Saving Programs And Data - RETRO The Spectrum User Manual

CHAPTER 11

Saving programs and data

The details presented in this chapter apply to firmware version 1.0.1 and above, see
Updating the firmware.
Much like the original ZX Spectrum, which allowed you to record programs onto magnetic
cassette tape so they could be loaded back again later, The Spectrum allows you to
do the same onto virtual cassette tape stored on a USB stick.
A virtual cassette tape is maintained as a writable .tap file on a USB stick. The Spectrum
will create a .tap file if it doesn't exist, and automatically create new files as required,
depending on what is being saved and in what sequence.
Saving normally happens in parallel to any tape files you have attached in Media Access
for loading. This way you can attach and load a game that is able to save game data,
and have that data automatically written onto a separate tape file at the appropriate time.
This avoids switching media frequently and allows you to save at any time, particularly
when you weren't aware that you would need to do so.
For example, with a USB stick inserted into The Spectrum, switch to Classic Mode
and run the following:
10 PRINT "Test"
Then save this simple program to USB stick with
SAVE "test"
If you have ZX Spectrum border size in Display options set to one or greater, you will
briefly see the border flashing with horizontal lines as the save proceeds.
Note: Saving takes much less time than on an original ZX Spectrum and the brief
border flash is a short visual confirmation that a save is occurring.
If you press the HOME button to enter the Options menu and select Media select,
you will see the file test_WR listed along with a TAP file icon. The _WR filename postfix
allows The Spectrum to identify that the file is writable, and is present in every .tap
The Spectrum creates during saving.
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