Gotek Q&A

[Cerberus73]

I recentl;y picked up a load of Atari items, couple of STe's, load of disks, external SF314 floppy (this needs work), and in it was a gotek drive the original owner never got round to doing much with, as it needed header pins fitted, and reflashing.

I installed the latest version of flashfloppy stable v3.44 at the time of writing. This was installed the gotek is an older 3 digit job SFRC922D model. this went ok, and everything lights up as it should, buttons work, jumpered as SF0. Now i also had another old Roctec external floppy case, the drive in it is sadly toast, but the controller and cable is fine. so i mounted the gotek into this case. the ST can open the USB and show the contents. i dumped a couple of .ST games just to test it, i have the FF.CFG i havent changed anything on it from how i got it. I cannot get the files to load on startup like with a traditional floppy, nor can i get them to load if i boot to desktop and try to run the .prg file.. just kinda has a brainfart and back to desktop.

is there anything im obviously doing wrong? (likely.. as im so new to gotek's) i can see the files, but not the original .st, but like its been mounted and the individual files are present. is there anything i need to take into account as im using it as a "B" drive. my internal floppy drive works fine. so i dont want to muck around with that other than keep it clean. so i need to keep the gotek in some kind of external housing. i basically flashed it, and replaced the dead FDD with the gotek in the external housing. and figured it would be good to go.

Most ST stuff is meant to either boot or be run from the A: drive and not B:.

There is a mod you can do to change this: Drive A: & B: swap however it is a bit fiddly especially if the PSG is soldered in.

Alternatively just fit the Gotek in as drive A: and put the internal floppy in the external case.

Hmmmm nope. i don't want to hack, cut, modify or change the case as its immaculate. and i like the floppy where it is. ill have a look at the modification, as long as its not permanent and can be reversed. if that means the gotek just wont function as a "B" drive... to the bin it will go. and ill fit a new old stock floppy in the casing. I thought it was some screw up I did when putting it together. I own a sidecartridge. so ill stick to that. was only as i had the gotek for free that i thought id see what the drama was with em.

[rubber_jonnie]

Hmmmm nope. i don't want to hack, cut, modify or change the case as its immaculate. and i like the floppy where it is. ill have a look at the modification, as long as its not permanent and can be reversed. if that means the gotek just wont function as a "B" drive... to the bin it will go. and ill fit a new old stock floppy in the casing. I thought it was some screw up I did when putting it together. I own a sidecartridge. so ill stick to that. was only as i had the gotek for free that i thought id see what the drama was with em.

The Gotek will for sure work as a B: drive, I have one sitting in my drawer that does just that, but it won't ever be bootable as drive B: (Without a mod to make it A:) and neither will a real floppy as that is just not how ST floppies work.

Also, you can fit a Gotek without cutting the case, I've seen it done before. Sure it's not 100% as the button positions are a bit Meh! but it will fit, plus you could just test it as an A: drive to prove it works.

BTW it is a common misconception that you will see the ST files via drive A: - you won't you will only see the files that are on the currently mounted .ST file. This is why I fit OLED displays to my own Goteks.

Be aware that the .ST may be bad, so you can't assume they will just work. Many do, but only when the Gotek is the A: drive.

[Cerberus73]

Hmmmm nope. i don't want to hack, cut, modify or change the case as its immaculate. and i like the floppy where it is. ill have a look at the modification, as long as its not permanent and can be reversed. if that means the gotek just wont function as a "B" drive... to the bin it will go. and ill fit a new old stock floppy in the casing. I thought it was some screw up I did when putting it together. I own a sidecartridge. so ill stick to that. was only as i had the gotek for free that i thought id see what the drama was with em.

The Gotek will for sure work as a B: drive, I have one sitting in my drawer that does just that, but it won't ever be bootable as drive B: (Without a mod to make it A:) and neither will a real floppy as that is just not how ST floppies work.

Also, you can fit a Gotek without cutting the case, I've seen it done before. Sure it's not 100% as the button positions are a bit Meh! but it will fit, plus you could just test it as an A: drive to prove it works.

BTW it is a common misconception that you will see the ST files via drive A: - you won't you will only see the files that are on the currently mounted .ST file. This is why I fit OLED displays to my own Goteks.

Be aware that the .ST may be bad, so you can't assume they will just work. Many do, but only when the Gotek is the A: drive.

what i want to be able to do, is to use the ST files, or whatever other formats it can mount to use something like fastcopy to create proper floppies. I do own a greaseweazle, and have been doing it that way. but it can be cludgy at times. especially when dealing with STX files. needing to convert them and it being a bit flaky. The gotek was free. so i guess no harm no foul. Ill end up sticking that into something else that it can be used as a boot drive on. and stick to the sidecartridge for mounting images. basically does the same thing.

[rubber_jonnie]

what i want to be able to do, is to use the ST files, or whatever other formats it can mount to use something like fastcopy to create proper floppies. I do own a greaseweazle, and have been doing it that way. but it can be cludgy at times. especially when dealing with STX files. needing to convert them and it being a bit flaky. The gotek was free. so i guess no harm no foul. Ill end up sticking that into something else that it can be used as a boot drive on. and stick to the sidecartridge for mounting images. basically does the same thing.

STX files are a preservation format and in my experience don't play well at all so you may not have good luck with them. You should be able to do what you're describing with the Gotek as a drive B:.

[alexh]

STX is a "lossy" flux format intended for emulators. Some can be converted to HFEv3 supported by FlashFloppy on Gotek.

Better to get the game in IPF format. There is a very large and growing database of confirmed good IPF images for Atari ST. (Go over to Atari-forum)

[rubber_jonnie]

STX is a "lossy" flux format intended for emulators. Some can be converted to HFEv3 supported by FlashFloppy on Gotek.

And to be fair it works fine there, and conversion is possible, but I've never had very muck luck with it at all.

I guess your mileage may vary :)

[coonsgm]

If you can access a 3D printer. just removing the gotek from its original case and mounting on a new bracket will fit it very nicely.

IMG_4417.jpeg

[Cerberus73]

I do have access to a good 3D fella that does all my large enclosures and do-dahs for me. I may look into something, i do have another STe thats a lot yellower, and in not great shape cosmetically. it may be a candidate for some mucking about, havent tested the floppy in it, if its toast. then i may use the gotek in that.i really don't want to muck around with this one, its too good and has history. it came to me via a recording studio.

[coonsgm]

Totally get it. Any modifications I do need to reversible.

[alexh]

I use the GoEx from Centuriontech. Definitely the best looking Gotek for STs

https://centuriontech.eu/product/goex4st/