RIDE

RIDE or Real and Imaginary Disk Editor is a tool that enables you to manage floppy as well as image files of various retro platforms. In other words, the tool is for anyone who wants to learn or browse through obscure or obsolete platforms, such as MS-DOS for example, and have direct access to the filesystems.

The application is portable, so simply download, decompress and launch the executable. When opening the tool for the first time, it asks you if you want to access the FAQ section, which can come in handy for novices that did not manage similar tools before.

The interface is old-school and quite intuitive, as all you need to get started is open an image file. In case you are working with a physical disk, then don’t hesitate to check out the help. It is worth mentioning that the program automatically recognizes the DOS along with the disk format. As far as the functionality goes, it can read, write and format the supported disks. According to the developer, the app does not shield any information, so you can easily access the critical values.

As previously mentioned, the program mostly addresses obsolete platforms, such as ZX Spectrum, MDOS 2.0 and MS-DOS, for instance and hence, it does not work with the newer filesystems common to most computers. Moreover, the tool works with both physical floppy disks as well as images.

In case you want to learn more about it or perhaps are wondering how to perform certain actions, then you will be happy to learn that the app comes with extensive documentation that is likely to answer the vast majority of questions.

RIDE is a tool that can come in handy for anyone who wants to learn more about filesystems, especially since it makes data modification and recovery straightforward.