Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: how do i transfer Atari 800 files to a IBM PC Message-ID: <15484@cup.portal.com> Date: 7 Mar 89 05:49:42 GMT References: <1113@sdcc13.ucsd.EDU> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 28 Responding to a question from Stephen Lesniewski about how to copy 8-bit Atari programs to an IBM system to "archive" them, I think Jack Pettrey may have had the best answer... If the concern is data integrity on old floppy disks, it might be FAR simpler to just DISKCOM the entire disks (DISKCOM is a utility which will turn an entire disk into an Atari DOS file, allowing later expansion back into an *exact* image of the original disk), and copy the resulting .DCM files onto new Atari formatted disks. This would save file space on the IBM system, and avoid the hassles of transferring the files one by one to that IBM system. The .DCM files could be copied any number of times to other Atari disks before being eventually "unDISKCOMMed" back to their original states... This raises an interesting question... many of *my* 8-bit disks are getting to be 8 or 9 years old... a lot of the disk manufacturers' data on "archival storage" on magnetic media is the result of "projections", not true "in the field" experience, since floppy disk systems have only been available for the last 10 years or so... Are we justified in being concerned about the integrity of data stored on disks for almost a decade..? Stephen has asked a very good question... something us "old-timers" may have to face as the 8-bit Atari computer enters its second decade... BobR