Transferring Disk Images

Serial Line Transfers:

The most common method of transferring disk images is through a serial line. To do this, you must connect your Apple to your PC with a serial line and null modem, then run one program on the Apple which reads data off the disk and sends it out over the serial line, and another program on the PC which collects data from the serial line and saves it to a disk image file. This system can be difficult to set up initially, but once it is working it is very fast and convenient.

Common programs for doing this work are ADT and ADTPro:

Apple Disk Transfer (ADT) - http://adt.berlios.de - runs natively on Windows, but is limited to transferring 5-1/4" disks.
Apple Disk Transfer ProDOS (ADTPro) - http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/connectionsserial.html - requires Java, but is capable of transferring all disk types and sizes.

Audio Transfers:

Apples with audio (cassette) jacks can transfer disk images via those ports through audio jacks on a PC. This method is considerably slower than using a serial line, but may be used if the Apple in question lacks a serial port, for example. Common programs for doing this work are ADTPro and Arme Leute Apple Disk Transfer:

Apple Disk Transfer ProDOS (ADTPro) - http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/connectionsaudio.html
Arme Leute Apple Disk Transfer (Poor Man's ADT) - http://seb.riot.org/appleII/aladt.sml

Ethernet Transfers:

Apples with an A2RetroSystems Uthernet card can transfer disk images via ADTPro:

Apple Disk Transfer ProDOS (ADTPro) - http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/configethernet.html

Modem Transfers:

If you have a modem and terminal program on both your Apple and PC, you can take advantage of that to transfer disks with very little initial setup. Here's what you do:

Run ShrinkIt! on the Apple to compress a disk image into a single archive file.
Transfer that file over the modem to your PC.
Run Nulib on the PC to uncompress the archive file. Nulib is available from ftp://public.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/utility/nulib.

Transferring Through 3.5" Disks:

One final way to transfer disk images is to copy the data onto a 3.5" disk, and then use a Macintosh to transfer the data from the 3.5" disk into a PC readable format. The advantage of this method is that it does not require a serial card or modem. However, it does involve a number of steps:

Run dsk2file on an Apple IIgs. This will read an entire 5 1/4" disk and save it as a single file on a 3.5" ProDOS disk.
Take the 3.5" disk to a Macintosh and copy the file using Apple File Exchange or the ProDOS File System Extension.
Format a high density 3.5" disk on a PC.
Take this 3.5" disk to the Macintosh and write the image file to it using Apple File Exchange or PC Exchange.