Image format diferences .HFE .IMG .TD0

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somhi
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Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:15 pm

Image format diferences .HFE .IMG .TD0

Post by somhi »

Hello,

I'm doing some research before start preserving my floppy disks. I've read the best image formats are .IMG (from dd utility or so) for normal disks and .TD0 for protected discs. Source: http://www.goodolddays.net/faq/id%2C-5/

I would prefer so save floppies as .IMG as it's an universal format I can mount directly on linux and widely supported by emulators.

Does the .HFE file format offers any remarcable advantages over .IMG, .TD0 file formats ?

Thanks in advance.
Jordi

somhi
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:15 pm

Re: Image format diferences .HFE .IMG .TD0

Post by somhi »

Of couse I can use HFE floppy disk dump utility and export to IMG format.
If I had to dump a disk from DOS would it be preferable to use HFE floppy disk dump utility instead of diskcopy utility I suppose but much much slower, so what are the benefits of using HFE disk dump?

Jeff
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Re: Image format diferences .HFE .IMG .TD0

Post by Jeff »

I don't consider the ".IMG" as a real format : this is just the sectors data without any sector metadata and disk layout information. there is no way to check the data integrity.
td0 : i am not sure about the documentation. probably contains some metadatas.
hfe : store the tracks as they are on the floppy disk : low level encoding, gap, sectors interleaving and track skew, sectors metadata and crc. All is there.

somhi
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2020 8:15 pm

Re: Image format diferences .HFE .IMG .TD0

Post by somhi »

Thanks Jeff for your answer.

So HFE format seems the most convenient for preserving floppies as they are. The only con I have is the time it takes to dump a disk.

I don't understand though, what would be the benefits of storing all that metadata. For a program/game that does not have any copy protection, does it matter for real use practicity to store it in .IMG or .HFE?

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