SAMdisk 3.0

SAMdisk - A command-line disk image utility.

A command-line disk image utility.

The SAMdisk application was developed to be a command-line disk image utility. The tool supports transfers between floppy disks and disk images, and is designed to work with almost any soft-sectored disk format compatible with the PC floppy controller, including some copy-protected formats.

First, ensure your BIOS floppy drive type is set correctly, or to the closest available type. Setting a non-1.44M type will reduce the head stepping rate, to avoid missed pulses, and disable use of the disk-change line. This will often be needed for older floppy drive units.

Disk to Image
To create a disk image from an existing floppy disk:

SAMdisk a: image.dsk

Image to Disk
To write a disk image back to floppy disk:

SAMdisk image.dsk a:

Command-line Syntax
SAMdisk

SAMdisk uses getopt syntax for command-line options. Many options have a single character short form, as well as a more descriptive longer form that may be easier to remember.

Short options are preceded by - and may be grouped with other non-argument short options, the last one of which may also take an argument. Any required argument may follow immediately after the option or be separated with a space. -a -b -c 3, -a -bc 3 and -abc3 are all equivalent.

Long options are preceded by --, with mandatory arguments using either a space or = separator. Optional arguments must use the = separator. The full long option is not required, as long as it's unambiguous.

Commands
copy - transfer between devices and images
scan - examine structure of disks or images
format - initialise media with regular sector layout
view - examine sector contents of devices and images
rpm - measure floppy drive rotation speed
dir - directory listing of select formats

SAMdisk 3.0 is licensed as Freeware for the Windows operating system / platform. SAMdisk is provided as a free download for all software users (Freeware).