Amstrad CPC6128 replacement storage options

[PaddyC13]

Hi Folks,


Back in the 80/90s I owned a CPC664 and later a 6128.  I am thinking about buying one and rekindling some nostalgia.  From what I can see, there are effectively no new blank 3" discs available.  So what is the recommended replacement storage solutions?


Is there a device that plugs in to the expansion port and uses SD cards?  If so, does this emulate a disc drive for example?


Any advice is appreciated.


Many thanks


Paddy
UK

[tjohnson]

Probably the cheapest option is a GOTEK which costs about £15 then flashed with the very good HXC software which costs 5 euro.  This will then emulate a floppy drive.  To connect internally you'll need a cable to convert from CPC to FDD standard and to make a mod to the power connection to supply 5v on the correct pin.

[GUNHED]

Get the HxC floppy emulator, it uses SD cards and you can connect it to disc drive B port.

Look here:
https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=32

... and Welcome back! 

[asertus]

I think the M4 board is the one every Amstrad must have. later on, add other options, but just after this one.

[LambdaMikel]

I think the M4 board is the one every Amstrad must have. later on, add other options, but just after this one.

M4 is great, but not the best choice for DSK emulation. Certain DSKs will not work. Just for the record!I love the M4, have it myself, but could not live without a DDI3 or HxC.

[PaddyC13]

Hi Folks,

Thank you for your replies.  I took a look on:


https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=32


and there seems to be many options.  Which one is best?  Is it best to fit the Gotek internally or can it be attached externally?  Is there a suitable case if external?


How does it work?  Is a DSK file a complete disc image or just a program for example?  What about creating "blank" discs?


Sorry for all the questions.


Many thanks


Paddy
UK

[Gryzor]

There is no best version to tell you the truth, I have the external, not slim one and it works beautifully. Whether you want it as an external device or not is completely up to you - I prefer external so that I can still have my drive in a usable condition.


If you look closely you'll see that Lotharek already has cased options. The case itself is nothing to write home about, but is very functional and sturdy - I have had mine for years now and there's not a scratch on it.


A dsk file is a dump of all the contents of a physical disk in a single file. You can read all the gory details here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Format:DSK_disk_image_file_format but you really don't need to.


A very easy to way to create a blank dsk is here: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ManageDsk . Just create one and make a hundred copies of it


So, how does this work? The HxC is, as it says right on the tin, a floppy drive emulator. For the machine it's just a disk drive, no more no less. But instead of accepting physical disks, it works with disk images (in the case of the CPC, dsk files)*. It's got a nice simple interface** with its buttons through which you can 'load' a specific disk image, which is like inserting a physical disk into a disk drive.


Just a word of warning, the HxC can't read dsk files directly, you must first convert them to its own format (HFE). The tools, as well as very useful docs, can be found here: http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/


Hope that helped!




*the HXC works with mostly everything out there so if you get one it'll work with many other machines as well.
* though there are interfaces running on the CPC itself, probably a much better way to do things