Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
By roisindubh83 Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:39 pm
I wanted to post a more in depth instructions for those using this on there mpc 2000 or 2000 xl , it could also probably work for other mpc in general , I spent days trying to figure out how to use this drive it came with zero instructions most videos I felt people were more so showing off that they got it to work and really didnt explain. More than a few articles and forum posts I saw that people using certain programs on there pc could only truly get there usb drive to partition too 100 1.44mb. I found out a hybrid solution using a free program , and a tendak usb floppy drive. Both Gotek and Tendak drive were just under 50$ us.(using windows)

1.)Turn off power to mpc and open it up basic screw setup get the backing and control panel board off mpc and gently remove hard drive, detach the cables and put gotek drive in place attach the two cables, put everythig back on mpc .
2.)Download version 1.40i from the free software company called IPCAS http://www.ipcas.com/support/usb-floppy ... nload.html, this is the program you will use to format one of your usb with this . Here is the quick steps to use the disk emulator program after instalation I do believe there youtube videos showing how to.
a.)Put in usb flash drive ,open program top left corner you will see the drive you plugged in go to the drive and right click format, keep in mind this will erase anything previous on that flash drive.There will be a window prompt pop up make sure you set the partition to 100 it will break the drive into 100 1.44mb folders essentially and make sure you click the dos option this will add a dos prompt to each folder you only need it in one but it makes it easier and you can always delete with a click in the folder. hit format it will ask you if your sure or not just dot it, and your usb is now partioned in a way your mpc can understand.
b.)On the right of the screen you will now see or should now see the 100 partitions click on the very first partition this will be the very first file your gotek drive will read to the mpc, you will see the three dos boot files you need this for the boot up part.
c.)Plug in Tendak usb floppy drive on my computer the drive read was A, insert your boot floppy I have 1.72 and it will read it like any other hard drive open the drive folder and you should see three files for the OS boot up , highlight those files and drag them in the first folder in your ipcas program, unplug usb plug into gotek drive power it up to show that it works and will boot from the first partition on that storage device.

What few have explained about the GOTEK drive is that there are two buttons that serve functions of scrolling through the partitions inside of mpc or what ever compatible and when the usb is unplugged it also has a few functions because of its internal memory its to set read or writing modes that allow it to be transported info from pc to mpc etc, that part is tricky and where I think should be written about or explained more . So the concept is that you really dont need to format usb on pc the idea is that it formats from the GOTEK drive itself and partitions to 1000 on its own which is amazing considering it eliminates the need for possible faulty drives or disks. The only problem I ran into is that when you go through the partition process it wipes the OS so you need to find a way to boot mpc after you partition gotek drive if that makes sense. So I figured I would make two compatible forms of using usb drive with mpc 2000.

2.)Now that you have a 100 partitioned boot drive , you can now setup and partition the second usb.
a.)plug in second usb into the gotek drive make sure that it isnt turned on and hold in the two buttons on the drive and power on machine you will see it start to count up once you see that let go it will go up to 998 or so once its done creating your 1000 partitions you will notice now that after you power off it will give you a disk error message or something. power machine back off, you second usb is now successfully partioned and formated to use fully on your mpc......but now you notice there is no OS boot on the new second usb.
b.)plug second drive into pc you will notice it will be name fl000 or something like that and it will seem that the whole drive is the size of a floppy disk that is just the first partition on your gotek drive the pc is registering , no problem though go into the ipcas program make sure usb one is plugged in your pc and open up the first folder like before and you just highlight and copy the files in the floder including the mpc ones and drag them into your second usb drive, you now have a dos boot mpc OS file in the first partition on your usb so you can now plug in mpc power up you now have your boot and a thousand partition usb.

The first usb I use as a back up boot and a way that is easy for me to drag files from old disks to add to and from my pc to the mpc and the second drive is for my main stand in drive I hope this rant made sense to you this method works great for me and I think allot out there searching could be helped .
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By distortedtekno Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:02 am
Thanks for sharing that info. Have you been able to save projects from the MPC that are larger than 1.44mb? From what I've read, there's no way to save over multiple partitions, which has kept me away from these emulators.
By roisindubh83 Thu Apr 12, 2018 12:06 am
there isnt a way that I know of but does not mean its not possible or there programs out there to help with the partition split I am with you on that I just decided to roll with this method of drive because if set up right is the most reliable beats having hundreds of disks that as time goes by could be damaged etc and the zip drives could also be more grief than they are worth and are greatly over priced.
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By richie Thu Apr 12, 2018 2:00 am
Just so you know - distortedtekno owns stock in Magneto Optical so that is why he promotes it so hard. :P
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By tapedeck Thu Apr 12, 2018 4:16 pm
so that is a huge disadvantage to the goteks if you cant save across multiple disks. you can do that with hxc no problem, you can buy that software to put on a gotek from his site.
always learning, thank you.
By roisindubh83 Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:02 pm
Very true I don’t mind just glad not to be bothered with any kind of disk honestly I don’t mind editing programs with mpc editor on my pc and making drum kits etc and having them in a single disk partition but I have thought as well to look into that software too though gotek was designed to basically be a thousand floppy disks it’s why they have the cycle through buttons , I’m with you though very valid point about why bigger partitions make allot of sense.
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By tapedeck Thu Apr 12, 2018 5:24 pm
roisindubh83 wrote:...gotek was designed to basically be a thousand floppy disks it’s why they have the cycle through buttons , I’m with you though very valid point about why bigger partitions make allot of sense.

thats how the hxc software works too, but its files instead of partitions.
so you dont have to switch partitions, and you also aren't limited to 1000, you can have as many as your card can handle.

you can also just drag+drop those files around on a computer like no big deal, so that's handy.
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By tapedeck Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:22 pm
from another forum member:
I've tried the OG HxC and the Gotek flashed with HxC software. Both work after the set-up processes required to get either to work. But the dealbreaker for me was realising that you NEED an LCD that displays text (as opposed to 2 or 3 digits) to make life so much easier for yourself in terms of naming samples/programs, transferring samples/programs to computer and back-ups etc. HxC wins hands down on all counts and is worth the extra cash. For me the WORKFLOW using HxC is far superior to using any GOTEK drive.

There is now also an alternative floppy emulator by DM Systems that can be flashed with the HxC software, and it does have a screen that displays text too. Bonus is its cheaper than the HxC. Downside is the LCD screen is a bit smaller.

I havent tried this one yet so please let the people know.


so thats interesting info as well. i will probably make a general post re: all these options in another forum.
By roisindubh83 Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:37 pm
I actually think the mpc 2000 can only read folders of 1.44 mb size is why it breaks it down like that im doing research on it it now and havent heard of any one being able to use larger files , maybe more partitions but no folders larger than 1.44 is what I keep coming across.