Would not the best way to scan a deteriorating? floppy disks is with a magnetic flux measuring tool that flies very close to surface of floppy , but not touching the floppy. Recording the analogue signal, generated a require a big storage space .....
That's what people do with tools like Kryoflux; the head of a floppy drive doesn't touch the disk, it floats above it and picks up the magnetic flux. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxsRpMdmlGo covers a lot of it.
Yep. I have a Greaseweazle and a Central Point Copy II PC Deluxe Option Board (and regular). Greaseweazle is largely the way to go. It's important to use the highest-fidelity method on the best FDD with the highest SNR because using a floppy disk causes wear to the media. Age also plays a factor.
I also have TEAC (2.88M, 1.44M, 1.2M, 720K, 360K, and SCSI versions), Sony, and various other FDDs.
If you already have a logic analyzer, are interested in the details, and maybe are facing a tricky disk with physical damage or creative copy protection, TFA may be helpful. If you just need to read disks without hassle and expense, a Greaseweasle or another adapter us likely a more suitable choice.
I would suggest as the starting point to look at sigrok's supported hardware table[0].
I personally own a bunch of the cheap 8ch 24Msps saleae clones, which are typically below $10. I would recommend the one from muselab as it has open sourced its design.
The next step, the DSLogic, of which I have a 200Msps 16ch model.
Then there's the (several) formats of tracks and sectors, which are left out of scope.
Mature open-source alternatives include GreaseWeazle[0] and FluxEngine[1].
They are also cheap and effective, based on off-the-shelf parts.
0. https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle/wiki
1. https://cowlark.com/fluxengine/index.html
https://www.saleae.com/products/saleae-logic-pro-16
A Greaseweazle costs like $35.
That being said, it's always fun to hack around using the tools you have lying around. Put money already spent to good use.
I also have TEAC (2.88M, 1.44M, 1.2M, 720K, 360K, and SCSI versions), Sony, and various other FDDs.
I personally own a bunch of the cheap 8ch 24Msps saleae clones, which are typically below $10. I would recommend the one from muselab as it has open sourced its design.
The next step, the DSLogic, of which I have a 200Msps 16ch model.
0. https://sigrok.org/wiki/Supported_hardware
The original Saleae, USBee AX, etc. are basically the Cypress FX2 reference design.
https://hackaday.com/2022/07/07/pico-makes-capable-logic-ana...
or maybe $1 with free shipping?
https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and...