DSK-PRO 9.0 The World is Not Enough Edition

Ya tenemos aquí la última versión de DSK-PRO!

Entre las mejoras que incluye se encuentran:

1. Kernel totalmente reescrito.
2. La velocidad con discos desprotegidos es de locura. Copia un disco de 720K en solo 88 segundos.
3. Ahora es capaz de copiar discos protegidos. El nuevo formato se llama PDI = Protected Disk Image y soporta la mayoría de protecciones existentes.
4. Fallos menores corregidos.

Aquí os dejo la descripción que hace su autor (en inglés) y el enlace de descarga de esta fantástica herramienta.

 

The new DSKPRO 9.0 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 9.0 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 9.0 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 9.0 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.

Have fun!

You can download this tool in this link: http://1drv.ms/1RMQmdA

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

DSK-PRO, MSX