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After patiently waiting for the emulated computer to start, I was finally able to open the floppy disk-pretty exciting after hours of decoding, converting, and digging. The Hatari emulator is the next best thing to sitting down in front of a physical Atari ST computer. The software Aufit could analyze and convert the data to STX format for Atari ST. Aufit and Hatari are two pieces of software from the Atari and retro-computing community that also work well for Atari digital archives exploration and preservation.

The next step was to convert the MFM format disk image from the Kryoflux into a copy that would work on the Atari ST computer.

GEM was among the first graphical user interface (GUI) environments where users could point and click, explore drop-down menus, and view files as pictorial icons. The ICN format was for the GEM desktop environment created by Digital Research and used by the Atari ST computer. The archivist and digital preservation communities have worked to document file formats from computing history. Aha! It appeared to be some part of a football game. Then, to determine which was correct, I explored the MFM disk image directory to find 1987 programs (PRG), icons (ICN) files with football player names such as Quarterback and Tight End, and a 1985 assembly code file. Two formats-magnetic frequency modulation (MFM) and Commodore Business Machine group code recording (CBM-GCR)-produced successful disk image files. In my best investigative mode, I tested every format that the Kryoflux recognizes, because the disk year was unknown. I selected the disk image of a 3.5-inch floppy disk that read “Icon Editor” with no date and no brand name. Spanning decades, I recognized that the Atari floppy disks would include a variety of formats requiring digital detective work. (If you’re not familiar with the term “disk image,” it’s a computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume or an entire data storage device, such as a floppy disk.) Recently, I decided to dig into the Atari Coin-Op Division Corporate Records (1969–2002) from The Strong’s Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play. In some cases, the Kryoflux was a useful tool to capture old games and development materials but, with more than 1,500 floppy disk images in our holdings, there’s still much to be done. Reading a floppy disk in the 21st century was the first step necessary to preserve hundreds of floppy disks in The Strong’s archival collections. In 2018, The Strong embarked on a project to digitize floppy disks using a device called the Kryoflux to capture the data stored on 3.5- and 5.25-inch floppy disks.