amiga) and is prone to atmospheric changes especially humidity, acidity as well as mould. Ordinary printed paper for instance may not last more than 50 years without deterioration or disintegration (ie. become dust), so it is essential to have those scanned and preserved as well.

Due to the popularity of software-based emulation like WinUAE, Steem and Hatari, whilst people tend to use original floppies less and have the originals in storage, the life of the original floppy is still at risk because of changes in the atmosphere, especially humidity and acidity. As it stands I already have several disks which have experienced humidity change and as a result is beyond repair because the metallic surface layer has come off the resin disk because of oxidation and mould. This is why for me as a user it is imperative I try to save those disks.

Tools Used To Archive The Floppies

The tools that I use for archiving my floppies vary, and are a mix of hardware and software. I primarily use Kryoflux (from kryoflux.com) which is a specially-designed floppy to USB interface and software for PCs and Macs, which reads the complete disk structure of a floppy from any retro system including the ability to save the ST's crucial copy protected tracks plus timing information to file. You have to use a genuine full IDE (non-USB) 3.5" or 5.25" floppy drive in order to use it, plus a 4-pin power adapter or supply for the floppy drive. In addition I also use Omniflop for Windows (http://www.shlock.co.uk/Utils/OmniFlop/OmniFlop.htm#Downloads) and HxC2001 software (http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/index.html#download) to do some of my conversions (whose files can also be used within compatible emulators). For the Omniflop I also use a standard Windows USB 3.5" floppy drive to read and write my ordinary ST (and Amiga) data. Also as the Kryoflux does not come with a plastic case for the controller board, I had to make one myself. The white case for the Kryoflux above was designed by myself.

Whilst the Kryoflux interface has data dump and conversion options for the Amiga ADF floppy built-in as standard, other than a RAW dump it is not available for the Atari ST yet (for me at least as I don't have AmigaOS). Whilst Kryoflux offers full conversion for Amiga disks on both Mac and Windows PC to ADF or IPF formats, only AmigaOS can allow the dumping of all disk images including Atari ST to .IPF file format using Kryoflux FREE, which can be found here).

For the ST dumps I had to download the Ataridump.bat for the Kryoflux from this website to use to archive my collection.

For the manual and box scans, I just used a cheap Canon USB flatbed scanner with a copy of Vuescan and Adobe's Photoshop for editing, colour correction and cropping, following these guidelines > http://www.softpres.org/article:scanning:scanning_guidelines

Archiving Tips and Tricks with Kryoflux

Whilst the majority of my ST data dumps was made simply with typing Ataridump.bat at C: prompt, there are some commands that are useful for other users. Such as:

dtc -f<dumpdir/dumpfile> -i0 -f<dumpdir/dumpfile>.adf -i5

eg. dtc -fthepawn/thepawn -i0 -fthepawn/thepawn.adf -i5

which can be used to dump stream preservation and ADF files for Amiga systems, plus

dtc -f<dumpdir/dumpfile>.adf -i5

and

dtc -f<imagefile.ipf> -w

for fast dumping and writing of images from and to an Amiga formatted disk.

Whilst the Software Preservation Society (www.softpres.org) offers to convert Kryoflux data dumps to IPF files for Kryoflux
registered users (and is the only one allowed to do so),  it is a relatively slow process for many, often taking many years (as
they work with many other platforms). But if it is possible I would urge all users of old retro systems (Atari, BBC,
Commodore, Tandy etc). to do so and contribute if they have the time and patience.

Also before archiving any disk, I make sure that no floppy disk surface contains any mould or mildew. This is absolutely
crucial. If a disk is found to be mouldy it would likely mean the data may be prone to damage or become unreadable. The only

way to solve this would be to carefully clean the surface with warm soapy water and replace the inner soft sleeve of the

floppy like this > Clean floppy disk with soapy water

Whilst ethyl alcohol can be used to also clean and disinfect mouldy boxes and manuals I DONT RECOMMEND IT FOR USE
ON FLOPPIES,  as it may strip the metallic coating off the surface of the floppy if it is severely oxidised.

Best Practices Archiving Disks, Manuals And Boxes

Here are some of the best practices that are used by archivists in the conservation industry for storage.

In general storage of both the disks and boxes should be placed into special boxes or cases that are fairly dry (under 55%

humidity) and fairly cool or with little or no light and away from any magnetic source (especially disks). Whilst cardboard

boxes can be used for short term storage, for long term storage it is ideal to place them into much sturdier containers such as a
plastic stackable box, with silica gel packets inside as mould can attack the box and contents inside. Also game boxes should

be wrapped with acid-free tissue and if possible further sealed with a plastic sealable bag into a non-translucent case. Boxes or
disks can also be vacuum wrapped or sealed if possible using such devices like these.

For manuals or paperwork, it is advisable to place the paperwork into archival sleeves or boxes like these >
archival sleeves & archival boxes