Roland MC-300 / 500 / Mk2 Drive Upgrade (Part 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Instructions on upgrading Roland MC-300 MIDI sequencer from 1988 with Gotek USB floppy drive emulator.
The method works with other Roland equipment such as W-30, S-50, S-330, MC-500, MC-500 Mk2, XP-50, SD-35 which utilized identical 720KB Shugart drive controller. SB-55 although electronically compatible, has a drive bay design that makes installation of Gotek impossible without structural alterations.
Disk images presented in this tutorial for MRC, SMRC and MRM operating systems can be downloaded individually off Roland's website.All you have to do is rename .OUT files into "000.IMG, 001.IMG, etc" and place them inside IMG720 folder on your USB thumb drive.
www.rolandus.co...
Or you can retrieve the entire pack using the following link:
www.enilenis.co...
Special thanks to Keith Meiere for offering technical advise:
llamamusic.com/...
Worth mentioning that Gotek drive operates about 20% slower than a physical floppy drive. That's the main trade-off for all the benefits gained by switching to a USB emulator.
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One of the most useful videos on youtube, for my MC 500 Mk II. Thank you !
Glad to be of service. I absolutely love these machines. Everything about them oozes quality. What is also amazing is that these sequencers can interface with any modern piece of gear that still has a MIDI port. I use mine primarily with an Akai Max 49 keyboard and even though they're 25 years apart, they talk to eachother like nobody's business. I'm sad to see MIDI jacks slowly disappear off the backs of keyboards. Everything's USB and software based nowdays, and for me it's a throwback to times before General MIDI, when there was no single standard and no easy way to make competing pieces of gear interface with eachother.
Yes, these machines are wonderful, and was made to last. As you said, they can communicate with any modern devices. I love mine, because it was my first sequencer, and I made much good music with it. I still use it. Of course a software sequencer is more useful, there´s some things I prefer on MC 500. And there´s kind of a "magic" in playing something and hear it back perfectly. I always hated the boot thing, the system boot, but I see that with this upgrade, it will be ready at once. It´s a pity I can´t find this USB drive in my country ( Brazil ). Today I searched a lot, there´s several others, but not this one.
Likewise, I could only get a Gotek on e-bay. Shipping options are limited with many of the online vendors.
Regarding software sequencers - they're easy to learn. I played with them for some time until I realized, I could no longer use regular instruments to play things I was making on the computer. It was all mouse clicks. No muscle memory. No personal connection to the music. I then went old school.
Even though MC sequencers offer editing functions, they take a lot more effort than hitting "undo" on a computer, so most people re-record patterns. It forces the musician to play things properly and pay attention. I like that.
A well made and informative instruction video. Thanks for making this video.
Thanks. It's a beautiful retro machine that was built to last. Unfortunately there aren't too many videos online showcasing it. Many people who own them presently, have either exhausted their system disk supplies, or are afraid to put stress on the drive, fearing it might eventually fail. With Gotek providing so many options (about 20 different drive varieties) it's easy to get lost, so I'm hoping to take the guess work out of the equation.
Hello,i can't download the files .out to install them on a usb stick, can you help me please?Thank you very much! 🙂
I'm interested i have mc 500mk 2
the alpha dial concept is the same on the roland mks-50 + alpha juno-1, alpha juno-2 synths! i guess these were all made the same year at roland! Alpha was in!
I recently got my hands on a vintage Korg synthesizer, also with a rotary dial. What a difference! It's mechanical and so rigid, it is actually unpleasant to operate, and it skips on top of everything. Not due to wear. The firmware doesn't seem to keep up with the input. I was so used to Roland's superb responsiveness, I was surprised with such poor quality coming from a rival brand. Absolutely love Korg sound characteristics, but it feels like their interfaces are designed by monkeys and controls built by beavers. Somehow no brand gets everything right. Roland, Yamaha and Korg all have something good, but no one is able to do everything right.
Super awesome video! Very informative! I actually use the MSQ-700. I had a MC-50 mkII, but I didn't prefer the workflow of it compared to the MSQ-700. What do you think of the workflow with the MC-300? Is it easy? Thanks for the upgrade information. I may do it on a few of my floppy disk drive instruments too. :) Take care, Sam from the Machiwoomiapoo Channel. :)
I haven't used my MC-300, since I was finally able to find a used MC-80 after I made this video, which became my primary processing machine. More instrument tracks, more functions and a sound generator equivalent to SC88-Pro, means I don't have to hook up anything to it other than a keyboard and speakers. MC-300 I mostly used with a Casio HT-700 which had speakers, but no ability to record. MC-300 is very streamlined. Once you learn key combinations from the manual, and everything you can do while holding the shift key, it goes into muscle memory and you can operate the unit half the time without even looking at it. With MC-80 you'll be sitting for an hour, dialing in all the settings, before playing the first key. And then you spend hours on the back end readjusting values because you can, and you have an undo button. The most useful function ever! MC-300 was great. I only retired it because I got something better. The issue with 300 is that Gotek mainly solves the problem of not having access to original media. It doesn't make it much easier to open files on a normal computer, since the file system is FAT-12 and there are no utilities for the file format. MC-80 is right on the edge of "still viable" as uses standard .mid and FAT16. So directly readable on any modern windows machine. MC-80 can be converted to Gotek, but I prefer to keep the Zip drive it came with, as I can store all the songs I'll ever write on a single disk. 100MB is a ton, when it comes to MIDI.
And one last thing to add - my main frustration with MC-300 was the 4 track limit on original MRC1 that I stuck to. On MRC2 it was possible to do 8 tracks, but you'd run out of memory sooner and having only 4 buttons and LED's for monitoring 8 tracks never really worked for me, so if I couldn't make something work in 4 tracks, I wouldn't use MC-300 at all. On MC-80, sky's the limit and there is an indicator for everything. You're never blind to the settings and catch errors easily. On MC-300 you often sit there scratching your head, or you transpose something incorrectly and ruin everything after your last save. On MC-80 proper undo fixes everything.
@@enilenis Wow! That was an intense response. Thank you for all your information. I think I'll stick with the MSQ-700. I never like menu diving and it provides enough tracks for me. Take care and keep up the wonderful videos. I really enjoyed them. :) Sam.
I have an MC-500 with a bad drive, and the light in the blue display light is getting dim.
Then this would work. My light was out when I got it. It's possible to have a custom EL panel replacement, but it requires soldering. I can operate mine just fine, even without backlight. I love the fact that it's so simple, once you practice on it for a week, you stop looking at the display. Your fingers memorize all the menu paths on the numpad. It's one of my favorite sequencers to work with, right after MC-80.
Do you have a link to the correct drive emulator for the mc-500? I just bought one but everything i try to initialize a new disk i get error 22. Figured I’d try upgrading but i want to make sure i buy the right one. Thanks
Nevermind i found it haha. I must’ve skipped that part in the video on accident
@@accordion2kevin742 I'm still curious to know what the problem ended up being, in case anyone else asks me about the same error you had.
@@enilenis I’m not sure. It still gives me an error when I try and initialize a disk but a way around it is to back up a disk the way you back up a whole song. It works fine when I do it this way for some reason. It’s more tedious and takes longer this way though. They suggest it in the book when you get error 22
Hi:
Just received the floppy emulator this week for use on Roland S-550 sampler, I press both buttons on the emulator and the display shows 000 after firmware etc, even after a minute of holding both buttons it doesn't get to b0.0. for the boot system option.
Has anyone seen this before?
Holding the buttons will show firmware version and that's it. The camera angle makes it hard to see when I'm hitting buttons, which is what makes the counter increment. To get to b0.0 you have to press both buttons repeatedly 10 times when the device is powered. Timing both button presses so that Gotek registers it correctly - now that's a frustrating process. That's why I went as far as adding my own microcontroller in part 2 of the video.
I installed two separate Goteks of the same model you installed and was unable to get the MC500 to recognize either of them, or even get past the MC's title screen that would say only "Roland MC-500," which is not the standard startup message.
After booting with the Gotek connected, its firmware information appears, along with the zeros, but the Gotek does not respond to button presses, and the numbers in the display are twitchy and often change on their own. In addition, after a few seconds, the MC-500's display eventually blanks out, and all other lights on the MC flash chaotically.
Only after I disconnected the data cable was I able to get normal use of the Gotek's buttons and reach "b0.0" and load the Gotek from the USB drive. But this was all I was able to do. Once I reconnected the data cable, all the wonky behavior would return.
I was also able to restore and confirm normal MC operation only after reattaching the original floppy disk drive. This behavior suggests to me the jumpers on the Gotek might not be set correctly, even though their positions appear to match the ones you use. You don't address the jumpers in your video, but I was hoping you some suggestions about them. Will I damage anything by experimenting with their positions? Or do you know of other possible causes of the problem?
Thank you for the instruction video. But the background music is not necessary. Would make for a clearer narrative.
The background music is played off the MC-300 and synthesized by the MT-32, so it serves as an illustration as to the kind of music that would've been produced back when the device was around. Plus, I like using MIDI's as background tracks, because they don't trigger youtube content ID.
Thanks a lot🙏💚🧡🤗 I have the MC 500 for long, as I'm buying the Analog Synths brom Behringer.... It time to upgrade my MC 500 as it will be, fist step is to find the compatible floppy emulator. So thanks for your specifications.
One question, how did you find the compatible one? I understand fat32, ok, particular format, and internal memory. I have the system disk and the super one, if I remind, I must have them on computer. I have old desktops also with floppy disk integrated, but I don't know what are the exact requirements made by Roland, so to choose on Amazon the good model if your's would no longer being avaible. 🌋⚡😱
Behringer is a Roland subsidiary. I only bought an 8 channel mixer from them, and wasn't too impressed. Like there not being a power button and it heating up a lot, even when not in use. I'd mod it just to have a power button, but it's in mint condition, so maybe I'll just sell it off instead. Regarding SD card based emulators - it's all about the Shugart 720k standard. If the device can emulate that, then there's no issue. I only tried Gotek, and can't vouch for effectiveness of everything else that I haven't used. I know the links to products go dead. I'll remove them from video description. For physical floppies - my original drive is still good. And I used HD floppies, with covered holes, even in the videos. Otherwise, I only had 2 actual 720K diskettes in the house. I had the option of either getting a box of diskettes, or a Gotek for the same price. I went for Gotek, to be able to back up files on a PC. I have other Roland machines that run on single density diskettes, but I haven't used them in ages. These days, I mostly play either on a Korg synth, or on a Yamaha RM1x. The rest of synths and keyboards are decorating shelves and gathering dust.
Thanks for the very clear instructions! I haven't been able to save disk images with filename greater than 009 to the usb drive however, an empty folder is created instead. Any idea how to fix this?
Do you have the exact same drive model? I have no trouble going over 10 on mine. Hmm. Can you describe your process step by step? Maybe you're doing something differently.
Awesome Video, I just ordered the drive emulator... I'm glad I have not thrown out my MC500, how can I get all of my sequences I created 30 years ago off the old floppies?
Win 98 and earlier support Roland's utilities for managing data, but the chance of reading a floppy on a non-Shugart drive are minimal. There is a linux option that might work. I'll post the link if I find it. Success rate about 50% from what I remember when I tried it. Another option that I considered, but haven't tested involves reading the file into MC-500 using its original drive, then unplugging it and connecting the Gotek. Then saving file to it. Would have to be done one by one. I know both drives will work, but I'm not sure if unplugging of the ribbon or power cable would create any kind of a short or a spike, damaging either the sequencer or the drive. Should work in theory, but I didn't want to test my luck. If this was to be done, you'd have to unplug power first, then the data ribbon and reconnect the next drive in reverse. Ribbon first and power second, as otherwise if device is powered and not all pins link simultaneously, it might cause reverse current and that's an easy way to loose a drive.
Lastly, if the mechanical floppy still functions, easier to dump songs as MIDI via a MIDI to USB adapter, and keep them that way, without loading back into the sequencer. The MRM disk image in my archive supposedly converts MIDI and Roland's own format, but I never used it, so I can't offer any instructions.
Where can I buy one like this for my Roland MC-500 MkII
Google SFRM72-FU-DL and you'll find whatever is available in your area. They're about half price now, compared to when I made the video, because there's a lot more of them out there. It's a popular upgrade. I bought a few extras for myself, because there are many 80's computers that use them. I also bought one that is USB based, to dump my images off any Gotek onto the computer in uncompressed form. There are dozens of Gotek type drive types of every application imaginable. Often it's the exact same device, just with a different firmware. Those who have chip programmers can modify them. I have a programmer, but I never tried doing it myself.
@@enilenis thank you so kindly. May I transfer the money to your account, plus shipping and you can send it to me. Are you OK with that. Thanks. Graham from South Africa.
Hi,
The drive in my MC-500 mkII still works fine, but I'm having trouble initializing disks. After counting to '80' the initializing fails and the display says "ERROR 22, DISK I/O". I've tried countless disks. Do you have any idea what could be the problem? Do I need to prepare the disks in some way? I've tried formatting on my PC, but that doesn't help either.
Are you using proper 720K Double Density diskettes, or reformatting 1.44MB into 720K? I know issue such as yours tends to occur if higher capacity diskettes are down-converted. Problem is that old sectors don't line up with the new ones and that produces magnetized bits that are between other bits, at which point data cannot be reliably retrieved and the disk is ruined. I down- convert diskettes in Linux, and typically end up with only half of them functioning, which is to be expected. Windows formatting never worked for me, and I never managed to get a single successful conversion out of it.
Does your glitch always happen at the same percentage point, or is it different each time? Have you tried different diskettes? How about cleaning the drive itself?
What kind of of a drive does the PC have? I assume it's standard 1.44MB, because those will read 720K, but that doesn't mean they can all write data correctly or format. Field strength is lower than what a proper 720K drive normally anticipates.
Here's what I used for command reference when figuring out options:
8bitboobs.com/mc-500/
@@enilenis
Thanks for your quick response!
I'm using proper 720K diskettes; I've got a box full of old Atari ST diskettes. I was able to make my own working Super-MRC diskette using the .OUT file from Roland and the 'sdisk' tool and my MC-500 mkII reads it just fine. I'm using an old USB floppy disk drive.
The glitch always happens at the same point. After the initialization process has counted to 80 (the last track of the diskette I guess) it suddenly fails and gives me error 22. This also happens when I use a System Generator diskette in my MC-500 mkII to create a system disk.
I actually cleaned my read/write-head with alcohol earlier today but that hasn't made any difference. Perhaps my drive is broken after all?
@@ClemensWennersMusic Without having spares to swap in it's always hard to troubleshoot. I'd suggest opening up the floppy drive to see if there are any mechanical obstructions or cracks in any of the moving components. Maybe a clump of dust on the corkscrew gear that would prevent the read head from reaching end boundaries. Also, try non-Atari diskettes if you have them. If the error happens on the same sector, maybe they're preformatted in some way that's not Roland-friendly. All it takes is one incorrectly positioned sector.
Did you ever upgrade to the flash floppy version of the drive (with an OLED screen and floppy switcher knob)? I'm wondering if I have to change/mod anything if I get one of those instead...
Haven't done it. I looked at it, and to me it offered nothing. Most of the time you're working with just 2 files on the thumb drive. The OS and your scratch space for compositions. How much control is needed for that? Not much. Therefore, I left that idea alone. If it was a Commodore drive, loading games off a hundred floppy images, it would be worth it probably, but not for a simple music sequencer.
@@enilenis btw do u have a link to ur empty floppies and such, that isn't broken. Whenever i click ur link it seems to be on a totally different site
@@enilenis also thx for the reply
@@jaredbenham1078 The 2nd link in the description is the one that's hosted on my own site. Should be fine. Worked for everyone else.
Great video. Could you explain how to save a song in the usb pendrive, please?
After you have the song written on the sequencer, you need to load a blank diskette image. I'll assume you use file collection I provide and you have already loaded the operating system as shown.
1. When you have a song written on the sequencer and ready to save, make sure no USB key is in the drive. With Gotek buttons select a blank image such as b006. Insert USB key and hit right Gotek button. It'll load it into memory. Remove the USB key.
2. Using sequencer you have to navigate to file save menu (I don't remember the keys off the top of my head). Save the file music composition same as if you were using a floppy. The file will go into Gotek's internal memory chip first.
3. Next, select a new file name with Gotek buttons. Example - b008 will automatically create file '008.IMG'. Insert USB key. Press left Gotek button. Lights will flash and you will have the song saved to a new virtual diskette. If you plug the USB into the computer, you'll see a newly made 008.IMG file that you can back up, if needed.
4. Now you have to load OS back into Gotek, so that it's there after a restart... or you can leave it till next time. It's up to you.
To save many songs, you can keep doing the same thing over and over. Load b006, fill it up, then save to 008, 009, 010 etc.
Keep in mind that MC300 and MC500 often access the floppy to load portion of the operating system, so as soon as you save the song, it's a good idea to reload the OS image right back into the Gotek.
Practice a few times to make sure you remember which buttons to press. Remember that when USB is in, left Gotek button moves files from onboard memory to USB and right button moves USB file to onboard memory. When no USB is in, left button increases the middle digit. Right button increases the right digit. Both buttons together increase the left digit (which should always be set to 'b' and I'm surprised the firmware wasn't written to have it there on default).
Thank you for your reply. I´m moving from a modern MC-808 and this is new for me. I bought my MC-500 with the Gotek already installed. I find this system really difficult to understand. By step number 2 I´m getting the error Attn! Wrong Disk. Change Disk & Enter :((((
Hmm. Maybe the sequencer doesn't like the blank diskette file from Roland.
In the MC-500 disk menu you should find a function to initialize a new disk. That would wipe contents of internal Gotek memory chip and deposit a proper formatted diskette image that the sequencer expects. You can then record that image to a USB for later use. Though, if your Gotek drive is not modified, you'll get to the "Insert new disk" prompt and it'll just sit there. You'll have to lift the top cover of the sequencer to be able to short Gotek pin 1 and 2 with a needle or a paper clip, like I do in part 2 of the video. They're the pins closest to the power connector. That will make sequencer think you've changed the floppy.
After the new image is made, you will have to record it to USB by selecting the file number (ex: b008) and hitting left Gotek button. Reload OS back in and you're good to go.
If you're using my files, you can also try blank image b005. That one was formatted with a different MRC OS. Some people say that 005 works for them. Some have better luck with 006.
This is awesome! Is it possible to format the drive from a Mac? (2012 Macbook Pro)
Files system has to be FAT32, and I don't remember if 2012 macs supported it. If not, I'm sure there are utilities for that. Plus, USB sticks under 32GB in size are often pre-formatted as FAT32 anyway. My advise is to try it and see what happens. I don't have a 2012 macbook pro on hand, so I can't test.
do you know if this will work on a Roland D-20? Thank you for such a great tutorial!
D-20, like this sequencer is from 1988 and uses MF-2DD drive, so it should be compatible. I know there are plenty more devices that I haven't listed, like the SD-35. I will be adding more of them as I receive confirmation from people who have officially tried the upgrade. Roland stuck with older drives for quite a long time, being conscious of backwards compatibility. When they finally transitioned to IBM-compatible High Density disks those were already obsolete. I'm currently trying to source an MC-80, which has support for HD floppies, ZIP and SCSI internally. It's an ideal cross-generation platform for media conversion. Been looking for months.
Thank you! I will keep checking back. :)
Ciao , non riesco a trovare l'emulatore USB FLOPPY, mi mandano sempre quelli sbagliati, come posso fare ??
Try ebay?
Provo con ebay questa sera
Hello, I have been reading the comments on your video and am interested in Installing a Gotek drive on my Roland MV30 Sequencer/Studio. Are there any special issues not mentioned in your tutoral, or will it be the same.
If it's pre-1992 and runs on 720K diskettes, then the process should be the same. Checked forums and they say the MV30 utilizes same Shugart controller as in my video. So I say 99% probability that it'll work. If you do go though with the upgrade, let me know how it goes.
enilenis Hi, thanks for your reply, yes I bought about 1990. I did write to Roland once to ask if I could put a hard drive in there but they said it wasn't possible.
I can't seem to find how to transfer all my MV30 files on my floppys over to USB , I wouldn't want to lose them., I'll check it all out.
Cheers. FRANK.
I've recently tried installing a flash adapter into an MC-80 instead of an internal hard drive and the machine didn't like it. Seems to be quite picky about the actual type of device it's expecting to see. On forums I get a sense that fewer than half people who attempt such thing are able to find proper controller / flash card combination. Cards have to be true-UDMA compatible and that type is extremely rare. But that's entirely off topic.
To transfer files off 720K floppies - that's especially hard. Done it under linux once, manually setting sector parameters, but I've completely forgotten the procedure by now. Roland has some ancient utilities on the site, but I don't think they run on anything newer than Windows 98.
Theoretically, it is possible to boot the Roland with a mechanical floppy. Load data into internal memory. Unplug the drive (power first, ribbon second). Then plug in Gotek (ribbon first, power second), save files from Roland to Gotek and then from Gotek onto a USB. Should work in theory, but as with anything connected live like that, there is a risk of damage. So, I never tried it myself. Typically I use something like an MC-80 to convert files from proprietary Roland format into standard MIDI. That thing has a floppy and an internal hard drive, which makes batch processing convenient. Though I never used it with 720K diskettes. Those aren't IBM-compatible and probably would not read on the same drive.
IBM diskettes are FAT-16, I believe and old Rolands write FAT-12 which is a completely different file system.
Hi, I have a MC-500, I installed the os but I can not install partitions to save the songs (001,002,003, etc) you know how to do? Thank you very much :)
Are you using Gotek or just regular floppy disks? Which operating system MRC, SMRC? There is a disk format utility that's part of SMRC operating system that can format blank partitions in order to save songs, but that's where Gotek runs into one problem. Roland expects the OS diskette to be ejected and a new one to be inserted - something that Gotek doesn't do. You have to have the sequencer cover removed, and pull 2 jumpers that are on the Gotek emulator, when asked for a new disk. Put them back and then you'll be able to make more partitions. I'm currently working on a permanent solution to the problem.
If you are using regular floppies and a floppy drive on an IBM-compatible computer, there's a tutorial for making extra diskettes using the same IMG files that I used, but that's done through Linux. You have to know how to use it.
8bitboobs.com/mc-500
If you want, I can create pre-formatted blank MRC partitions for saving songs. Something that I haven't done yet, as I typically store my compositions on diskettes containing the OS.
Okay. I have the same Gotex than the video. I save my songs in the same partition as the OS. But it gives me problem when they are long ... I will try to do what you tell me. Thank you very much :)
I've tried the jumper solution myself, and it doesn't quite work on my sequencer. It expects pin 2 of the data ribbon to be grounded in order to detect disk change, so jumper trick alone isn't enough. I grounded the pin manually to make some more diskette images.
I re-uploaded my zip archive to include pre-initialized floppies.
005.IMG and 006.IMG are now blank diskette images pre-initialized with MRC and SMRC systems.
If you want to save large songs, you have to boot up the sequencer with an OS of your choice, then load one of the pre-initialized floppies in order to save music to it. After saving is done, you have to upload the image back into Gotek drive by selecting desired file number and pressing the left button. Before rebooting the sequencer, don't forget to load the OS back into Gotek's internal memory.
I Really appreciate the tutorial you have made it' a good work.I wrote in order to saving the song now creatin in the standard memori of my Roland MRC 500.so i have to do:
1) load the boot image SMRC from b002 to d0 ( gotek internal memory.
2) load an image disk preforrmattet ( img 006) from b.06 to d0
3 saving the image in another position ( es b10 then rigt button to save in the memori usb stick)
4) reupload the b02 to reload the MCR system disk.
is correct ?
igot roland mc500 mkii and gotek SFR1M44-U100K-R , i use jumper pin as you are , now
1. i cant get b00
2. too many tried to make it work but its still useless
3. i use many disk formater but still doesnt work.
can you help me please.
You do not have the right Gotek. You need SFRM72-FU-DL. Yours will not work and it operates differently. Yours does not have the b00 mode.
i have one answer about b00 , now i have the board code sfrc922d , what should i do.. the screen alway show error 3 :( .. help me.. i dont really understand about technical programming , any option without b00 mode?? sory for my bad english thanks mr.enilenis
fyi i hv no disk here.. i cant play it any more
You need Gotek SFRM72-FU-DL.
i try flash up the gotek with flash floppy and flash loader, with your img files and its work.. thanks !!
i cannot get the letter b up on my Roland mc500. any help?
Do you have the right Gotek drive model? What happens when you hold both buttons during power up? Does is show firmware version or begin partitioning the USB stick instead (with numbers counting up)?
@@enilenis Thanks. I believe so, the ebay listing said it was. When i hold both buttons without a USB stick in it shows F01. If i boot it up and hold both buttons with the USB stick in it counts up. Currently i have one jumper on S0.
@@winf1234 I just had another guy complain about a similar issue a week ago. That's the behavior of SFR1M44 model. He bought his on Amazon and figured they sent him the wrong model. The right SFRM72-FU-DL will show firmware version briefly, like in my video, and do nothing else. The incorrect 1.44MB model is programmed to format the USB if the buttons are held, and break it up into partitions, which is indicated by the numbers scrolling up to 99 or 999. Correct model has no formatting functionality and utilizes a single FAT32 partition.
Do a test. Have your USB in the gotek and hold both buttons on powerup. Let it run up the numbers until it stops. Now plug that USB into a computer and check the size of the primary partition. If the USB shows up as a tiny 1.44MB drive, you've got the wrong one.
enilenis that exactly what happened. If I flash it with custom flash floppy firmware will it work?
@@winf1234 Most Gotek's are electronically identical, but there is a single difference between SFRM72 and SFR1M44 that make them incompatible. There is an 8-pin flash chip next to the ARM CPU that keeps the diskette image. On models that auto-format the USB the chip is missing. Without it, the alternate firmware is not going to work. On top of that, you need an FTDI adapter that connects to the 6-pin API header on the Gotek . If it was a straightforward process, online retailers wouldn't be charging a markup on the FU-DL, and people would be reflashing cheaper 1.44MB versions instead.
uhm... WHY POWER CYCLE ?!?!
To make sure the machine is able to boot up properly from start to finish. OS is loaded into the sequencer automatically on power-up. There is no way to unload one OS and swap it for a different one without resetting. Many errors which may occur, won't give you an option to resume or swap diskettes. Additionally, if you watch Part 2 of my video, you'll realize that Gotek isn't capable at all of triggering diskette change command without some additional mods, which is yet another reason to power cycle.