No floppies! What now?

22dave66 · 29 May 2021, 17:00

Both of my Chinon FB354 floppy drives have finally given up but i don't really want to try and replace them after taking into consideration the cost and reliability of old drives. To be honest my only reason for using floppies at the moment is games, my grandson is into a retro game phase and i was looking forward to showing off the old Amiga stuff (although always hit and miss on an A3000!). I've had a look at that Gotek drive but i'm far too old school to understand what's going on there

I'd be interested to hear anyone's experiences or ideas for going floppy free. Cheers.

lesta_smsc · 29 May 2021, 17:21

Buy a Gotek if you don't want to flash. Just replace your current floppy disk drive with Gotek as you would normally connect any floppy disk drive. Put ADF on USB and select what disk you want using selector buttons on Gotek

Rissy · 29 May 2021, 19:44

Like advised above. The route to go is definitely a Gotek. You can then source all sorts of games files and literally plonk them on to a USB stick, and then that's what your Amiga will read from. A Gotek is simply a floppy drive emulator, which allows for the storage medium to be a modern USB stick in place of a magnetic floppy disk.

There's a small learning curver involved, but with a bit of patience and help here, you'll be away in no time at all, and wondered why you hadn't made the move sooner.

Two things to note right now. Goteks only read two types of files, so in a way, it's easy to get up and running because you know what you're aiming for.

.ADF (non writeable files. So these will be read only "disk images". i.e. games without any on "disk" saving functionality within the game.)
.HFE (Rev 3) (writeable files. i.e. games which want you to save your games on the "disk")
If you have anything else in a different file format, then you need to convert to one of these.
All of the above can be done on a modern PC/laptop.
If you want to copy all/any of your old disks and make them readable on your Gotek, then you're going down the road of wanting what's called a "Greaseweazle" setup, which is just a funny little fancy chip on a board affair, bridging the gap between a normal PC floppy drive and the USB port on your PC. Throw in some software to compliment the hardware, and you'll be copying your disks one at a time on to your PC/laptop harddrive, for both "backing them up", but also for then making them the correctly converted file type to then put on your USB stick for the Gotek.

I know all this sounds a bit daunting, but i've just literally finished the process of doing all of the above myself, and I'm glad i did.

If you wish to proceed, then just take it one stage at a time and ask any questions. That's why this forum exists! We don't all know it all.

Mikerochip · 30 May 2021, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rissy

Two things to note right now. Goteks only read two types of files

FlashFloppy and HxC read a *lot* more than two types of file formats, though.

Rissy · 30 May 2021, 17:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikerochip

FlashFloppy and HxC read a *lot* more than two types of file formats, though.

Really? which other ones? Everyone else is constantly saying it only works with the two types (for the Amiga at least, which is what we're discussing here)

22dave66 · 30 May 2021, 18:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rissy

I know all this sounds a bit daunting, but i've just literally finished the process of doing all of the above myself, and I'm glad i did.

If you wish to proceed, then just take it one stage at a time and ask any questions. That's why this forum exists! We don't all know it all.

Sounds good.... ok then some questions.

Is the Gotek designed for Amigas without hard drives?

What happens on power up?

Will i still be able to use the "Early Startup Screen" on an A3000?

What are the limitations (there must be some!), disk swapping or disk saving?

Can the adf's be accessed like a normal floppy from CLI or Workbench?

Jope · 30 May 2021, 20:39

It looks and acts just like a floppy drive, the Amiga doesn't know any different.

Rissy · 31 May 2021, 10:34

As i said above. A Gotek is a floppy drive emulator. It's emulating the functionality and presence of a floppy drive.
The Amiga doesn't know it's talking to a circuit board and a USB stick, it just acts like normal, and as long as you have the correct floppy disk image (.ADF or .HFE (Rev 3)) as the active image on the Gotek from which you want to load up/use; the Amiga just reads/writes from/to that as it would do if the original floppy disk containing that data was inserted into a floppy drive on the Amiga.

The easiest part is using the Gotek once it's installed. The more challenging part, is setting it up and setting up your USB stick content. It's not hard, it's just some thing which takes a bit of time. The more floppy images you want to have on your USB stick, the more time it takes to put them there in the first place.

29 May 2021, 17:00	#1
22dave66 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Hertfordshire, uk Posts: 16	No floppies! What now? Both of my Chinon FB354 floppy drives have finally given up but i don't really want to try and replace them after taking into consideration the cost and reliability of old drives. To be honest my only reason for using floppies at the moment is games, my grandson is into a retro game phase and i was looking forward to showing off the old Amiga stuff (although always hit and miss on an A3000!). I've had a look at that Gotek drive but i'm far too old school to understand what's going on there I'd be interested to hear anyone's experiences or ideas for going floppy free. Cheers.

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29 May 2021, 17:21	#2
lesta_smsc Registered User Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 3,173	Buy a Gotek if you don't want to flash. Just replace your current floppy disk drive with Gotek as you would normally connect any floppy disk drive. Put ADF on USB and select what disk you want using selector buttons on Gotek

29 May 2021, 19:44	#3
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	Like advised above. The route to go is definitely a Gotek. You can then source all sorts of games files and literally plonk them on to a USB stick, and then that's what your Amiga will read from. A Gotek is simply a floppy drive emulator, which allows for the storage medium to be a modern USB stick in place of a magnetic floppy disk. There's a small learning curver involved, but with a bit of patience and help here, you'll be away in no time at all, and wondered why you hadn't made the move sooner. Two things to note right now. Goteks only read two types of files, so in a way, it's easy to get up and running because you know what you're aiming for. .ADF (non writeable files. So these will be read only "disk images". i.e. games without any on "disk" saving functionality within the game.) .HFE (Rev 3) (writeable files. i.e. games which want you to save your games on the "disk") If you have anything else in a different file format, then you need to convert to one of these. All of the above can be done on a modern PC/laptop. If you want to copy all/any of your old disks and make them readable on your Gotek, then you're going down the road of wanting what's called a "Greaseweazle" setup, which is just a funny little fancy chip on a board affair, bridging the gap between a normal PC floppy drive and the USB port on your PC. Throw in some software to compliment the hardware, and you'll be copying your disks one at a time on to your PC/laptop harddrive, for both "backing them up", but also for then making them the correctly converted file type to then put on your USB stick for the Gotek. I know all this sounds a bit daunting, but i've just literally finished the process of doing all of the above myself, and I'm glad i did. If you wish to proceed, then just take it one stage at a time and ask any questions. That's why this forum exists! We don't all know it all.

30 May 2021, 20:39	#7
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	It looks and acts just like a floppy drive, the Amiga doesn't know any different.

31 May 2021, 10:34	#8
Rissy Registered User Join Date: Apr 2021 Location: Rugby UK Posts: 254	As i said above. A Gotek is a floppy drive emulator. It's emulating the functionality and presence of a floppy drive. The Amiga doesn't know it's talking to a circuit board and a USB stick, it just acts like normal, and as long as you have the correct floppy disk image (.ADF or .HFE (Rev 3)) as the active image on the Gotek from which you want to load up/use; the Amiga just reads/writes from/to that as it would do if the original floppy disk containing that data was inserted into a floppy drive on the Amiga. The easiest part is using the Gotek once it's installed. The more challenging part, is setting it up and setting up your USB stick content. It's not hard, it's just some thing which takes a bit of time. The more floppy images you want to have on your USB stick, the more time it takes to put them there in the first place.

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