Ultimate ST diskcopy program to copy protected disks?

ichichich · Post by **ichichich** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:58 pm

Hi all!

I've got quite a lot of games for my Atari ST, and they are all orininals. Unfortunately this means that most of the games are copy protected. I would like to make sure that my games are still functional in 10 or 20 years, to keep their spirit alive, and I wonder if my original disks will survive the years. I need to make backup copies but I do not know any program that will make perfect copies without falling over the copy protection. Can anyone help me?

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:10 pm

The Blitz Turbo hardware/software combination is pretty good.

Post by **atarimania** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 9:07 pm

What kind of hardware is it ?

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 10:46 pm

atarimania wrote:What kind of hardware is it ?

The hardware is actually a simple cable. It links the external floppy drive port and the printer port of the ST to the input port of an external drive (yes, it needs both internal and external floppies to work).

The software works via low-level disk access. It synchronises the speeds of both drives, and links the data-out stream of the internal drive with the data-in of the external floppy.

It can defeat nearly all copy-protection techniques.

There are some other copying schemes, mostly based on cartridge-port hardware, but Blitz Turbo was good enough for almost everything.

The schematics for the cable are available on the web, as is the software. IIRC both were on at least one of the Automation disk series (all of which are widely available).

ijor · Post by **ijor** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:59 am

There is no ultimate software copier. Most original disks can't be copied without extra hardware.

There is imaging software though. You can image copy protected disk without custom hardware. The image can be run under emulator (both Steem and Saint). The image can be later written back to floppy, but this of course requires custom hardware. We are currently in closed beta, but a pubic beta will be released short. We are the point that we just need some cosmetic clean-up.

For actually copying those disk there are several hardware solutions. The best if by far the Discovery Cartridge, it hooks in the cartdrige port. Expect to pay U$50-U$100 at Ebay.

A second solution is the Catweasel card for the PC. It sells for about Euros 100 brand new.

Another one is the Copy II-PC Option board. Hard to find and it requires a very old PC. ISA board and a slow CPU.

Analog copiers as the Turbo Blitz are not recommended and should be used only as a last resort. The reasons are a bit technical and I can elaborate if you want. But just think that this works almost exactly as dubbing an audio-tape. All the other devices mentiones above are digital.

Post by **atarimania** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 7:21 am

Thanks a lot for the explanation.

I am very interesting in making images of original ST games for PC emulators... I didn't know that it was possible with protected disk. What software is necessary ?

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 12:43 pm

ijor wrote:There is no ultimate software copier. Most original disks can't be copied without extra hardware.

There is imaging software though. You can image copy protected disk without custom hardware. The image can be run under emulator (both Steem and Saint). The image can be later written back to floppy, but this of course requires custom hardware. We are currently in closed beta, but a pubic beta will be released short. We are the point that we just need some cosmetic clean-up.

For actually copying those disk there are several hardware solutions. The best if by far the Discovery Cartridge, it hooks in the cartdrige port. Expect to pay U$50-U$100 at Ebay.

A second solution is the Catweasel card for the PC. It sells for about Euros 100 brand new.

Another one is the Copy II-PC Option board. Hard to find and it requires a very old PC. ISA board and a slow CPU.

Analog copiers as the Turbo Blitz are not recommended and should be used only as a last resort. The reasons are a bit technical and I can elaborate if you want. But just think that this works almost exactly as dubbing an audio-tape. All the other devices mentiones above are digital.

Thanks for that info!

The Discovery cartridge is excellent, if you can get hold of one.

Blitz Turbo has drawbacks, of course, but it has the advantage of being cheap (the cable can be made for very little money).

Your software sounds interesting...please keep us informed!

ijor · Post by **ijor** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 3:02 pm

atarimania wrote:I am very interesting in making images of original ST games for PC emulators... I didn't know that it was possible with protected disk. What software is necessary ?

The software for running copy-protected images was already released. You can get Pasti.Dll on my site at pasti.fxatari.com. You need latest versions of Steem or Saint. What is still in closed beta is the imaging tool that actually produces the images. But many images leaked from the beta testers and are already available in the Internet if you search well enough. If you have many originals contact me and I might give you access to the closed beta.

You can also run images of 8-bit copy protected disks. As some of you might know this is also currently in beta. It is in an earlier stage than the ST version, so it will probably take a bit longer for a public release. The 8-bit imaging tool doesn’t run on standard hardware though. At the minimum a happy drive is required.

Hi deathtrappomegranate. You outbid me quite some times on Ebay !

But I’m happy they went to a good home. Hope I can get images of all the originals you got there.

Ijor

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 4:42 pm

ijor wrote:Hi deathtrappomegranate. You outbid me quite some times on Ebay ! But I’m happy they went to a good home. Hope I can get images of all the originals you got there.

Ebay is like that - sometimes you have a good day, sometimes not. I hope I didn't get in your way too much

Imaging of protected 8-bit disks, and getting images that are usable by emulators, is something that we're very interested in, here at Atarimania.

Does the beta software work with other upgraded drives (1050 duplicator etc)? How about third party drives like Indus GT, Rana 1000, etc?

Post by **Atari Frog** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 5:49 pm

deathtrappomegranate wrote:Imaging of protected 8-bit disks, and getting images that are usable by emulators, is something that we're very interested in, here at Atarimania.

Jorge, your project is the way to go and we're EXTREMELY concerned about having a real organized database with originals and not just a collection of unsorted files. Don't worry, if originals can be easily imaged, we'll make them available like we did for the other programs.

Just a word on the unique titles in the database: those that had to be cracked (because standard A8 emulators don't support protected disks yet) are complete and uncrippled.

--
Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com

Post by **atarimania** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:18 pm

So we are very intersting for the ST and for the A8

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 6:22 pm

ijor wrote:Hope I can get images of all the originals you got there.

Hopefully we will make images of almost everything available, sooner or later!

carmel_andrews · Post by **carmel_andrews** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:11 pm

I think that CSS of new york did a software program that allowed you to copy heavily copy protected ST programs...It sounded like an ST version of their A8 program 'impossible'

I've seen ad's for it in various US Atari magazines (can't remember what the program was called)

There were one or 2 'magic button' type devices for the ST (or 4 if you include TCB explorer and LLS by turkish group 'Subhumans) these were along the lines of multi-face and action replay type cart. devices that allowed you to copy copyprotected programs to another disk (I think you had to have the cartridge plugged in to play with or use the backup)