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Everblue · Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 15

Hi,

I am thinking of getting an SF7 but I am not too fond of having to use a floppy drive. Is there a way I can replace the floppy disk drive with an internal zip drive, or perhaps, some sort of flash card reader?

Thanks!

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

The SF7 doesn't support ZIP Drive or Flash readers. It supports Floppy Disk, Parallel Port Link to PC, and Parallel Port Link to CD-ROM.

The CD-ROM is mentioned in another topic. If you have an older PC like a laptop you can very easily (and cheaply if you don't have one but seek out a cheap old laptop) store your entire ROM collection on there. With a nice frontend its a great option.

marvelus10 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 55

I tried a search but came up empty. Would this work with a BUNG SF7

http://www.storagenewsletter.com/news/disk/datastorage-floppy-disk-drive-emulator-datex

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

I've heard it will would but you may need to modify it to be able to switch Floppy Image banks because of the way the GDSF will keep spinning floppys right until you eject them. These devices don't like that and will refuse to switch. So you need to mod something I believe. There is a thread about it if you search.

marvelus10 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 55

Ok with that fresh in your mind, what about other copiers like my SF3 or Super Pro Fighters.

Ill keep searching for the thread.

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

Same for all copiers, they were all of course designed to be used with a floppy drive. Why not just buy a flash cart and be done with it? These days other than nostalgia and collecting, there's no practical need for a copier.

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

Exactly. The only case I can make for a Copier is a SNES copier since you can get one cheaper than a SNES flash cartridge. So if you really can't spend much money, you could get a GDSF copier and use the floppy disks or parallel link with your PC.

But for other systems like Sega Genesis, N64, PC-Engine, etc the modern Flash Carts are cheaper and better. Why buy a Z64 Copier for something like $300 when for about $100 you could get a EverDrive N64 cart? Or spend who knows what for a PC-Engine Magic Griffon copier when you can buy the PCE Pro Flash cart?

wmwc · Joined: 26 Jul 2011 Posts: 37 Location: USA

I definitely can see their concern about getting a copier. That's why I got one so I didn't have to download ROMs off the net. Trying to be as "legitimate" as possible in this grey area is important, to some people. I respect it, it makes a lot of people feel better about emulating.

The floppy drive isn't that big of a draw back. Dumping/converting games doesn't take as long as you would think. If you are wanting to load games onto the SF7 to play, just use a parallel cable like Mott said. It's really fast but if you are going to copy them to your comp anyway, emulate it. Much better performance.

marvelus10 · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 55

I have the flash carts also, I just like to mess about with old electronics and such. Just thought it would be fun to do to my SF7.

wmwc · Joined: 26 Jul 2011 Posts: 37 Location: USA

I like your style, go for it. If you figure a cool hack out let us know. I'm always willing to upgrade something old into a high performance beast Smile

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

If you want a hack project for SF7, use the public schematics for building your own CD7 for loading games off CDROM.

netbeui · Joined: 23 Jul 2011 Posts: 6

RGB_Gamer · Joined: 01 Oct 2007 Posts: 879

MottZilla · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 765

I've had this on my PC. I'm not sure if it's available online anymore but it was before. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=581XSSRZ

Basically it describes how you make your own interface PCB, opposed to buying a PCB from GameDoctorHK. You still need a specific MKE CDROM drive to make use of it. Some people have made them into very nice looking enclosures.