exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

exxos wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:09 pm IS this a USB floppy drive ? they generally suck

rubber_jonnie wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:05 pm Based on the fact that that the drive supports 720KB and so does XP:

1. Are you using a 1.44MB floppy disk? If so the FDD media detect will prevent you from formatting at 720KB, so you either need to tape over the media detect hole before you can format, or get a 720KB floppy disk. I'd recommend the latter as 1.44MB floppies have a different media that requires stronger magnetic fields to work. It will work, but I wouldn't guarantee it.

2. Does the USB adapter on support 1.44MB? I think it unlikely, but worth a check.

3. Could be some sort of virtual device driver issue, since you're running a floppy on USB through a VM layer on Windows 10.

4. Since you have an Atari, can you format the disk as PC 720KB on that, and then try reading it on the USB floppy in XP? Again, you need to consider the media in use, and if you only have 1.44MB disks, tape over the media detect hole before using on the PC.

Annoying as it is, USB floppies are not a great solution for this sort of thing, since they don't use a 'real' floppy controller. Whilst Kryoflux is a great solution, it may be a bit expensive for your needs.

Have you considered something like a Gotek?

One potential solution is to use an emulator, such as Hatari, and set up a GEMDOS folder on your PC. This is a folder that the emulator sees as a hard drive, but the PC sees just as a folder.

You then copy your files to the GEMDOS folder and then Hatari can see them all. Then create .ST disk images in Hatari and copy the midi files there.

Then copy them to a USB stick, and you can use them with a Gotek.

Alternatively, you could get an Ultrasatan hard disk and format the SD card using PPeras HD driver. The partitions will be accessible under Windows and the Atari so you can transfer your files that way.

Hope that helps!!

Cosmic Puppet wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:44 pm

rubber_jonnie wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 12:05 pm Based on the fact that that the drive supports 720KB and so does XP:
...snip...

Alternatively, you could get an Ultrasatan hard disk and format the SD card using PPeras HD driver. The partitions will be accessible under Windows and the Atari so you can transfer your files that way.

Hope that helps!!

Thanks! It looks like I'm gonna go with this. They even have a beautiful clear acrylic version which will look rather nice too!

Cosmic Puppet wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:12 pm Has anyone else successfully installed all 14 drives on the Atari Desktop? The guy in the video only installed C and P so this issue didn't arise.

exxos wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:22 pm

Cosmic Puppet wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:12 pm Has anyone else successfully installed all 14 drives on the Atari Desktop? The guy in the video only installed C and P so this issue didn't arise.

C to P *is* 14 drives, so I'm not really sure what you are asking ? You should have no problem installing C-P in TOS. Have you tried HD10 instead ?

Cosmic Puppet wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:28 pm He clicked on C and then went to install and changed letter to P and another drive appeared making two. He then just gets on with showing you how you can transfer from PC.

exxos wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:40 pm

Cosmic Puppet wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2019 8:28 pm He clicked on C and then went to install and changed letter to P and another drive appeared making two. He then just gets on with showing you how you can transfer from PC.

He installed C: and D: drives.. that seems to be all really ? I don't see him doing anything with a drive P...

If you wanted drives C-P then you just do as he did by entering 511MB in C-P and partition it. Of course you need a 8GB SD card to do that.

EDIT:
I think on the PC it may show as drive P ? But I also think you can only have 1 partition which is PC compatible...