Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

HxC Floppy Emulator E-mu SP1200 support
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iheartbeets
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:03 pm

Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by iheartbeets »

I apologize if this has been covered. I am trying to figure out how to transfer all my sp1200 disks to the SD card I am now using. The install of the HXC was easy (far better than putting a card reader into my MPC3000). I formatted the SD card and was able to easily load up the firmware. I have a USB floppy drive and a card reader. Does it require Kryoflux or Omniflop? I have a mac running Mountain Lion and a PC with windows 7. Please help.

12bitski
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:58 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by 12bitski »

this is a recommendation:

check the schematics of the splitcable in this post:

http://torlus.com/floppy/forum/viewtopi ... 4&start=15

get a floppycable for two drives and build in a switch for the drive ID as seen in the schematics. also build a powersupply splitcable to provide power for both drives at the same time.

open up your sp 1200 and install the cables.

connect both, the HxC and the floppydrive and leave the SP 1200 open for this copysession. (find a save place for the second loose drive. try to avoid contact to the parts inside the SP 1200. the best is, if you have long enough cables, to put the second drive beside the SP 1200)

use the SP1200 hfe diskimages provided in this forum and rename them into the same names your floppydisks have and copy them to your SD card.

select the position of the switch, where you can load from the floppydrive and loadup one of your floppydisks.

when uploaded, bring the switch into position for the HxC . select the diskimage on the HxC with the same name as your uploaded floppydisk and save the sequencer memory onto the imagefile. after that save your samples the same way.
(try out if you where successfull. switch off the SP 1200 and switch it on again. the last diskimage should be uploaded from the HxC. test, if everything from the floppydisk is where it suppost to be)

if everything workes, switch back to the floppydrive and repeat these steps till you got copies of all your floppies.

when you finished your copysession, switch off your SP and take off the provisoric cables and reinstall the original cables. when connected, make a little test by switching on and loading up a few images from the SD card. if everything works, put your SP 1200 back together.
Last edited by 12bitski on Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

iheartbeets
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:03 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by iheartbeets »

Surely there is an easier way. I took the original SP drive and hooked it up to a desktop running XP. I tried using the HXC emulator software but it refuses to read from the floppy drive. Could it be that the jumper settings are wrong for the drive? Surely there is a way to dump floppy images from the DS/DD drive to an SD card in .hfe format.

Jeff
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Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by Jeff »

iheartbeets wrote:Surely there is an easier way. I took the original SP drive and hooked it up to a desktop running XP. I tried using the HXC emulator software but it refuses to read from the floppy drive. Could it be that the jumper settings are wrong for the drive? Surely there is a way to dump floppy images from the DS/DD drive to an SD card in .hfe format.
No, a pc cannot read SP1200 disks.

Two possibilites :

1) Get a KryoFlux

Or

2) Flow the 12bitski's method : copy the disks to the hxc with the SP1200.

futureman
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2011 4:38 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by futureman »

Or...

Hot swap the floppy and HxC

(might not be recommended by some)

I did it to archive my SP1200 disks.

iheartbeets
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:03 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by iheartbeets »

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm gonna try the hotswap method. Fabbing cables for a dual drive setup would not be tough. Just seems a lot of work to use only once, especially if the SP doesn't mind the cheap and easy route. If I had a lot of stuff, I'd think about a Kryoflux but I really only have my SP library. It's too bad that I've lost so many disks to corruption over the years. I wish I could have read and archived those.

iheartbeets
Posts: 23
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 11:03 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by iheartbeets »

The hot swap is working great. Kind of labor intensive. Have to be careful. Didn't realize I had so many disks. LOTS of Kid Nepro stuff that came with my machine when I bought it. Lots of tunes that I haven't really heard since I got the machine. What a blast.
If I have any stock stuff that hasn't already been shared, I'll make it available.

THANKS! :D

12bitski
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:58 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by 12bitski »

Of course, hot swapping the drive with the hxc will work, too. But I would be carefull with that. Taking off and put on the cables on the drives many times might damage the cables and maybe also the units (floppydrive/HxC/SP 1200)

if you got 10 disks.....ok..., but if you got 100 floppydisks? mh.

my description looks extensive, but it´s actually not.

All you need is the splitt cables and a switch. I found a ready to use floppycable for two drives in a cheap used electronic gear shop . for 1 euro. you´ll also find a switch there.
To build up a splitcable for the powersupply should easy for everyone with basic electronic skills, too.

cut the described lines on the floppycable and connect the switch and go. in the end you´re much faster then with hot swapping for a box of floppys.

in my eyes most important is, that you name your images. otherwise you will get lost! :)

pistasmash
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:57 am

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by pistasmash »

hey, i got a question...
how many floppy image's can i store?
i mean.. i got a 4 gb sdhc card, maybe i can create 9999 images? or 999? or just only 100? and then byung a 4 gb is the same to buy a 2 gb sd card?....

(if it's posible to create a lot of them, explain me how please...)

12bitski
Posts: 87
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:58 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by 12bitski »

pistasmash wrote:hey, i got a question...
how many floppy image's can i store?
i mean.. i got a 4 gb sdhc card, maybe i can create 9999 images? or 999? or just only 100? and then byung a 4 gb is the same to buy a 2 gb sd card?....

(if it's posible to create a lot of them, explain me how please...)

A HFE-SP1200 image has about 2 MB . so you can calculate. this is about 500 images on 1000 mb (1GB). so, with your 4 gb card, you might have space for about 2000 SP 1200 Images.

if you got one working image, you got a infinite amount of images, as you just need to copy and rename it. that´s it.

pistasmash
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:57 am

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by pistasmash »

ok, i got another question now

i already formatted a sd card, but with a sd reader i got in my pc (i mean, not with the hxc because i can't, it don't recognise any sd card on the pc...)

ok... FAT32, and i put inside the sd all the files of the sp1200 "QuickInstall_FloppyDiskImages"

that's it....

well i will use only that drive, in the ID of the hxc i put ID 1

and after that

i picked up the original floppy ribbon cable and conect it.... (ribbon and power)

turn on the sp1200.....

and i get a message on the hxc constantly:

"READING FAT...."

and just this message again and again and again... aand never loads anything....

i tried many options as posible... like switch the ribbon cable, change it up with another one....

and that's it.. i get stuck at that point...

what i'm doing wrong??

Jeff
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Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by Jeff »

firmware version ?

Just try another SD.

pistasmash
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 9:57 am

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by pistasmash »

omg... what a fail...
the problem is solved... :mrgreen:

all the files were compressed... :roll:
(that f*cin windows 7...)
:D

mondo1976
Posts: 156
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2015 3:54 pm

Re: Transfer sp1200 disks to SD

Post by mondo1976 »

Everyone is going through the trouble of Kryoflux/hot-swapping and floppy juggling and yet hardly anyone is posting their HFE results here. It takes about 3 minutes to RAR/ZIP the bundle and post a link, right? You could really save some other vintage enthusiasts a whole lots of time and the potential heartache of breaking something by keeping their SP1200 "under the knife" for longer than it needs to be.

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