3.5" Floppy to USB conversion hardware
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I have some old manufacturing equipment that has 3.5" floppy drives. I am wanting to replace the floppy drives with something else like a USB stick. I must use the FDD interface because of the limitations of the equipment. Are there any available products already available? If possible, I would like to access the storage over a network connection also.
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I have some old manufacturing equipment that has 3.5" floppy drives. I am wanting to replace the floppy drives with something else like a USB stick. I must use the FDD interface because of the limitations of the equipment. Are there any available products already available? If possible, I would like to access the storage over a network connection also.
What do you know about the hardware/software in question? Do you need read/write access, or would read-only be sufficient? There exist SmartMedia-to-floppy interfaces which allow a SmartMedia card to be used as a very large (but still slow) floppy disk, but those unfortunately require the installation of special drivers. If you need something that physically looks to the rest of the system like a 3.5" drive, I would expect such a thing could probably be constructed with a small microcontroller, a CPLD, a flash chip, and some buttons and a display to switch disks. Sounds like that would be an interesting project; not particularly difficult, but I don't know if anyone's done it.
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What do you know about the hardware/software in question? Do you need read/write access, or would read-only be sufficient? There exist SmartMedia-to-floppy interfaces which allow a SmartMedia card to be used as a very large (but still slow) floppy disk, but those unfortunately require the installation of special drivers. If you need something that physically looks to the rest of the system like a 3.5" drive, I would expect such a thing could probably be constructed with a small microcontroller, a CPLD, a flash chip, and some buttons and a display to switch disks. Sounds like that would be an interesting project; not particularly difficult, but I don't know if anyone's done it.
It has to look like a floppy to the controller. Also, need both write and read. I have found something that might work... http://www.plrelectronics.com/floppy_to_usb.php[^] Thanks for the reply.
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It has to look like a floppy to the controller. Also, need both write and read. I have found something that might work... http://www.plrelectronics.com/floppy_to_usb.php[^] Thanks for the reply.
That device looks interesting. I'm a little curious, though, how it would work with devices that don't use a DOS-compatible file system. Something like an Ensoniq DSK just has three sample-storage areas per disk; push 1, 2, or 3 to select the area to save/load. It's conceivable that it might use a file system, but I think it's far more likely that it just reads a fixed range of tracks based upon the button selected.
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That device looks interesting. I'm a little curious, though, how it would work with devices that don't use a DOS-compatible file system. Something like an Ensoniq DSK just has three sample-storage areas per disk; push 1, 2, or 3 to select the area to save/load. It's conceivable that it might use a file system, but I think it's far more likely that it just reads a fixed range of tracks based upon the button selected.
If it's being honest about working almost anywhere I'd assume it emulates the device at a very low level... *IF*
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
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That device looks interesting. I'm a little curious, though, how it would work with devices that don't use a DOS-compatible file system. Something like an Ensoniq DSK just has three sample-storage areas per disk; push 1, 2, or 3 to select the area to save/load. It's conceivable that it might use a file system, but I think it's far more likely that it just reads a fixed range of tracks based upon the button selected.
The file format used by the equipment is FAT. The disks written by the equipment can be read on a PC and vice versa. The equipment can format a disk and then be used with a PC.
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I have some old manufacturing equipment that has 3.5" floppy drives. I am wanting to replace the floppy drives with something else like a USB stick. I must use the FDD interface because of the limitations of the equipment. Are there any available products already available? If possible, I would like to access the storage over a network connection also.
What is a floppy drive?
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I have some old manufacturing equipment that has 3.5" floppy drives. I am wanting to replace the floppy drives with something else like a USB stick. I must use the FDD interface because of the limitations of the equipment. Are there any available products already available? If possible, I would like to access the storage over a network connection also.
Hi Guys Just had this done. The floppy to usb converter is now available foronly 50USD+freight and can be shipped to any part of world. Its compatible with 1.44 mb floppy format and works fine in CNC / Knitting/weaving/Embroidery/ Yamaha Keyboards/Korg Keyboards and several otrher machines . If anyone needs the converter pls mail me at vishal@keindia.com or info@floppytousb.net for more details about unit please visit floppytousb.net Regards Vishal.