akai mpc 2000 (classic not xl), making disk images

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

Hi,

Im very interested in this HxC floppy drive emulator, very tempted to just order one and get started but just need a little clarification before I do.

I read that if I take a disk image and send it in I could get help get the correct settings to be able to set my card / create correct images from the pc onto the card for use with the SD floppy emulator and my mpc.

I currently do not have a floppy drive in my pc or room to add one (internally), would I be able to make disk images using the software that comes with the HxC floppy emulator using a usb floppy drive?

From what I've heard it seems I should have no problem at all using the emulator with my mpc, so fingers crossed if i am able to use an external usb floppy drive to make my images from my disks / boot disk then I'll get straight on and get rolling with the emulator.

Regards

EDIT: Probably a silly question I know, but id rather ask and get this worked out before ordering just incase

Jeff · **Posted:** Mon Sep 19, 2011 7:40 am

lp_benni wrote:

Hi,

Im very interested in this HxC floppy drive emulator, very tempted to just order one and get started but just need a little clarification before I do.

I read that if I take a disk image and send it in I could get help get the correct settings to be able to set my card / create correct images from the pc onto the card for use with the SD floppy emulator and my mpc.

I currently do not have a floppy drive in my pc or room to add one (internally), would I be able to make disk images using the software that comes with the HxC floppy emulator using a usb floppy drive?

From what I've heard it seems I should have no problem at all using the emulator with my mpc, so fingers crossed if i am able to use an external usb floppy drive to make my images from my disks / boot disk then I'll get straight on and get rolling with the emulator.

Regards

EDIT: Probably a silly question I know, but id rather ask and get this worked out before ordering just incase

Since the MPC2000 seems to use a dos type floppy format, this is not a problem. You can generate a virtual ms dos floppy disk with the software.
About the USB drive, the HxC Floppy software doesn't support it. You need an internal disk drive.
There are some other software able to make a dump from usb disk drive. (winimage)
http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

Thank you very much for your help, im glad I asked about the usb drive now, I'll have a look at the program u suggested.

I have a couple more questions just to clarify, I know when copying an mpc 2k os boot disk I have to copy it onto an ms dos disk otherwise it wont work, but when I save sequences / samples to disk I have to obviously format them first in the mpc 2k so they are seen as mpc 2000 disks..

So am I understanding correctly if what I have to do is capture the disk images as ms dos disks regardless to if they are an os boot disk, or mpc 2000 formatted disks that contain my sequence data / samples?

I was also wondering aside from that, if I were to create lots of blank disk images on an sd card, and / or put previous data from my disks as disk images on an sd card.. is it possible to name them so i can view the disk names as I scroll through the selection?

Again thank you

Regards

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

Well I went ahead and ordered the sd floppy emulator, cant wait to get it hooked up... read it can take 3 weeks to post so thought Id order now and spend the coming weeks sorting what I need to be able to creat the correct disk images

Jeff · **Posted:** Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:37 am

lp_benni wrote:

Thank you very much for your help, im glad I asked about the usb drive now, I'll have a look at the program u suggested.

I have a couple more questions just to clarify, I know when copying an mpc 2k os boot disk I have to copy it onto an ms dos disk otherwise it wont work, but when I save sequences / samples to disk I have to obviously format them first in the mpc 2k so they are seen as mpc 2000 disks..

So am I understanding correctly if what I have to do is capture the disk images as ms dos disks regardless to if they are an os boot disk, or mpc 2000 formatted disks that contain my sequence data / samples?

The best is to get a pc with an internal disk drive, or get a kryoflux : http://www.kryoflux.com/
With the usb disk drive you to test yourself. I have no sure answer....
Try to read them right now and post some image here, i can check them.

lp_benni wrote:

I was also wondering aside from that, if I were to create lots of blank disk images on an sd card, and / or put previous data from my disks as disk images on an sd card.. is it possible to name them so i can view the disk names as I scroll through the selection?

You can rename the files directly on the floppy emulator.

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

Jeff wrote:

The best is to get a pc with an internal disk drive, or get a kryoflux : http://www.kryoflux.com/
With the usb disk drive you to test yourself. I have no sure answer....
Try to read them right now and post some image here, i can check them.

I ordered an external usb floppy drive a couple of days ago, thought I would try with that first to save me otherwise building / aquiring another pc just to run a floppy drive (which I will do but only if I really have to).

Jeff wrote:

You can rename the files directly on the floppy emulator.

Thats great news, really cleared that up for me. Thank you!

Im really looking forward to the emulator arriving

EDIT: Sorry I was ment to add that once the usb floppy drive arrives (which happened to be today) I will make an image of the mpc os boot disk (doing that now, hopefully correctly) and an image of a disk that has been formatted to mpc 2000 disk with data on

Thank you very much

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

EDIT:

I have both images ready to send, If they are the right extension (.imz)? I read and saved the disks with winimage.

How should I post the images here? I tried the file attachment in the forum but it was telling me extension not allowed..

I also read this when looking into the way mpcs read disks

Quote:

OS's and MPC use the OEM label in the boot sector to decide which other fields in the BPB (the BIOS
Parameter Block) at the start of the boot sector to trust on and which other values to leave alone.
When you insert a disk into a Windows 95+ machine the OEM label is overwritten with a special "IHC" checksum every time you access a floppy (even a simple "DIR a:" with a non-write-protected media
will be sufficient). No other changes are made to the media, however. This OEM label is 8 bytes long and is located starting at byte index 3 on the drive. What does this have to do with the MPC2000? Well, the MPC2000 specifically looks for MPC2000 " To determine if it is an MPC Disk. This also tells the MPC to look in another section to determine the number and locations of the additional partitions on that drive.

Without the "MPC2000 " label the MPC assumes it is just another single partition drive, when in fact, all of the data is still there and intact. There is a fix: Image the drive using a something that accesses the drive below the OS level (like disk2file) and change the OEM label to "MPC2000 " and write the image back to the disk.

It made me think, maybe when a disk is formatted to an 'mpc 2000' disk, maybe thats just simply wiping whatever data if any was on before and writing the label, also makes sense as I have saved onto non mpc formatted disks by mistake in the past without realising as the mpc still goes ahead and saves, moves through the percentage etc etc but when trying to load that data at another time it wasnt there.. or maybe it was and it was just a case of the mpc not knowing where to look to be able to access it.

So maybe in that respect an 'mpc 2000' formatted disk is still esentially an ms dos formatted disk? Am I on the right track or am I lost? lol

Regards

Jeff · **Posted:** Thu Sep 22, 2011 11:53 pm

lp_benni wrote:

EDIT:

I have both images ready to send, If they are the right extension (.imz)? I read and saved the disks with winimage.

How should I post the images here? I tried the file attachment in the forum but it was telling me extension not allowed..

By email : http://hxc2001.free.fr/imiel.htm

lp_benni wrote:

So maybe in that respect an 'mpc 2000' formatted disk is still esentially an ms dos formatted disk? Am I on the right track or am I lost? lol

Regards

Yes this look likes an ms dos disk.

Jeff · **Posted:** Fri Sep 23, 2011 7:57 am

ok this is ms dos disks, and the dump seems ok !

lp_benni · **Joined:** Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:06 pm **Posts:** 15

Excelent, thats great news!

Im excited now cant wait for the emulator to arrive.

I also put the disk with the sequence / sample data saved from the mpc back into the mpc after imaging it in the pc usb floppy and the mpc seemed to see the files fine, which I would imagine means that issue with the disk indexing I read about doesnt apply to me, because id imagine if it did apply the mpc wouldnt have seen the files on that disk when accessing it.

Thank you very much for your help Jeff, its much appreciated

HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

akai mpc 2000 (classic not xl), making disk images

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