GoTEK SFR1M44-U100 3.5 Inch 1.44MB USB SSD Floppy Drive Emulator Grey

Performance is overall really good in comparison to using a floppy drive connected to a floppy 34-pin cable/controller.For example, using Microsoft Windows 98 with the Gotek multiple floppy disk images and a Flashfloppy FF.CFG file with host defined (host=pc98), wait times are within seconds, versus the default minute for floppy disk detection times!Opting for Flashfloppy firmware rather than the default Gotek firmware, is not a simple task, however is relatively still somewhat easy while noticing several sporadic documentation omitted instructions . (eg. Specific enumerated jumper pins for programming mode; Formatting adding at least one FAT32 partition, rather than formatting entire flash device FAT32; Documenting all flashing methods of the Artey AT32F415 chip, just use simple USB-A to USB-A cable DFU flash/upload method; And initially add floppy images to root directory only, no sub-directories.)Successfully using the Gotek flashed Flashfloppy device with a Verbatim 32GB flash nano thumb USB storage media.Flashfloppy firmware is stated as creating a more easily handled Gotek device, rather than resorting to the Gotek foreign software for formatting and storing floppy images to USB storage media. Flashfloppy firmware mostly generic FAT32 format, then copy floppy images to USB media. (eg. drag-drop or copy-paste)Installing Flashfloppy1) Requires purchasing a unique USB-A male to USB-A male cable, for flashing using the DFU bus. (eg. dfu-util)2) Jumper two pins (eg. Boot jumper and 3v pins), enabling programming mode for the Artey chip. I opted for soldering header pins, rather than unsafely using a piece of wire. (eg. 2.54 mm single row male header, could likely use double row header.) Subsequently requires using female to female header jumper wires.3) Attach one USB-A male end to preferably a USB hub port, the other end of the USB-A male to the front Gotek device USB-A female port. Watch activity logs for proper USB port logging.4) Get Flashfloppy download compressed (eg. zip) file, unzip, verify the dfu sub-directory with at415 image exists.5) Linux, install dfu-util, check the Gotek device is connected and properly detected using "dfu-util -l" incantation. Augment the following command arguments if connecting more than one device, otherwise one device should use the following incantations.6) Linux, un-protect the Artey chip, will exit with error, wait a good several seconds to minute afterwards,# dfu-util -D /home/roger/src/flashfloppy/flashfloppy-3.44/dfu/flashfloppy-at415-st105-3.44.dfu -a 0 -s 0x08000000:unprotect:force7) Linux, upload flashfloppy firmware,# dfu-util -D /home/roger/src/flashfloppy/flashfloppy-3.44/dfu/flashfloppy-at415-st105-3.44.dfu -a 08) Repeat commands as necessary, until dfu-utils indicates uploading firmware.9) Disconnect the Gotek device and disconnect the jumper wires, and attach regular power, verify F-F display confirms a good upload.10) Format a USB flash removable media with FAT32, so that the device has one partition. (eg. /dev/sde1) Enable the boot and LBA flags! Copy a 1.44 MB floppy disk image to the root directory of the USB flash media. (eg. Microsoft DOS or Windows 98 DOS boot disk image)11) Connect the Gotek device to a motherboard, attach the USB flash media; if a "Rib" displays, power-off and re-attach the floppy cable, ensuring not upside down.12) As of this stage, the device should be working. If using on a PC platform, for quicker accesses, create a DOS formatted FF.CFG file and add "host=pc-dos" option for indicating PC platform image file types, or other platform type.As of this stage, likely will notice the absolute uneasy silence of the Gotek device (eg. no floppy disk drive sounds, aside from dancing two digit LED display, and will be likely desiring adding a speaker. (eg. piezo transducer/disc)May also opt for installing an ordinary white OLED 0.96 display for more descriptive feedback for floppy image file names and a rotary switch for fast forward/backward while navigating many floppy images.I'll likely most certainly install the piezo disc/speaker, and possibly OLD 0.96 screen, not sure about the rotary dial switch as I only have few floppy images. People having 100s of floppy disk era games usually opt for the rotary dial switch.

Recently I've gotten very involved in retro computing. But in 2020, messing with tiny floppy disks is absolutely no fun. Bad sectors, dirty drives, it's just not a great experience.Enter this thing.It allows you to easily turn any old USB drive into 1000 floppy disks, and just push a button to swap between them. It works on any old PC or other devices that use floppy disks for storage (synths, etc).Some notes about the default firmware that's on the device:* The software to use the device is... interesting and a bit annoying.* It's Windows only.* It will only work with DOS and devices that support DOS.With that said, it's trivial to flash a replacement firmware onto this device that turns it into an absolute POWERHOUSE (FlashFloppy, Google it). It just requires VERY minor soldering skills (my toddler could probably do it) and a USB-A to A cable like this: https://www.amazon.com/Rankie-Cable-Type-1-Pack-Feet/dp/B01KRO8D20/With the replacement firmware you get:* WAY easier to manage from basically anywhere, Mac, Linux, Windows, etc.* Able to use it with other old devices like Amigas.* Can easily replace the simple LCD with a full-featured OLED screen, again with MINOR soldering skills.In all, a massive value for the money even if you just keep the stock firmware.

Works great on an old Tandy 1000 I've been tinkering on.

Great for emulating 1.44MB floppy drives as long as you don't write a bunch of data to the disk - the buffer on the device is too small. Great with the FlashFloppy firmware. Easy to install the FlashFloppy firmware.

Excellent product as is, made magnificent by flashing it with FlashFloppy. If you're unsure if you want it, yes, you want it.

Bought 2 of these emulators to replace the failing floppy drives in my Prototrak CNC mill. You'll also need a floppy to USB harness to set it up. They are all over Amazon for cheap. Downloaded the program from Gotek site to format the USB sticks then installed the SWI software just like I was making a new disk. Really pretty slick. Boots up and runs perfect plus have pretty much unlimited storage now for saving programs.

I've used this emulator for loading startup disks for installing Windows 95 & 98. You can format a flash drive (the older the better) as a 1.44Mb floppy disk and you'll be able to go back and forth between a modern PC and the GoTEK easily.

I can't read or write Chinese. Their emulator site is understandable for the most part but the Help in the software and FAQ on the site is difficult to comprehend. They don't make it easy. After just tossing the instructions and experimenting and finding a couple of review video's - I got it to working. The software is not intuitive and after you copy a file to the USB stick, you must do a right-click on the folder (floppy) and perform a Save or the file is not written to the USB stick and you get no warning or error message if you don't perform the save.It works as they say - "USB to Floppy Emulator" but you may need a martini or two to actually believe that. I don't know if anyone else's products are any better. Inexpensive product, free software - you get what you pay for.