A: Yes. This can be done both at the file system level
(e.g. if Windows can read the file system used on the medium),
or at the device level (in which case the Amiga operating system running in the
emulation environment accesses the data).
If the disk was formatted using the DOS file system, the PC
can read it directly. The commercial CrossDOS software and
the free distribution fat95 and XFS programs (available on Aminet)
support Windows 95 long file names on the Amiga. MSH is also a reliable program, but does not yet
handle long file names. If the disk was formatted using the Mac file system (e.g. with CrossMAC), then a Mac
file system is required on the PC (e.g. MacDrive).
If the disk was formatted using the Amiga file system, then
an Amiga file system is required on the PC. An Amiga file system is not available for Windows at this time, however Bill
Hawes (of ARexx fame) created an Amiga file system kernel module
which is included with most GNU/Linux distributions. If you install GNU/Linux on one of your PC partitions, once you boot from there you
will be able to drag-and-drop the files directly from your Amiga
drive to your Windows drive. This is a one-time transfer which
does not require any additional software (as long as the Amiga
file system is included with the GNU/Linux version you will be
using). After the transfer, the files can be used by the emulation
under Windows.
Another possibility to access Amiga-formatted data is for the
Amiga emulation to directly access the device on the PC. In the Windows
version of the UAE emulation software (WinUAE) this is done by
selecting the device under Add Harddrive in the Hard Drives tab of
the emulation settings. Once the device is mounted in this way,
the Amiga operating system will see it. Since the Amiga
operating system obviously supports
the Amiga file system, it will be able to access the data.
Mounting block-type devices in the emulation is supported on
Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and newer versions
of Windows (excluding Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me).
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