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16 posts
A write-minimized preservation workflow for floppy and hard-disk media using stable identity, raw images, checksums, read logs, and duplicate-image tests.
A preservation-focused guide to MAME CHD hunks, codecs, hashes, parent-child images, metadata, creation, verification, extraction, and version control.
A lawful optical-media preservation workflow covering drive choice, disc condition, raw sectors, audio, subchannels, retries, hashes, metadata, and repeat reads.
A provenance-first ROM audit workflow using hashes and DAT metadata, with immutable originals, header rules, set semantics, tool logs, and exception review.
How cartridge SRAM, flash, EEPROM, and RTC registers persist; how emulators serialize them; and why wall-clock policy, atomic writes, and testing matter.
Build an FPGA retro system with documented hardware, trusted firmware and cores, lawful content, safe power/video, tested saves, and reversible updates.
How Dolphin 5.0-12188 added RVZ in July 2020 to preserve complete GameCube and Wii disc data while achieving practical compression.
How to verify cartridge and disc dumps with hashes, DATs, repeatable acquisition, provenance, lossless masters, documented derivatives, and fixity audits.
How cartridge dumpers read ROM, mapper banks, save memory, and metadata—and how repeated reads, hashes, provenance, and safe handling establish confidence.
Run preserved historical software in your browser through archive.org's collections, check provenance metadata, and use emulated originals for research.
Official re-releases like Atari 50, Arcade Archives, subscription libraries, licensed mini consoles, and original hardware — legal paths to 1983-era games.
Run Navigator or Mosaic via oldweb.today, a period VM, or archive.org emulation — and pair them with Wayback captures for the real 1990s experience.
Image floppies at the flux level with Greaseweazle or KryoFlux, verify with checksums, follow 3-2-1 storage, and archive disks before they fade.
Plan around live demos like CHM's IBM 1401 and Bletchley's Colossus rebuild, mine oral history archives, and use collection databases remotely.
Organize lawful game dumps without losing provenance: verify hashes, preserve masters, track transformations, and build auditable metadata and artwork.
How MAME, DOSBox, libretro, reverse engineering, hardware research, and archival practice turned emulation into a preservation discipline.