How to Use
You will see all connected serial devices in the drop down menu. If you don't see your device, confirm that you have installed the driver, restarted your computer, and connected the device.
If the device is MSR206-compatible, you should see the model number and firmware listed on this page.
The "Restart Device" button is useful in case the device seems frozen or unresponsive.
Depending on your device you will be able to read up to 3 tracks on the magnetic device. Simply press the "Read" button and swipe your card on the device. You may need to modify the settings as described below to read certain cards.
The Bits Per Character defines the encoding scheme used for each track. Usually track 1 is 7 BPC (6-bit plus parity) and tracks 2 and 3 are 5 BPC (4-bit plus parity).
The Bits Per Inch defines the amount of bits in one inch of magnetic tape. Generally, track 1 is 210 BPI for a total of 79 available characters at 7 BPC; track 2 is 75 BPI, holding 40 characters at 5 BPC; track 3 is 210 BPI, holding 107 characters at 5 BPC.
Most MSR206-compatible devices allow reading/writing in either ISO-mode or "Raw"-mode. In ISO-mode, the card data is decoded by the device using the standard BPC and BPI values and the standard start and end sentinels (i.e. the special characters that define the start and end of each track) defined by ISO 7811.
In "Raw"-mode, the device sends the raw bytes to the program, which then decodes the bytes using the user-specified BPC.
The ASCII setting displays the track data as a textual string using UTF-8 encoding (e.g. "ABC123"). The Hex setting displays the bytes of the track data as hex value (e.g. "41 42 43 31 32 33").
Depending on your device you will be able to write up to 3 tracks using the magnetic device. Simply enter the data you wish to write, then press the "Write" button and swipe your card on the device. You may need to modify the settings as described below to write certain data.
**Note that writing blank data does not necessarily delete the existing data on the card. To erase a track, use the "Erase" feature.
You can specify the "Leading Zeros" for each track. Usually, track 1 and 3 is 61 and track 2 is 22.
The Bits Per Character defines the encoding scheme used for each track. Usually track 1 is 7 BPC (6-bit plus parity) and tracks 2 and 3 are 5 BPC (4-bit plus parity).
The Bits Per Inch defines the amount of bits in one inch of magnetic tape. Generally, track 1 is 210 BPI for a total of 79 available characters at 7 BPC; track 2 is 75 BPI, holding 40 characters at 5 BPC; track 3 is 210 BPI, holding 107 characters at 5 BPC.
Most MSR206-compatible devices allow reading/writing in either ISO-mode or "Raw"-mode. In ISO-mode, the card data is encoded by the device using the standard BPC and BPI values and the standard start and end sentinels (i.e. the special characters that define the start and end of each track) defined by ISO 7811. There is no need to specify the start/end sentinel characters (e.g. ";" or "%").
In "Raw"-mode, the program encrypts the data using the user-specified BPC and sends the raw bytes to the device.
The ASCII setting allows you to type a textual string to send to the device (e.g. "ABC123"). The Hex setting allows you to specify the bytes of the track data as hex value (e.g. "41 42 43 31 32 33").
You can specify the coercivity with which the device will write. Some cards require a higher amount of energy (coercivity) to toggle the magnetism of the stripe. These are called "High Coercivity" or "Hi-Co" cards. "Low Coercivity" or "Lo-Co" cards are often cheaper, but are more easy de-magnitized by general usage (especially when near other magnetic cards or fields.
The Duplicate function allows you to swipe one card to read its data, then swipe another card to write that data.
You can specify the "Leading Zeros" for each track. Usually, track 1 and 3 is 61 and track 2 is 22.
The Bits Per Character defines the encoding scheme used for each track. Usually track 1 is 7 BPC (6-bit plus parity) and tracks 2 and 3 are 5 BPC (4-bit plus parity).
The Bits Per Inch defines the amount of bits in one inch of magnetic tape. Generally, track 1 is 210 BPI for a total of 79 available characters at 7 BPC; track 2 is 75 BPI, holding 40 characters at 5 BPC; track 3 is 210 BPI, holding 107 characters at 5 BPC.
Most MSR206-compatible devices allow reading/writing in either ISO-mode or "Raw"-mode. In ISO-mode, the card data is encoded by the device using the standard BPC and BPI values and the standard start and end sentinels (i.e. the special characters that define the start and end of each track) defined by ISO 7811. There is no need to specify the start/end sentinel characters (e.g. ";" or "%").
In "Raw"-mode, the program encrypts the data using the user-specified BPC and sends the raw bytes to the device.
You can specify the coercivity with which the device will write. Some cards require a higher amount of energy (coercivity) to toggle the magnetism of the stripe. These are called "High Coercivity" or "Hi-Co" cards. "Low Coercivity" or "Lo-Co" cards are often cheaper, but are more easy de-magnitized by general usage (especially when near other magnetic cards or fields.
The "Compare" feature allows you to scan two cards to see the raw data on each card's track and whether the data is identical. Simply press the "Compare" button and scan the first card then the second card.
The "Erase" feature allows you to select and erase up to 3 tracks on a magnetic card (depending on the capabilities of the device).