Sigma X3F to DNG conversion - suggested workflow?

Question

Now the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw 6.1 supports all Sigma cameras (DP1, DP1s, DP2, SD9,  SD10, SD14).
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html
Do I have to tick the linear DNG in options of Camera Raw 6.1 ?
Sigma/Foveon X3F images and DNG
http://www.barrypearson.co.uk/articles/dng/specification.htm#x3f
I'd like to know if ALL raw data is extracted from the X3F raw file for the conversion to DNG. So is it safe to store only the DNG file for the archive or should the original X3F raw data be embedded also in the converted DNG file?

Answer 1

Now the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw 6.1 supports all Sigma
cameras (DP1, DP1s, DP2, SD9,  SD10, SD14).
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/cameraraw.html
actually ACR was supporting them long before 6.1 - they just forgot to mention all models @ that web page...
I'd like to
know if ALL raw data is extracted from the X3F raw file for the
conversion to DNG.
Adobe DNG converter is known not to store all the raw data read off the sensor for some cameras during the conversion
for example : http://forums.adobe.com/message/1210138#1210138
says Gabor Shorr (author of Rawnalyze)  : "...Anyway, back to the "lost data": the DNG converter cuts off the masked  pixels from the K10 and K200 raw data (the Starist and the K100 do not  record masked pixels; I don't know the others). These pixels are at the  edge of the recorded image area, in these cases at the right and bottom  edge. That's how the data looks if these strips are not cut off:
http://www.panopeeper.com/Demo/MaskedPixels_PentaxK10_ISO100_a.GIF  ;
and up-close, with extreme contrast:
http://www.panopeeper.com/Demo/MaskedPixels_PentaxK10_ISO100_b.GIF  ; ..."
The same was confirmed for example for Pentax K20D and some Nikon cameras too...
so you can never be sure what Adobe DNG converter does and does not
you might ask if that data is important... well sometimes it is - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=34272518
"...they aren't completely useless as one can do several different things  with them, as follows:
1)  Use them to measure and back out Wide Band Vertical Patterns in the  K10D and K20D.
2)  Use them to tweak out the magenta to green tingeing from left to  right that the K10D has at high ISO's or for highly boosted as to  exposure and contrast images.
3)  Use them to eliminate the border tingeing of the K20D that occurs in  the same cases as the tingeing of the K10D above as is done using my  Raw Border Correction (RBC) utility for the K20D.
4)  Use them to measure and eliminate from the raw data the "Thin Green  Line" problem of the K-7 for some camera samples when the sensor got  warm had it not been fixed with a firmware update from Pentax.
5)  Possibly use them to determine a different method of black level  compensation for the K-x if necessary if conventional raw conversion  methods produce any Horizontal Pattern Noise (HPN).
Not entirely useless
Regards, GordonBGood..."
but Big Brother (that 'd be mr Knoll no less) thinks on your behalf what is useful and what is not...
so read below
So is it safe to store only the DNG file for the
archive or should the original X3F raw data be embedded also in the
converted DNG file?
http://forums.adobe.com/message/1210133#1210133
says Eric Chan of ACR team  : "...for archival purposes I recommend (and practice) safely storing the  original raw files in the form that they came off the camera, whether  they be DNG or non-DNG..."