How to write Disk System disks (writing)

[kite200]

tototek needs to just sell all the stuff to do this

seriously i'd buy a bundle with all the materials for like 150 bucks or something

[chimyfolkbutter]

I just got a dump of Disk Hacker 2.  This copy program has been a bitch to get.  I have to write it to disk and test it out.  I should have some time this holiday weekend.  I will try and put something together for the board.

-CFB

[Bonneville97]

I have a disk that was originally Kid Icarus and i was wondering if anyone had the means to maybe re-write it back to it's original form

Its one of my favorite games and every time i see the lable i want to play it soooo bad, but alas all i get is some RPG i can't even read..lmao


i'd be willing to pay for to and from shipping and for the time it would take..

James

[2A03]

I just got my new FDS today and it turns out that my old copy of Zelda 1 doesn't work. It keeps giving me error 22, while all my other disks work fine. Rather than pay for another copy first, I want to know if someone here can rewrite FDS disks.

[wentle85]

So whatever happened to chimy and the how to guide? This sounds like a challenging project, but well worth it if finished.

[FamicomFreak]

It'll come you just have to be patient. I wouldn't mind getting some of my disks fixed.

[JC]

I just talked to Chimy yesterday. He's around.

[ericj]

Interesting. I gotta learn how to write disks. I have ~20 disks that won't work. It'd be awesome to get a network of trading & re-writing disks going on here. 

[livefastdiefun87]

what size is a zip disk drive

[UglyJoe]

It's not the same as an FDS disk, if that's what you're getting at.  FDS disks are modified Quick Disks.

[livefastdiefun87]

how modified?

[UglyJoe]

The disks are longer (2.8" x 3.0", instead of 2.8" x 2.8").  Dunno if there were any internal changes.

[ericj]

I wonder how hard it would be to hook up a 3 1/2" drive (or zip drive, hard drive, or flash drive, whatever) to a famicom instead of using their drive and play games from that? There's gotta be a way to do it. 133mhz  

[133MHz]

First, I do not own a FDS
And since FDS systems aren't widely owned (How hard is to get a used loose NES? easy as cake. How much? cheap as dirt. How about the FDS?), and also due to the lack of official technical documentation there hasn't been much opportunity to completely reverse engineer the Famicom Disk System mechanism.

Also AFAIK the FDS drive doesn't store data as sectors like almost all other disk drives, data is stored as continuous 'files', running along the disk surface forming a really long spiral, analogous to a record player. Converting this to a standard sector format would require some serious shit (please correct me if wrong, i've read something like this a long time ago and may not be correct).

Last but not least, our resident FDS expert is chimyfolkbutter, he's been involved on the FDSLoadr project which allows you to stream FDS games from your PC to your real Famicom by plugging the FDS RAM Adapter to your PC's parallel port, or you can connect a real FDS to your PC and read/write Famicom disks. It's very timing sensitive and doesn't work with all computers (especially newer ones or laptop computers), but still awesome nonetheless, if I had an FDS I'd build myself one of those cables in a pinch

[ericj]

if I had an FDS I'd build myself one of those cables in a pinch

OK, time for all of us to pitch in and get 133MHz a FDS so we can get this documented for the site.