External floppy drive options for STe?

[6BQ5]

What kind of external floppy drive options are available for the STe? Is there a possibility to add an external 1.44MB floppy drive that can create MS-DOS compatible floppies?

 

I'm not interested in modifying mt freshly acquired STe.

 

Thanks!

[ParanoidLittleMan]

If you are not interested in modding STE then it is not possible. It can handle only 720 K (DD) floppies.

Why creating MS-DOS c. floppies in 2019 ? Get USB floppy drive for PC ...

[dma]

Yes, as Peter said, with an USB floppy drive you can format 720KB floppies on PC, compatible with Atari ST(e).

 

Although it seems not all floppy drives can format 720KB disks these days, according to this S.O. thread?

-> https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/5733/formatting-a-720k-floppy-disk-over-usb-fails-with-windows-10

I guess you can read the floppy drive specification to see if it does, before buying it.

...but it seems some updates of Windows 10 make it problematic as well.

 

Also, when using a Windows PC (starting from XP i guess), the 720KB option is not directly available in right click format menu.

But you can force it with a command line:

format A: /T:80 /N:9

Edited January 5, 2019 by dma

[ParanoidLittleMan]

OP talked about 1.44 MB . And only that makes sense, since there is internal 720 K drive in STE, and there is Atari ST SW what can format MS DOS format 720 K .

[dma]

Indeed, i focused on the "MS-DOS compatible" aspect of the demand.

Thinking the point was file transfer between ST and PC.

[6BQ5]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Good info!

 

OK, so no 1.44 MB floppy drive for me. No big deal. Yes, I wanted to create MS-DOS floppies with the idea that I can transfer programs and games from my Win 10 PC.

 

I have a USB floppy drive from a local thrift store. It cost $2. But, I do not have any 720k floppies. Only 1.44 MB floppies. My shopping list gets bigger every day.

[dma]

Concerning HD/DD floppy types, there's the old trick of covering the "HD hole" on HD floppies, as discussed here: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=13318

Edited January 6, 2019 by dma

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Yes, covering will make it work. But that will be not much reliable - better using real DD (720 K) floppies.

And transferring to what ? Other floppy inserted in internal drive ? That can be problem with lot of SW, games. First is capacity of 720 KB. Many Atari SW, games are on 800 K format, or even more.

Maybe forget whole floppy bothering and get some HxC, Gotek, or better mass storage like UltraSatan. There is plenty of SW working from hard disk. And no need to open STE.

[dma]

UltraSatan (or previous SatanDisk) mass storage devices plug on the ST external ASCI port,
and are indeed great suggestions for someone willing to exchange files with a PC (these devices use SD Cards) without opening/modifying his computer.

 

But HxC or Gotek, as floppy hardware emulators, replace the ST internal floppy drive, and then require opening of the machine.

Edited January 6, 2019 by dma

[ParanoidLittleMan]

There are ways to use HxC and Gotek as external floppy. even in case of STFM (built in floppy drive), STE . But that would be then floppy B.

However, you must not replacing internal drive to make them A: - it is enough to replace cable with longer, and swap some lines for that.

Even may set that internal drive become B instead A: . Many people did exactly that. Because lot of SW must be started from drive A:

Yes, that's modifying, but really simple and small.

[jefffulton]

Concerning HD/DD floppy types, there's the old trick of covering the "HD hole" on HD floppies, as discussed here: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=13318

 

This works fine. You should use thin black tape (or any color that doesn't let much light through).

The ticker the tape the more likely that it will get stuck in the drive.

[David Hefner]

They are currently sold out, but if you're considering a Gotek, get one of these when they go back in stock: https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/36062

 

They attach between the existing floppy cable and the drive, and you can run the cables needed out the back of the machine for the display, rotary encoder switch and usb port. It allows you to swap the gotek and internal floppy A/B. Just put one in my Mega STE with an upgraded 1.44 floppy (easier to mod the Mega STE for 1.44 than the 1040STE), and it barely clears the metal support inside for the VME card slot. If I had the stock drive in that machine it wouldn't fit, but fits fine in all other format ST's (ST/STF/STFM/1040STE).

[bfollowell]

Get USB floppy drive for PC ...

 

Unless you guys have had a lot more luck than I have, I wouldn't put much faith in USB floppy drives. I've tried four different versions and had nothing but bad luck on my Windows 10 64-bit system. Most disks, disks that read good in other systems mind you, are lucky to read at all. Even in those instances, I've found it impossible to copy from/to these disks or to format one.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

 

Unless you guys have had a lot more luck than I have, I wouldn't put much faith in USB floppy drives. I've tried four different versions and had nothing but bad luck on my Windows 10 64-bit system. Most disks, disks that read good in other systems mind you, are lucky to read at all. Even in those instances, I've found it impossible to copy from/to these disks or to format one.

What I said in my first reply here - 'Get USB floppy drive' was just answer for "1.44MB floppy drive that can create MS-DOS compatible floppies" . But obviously that was wrongly formulated question at thread start.

Generally, floppy disks are now very old, new ones are not manufactured, so it may be really lot of unreliable work. And drives getting old too + quality of latest manufactured ones is really not good.

But there are special problems with USB drives - work only with strict DOS formats, so 9 sector/track with DD disks = 720 K - if supports at all that format. More chances are that will work only with HD and 18 sector/track = 1.44 MB . That's just not good for Atari, what uses for instance 800 KB (10 sec/tr) a lot.

[hunter44102]

I use an old Thinkpad with XP and USB Floppy (with 720K disks) if I ever want to move files to ST. works great. I also have Win7 machines.