Backing up copy protected 5.25" floppy games

[ravenstein]

I'm wanting to backup some old games that are on 5.25" floppy discs. Some of the games, have copy protection on the disc, eg King's Quest.
I'm debating whether or not to make an image, including the copy protection or to remove the protection when I do the copy.

Can Winimage backup these type of discs completely and if so can it recreate the protection? Or should I be using other software to duplicate it?
I vaguely recall using programs like COPY II PC over a decade ago when my friends and I were making copies of these discs.

My main goal is to image the 5.25" floppies and store the images on DVD or hard drive.

Any recommendations would be cool.

[The Fifth Horseman]

As far as I know, WinImage makes an exact copy of the disc's binary contents. This should include the copy protection.

Just ccopy the floppies to images and see if the game can be ran from them. :)

[dosraider]

WinImage will indeed work fine for most of the games on 5.25", in those days the copy protection was not that fiendish as on modern CDs.

For some (rare, but there are those @#@#@# ...) you could try
Rawwrite (http://www.chrysocome.net/rawwrite), but I have to say that I never used that one with 5.25" floppies.

On the rare flops that didn't worked with WinImage I used
dd (http://www.chrysocome.net/dd), but that's not really user friendly.

Also keep in mind that probably something as 95% of those games games will work fine by simply copying the files in a folder.

Trial and error .... as always.

[Eagle of Fire]

This have nothing to do with Troubleshooting. Moving to technical...

[ravenstein]

Thanks all!

Yes, I believe most of my 5.25" floppies aren't protected. I think the ones that are would be alot of the classic Sierra games..King's Quest, Police Quest, etc.

Good tips on those other apps. I'll try those if I really have to.:thumbs: