Home ► RIDE ► FAQs ► Answer

Why this application when there are other tools?

Applies to: RIDE 1.5.3 and later

The problems with current programs begin once you want to go beyond mere file import/export – because you either want to take more precise control over the filesystem or you stumble upon a filesystem that is corrupt (and want to know why). To be successfull, you typically would need more specialized tools, like a dumping tool, filing tool, hexa-editor, and track magnetic visualizer. The problem is that these tools don't communicate with each other to facilitate access to the disk. For instance, if you import a file by one tool, you would need to find its data (or directory entry) manually using another tool. Or, if you find a bad sector, you would like to peek into the underlying magnetic record to know what causes it to be bad. The Real and Imaginary Disk Editor (or RIDE, in short) attempts to eliminate this necessity to have multiple incooperative tools by providing solutions for dealing with data (in virtually any state of corruption) stored on a medium. The other benefits of this application are:

• It attempts to bridge the gap between classical "import/export application" and a data recovery tool in the realm of free software.
• It supports various real devices connected locally, such as KryoFlux or Greaseweazle.
• It can serve as a disk archivation tool by saving exact magnetic fluxes as they are obtained from supported devices, such as KryoFlux Streams, so much cherished by various global archives like the Software Preservation Society or the Total DOS Collection.
• It facilitates creation of disk images for emulation purposes by normalizing magnetic fluxes to nominal values (revolution time, jitter, count of bits, etc.).
• It automatically recognizes the disk operating system (DOS) and corresponding disk format without user's intervention (though the user may step in). Just insert the disk, access it via RIDE and immediatelly work with the files.
• It doesn't attempt to shield you from any information available in a given filesystem – even critical values are at your disposal (look for Advanced sections; if you mess them up, then unfortunately you fix them).
• It allows you to browse (archivation) and edit (emulation, recovery, authoring) all recognized sectors.
• It supports high-DPI screens in Windows (no blurring).
• It is portable, has minimal system requirements, and doesn't depend on third-party libraries – Windows native libraries is all that you need (my oldest testing environment is thus a 1990's desktop with MMX processor, 80 MB RAM, and running Windows XP).
• It has always pre-compiled binaries on GitHub in the Releases section.
• It can run in Linux.