3 1/2 floppy to USB Flash Drive Reader

Good Afternoon,

Does anyone know if this would work in the mpc 2000:

http://www.plrelectronics.com/floppy_to_usb.php


It looks like it would and is better than the Compact Flash Option available.

Holla Back!!

Absolute!

kjaye21 wrote:It looks like it would and is better than the Compact Flash Option available.

lol, not if they charge $275 for it...

Sony made an adapter for their own floppy cameras that would accept their memory sticks which you could then insert into a floppy drive. You can find them on eBay. Whether they will work or not, or have proprietary drivers of some sort I have no idea.

It might very well work - it does claim complete compatibility with the existing floppy drive. Give it a shot and let us know how it works out for you.

I think it might work, if anyone wants to spend that much.


i mean if it will work in a cnc lathe, it might just work in a MPC2000, or asr-x

Just to prevent misunderstandings, this thing is not a floppy disk with a flash card reader attached to it...it is a flash card reader to attach to the floppy connector on a mainboard...similar to the stuff that scsiforsamplers sells, but I think even he got better deals than this particular one.

Actually, to clarify, we don't sell anything that attaches to the floppy connector in a sampler. All our products are SCSI and attach to the SCSI internal or external connector.

I've looked at products like that in the past and they all seem driver-dependant, which means they would be useless for sampler use. However, this one claims it does not need any drivers, so it might work. But as RJ says, the unit seems a bit pricey, dog.

couldnt one get like an ide to usb adapter, like that 5dolars card readers? maybe it would get cheaper

D-load wrote:couldnt one get like an ide to usb adapter, like that 5dolars card readers? maybe it would get cheaper

Good thought, but very few floppy disk controllers are compatible. Most controllers are based on the original Shugart design, but each have their own little nuances that make it a complete b***h to find compatible drives that aren't the original.

If I had to guess, I would say that Sony reader is probably compatible with anything that can use a standard HD floppy drive in a PC configuration -- so if you can use a PC floppy in something, there's a high likelihood that this Sony drive will work in the machine as well.

The beauty of SCSI (never thought I'd ever type those words ) is that it's a standard so designers have rules to stick to. With floppies, all bets are off.

How could this be better than a card reader if each "virtual floppy" you can store onto is max 1.44 mb and you don't have the folder option? That's what I like about the card readers and SCSI options: can store the whole up to 32 MB memory data and put each project in it's own folders inside other folders.

I think this option is better suited for machines with no other options but floppies, like the SP-1200.

Thanks for the response. I was looking at this because you can get some pretty large flash drives for storage purposes plus you don't need anything extra to plug it in the computer. Yeah $275 is a little expensive I'll admit but I like the USB function.

Sure you can get pretty large flash drives for storage purposes but remember that you will be limited as to how much of that space you can use by the sampler's operating system. Buying a drive with a large capacity doesn't get you past the 1GB limit that the MPC2000 Classic imposes on you. All that thing will do is allow you to waste even larger amounts of space!

this might work in an E-mu sampler,
or maybe an mv8000(no need)
korg triton, mpc2000, s5000/s6000,
ensoniq asr-x, maybe any modern(ish) gear with a generic floppy.


if i had a machine with a floppy drive I would try it

I guess I don't see the attraction - $275 for being able to use a thumb drive? If you were going to spend that much money, buy one of the Spyrus RD300 drives and get a SCSI dual-slot drive. Compact Flash cards are smaller than thumb drives and as cheap or cheaper. Remember that buying a large capacity thumb drive gets you nothing - you will still be limited to whatever the sampler's operating system will format and access.

Other than the "gee-whiz" factor, it seems like a bad investment to me. But I might have a slight bias...

I just read the manual.


seems more trouble than it is worth.