Help with file archiving (on my Mediafire archive)

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2010, September 19 - 2:38pm

Temporary Joe

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Help with file archiving (on my Mediafire archive)

I'm building an abandonware archive on Mediafire (abandonware is a small section on my archive, it will have other stuff too) to focus on kid's software (mid-1990s, includes The Learning Co, Edmark, and Brøderbund) except I have a few problems. Specifically, I don't know what format to use for System 7-era computers and DOS. Obviously, a .toast and a segmented .sit will do poorly for System 7 computers and outright impossible for DOS. See, they're hybrid discs, and I don't know how to format it for all computers AND break it up so it will fit (as segmented sits may not work in System 7 or DOS).

Any help will be appreciated! Thanks!

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2010, September 19 - 3:00pm

Protocol 7

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You could always assume that whoever downloads the files is doing so on a machine significantly newer than the one the software is intended for. But segmented sit should work fine on System 7 if you use an old enough version of it. I'm sure I've used it in 6.0.8 with Stuffit Lite 1.5.

As for DOS, nobody is going to download from Mediafire in DOS, they'll have Windows, so they'll be able to extract the sit segments with Stuffit Expander for Windows and burn the toast with any burning software.

They hybrid end is straightforward enough. Use the Disc Copy option in Toast and select the CD drive containing the disc.

2010, September 19 - 3:36pm

Temporary Joe

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I think I had major problems with segments in StuffIt Expander 5.x in Basilisk. 7 did the trick, though: that was in OS 9/OS X, though.

Very well, then. I'll use .toast and SIT segments, then.

2010, September 19 - 4:56pm

bertyboy

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Test the Stuffit compression of toast images before you decide what to upload. Do it on a disc-by-disc basis. I've compressed many Toast images to find I get maybe a 1%-5% reduction in file size. Just not worth the effort then, and those downloading appreciate not having to have space for both all the SIT segments and the full disc image while they are putting them together again.

Some Toast images compress really well, others are a waste of time.

2010, September 19 - 7:32pm

Temporary Joe

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OK, I've stuffed a .toast, reducing it by around 200MB, leaving it still with 300-something MB. But how do I segment it? (like, as in .sit.1, .sit.2)

2010, September 19 - 7:58pm

Protocol 7

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Translate menu -> Segmenting -> Segment

2010, September 19 - 9:48pm

Temporary Joe

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Well, it appears I'll have to segment it through StuffIt Deluxe 5 on Basilisk II rather than StuffIt Standard 7 on the main MacBook. I tested it on a 5MB scanned image in my Pictures folder (MacBook). It seems to work. Thanks.

2010, September 20 - 12:57am

Temporary Joe

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Well, everything seems to be working except apparently Toast 6 Titanium doesn't work under Intel. Ah well...guess I can use the blue-line-plagued iMac G5.

2010, September 20 - 1:31am

Protocol 7

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You can copy them in OS X if you like. Use Disk Utility, select the drive and save it out as "CD/DVD Master". A .cdr is the same as .toast and .iso.

2010, September 20 - 5:12pm

#10

Temporary Joe

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Another thing that is potentially very troubling is that when I load it up on Mac OS X, the PC partition doesn't appear. This became especially obvious as the hybrid SimAnt came up labeled as "SimAnt Mac". It should've clued me in that there was no EXE in the CDs...

Luckily, I only made toasts of two CDs so far. However, the first CD that I uploaded (Theatrix Sampler CD) had a size of over 600MB, suggesting that it had indeed copied the PC partition. The second, Thinkin' Things Collection 1, had a normal size of about 120MB. A disk version for specific versions (say, a DOS compatible disk) had been released for the software back when it was originally released.

2010, September 20 - 6:12pm

#11

Balrog

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Joined: 2009 Apr 24

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@Temporary Joe:
Go to Disk Utility and manually mount it?