How does one write a .D64 image to a real floppy disk? (2024)

I was thinking... Now a days we do not copy our tapes and floppy disks anymore (to trade them in the school yard): we download from the internet. C64 software on the 'net is always in the form of .D64 floppy disk image files.

One of my friends wants to get his C64 from the attic (I advised him to get a new PSU at least).

How does one write those images to a real floppy disk?

As money needs spending anyway, I recommend an SD card reader for your 64, to more easily directly load them. Folks here use this (or something more sophisticated): https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332452251203

The only method I've used to copy disk images involves an old MS-DOS/Windows Me compatible PC, with a bi-directional parallel port and an XE-1541 adapter cable to the Commodore disk drive. Modern cartridges can do it all from within the 64 these days but from what I know, that will cost double the card reader's price.

I believe the BackBit cartridge can do this. I did just the opposite with it yesterday (ripped a disk to a d64 image).

https://store.backbit.io/product/backbit-c64-bundle-1/

And if you've some old laptop lying around, €10 will get the job done cheaply: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361509839142

If that's the route your buddy fancies then I can point you to the software and instructions.

And that's the catalogue! Though make sure the drive and disks are roadworthy first.

My favorite ways are ZoomFloppy + 1571 and use NIBTools. Or a ZF with a 1541 which is quite quick too.

An EasyFlash 3 is also a good alternative if you want to write a .D64 to a disk. It re-creates the missing syncs and formats the disk to the correct NAME and ID before it writes it out at fast serial speeds.

There are other methods too but those 2 are probably the fastest.

Commie_User wrote:And if you've some old laptop lying around, €10 will get the job done cheaply: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361509839142

If that's the route your buddy fancies then I can point you to the software and instructions.

And that's the catalogue! Though make sure the drive and disks are roadworthy first.

Thank you all for the info. I think that the method above, with a parallel to C64 cable, was originally the intended way to do it.

The X-type of cable combined with any old DOS / XP PC is really a good practical way to copy D64 to a real disk.

There is plenty to free software to do that and, really, just about anyone nowadays has an old PC collecting dust.

I personally use a Dell GX150 with WXP. The parallel port for a C1571 drive and the serial port to transfer ADFs (Amiga images). Also has an old floppy drive so I can make 3 1/5 disks from a D81.

With the same X-type of cable you can connect the C64 to the PC and use its hard disk as a storage device.

I know is not fancy, and the setup does not qualify as modern, but darn it, it works just fine.

MeneerJansen wrote:Thank you all for the info. I think that the method above, with a parallel to C64 cable, was originally the intended way to do it.

Well first you will need a PC floppy disk with Star Commander on it: https://sta.c64.org/sc.html

Then, if your PC has no DOS (or FAT format hard disk), a fresh boot floppy can be made when going here: https://www.allbootdisks.com/download/98.html

I don't remember if CD Rom drivers are included but they ought to be.

Then take a look at my own video from back in the day, for some general overview. The cable can also be used to dump TAP cassette images to a real tape again.

If you have an SD2IEC already, the cbmcmd software can write a .d64/.d71/.d81 to a real disk or create an image from a real disk. That's what I've used in the past.

https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/CBM-Command

Zippy Zapp wrote:My favorite ways are ZoomFloppy + 1571 and use NIBTools. (...)

This is what I use as well. I can write and read to disk with this as well. Note that people state there are certain disks that can't be read from it. However, I believe that number is pretty low. For all the 100s of disks I have. The only issue I ran into was the disk was to far gone to read. Also, with investing in head clear disks. I would say after every 5 to 10 disks I had (if even that) I was back cleaning the disk heads.

The above is for archiving your old software. For everyday use I, myself, like the 1541 Ultimate 2. Does really most things I want. However, there are other options that are lower costing, etc... Depends on what they want to do.

On a side note. Installing JiffyDOS really makes life a lot nicer. Taken 2+ minutes load down to multiple seconds.

I thought I would try CBMXfer, as I may be able to transfer floppies in Windows, or however. But I never got to discover, as upon installing I got this:

Brilliant. There may be an easy fix to this but these days, if something doesn't work straight out of the box then I'm not interested.

I'll have a crack at OpenCBM when Sourceforge lets me download.

Commie_User wrote:I thought I would try CBMXfer, as I may be able to transfer floppies in Windows, or however. But I never got to discover, as upon installing I got this:

Brilliant. There may be an easy fix to this but these days, if something doesn't work straight out of the box then I'm not interested.

I'll have a crack at OpenCBM when Sourceforge lets me download.

CBMXfer uses those command line tools and maybe he is not allowed to distribute them. It is a really easy to copy over the required files from VICE. You don't need the 1581 tool unless you plan on using a 1581 with it.