I have some data backed up on floppy disks (both 3.5" and 5.25") using old backup programs like Norton Backup, Fastback, and I think the other one was Central Point. Has anyone ever tried to recover data from these types of backups? I don't have the old programs that created the backups. I probably have an old dos machine, or can run DOSBox, but I believe you need the programs that created the backups in order to restore. I might be wrong on that, though?ÿ
I did google this, and there is some info on the actual formats, etc, but I couldn't find anywhere that actually has copies of the programs used.?ÿ
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I do believe that you would have to have the original back up programs, most of them had proprietary coding and file extensions.?ÿ
One of the first problems may be the disk formats. I've had trouble reading old 3.5 inch disks on modern machines.
If you have something that can read files bitwise, you may be able to get the data out that way. The old IBM BasicA would do that and a system called Liberty Basic would a few years ago. I'm fresh out of computers with that old software, but there are undoubtedly many modern languages that have such commands. Exploring concepts such as Big Endian and Little Endian can make for a great?ÿweek-end in nerdland .
I've done that with Esri shapefiles within the last 10 years and tons of propriety files that physicians wanted to use to identify patient prospects for clinical trials back in the late 90s. Nowadays there's software that reads shapefiles and doctors are using impenetrable software with enormous reporting capabilities, so the skill is wasted.
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