ddc@druky.UUCP (Custer) (01/31/84)
I recently purchased some software that is copy protected. Does anybody have a way of backing up copy protected software on the apple. The software in question runs under the UCSD P-system. Thanks, David Custer (303) 538-3517 or (303) 457-4751 druky!ddc
dudek@utcsrgv.UUCP (Gregory Dudek) (02/07/84)
There seems to be a lot of software around for backing up "copy protected" software. As far as I know, no single systems works with everything, at least not easily. Locksmith seems to be the oldest and does indeed work, but entails the setting of obscure parameters (I haven't seen the new v5.1 yet, so maybe it is better). Unless you have the correct parameter setting for what you want to copy, or a LOT of time, forget it. [It tries a bunch of defaults automatically, but they rarely work with the "newer" software. Maybe this is simply because locksmith has been around so long that implementors have learned to circumvent it.] Super copy (v4.7 or so) seems to do very well without any manual intervention. I am not sure if it allows special settings for the real nasties. I have found "nibbles away (II)" to be very good. I have even seen special formatting disks which allow you to load the copy parameters for various programs. In addition, one can set the backup parameters via a menu. In all, this seems to be the most flexible and easy-to-use single program. On the other hand, if you don't have p-rameters for it, it too is not certain to work. It the software you want to backup uses nibble counts, it may prove very difficult to backup effectively regardless of what system you use. [This is a protection systems which determines the speed of the floppy drive used to make the recording and "knows" what the speed for the original was.] Greg Dudek P.S.: why bother anymore; don't most distributors provide a free replacement copy if the original fails anyhow? PPS: This stuff works with pascal diskettes too.