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Disk Copy 6
Disk Copy 6 is a complete rewrite of Apple's earlier disk duplication software Disk Copy 4.2, which it obsoleted. It bears little resemblance to its earlier namesake other than it can mount and write to Disk Copy 4.2 format as an option if required. Disk Copy 6 now supported copying, creating, converting, and mounting Disk Copy 4.2 and NDIF disk images, adding support for AppleScript, log files, CRC-32 checksums, DiskScripts, and digital signatures. It is a very useful program for mounting disk and CD images in classic Mac OS environments. It works with .IMA, .IMG files, and others, and runs under Mac OS 7.0.1 to Mac OS 9.2.2.
- Top DL: Disk Copy 6.1.2; A milestone release for Disk Copy 6.x - New features include mounting images directly from an AppleShare 5.0 server, over an AppleTalk or TCP/IP connection. The Mount Image and Convert Image commands now include a "Skip" button during checksum verification. If Disk Copy 6.1.2 is in the foreground and a disk (floppy, CD, etc.) is inserted, the Create Image from Disk command will automatically start. Plus improved support for the Macintosh Application Environment. Updated April 3, 1997.
- 2nd DL: Disk Copy 6.2; Milestone release. Adds ability to create blank read-write images. Support for Macintosh Extended format volumes. Adds support for segmented images.
- 3rd DL: Disk Copy 6.3; Another milestone release. Introduces support for creating self-mounting images. Various improvements to AppleScript support. Fixed possible data loss issue when imaging a folder from an HFS+ volume. Imaging a folder with less than 32MB of data from an HFS+ volume results in an HFS formatted volume. Updated July 1, 1998.
- 4th DL: Disk Copy 6.3.3; This was the final officially supported, publicly released version of Disk Copy for the classic Mac OS 9. - Adds support for accessing disk images with the Macintosh Compatibility Application of Mac OS X Server. Added support for imaging and making floppies from certain USB floppy drives. Updated January 4, 1999.
- 5th DL: Disk Copy 6.4; This was an Apple internal release only. This version is able to mount and edit .dmg archives (unencrypted, uncompressed read/write images, only). — Requires a PPC Mac OS 8.5.1 or newer.
- 6th and 7th DL: Disk Copy 6.5b11 and b13; These are two non-released beta versions of Disk Copy 6.5.
These can access some uncompressed .dmg and .cdr formats. — Both require a PPC Mac OS 9.1 or newer.
- 8th DL: Disk Copy 6.3 Scripts; These add extra features to Disk Copy 6, such as disk image splitting of large Disk Copy image files into smaller chunks enabling disk spanning. Creating self mounting images (double click to mount disk images that don't require the presence of Disk Copy 6 itself). They are provided as working examples of how to use AppleScript to control Disk Copy.
- 9th DL: Disk Copy Command Module Plugins; CM plugins to enable right-click (or Option-click for one-button mouse users) mount disk images from a contextual menu. It will optionally verify the checksum of the image. It does not require the Disk Copy application to be present. It requires a Mac OS 8.1 or newer.
- Manual DL: Disk Copy 6.1.2 User's Guide (PDF). This Users Guide was intended for Disk Copy 6.1.2. It is still relevant to later versions of Disk Copy up to the final official release of the Disk Copy 6.x series for Classic Macintosh OS's.
Although the last official public release of Disk Copy for Mac OS 9 was version 6.3.3, there was to be a version 6.5 that supported OS X's UDIF image format. But because Apple had stopped support for OS 9 already, support for the old OS was eventually removed in favor of Mac OS X. As such the OS 9 version of 6.5 only ever made it to beta 13 before development on it stopped. There was also a developer version 6.4 that 6.5 was based on and had most of the same functionality, but as a developer version it was never released. Although version 6.4 and 6.5 will read DMG images when the system is booted into OS 9, they can only do so if the image is not compressed.
— Excerpt: Wikipedia article on Disk Copy
Disk Copy can support a large number of type of data programs, compressed and read-only images, as below:
- ShrinkWrap
- ShrinkWrap Self-Mounting
- ImageMaster
- Apple DiskCopy 4.2
- Early NDIF versions of DiskCopy 6.0.1 & 6.1
- Apple Disk Image Mounter
- Apple DART 1.5.1–1.5.3
- DiskMaker 1.3
- PC Exchange Drive Containers
- DropDisk 1.0b5
- DiskDup+
- Norton Floppier
- CPS FastCopy (uncompressed)
- Microsoft Disk Image Utility (.IMG)
- Winimage (.IMA)
See Also: Disk Copy 4.2
Similar products:
Copy II Mac
DART
DiskDup+
ImageMaster
MountImage
MungeImage 1.2.0
ShrinkWrap 2.1
ShrinkWrap 3.5.1
Compatibility
Architecture: 68k PPC
Some features are not available for earlier versions of the Mac OS. For example; creating Self Mounting Images (.smi) requires Disk Copy 6.3 and later & Mac OS 8.1 or later. However ".smi" images created by Disk Copy 6.3x can self-mount on Mac OS systems from System Software 7.0.1 to Mac OS 9.2.2 and without a copy of Disk Copy 6 being installed on that system.
Note: All versions of the Disk Copy 6 series up to and including version 6.3.3 are FAT encoded (both 68k & PPC native), and can be used by Macintoshes that are capable of running Mac OS's from 7.0.1 to 9.2.2.
— The unofficial 6.4 internal release requires a PPC Mac and Mac OS 8.5.1 or newer
— The 6.5x betas are PPC only, requiring Mac OS 9.1 or newer (and are incompatible with SheepShaver).
Comments
6.5b13's additional, optional ability to create more types of images (in this case, images bigger than 2 GB) or the app itself (not the images) being compatible with less systems doesn't mean "we should only be using version 6.3.3", nor that it is "the most stable and complete feature wise", though.
@SkyCapt
I can't comment on that. As in, I still don't know how much larger that is (1%, 5%, 400kb, 20mb), or what benefit (or lack thereof) the extra size provides. If you'd like to elaborate, that'd be interesting to learn more about.
As for creating images, I have created and used them just fine, so far. Though truth be told, I also prefer to use Mac OS X for image backups.
Or they just wanted not to hand out even more useful tools for a system they announced they dropped support for, so people would move on to Mac OS X quicker.
Of course, it also wouldn't appear in any "regular" OS release, because they don't release anything that didn't reach Gold Master status to an end-user, no matter if the software is perfectly stable or unstable.
After all the testing 6.5b13 went through by people over the years, it doesn't seem there's reason to be concerned about it more than 6.3.3. I think it's like MPW -- the final version was only distributed online (in a page meant only for developers) in late 2002, and it's a beta version, yet it doesn't seem to have any particular shortcomings compared to the last Gold Master version. In fact, it even addresses issues found in the GM version.
I think 6.3.3 is an important key version for being 68k-compatible and, for whatever it may be worth, a Gold Master version, but also that that paragraph in the description should be reworded or not be there at all, at least not without some explanation or reference. For instance, it could be replaced with a disclaimer like the following: "Note: As 6.3.3 was the last Gold Master version, we recommend its usage above the others, although no issues are known to exist in later versions."
As usual, just my 2 cents.
And there's the rub. DC 6.5b13's larger than 2GB archives are not compatible with classic Mac OS's below 9.1 (DC 6.5b13's OS limitation). DC 6.3.3 OTOH is compatible with both 68k and PPC in OS's from 7.0 to 9.2.2, but 2GB is it's limitation.
Description above only attributes ".cdr" to DC 6.5b13 - maybe if description was better honest and included its support for mounting ".toast" and ".iso" more people would take an interest.
I've been using b13 as a Can Opener for many years now, no trouble. I stopped short of using it to create images, using 6.3.3 instead, because I tested 6.5 would add a much larger wrapper bytes upon the images it created. Maybe it works good making images too, haven't tried.
I administer my OS9 collection from OS X Tiger and prefer an archive image created by OS X 10.3.8 or less (so that the master archives are created within a protective memory system unlike OS9) , and so that both Tiger and OS 9 DC 6.5b13 use the same one archive image files, files able to be any size I have 33GB images now. DC 6.3.3 is limited in image file size to 1or 2 GB, and from what I took in earlier I got that 6.5 won't build bigger than 2 GB images, it only reads those images.
It seems after Jobs held his "public funeral" for OS9 then it became against the law to further work on updates such as DC 6.5 even if the project was working well.
Dunno off hand. Perhaps the fact that Apple officially supported 6.3.3 from 1999 and included 6.3.3 on every OS release from then through to the final classic mode releases in 2005 or 6 is bit of a clue?
I always find myself taking notice of this statement when visiting this page:
The 2nd statement ("6.3.3 [...] most [...] complete feature wise") is simply false and that's no secret (more files can be mounted on 6.4 and 6.5b11 & b13), and I don't know of a single instance any version newer than 6.3.3 as being at all unstable in any way 6.3.3 is not, particularly 6.5b13 (I never used 6.4 or 6.5b11). Is there some known example to back up that point regarding stability?
Also, is there any known problem regarding using those newer versions as opposed to 6.3.3?
Never mind, you're right. My apologies for the modification. And thanks for your help & all clarifications. It's definitively a pleasure to work with you.
I don't know. But I did delete my Disk Copy Prefs before I tested another version. So maybe there's something in that.
Hi Mike and thank you. That's really strange because the options never occurs before in the dialog box until I use the version 6.3 & now it works with all versions. I've got a message that the preferences were updated. So may be the driver version is the cause ?
Hi Franky, I think maybe you were not trying with Disk Copy 4.2 image sizes 800K or 1.4MB, to have that not work for you in earlier versions at the time?
Never mind, it forced me to go and double-check and that's always a good thing
I added a screenshot from 6.1.2 above, which doesn't have issues with creating DC 4.2 images and amended the page info.
Ok. But I have already created Disk Copy 4.2 images with Disk Copy 6.3 & later, that I can't do with previous versions. Only mounting them is available, as I can see. I can then use the images with DC 4.2... Do you think Apple has fixed the problems with the version 6.3 may be ?
* Introduces support for creating self-mounting images - Yes
* Introduces support for creating Disk Copy 4.2 images (720k, 800k and 1,4 MB floppies) - No
Disk Copy 6.x had DC 4.2 support built-in before our earliest copy of version 6.1.2, above. But a reason for starting our archive at version 6.1.2, was because back in the day, Apple recommended not using earlier NDIF versions of Disk Copy 6.x for disk copying/creation. It's only from version 6.1.2 and onwards, do we get the Disk Copy 6.x (look & feel) that we're most familiar with:
The same limitations that affect Disk Copy 6.1.2 and later, affect .smi's created using Disk Copy 6.3 and later, i.e.; Requires SSW 7.0.1 or later and up to Mac OS 9.2.2
I have adjusted that paragraph above to remove the ambiguity.
It says here that although self-mounting images (.smi) can't be created with system software earlier than Mac OS 8.1, they can still be mounted in earlier System versions.
The question is: how early? System 2.1? System 6? Disk Copy itself won't work with anything earlier than SSW 7, but what about the .smi and other non-Disk-Copy-4.2-formatted images?
YW.
Yep, totally agreed with that. There is a lot of versions & multiples localised languages of it, so I think it is better that this page stay "light".
Thanks for creating a page for me for the french version, but I'm not sure to find others versions of it soon. I'm going to search for the version 6.0.1 & versions near that one. That's the most important. I'm afraid that will not be easy nevertheless.
[EDIT] Finally, I've found versions 6.2 & 6.3.2 on archive.org's website & uploaded them here. I let u rebuild the page with or without theses. They are on the bottom of the DL. I wonder if there is a version 6.0 NDIF officially, not like the Disk Copy 4.2 clone...
[EDIT2] I've found some useful compatibility informations about Disk Copy, so I've added them on the page...
@MacTouch; Thanks. I removed some items as the page is starting to bloat. I also removed the French copy*. I think that because of the incremental number of items that are already here. Other language specific versions could go into their own pages, e.g.; Disk Copy 6 [French], or Disk Copy 6 [German], etc. etc.;
That said, I did retain the 6.3 milestone and beta11 uploads.
I would like to see uploaded, the very earliest version copy distributed by Apple which I think was 6.0.1, but little else for now. Thanks again.
* I moved the French copy to it's own location under your name - its your upload
Please add other localized versions to it if you feel like it and update the page description as you see fit.
Hi there,
Sorry, I've just added some versions mentioned by mrdav & modified the page... I've found theses versions elsewhere from here. Of course, the page should be completed/modified at your convenience as I have no informations about them.
Hi mrdav. Yes, official Apple releases only - from Dev CD or Apple released CD's especially. We probably do not need them for day to day use or even all of the release versions. But I would like to see 6.0.1 here for historical reasons and 6.1.2 as that was a real milestone version release. The others, not so much as 6.3.3 is the most useful/stable version.
I can locate either of these easily enough, just haven't gotten around to it as yet.
Hi MTT. By "NDIF ...releases" do you mean disc images created by Apple? There are multiple copies of certain releases in the range 6.0.1 to 6.3.2 around, but I don't know of they are exact copies of the official releases.
E.G. in the following CD images that we have here:
MacHome CD Feb98:Apple Updates:Utilities Installers: Disk Copy 6.1.3.sea
Apple Club CD 2.0: Apple Software Updates:Macintosh:Utilities:Disk Copy 6.1.2
Inside Mac Games 1998: IMG 53 Vol 6-2:Essentials:Apple Software:Disk Copy 6.2
Macworld MacOS 8.5 Solution Pack: Software:Apple:Disk Copy 6.3
I also have copies of v. 6.3.1 and 6.3.2 from other sources.
However, do we really need these on this page when we have 6.3.3 ?
The page has been updated. What can be added to this page will be earlier official NDIF Apple Disk Copy 6 releases beginning 6.0.1 to 6.3.2, when located.
Wow. Had no idea. Yep, reconstruction is definitely a must. Sad part is this isn't he only page (in my opinion) the need to be redone; MacsBug didn't even have a description until I came upon it.
@3371-Alpha: I removed the uploads that came from the other Disk Copy 6 page - these are actually unrelated to any of Apple's Disk Copy 6.x released versions and are user-made, based on Disk Copy 4.2 (beta 5.0) code, despite their version numbering and assumed/made-up description on that page. You can read about it in this page. Scroll down the page to chapter beginning
In fact Disk Copy 4.2 and above screenshots should be unbundled from the above uploads and placed into it's own page (and credited to Steve Christensen, along with those unofficial Disk Copy uploads) as they are quite separate entities, just unfortunately sharing a common confusing naming scheme.
This page (and the other) is going to get a badly needed overhaul.
Added the downloads from the other (6.4/6.0) page to this one. You can delete the other if you like, It may have some useful info on it still though.
Example, mounting an ISO image using Disk Copy 6.3.3 vs 6.5b13. I assume in pre-OSX everyone's been using Toast, here's what happens (on SimpsonsVirtualSpringfield.ISO) :
Disk Copy 6 3.3
set file Type Code = "dimg", the PC partition mounts, no Mac.
set file Type Code = "devr", error -50.
Disk Copy 6.5b13
set file Type Code = "dimg", the PC partition mounts, no Mac.
set file Type Code = "devr", the Mac partition mounts.*
*as long as the PC partition is ejected first.
Disk Copy v6.5b13 can also mount some .cdr and/or .toast images, "GImg" was a Type Code for .toast iirc
So I know that it says that it doesn't work with emulators, (even though it does work for some) but is that software only? If I am using a hardware floppy drive emulator will it still work?
Here is interesting information on DMGs and DiskCopy 6.4/6.5, and HexEdit:
http://www.computing.net/answers/mac/mac-os-91-dmg/11562.html
Here is an interesting addition to DiskCopy 6.4/6.5: DMG mechanic; this is a life safer for Mac OS 9 when a DMG went through the net and is not exactly okay anymore:
http://www.lafty.com/archive.shtml
Tags are only on floppy disks. If you have folders, just stuff them.
Using Disk Copy 6.3.3 to image 400K and 800K disks WILL cause loss of tags.
Balrog: So does using 6.3.3 and saving in version 4.2 not save the tags then? And if this is the case, is there another disk duplicator that will image a folder and save with the tags needed for 400K & 800K disks?
Thanks, Balrog, for this comment.
@IIGS_User:
For floppy disks, Disk Copy 4.2 should always be used. It saves "tags" which Disk Copy 6.3.3 ignores.
This is only important with 400K and 800K disks. 1.44MB disks don't have tags to begin with.
Tags are extremely critical with Lisa disks. Lisa disk images without tags are useless.
Bottom, I wrote:
Addition: To do so, please select 720k, 800k, 1.4 MB capacity, if possible.
SheepShaver might run Mac OS versions which runs Disk Copy 6.3 best.
Mac OS 7.0.1 and newer will run Disk Copy 6.3
I can't re-produce this yet, but I think, after some use of the images, if something strong happens, they may get somewhat damaged, so far my experience.
It is also for images I created myself.
Edit :Replaced 'xxx 7' by 'Mac OS 7' - IIGS User
@Mike Garden:
Huh interesting. Though remember: only a real Mac can read 400 or 800K disks.
I recommend Disk Copy 4.2 (NOT 6.x) for imaging ALL 400/800K disks. This is because it stores data that newer utilities ignore.
@Balrog
Interesting; The only emulator of the "big 3" that Disk Copy 4.2 does not work for me is SheepShaver.
I thought that it didn't work in Basilisk II until I set a drive letter for the floppy drive in the Basilisk GUI, now Disk Copy 4.2 works fine in Basilisk II. In Mini vMac I have no problem running Disk Copy 4.2 either.
The SheepShaver, Basilisk II and Mini vMac I use are all Windows ports. Except for one SheepShaver I run on an Intel Mac.
My Basilisk II is the original Windows port by Lauri Pesonen (still the best IMHO).
My Mini vMac is the Mac-On-A-Stick variety
@IIGS_User:
You'll get that error if you mount Disk Copy 4.2 images with a variant of mini vMac that doesn't support sony-sum.
But, where are you getting this error? Is it for images you created yourself? Try restarting with extensions off and seeing what happens.
Tired about getting that Checksum error msg, I deselected this warning in the Disk Copy' Preferences,
Disk Copy mounts the same disk image fine.
But I know, I can't upload disk images which came along with this warning,
which will confuse other users...
Yeah, as has probably been said many times before, Disk Copy v6.4 and v6.5 handle uncompressed, unencrypted OSX Disk Utility disk images.
Last time I looked, DiskCopy 6.5b13 was included in this archive. And there's nothing beta-like about it. It works just fine.
6.4 is here, and it handles OS X images as well. I'd rather not use a beta if I don't have to.
I have 6.5.b11, and it seems to handle OSX produced images quite well... There should be a copy here somewhere, even just for emergencies?!
Disk Copy 4.2 really was made for copying disks on the original macs. You can't even mount images with it; there's a separate utility for that. It wasn't until later that DiskCopy became such a cool and easy-to-use all-around tool.
I never understand how to use 4.2, and I never used it daily, other than 6.3
Yeah, no kidding. I couldn't even figure out how to make a disk image in 4.2.
If someone wants to play something on a real machine, they'll just have to use a real floppy.
Yes, Disk Copy 4.2 probably history meanings, as Mini vMac simply can mount Disk Copy images created in Disk Copy 6.3 or even Mac OS X Hard Disk Utility, even if Mini vMac is not currently running an original system which can read these images natively.
For historical reasions only, if someone want to put these images into a real Mac Plus.
But let our site be devoted to emulated systems, where Disk Copy 6.3 images are not a problem for Mac OS versions earlier than 7.1.1, if simply dragged onto the Mini vMac app icon or Mini vMac window.
Also, Disk Copy 6.3 is much easier to handle than Disk Copy 4.2
Emulators can use whatever kinds of disk images their developers saw fit to include support for. On a real Macintosh, DiskCopy 6.3.3 requires Mac OS 7.1.1 minimum, so users of earlier systems have to use DiskCopy 4.2 and MountImage.
There's your history lesson for today.
Edit :Replaced 'xxx 7' by 'Mac OS 7' - IIGS User
What's the difference between Disk Copy 4.2 and 6.3 images? 6.3 images work fine for me all the way down to System 1.
Two more hints regarding Disk Copy and disk images:
If you create a .dmg image using Disk Utility in Mac OS X, it shouldn't be a problem to use .dmg files within a classic Mac OS emulator.
Such images just need to be re-initialized the first time when mounted in the emulator.
Second hint: If you use Disk Copy 6.3 to prepare a Mini vMac-capable game, set it's disk image file format to "Disk Copy 4.2", then stuff this image with Stuffit version 4.x, not a newer version of Stuffit.
This is the security way, at all.
I don't know how to create .img files using Mac OS X Hard Disk Utility,
so I'm creating all .img files within the emulator, including stuffing them.
Peoples running Mac OS X *should* create Disk images of older games this way.
Plus, it's preferred to create Disk images instead of stuff particular files inside a folder and then upload, because it's easier to add Disk images to emulators than moving over particular files.
I rarely use the feature, and archive everything in .img format. Nobody would ever remember to make the .dmg uncompressed anyway. It's just handy sometimes when trying to fix something somebody uploaded in the wrong format!
Thanks Attila, but I'd like to know if this is possible under Basilisk,
since the games in Basilisk run faster (better) than SheepShaver,
I know for people using Mac OS X, the .dmg files are not a problem, but as you know most of the software here is Pre-Mac OS X,
and when users make .dmg files (in the OS X environment )
out of games that were aimed at Classic OS (7-9) which can't handle .dmg's, it makes no sense.
so if this COPY DISK version can handle .dmg files under Basilisk Systems 7- 8
then I'll eat my words
DiskCopy 6.5 (requires 9.1) will open .dmg files if they are not compressed. There might be some other qualifications too, but I know if I make an uncompressed .dmg on my G3 iMac under OS 10.2.8 and then switch to 9.1, it can mount with DC 6.5. I've never tried it in classic mode or with an emulator.