How to preserve software in file images

[ironborn65]

When I find a Mac, I can often find data and apps in it.
Sometimes I even find personal information, emails, documents, pictures (starting from the G3/G4) ... I'm used to recover the data to send it to the owner when possible, then in any case I remove the personal information. People are not taking care of the personal data the leave in their old pcs.
At the end I am left with the software I want to preserve:

This is the procedure I use to create images to preserve software:
I boot from external SCSI2SD.
I create a non compressed image file of the entire hard drive, with Disk Copy 6.3.2 and I save it in the SD in the SCSI2SD card.
I move to modern MacOS where I retrieve the (large) SD image using dd and I copy it in a storage area.
I attach the image to BasiliskII and then I mount the original hard drive image I find inside.
I copy the disk drive image in my storage area, in this way the image is as large as the drive, not as the SD card.
Then I start creating a compressed read-only image for every Folder that contains an application that deserves to be preserved.
I finally delete the large SD card image,.

I understand this is not enough if the application has been installed, especially if extensions are present in the system folder, for this reason I tend not to delete the original hard disk image captured,

Using BlueSCSI or ZuluSCSI should be easier because I could drag&drop images without using dd.

Any advice about this procedure?

PS: in case someone thinks asking for the images I captured: I never (yet) uploaded images in Macintosh Garden, any advice are welcome on this matter as well.
thanks

 

[Phipli]

When I find a Mac, I can often find data and apps in it.
Sometimes I even find personal information, emails, documents, pictures (starting from the G3/G4) ... I'm used to recover the data to send it to the owner when possible, then in any case I remove the personal information. People are not taking care of the personal data the leave in their old pcs.
At the end I am left with the software I want to preserve:

This is the procedure I use to create images to preserve software:
I boot from external SCSI2SD.
I create a non compressed image file of the entire hard drive, with Disk Copy 6.3.2 and I save it in the SD in the SCSI2SD card.
I move to modern MacOS where I retrieve the (large) SD image using dd and I copy it in a storage area.
I attach the image to BasiliskII and then I mount the original hard drive image I find inside.
I copy the disk drive image in my storage area, in this way the image is as large as the drive, not as the SD card.
Then I start creating a compressed read-only image for every Folder that contains an application that deserves to be preserved.
I finally delete the large SD card image,.

I understand this is not enough if the application has been installed, especially if extensions are present in the system folder, for this reason I tend not to delete the original hard disk image captured,

Using BlueSCSI or ZuluSCSI should be easier because I could drag&drop images without using dd.

Any advice about this procedure?

PS: in case someone thinks asking for the images I captured: I never (yet) uploaded images in Macintosh Garden, any advice are welcome on this matter as well.
thanks

Take care when uploading images. If you make a raw image it contains all the deleted files that haven't been overwritten yet. Deleting something on an old mac just deletes the directory entry and doesn't overwrite the data.

Don't forget fonts, with some software there are critical fonts.

 

[Juror22]

...also don't forget that there were viruses and other malware that existed back in the day and that 'treasure trove' may contain something infectious. If you don't already do it, you may want to add in a step for scanning the original material, before you bring it onboard. I actually have saved a few infected floppy disks (clearly marked) where I have archived copies of a couple old viruses that I found. I would like to make some time to study their code, someday.

 

[Mk.558]

A much easier method is to make a Network Access disk that you can boot into and just shuffle everything over LocalTalk.

CMN - More Info

 

[Nixontheknight]

...also don't forget that there were viruses and other malware that existed back in the day and that 'treasure trove' may contain something infectious. If you don't already do it, you may want to add in a step for scanning the original material, before you bring it onboard. I actually have saved a few infected floppy disks (clearly marked) where I have archived copies of a couple old viruses that I found. I would like to make some time to study their code, someday.

I hope the viruses are on goat files, or at least on programs that have been archived virus free

 

[Juror22]

I hope the viruses are on goat files, or at least on programs that have been archived virus free

Good call - I do have virus-free versions of the files as well.