[Coco] Carey's CoCo Floppy Conversion Effort

[Andrew]

All, Carey, Tim:

I have completed the survey of the DECB subset (207 floppies) of the 
full set of CoCo floppies (around 280). The recovery statistics for the 
data is as follows:

--------------------------------
Recovery Statistics For DECB Set
--------------------------------

Total Number (#) of Disks: 207
Total Number (#) of Sides: 414

         # out of Total   % of
Type   	Disks	 Sides  Total
-------	-----    -----  -----
Good    177.5      355     86

Unread:  29.5       59     14

    DNR:  24.5       49     12
  BLANK:   3.5        7      1*
  FUBAR:   1.5        3      1*

* NOTE - Due to rounding errors, these percentages are not accurate

---

To convert these floppies, I utilized the DOS RETRIEVE.EXE to create 
both 35 track and 40 track disk images (DSK format), depending on the 
format of the original floppy. Many were converted straight off the 
original floppy. Others, which couldn't be read in this method, were 
converted by first backing up the original to a new/old stock floppy 
using my Color Computer 3 floppy drive system using the BACKUP command 
and other methods. This new floppy could then be read by RETRIEVE.

In this way, I ended up with nearly a 90 percent recovery rate. This 
number, however, is deceptive. The above totals for unreadable floppies 
include both floppy sides which couldn't be read at all (by anything I 
have, that is), as well as floppy sides which were blank. Only 3 floppy 
sides actually appeared to contain readable data (usually in the form of 
a readable directory), but couldn't be read or backed up (these I intend 
to forward on to you, Tim, once I am completed with my end of this 
project in total).

If you only factor in the truely difficult-to-read floppy sides, and 
factor out those which had errors or were blank, you end up with a 
different picture:

--------------------------------
Recovery Statistics For DECB Set
--------------------------------

Total Number (#) of Disks: 179 (358 / 2)
Total Number (#) of Sides: 358 (414 - 56)

         # out of Total   % of
Type   	Disks	 Sides  Total
-------	-----    -----  -----
Good    177.5      355     99

Unread:   1.5        3      1

  FUBAR:   1.5        3      1

---

One could say the first chart is of "total number of floppies", while 
the second chart above is of "total number of floppies containing 
readable data".

During this recovery process, I have come across many interesting 
applications, games, and other software. I am certain that the OS-9 
subset will be no different. However, at this point, I cannot release 
any of the images. I will only make them available once I have 
everything completed (in addition to the images of the OS-9 set, I need 
to do some scans of certain disks and envelopes themselves, as well as 
of some manuals and other interesting things in this archive). There has 
also been talk about a review process for the images (Carey, Tim: Let's 
remember to discuss this later, ok?).

Thank you,

Andrew L. Ayers
Glendale, Arizona