BBC micro disc to tape

[coulson1986]

Hello all,

Does anyone know a way I can copy a 5.25" floppy to tape on a BBC micro?
I have tried loads and it just doesn't seem to like it! Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Marc.

[Dave Moll]

What is the problem you're having?

[robjkmannering]

In the dim and distant past, I seem to remember using the MOVE command from BBC basic. Googling this shows some info about moving from DFS to CFS which I think is cassette filing system.
Regards,
Rob

[coulson1986]

I can't seem to find much help on searching this up. There must be a way of doing it just can't seem to get my head round it.

[martin1968]

I have a BBC Micro and a full set of utilities for it, If your interested PM me , I can explain how to do this with a Disk.

[martin1968]

But if you want to try this for now:
You can do this with only one disk drive.

Get a blank Disk.

format it.

Thats you type this;

*format 40 0 (for a 40 track)
*format 80 0 (for a 80 track)


Then put the original disk you want to copy in the drive
and type this ;

*copy *.*

follow prompt on sceen to put your BLANK formated disk in the drive. then swop between original and BLANK when prompted .

It will copy everything from the original to the same disk drive all you do is swop discs until it's finished

Then to check the BLANK has all files copied type *cat (lists all files on a disk)


If this did NOT work you need a Utilities disk to do this.

[cmjones01]

Originally Posted by martin1968

*format 40 0 (for a 40 track)
*format 80 0 (for a 80 track)

Those commands may require a utility ROM or disc to be present. Early versions of DFS don't have a built-in disc formatter.

Then put the original disk you want to copy in the drive
and type this ;
*copy *.*

I think you mean

*BACKUP 0 0

which will backup the whole disc, verbatim.

*COPY 0 0 *.*

will also work, but copies file-by-file which needs more disc-swapping.

There is no standard automated way to copy from disc to tape, though. The way I would go about it is this:

Make a list of the files you want to copy. Then, for each one, do the following:

*DISC
*OPT 1 2
This will make the machine display the load address, execution address and length of each file as you load and save it.
*LOAD <file> 2000
This loads the file into a more-or-less safe place in memory. Note that it displays some numbers, like:
$.MENU FF1900 FF8023 000A52 05E
Only pay attention to the last four digits of the numbers.
The first number, 1900 here, is the load address.
The second number, 8023 here, is the execution address.
The third number, 0A52 here, is the length.
The fourth number, 05E here, is the sector location on the disc and not relevant for copying the file.

Now change to the tape filing system:
*TAPE
and save the file
*SAVE <file> 2000 +<length> <execution address> <load address>
for the example file above, this would look like:
*SAVE MENU 2000 +0A52 8023 1900
Start the tape, and let it save. Now do
*DISC
again and load the next file, and rinse and repeat.

The whole process will also work in reverse, to load from tape and save from disc, but there are some complications: files on tape can be 'locked' so that it's not possible to *LOAD them, and some things (games especially) need modification to run from disc because they try to load at addresses which are occupied by the disc filing system.

Have fun!
Chris

[coulson1986]

Thankyou all for your help!! very much appricaited, i will give it a go and i will let you know how i got on

Thanks again!


Thank you all for your help, very much appreciated. I will give it a go and let you know how I got on.

Thanks again.

[martin1968]

What I meant was when I said you need the utilities disk :
The utilities disk I have as "Tape to Disc" on the menu.

It does it all for you.