DSK-PRO

These are either someone's kids or very hot ladies.

@Manuel: as far as I understand it, this tool does not store copy protections. It only allows one to make a DSK image of damaged (or protected) disks on MSX. Similarly to various tools on PC are able to skip bad sectors when imaging.

I'm working on a MSX tool that does store copy protections for disk images, but I don't know when it will be finished.

People, you are a little bit confused.
Lets explain: DSK files are just the data in a row from the sectors of the disk. There is no information about the tracks or sectors, so there is no protection in a DSK file.
Some times when you open a DSK file with winimage, for example, you don't see any files and it is not because the disk is protected. It is just because the data in the disk is sector based, not file based.
Just that people. DSK files are not supposed to store anything else than data.

Regarda
Marcos Daniel

So basically, a feature request, the ability to dump DMK files.

@cbsfox Why not reuse the existing DMK format? It’s supported by emulators already.

Yes, please use the DMK format... for some existing tools and a DMK dump tool implementation, see: https://sourceforge.net/p/openmsx/openmsx/ci/master/tree/Con... (I guess this code will look similar to what you do!)

I can't say anything else than that I'm very VERY disappointed... No one is helped by a new format, which is not supported by any other program.....

Never heard about the DMK format before, but it's interesting. Is this the correct description?
http://fjkraan.home.xs4all.nl/comp/trs80-4p/dmkeilImages/trstech.htm
So it's origin is from the TRS-80 computers, which seem to use a WD-based FDC, too?
NEC765-based computer systems like my Amstrad CPC use again another DSK format for emulators which support any type of copy protection as well. For example this even contains complete headers for each sector, but it's NEC765 specific, so probably not usefull for the MSX at all.
Can most copy protected MSX discs be emulated by the DMK format?

Yes, DMK is sufficient for most protections.

That CPC format looks a bit too specific for NEC765 to use for MSX, but it should be compatible with the FDC used in the MSX turboR.

I think DMK is sufficient for *all* protections, because it can store anything you can *read* with the WD2793, as I understood it from Wouter.
You can convert it to DSK, but then the protected game won't work. You will lose data, because DMK is a richer format. You can already use openMSX to conver to DSK with a sector copy program

It's a pity cbsfox, because it will take us extra time and effort to add support for your unique format, and we already have support for DMK which is proven to be sufficient so far. Who is going to do that work to support your new format? I'm not very interested, because we already have DMK... (and I doubt others want to spend their free time on it either...) I guess you write the support for your own format Just check how the DMK stuff is implemented

@mars2000you, that would be fantastic, but in my modest opinion, it is technical utopia! I share Manuel's thinking because in order to make a fully working conversion it would be necessary to tamper with the code that protects the disk. How will that take place without first analysing the protection with a debugger and without human reverse engineering to know exactly what to patch?

I will give you an example of a "real" protection used in the late 80's for disks distributed by a store named Red Point: Floppy disks received special format by changing the number of one the sectors on the first track (e.g. sector #2 was actually renumbered as #10). So then, the code that verified the existence of sector #10 was encrypted (on disk) and it also used a very nasty trick by setting a hook at the #F27F memory address. The code looked like reading sector #2, but then the hook was used to change the number to #10 before reading. I was able to obtain working DSK conversions of theses disks after patching the code, but it was pure manual and reverse engineering work.

So the question is, is it reasonable to think that a tool will be able to produce a working conversion of protected disks like the ones I described? Unfortunately, that is not going to happen unless all the protections that have ever existed are previously analysed (by human eyes) and then supported to perform the conversion automatically.

Cheers,
S

Of course. It's impossible that a tool convert by itself a protected disk into a unprotected one.
That can be done only changing the track options of the disk and patching the read routine.
The format DMK for example is useful to run protected disks in a emulator. Just that.
So, there is no need to patch the disk to run it in an emulator.

@cbsfox

Could you support the three formats? (DSK, DMK and your own PDI). That would make DSK-pro a very versatile tool.

Not related to that, but, some countries use the definition of a new unique standard in a way to demonstrate how powerful and confident they are. A mix of a military exercise with the peacock technique.
Take for instance metrics V.S. imperial, take a Brit who defend that and ask him why... In essence, you'll only find "emotional" and "saudosistic" answers...

IPF is complete overkill for MSX usage... I even asked the Kryoflux guys to make an export-to-DMK function. Instead, they made a generic export function, so someone can implement that

Actually PDI rocks.

There's actually a new one DSKPRO 9.01 (from Facebook):

DSK-PRO 9.01 The World is Not Enough Twin Pack Edition RELEASED!
Improvements:
1 - Internal Kernel totally rewritten.
2 - The speed now, with unprotected disks is insane. It copies an entire 720k disk in just 88 seconds.
3 - Now it creates images of protected disks too. The new format file format is called (PDI = Protected Disk Image). And the tool supports most of the locks in the world.
4 - Minor bugs fixed.
5 - Versions .COM and .ROM included in this pack.
PS: There are some japanese protected disks that the tool doesn't support yet. Maybe in a future version? The strongest users will see...
*********** ATTENTION ***********
Don't use another DOS1 except the one inside the DSK file. If you use another one, it may not load the file DSKPRO.COM correctly.
If you use DOS2, no problems.
*********************************************************
Enjoy it!
The new DSKPRO 9.01 is the best tool to create image disk files from physical disks, supporting all memory expansions in any slot/subslot, and supports direct physical access to the floppy disk controller. So, it is able to read disks with CRC errors to create DSK files without a problem.
It supports unprotected and protected disks being able to manage DSK and the new PDI files.
This tool has also a full disk zapper to allow you to edit the disk sectors in HEXA or ASCII. And you can search for a string through all the disk.
There is a option that shows the complete Track Information. All copy protections can be revealed. And it possible to see the FDC's Addresses or Ports.
You can also format disks fisically with this tool. Forget the messages from the DOS like "DISK ERROR" after a format command. It has advanced routines to go deep into the track sectors to format your disks. And you can activate the Verify Disk Option to increase the chances to get a well formatted disk.
Your PC doesn't format your MSX disk? Well, PC sucks. Formatting a disk was never so easy.
And at last but not least it is a full disk copier.
Disk Zapper, DSK Disk Manager, Disk Copier and Formatter in the same tool. Everything to make things easier to you.
We, fans of this excellent 8 bit computer, still have lots of disks but because of the years they are all with CRC Errors and can not be recovered, not using normal tools.
But DKSPRO 9.01 can do that accessing the Floppy Disk Controller directly. To do that, it is necessary to identify the chipset inside the interface. There are 3 different chipsets in the market: Western Digital (used by Philips and Sony computers), Fujitsu (Used by National computers) and Toshiba (used by Panasonic and Sony computers). All these 3 chipsets are used inside interfaces from all over the world (Japan, Korea, USA and Europe), and are accessed just by memory addresses. For example, the Panasonic Turbo-R computer uses the Toshiba chipset inside its drive interface. Sadly, there are no tools in the market to access them directly.
There is another one from Brazil(Microsol), that uses the Western Digital Chipset but it is accessed by PORTS (IN/OUT). In this case, there are lots of tools here in Brazil that can access these interfaces directly, recovering disks with CRC errors for example.
DSKPRO 9.01 can access all floppy disk interfaces directly, no matter the chipset and access type, so it possible to recover your damaged disk with CRC errors, transforming it into a lovely disk image file to be used in your preferred MSX emulator.
The main features of DSKPRO 9.01 are:
1 - Detects automatically all memory expansions (Memory Mapper and brazilian Megaram) in any slot/subslot.
2 - Detects automatically all disk drive interfaces connected to the computer and you can choose the one your prefer. You may have a Panasonic WSX Computer with a broken disk drive, but its interface is still there. The tool will detect it automatically and set it to be used, but the disk drive is broken. So, you can connect an external disk drive, and you can choose the external one, to use with the working disk drive.
3 - Supports 3 floppy disk controller chipsets, detecting them automatically:
3.1 - Western Digital
3.2 - Fujitsu
3.3 - Toshiba
PS: If you use an "Alien" Disk Drive Interface, the tool will still work using the BIOS Access option, but you will not be able to recover disks with CRC errors.
4 - It supports from letter "A" to "H", so you can save your disk image file inside a harddisk connected to the computer.
5 - During the process, you can see all the information you need as:
5.1 - Physical Track Position
5.2 - Physical Disk Side
5.3 - Logical Sectors
5.4 - Bytes saved to the disk
6 - The sources are included in the package with comments, so you can modify the program as you wish to increment the features. Just let me know about that and put the original credits on it. smile emoticon
Have fun!
You can download this tool in this link: http://1drv.ms/1N1Avbg
Credits:
Author: Marcos Daniel Blanco de Oliveira
Auxiliary Routines: Rudolf Arthur Frans Gutlich
Testers: Ulisses Araújo, Werner Augusto Roder Kai e Fernando Manuel Garcia
Emotional Support: Bubuzinho and Luluzinha