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Floppy disk hardware emulator

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Floppy disks and floppy drives are gradually going out of production, and replacement of malfunctioning drives, and the systems hosting them, is becoming increasingly difficult. Floppy disks themselves are fragile, or may need to be replaced often. An alternative is to use a floppy disk hardware
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or a software-based filter component undoes the encoding, and stores the sector data as logically written by the host. An inverse mechanism translates the stored data back into an encoded signal when the data is read. Noisy raw data signals are filtered and cleaned up before conversion.
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Most FDC interfaces do not directly address tracks; instead they provide "step-in" and "step-out" pulses. Those, and the current sector number virtually rotating under the emulated read/write head, are tracked by the emulator in order to determine which sector is to be accessed.
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Because the interface to the floppy drive is very low-level, emulators must maintain the approximate timing of floppy disk operations. This may require the emulator to provide buffering, with some delay in updating the permanent storage.
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often used floppy disk drives for data transfer. Older equipment may be difficult to replace or upgrade because of cost, requirement for continuous availability or unavailable upgrades. Proper operation may require
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The emulator saves the data written to the floppy in either local storage (stand-alone emulators), or in a remote storage device or data exchange module (stateless emulators).
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Some devices can store multiple floppy images, and provide a mechanism to select which emulated floppy is mounted on the emulated drive.
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encoded signal to the drive to write data, and expects a similar signal returned when reading the drive. On a write, a hardware
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on a computer network. Emulators can also be used as a higher-performance replacement for mechanical floppy disk drives.
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emulator, a device which appears to be a standard floppy drive to the old equipment by interfacing directly to the
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The floppy disk emulator can provide other systems access to the data on the emulated floppy in a number of ways:
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implementations can also emulate system / non-standard floppies, whose file system can't be simply translated.
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Floppy file system translation (e.g.: FAT12 floppy ↔ USB key folder)
350:. Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. October 16, 2001. 368:
Haardt, Michael; Knaff, Alain; Niemi, David C. (June 11, 2001).
29: 320:"Tribute to Floppy Disk as Sony discontinues production" 200:to seamlessly emulate floppy drives on a computer. 105:, while storing data in another medium such as a 20:A floppy disk hardware emulator for a 3½ drive. 8: 179:(e.g.: raw floppy ↔ .img/.iso USB key file) 64:with the drive it replaces, similar to how 196:implementation can also be coupled with a 125:A typical floppy disk controller sends an 23: 15: 382:from the original on February 13, 2019. 258:from the original on February 16, 2018. 222:"Don't be too quick to dump the floppy" 212: 169:(e.g.: a 1.44MB partition on a USB key) 28:The front of an emulator, showing the 357:from the original on October 2, 2018. 7: 341:"Magnetic Recording Fundamentals". 282:from the original on July 19, 2018. 234:from the original on June 14, 2018. 318:Powers, Jeffrey (April 26, 2010). 246:"PC World says farewell to floppy" 48:(SVD) is a device that emulates a 14: 330:from the original on May 1, 2010. 165:Direct access to some dedicated 220:Hardin, Ken (March 18, 2003). 86:electronic musical instruments 1: 42:floppy disk hardware emulator 455:Floppy disk computer storage 471: 370:"The floppy user guide" 445:Computer storage media 103:floppy disk controller 37: 21: 393:Kozierok, Charles M. 90:industrial automation 46:semi-virtual diskette 27: 19: 440:Computer peripherals 395:"Floppy Disk Drives" 344:Computer Peripherals 270:"R.I.P. Floppy Disk" 254:. January 30, 2007. 111:Secure Digital card 68:replace mechanical 450:Floppy disk drives 66:solid-state drives 38: 22: 420:Solid-state drive 405:on March 4, 2001. 324:Geek News Central 278:. April 1, 2003. 121:Emulation process 462: 407: 406: 401:. Archived from 390: 384: 383: 381: 374: 365: 359: 358: 356: 349: 338: 332: 331: 315: 309: 308: 306: 305: 296:. Archived from 290: 284: 283: 266: 260: 259: 242: 236: 235: 217: 95:operating system 80:Older models of 70:hard disk drives 32:port in which a 470: 469: 465: 464: 463: 461: 460: 459: 430: 429: 416: 411: 410: 392: 391: 387: 379: 372: 367: 366: 362: 354: 347: 340: 339: 335: 317: 316: 312: 303: 301: 292: 291: 287: 268: 267: 263: 244: 243: 239: 219: 218: 214: 209: 159: 123: 107:USB thumb drive 78: 62:plug compatible 12: 11: 5: 468: 466: 458: 457: 452: 447: 442: 432: 431: 428: 427: 425:Retrocomputing 422: 415: 412: 409: 408: 385: 360: 333: 310: 285: 261: 237: 211: 210: 208: 205: 181: 180: 173: 170: 167:disk partition 158: 155: 122: 119: 77: 74: 58:storage device 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 467: 456: 453: 451: 448: 446: 443: 441: 438: 437: 435: 426: 423: 421: 418: 417: 413: 404: 400: 396: 389: 386: 378: 371: 364: 361: 353: 346: 345: 337: 334: 329: 325: 321: 314: 311: 300:on 2010-11-30 299: 295: 289: 286: 281: 277: 276: 271: 265: 262: 257: 253: 252: 247: 241: 238: 233: 229: 228: 223: 216: 213: 206: 204: 201: 199: 198:virtual drive 195: 191: 189: 185: 184:Direct access 178: 174: 171: 168: 164: 163: 162: 157:Data exchange 156: 154: 151: 147: 143: 140: 136: 132: 128: 120: 118: 116: 112: 108: 104: 98: 96: 91: 87: 83: 75: 73: 71: 67: 63: 59: 55: 52:drive with a 51: 47: 43: 36:is connected. 35: 31: 26: 18: 403:the original 399:The PC Guide 398: 388: 363: 343: 336: 323: 313: 302:. Retrieved 298:the original 288: 273: 264: 249: 240: 227:TechRepublic 225: 215: 202: 194:Floppy image 193: 192: 188:floppy image 187: 183: 182: 160: 152: 148: 144: 124: 115:shared drive 99: 79: 45: 41: 39: 177:disk images 56:or network 54:solid state 50:floppy disk 34:flash drive 434:Categories 304:2011-11-24 207:References 82:computers 414:See also 377:Archived 352:Archived 328:Archived 280:Archived 275:BBC News 256:Archived 251:BBC News 232:Archived 60:that is 175:Floppy 113:, or a 76:History 380:(PDF) 373:(PDF) 355:(PDF) 348:(PDF) 186:and 88:and 139:PLL 135:GCR 127:MFM 44:or 30:USB 436:: 397:. 375:. 326:. 322:. 272:. 248:. 230:. 224:. 133:/ 131:FM 129:/ 109:, 84:, 72:. 40:A 307:.

Index



USB
flash drive
floppy disk
solid state
storage device
plug compatible
solid-state drives
hard disk drives
computers
electronic musical instruments
industrial automation
operating system
floppy disk controller
USB thumb drive
Secure Digital card
shared drive
MFM
FM
GCR
PLL
disk partition
disk images
virtual drive
"Don't be too quick to dump the floppy"
TechRepublic
Archived
"PC World says farewell to floppy"
BBC News

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