File extension DMS
| File type | Disk Masher Image |
| Developer | N/A |
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What is a DMS file?
Files with the .DMS format contain compressed disc data images for Amiga computers, created using The Disk Mascher software, known as DMS. It was initially used on Amiga computers for archiving floppy disks. Currently, DMS files containing disc images can be used in Amiga emulators, such as Amiga Forever.
Program(s) that can open the .DMS file
Windows
Mac OS
More information about DMS file
DMS (DiskMasher) file extension is used by Amiga disk image files generated with The Disk Masher software tool. DMS file stores compressed disk image (usually floppy) for Amiga computers. DiskMasher is a copyright-protected format.
Technical information
While creating a DMS file the source disk is read block-by-block to maintain the data structure. The format natively supports compression and offers some copy protection solutions.
Problems with storing bit sequences
Unfortunately, DMS format has problems with storing some bit sequences due to errors in compression algorithm it uses. To address this issues different archiving methods were developed that employed alternative reading and compression solutions, such as xDM and XAD.
The past and present state
DMS format was originally used by Amiga computers for disk data archiving. DMS was very popular in the software pirate and demo scenes. Today, DMS files are used mostly by Amiga emulators (e.g. FidoNet) rather than Amiga computers.
How to open DMS files
If you cannot open the DMS file on your computer - there may be several reasons. The first and most important reason (the most common) is the lack of a suitable software that supports DMS among those that are installed on your device.
A very simple way to solve this problem is to find and download the appropriate application. The first part of the task has already been done – the software supporting the DMS file can be found in the table. Now just download and install the appropriate application.
Possible problems with the DMS format files
The inability to open and operate the DMS file does not necessarily mean that you do not have an appropriate software installed on your computer. There may be other problems that also block our ability to operate the Disk Masher Image file. Below is a list of possible problems.
- Corruption of a DMS file which is being opened
- Incorrect links to the DMS file in registry entries.
- Accidental deletion of the description of the DMS from the Windows registry
- Incomplete installation of an application that supports the DMS format
- The DMS file which is being opened is infected with an undesirable malware.
- The computer does not have enough hardware resources to cope with the opening of the DMS file.
- Drivers of equipment used by the computer to open a DMS file are out of date.
If you are sure that all of these reasons do not exist in your case (or have already been eliminated), the DMS file should operate with your programs without any problem. If the problem with the DMS file has not been solved, it may be due to the fact that in this case there is also another rare problem with the DMS file. In this case, the only you can do is to ask for assistance of a professional staff.
Similar extensions
| .adz | Amiga Emulator Compressed ADF Format |
| .aff | Advanced Forensics Format Disk Image |
| .ashdisc | Ashampoo Disk Image Format |
| .atr | Atari 8-bit Disk Image |
| .avhd | Microsoft Hyper-V Differencing Disk Format |
| .b5i | BlindWrite Image Format |
| .b5t | BlindWrite Image Format |
| .b6i | BlindWrite Image Format |
How to associate the file with an installed software?
If you want to associate a file with a new program (e.g. my-file.DMS) you have two ways to do it. The first and the easiest one is to right-click on the selected DMS file. From the drop-down menu select "Choose default program", then click "Browse" and find the desired program. The whole operation must be confirmed by clicking OK. The second and more difficult to do is associate the DMS file extension to the corresponding software in the Windows Registry.
Is there one way to open unknown files?
Many files contain only simple text data. It is possible that while opening unknown files (e.g. DMS) with a simple text editor like Windows Notepad will allow us to see some of the data encoded in the file. This method allows you to preview the contents of many files, but probably not in such a structure as a program dedicated to support them.