Connecting 3.5-inch drive for emulation

[CrookieMonster]

I have loads of CPC software on 3.5-inch discs. The 3.5-inch drive connected to my CPC doesn't work any more but I was thinking of getting a £20 3.5-inch USB drive for my Mac and seeing if I can run the software via emulation. Is this possible and could I create disc images - some of this software may not be available online and I'd like to share.

[ComSoft6128]

Can't speak for the Mac but I bought one of these 5 years ago for a Windows laptop and found it to be a waste of time and money.
A better option was to buy a working 3.5" drive and copy the files to A & then copy the files to Gotek.

[Sid_]

I have loads of CPC software on 3.5-inch discs. The 3.5-inch drive connected to my CPC doesn't work any more but I was thinking of getting a £20 3.5-inch USB drive for my Mac and seeing if I can run the software via emulation. Is this possible and could I create disc images - some of this software may not be available online and I'd like to share.

I tried in the past to do such things. You need to develop at low level the amsdos driver to be recognize by the mac darwin kernel.
Not an easy task.

[CrookieMonster]

Ah, sounds like mission impossible for me then. Wouldn't know where to start with developing that. I'll see if I can get this 3.5-inch drive working again.

[robcfg]

The problem with usb disk drives is that they are hardwired to support only the standard PC DOS configurations.

I'm not sure you can change that behaviour from the software side of things.

[CrookieMonster]

Would it work with a CPC emulator on PC? I can dual boot on the Mac.

[Sid_]

I can do a test at home to dump the floppy with dd command, and make a tool to convert the raw dump to a dsk.
If you are interested I can explain how to dump the floppy content to a raw file.

[CrookieMonster]

I'd definitely be interested. It'd be good to get the software off these disks because I'm certain there's stuff on there not available online - I can then upload them for others to see.

[Sid_]

ok, I will take out my usb floppy and I'll do some tests.
I will try to do this weekend. 

[CrookieMonster]

As luck would have it, my wife found an old external USB 3.5-inch drive during a clear out of the garage. And then, as suspected, I plugged it into the Mac and it won't read the CPC-formatted disks. Hopefully _sid's solution will work.

I can see one disk has Crystal X games written on the label. I can see a couple of games by this company are available for download online (https://cpcrulez.fr/info-crystal_x.htm) but I think I have the whole catalogue of titles.

[Sid_]

I took out my floppy drive, but unfortunately I have no more 3.5 inch floppy.
I would like to see on Macos if the inserted drive is seen by the OS and copy raw content by the command

Code Select Expand

dd in=/dev/floppy of=$HOME/Desktop/floppy_dump.img
for instance.

[CrookieMonster]

If I plug the 3.5-inch USB drive into the Mac, it recognises the drive so long as there's an MS-DOS formatted floppy in it. But I won't recognise the drive if a CPC-formatted floppy is inserted. 

[robcfg]

If I plug the 3.5-inch USB drive into the Mac, it recognises the drive so long as there's an MS-DOS formatted floppy in it. But I won't recognise the drive if a CPC-formatted floppy is inserted.

I confirm what you describe here, and I already told you why:

The problem with usb disk drives is that they are hardwired to support only the standard PC DOS configurations.

[CrookieMonster]

Oh, sorry, I was just describing to Sid_ what I see on macOS when the drive is inserted. 

[robcfg]

I tried that too. It's a pity that those usb drives aren't a bit more versatile...

[CrookieMonster]

Very much so. 😞

[Sid_]

Well when you insert a floppy, the point is to see if a symbol link is created in directory /Dev/. It's the case you can use the command dd. 
But you will need to open a terminal. And attention, dd is a low level command you can damage a partition. 

[robcfg]

I already did that, but as @CrookieMonster pointed out, the drives won't mount if the disk is not recognised.

[Sid_]

I found this but I haven't test it, may help you https://github.com/johnkw/dumpfloppy

[Sid_]

or this https://github.com/davidgiven/fluxengine but it need more time.

[CrookieMonster]

I'll check these out. 😀

[CrookieMonster]

I've come across a device that appears to crack this particular problem. It's a Kryoflux -https://webstore.kryoflux.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=28. Has anyone used one for CPC archiving and does it sound like the best solution?

[sb1903]

This sounds a bit similar as the Greaseweazle (see https://github.com/keirf/greaseweazle/wiki/Purchase-a-Greaseweazle), which is way cheaper. I am using such a Greaseweazle - however under Linux - to read my old 3" disks with an original FD-1 floppy (for which I just had to replace the belt to get it working again) on "raw" (flux) level. Overall, this works like a charm, see the thread here in the forum for more info. I am pretty confident that this should also work for 3.5" drives. I am just not sure if all needed software is available for Mac.

[robcfg]

I've come across a device that appears to crack this particular problem. It's a Kryoflux -https://webstore.kryoflux.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=28. Has anyone used one for CPC archiving and does it sound like the best solution?

Kryoflux definitely works like a charm with a FD-1 drive, and you don't even need an adapter for the floppy cable.

[geebus]

Just thought I'd add in here. I have an XP laptop that I have set up for reading and writing 3.5" disks.
Also have another XP machine with a 3" drive in it for the same reason.

If I can help you with your backup process, let me know. Happy to do so.