Create Special Raw 2.5MB / 4.5MB / 6.78MB Floppy Image Partitions & Pre-Partitoned Setups for HxC Image-Less Mode ?

[synthfuldwarphus]

Regarding

HxC "Raw Loader - Predefined raw formats:
- 2.5MB Special (255 tracks) DD 300RPM
- 4.5MB Special (255 tracks) HD 300RPM
- 6.78MB
DOS EXHD Floppy Disks",

and

HxC Image-less Mode - "[E]mulate floppy disks directly from the USB Stick FAT12 partitions. This means that you can easily exchange files without the need of any floppy image with machines supporting the common DOS/FAT file system. All floppy disk partitions size is supported: 720KB (DD), 1.2MB (HD),1.44MB (HD) and even non standard sized disks (2.5MB and more…)",

how can I create my own Image-less Mode individual image partitions AND pre-partitioned setups of multiple image partitions in all supported sizes (1.44/2.5/4.5/6.78MB) to create custom setups generating MORE THAN JUST 16 floppy image partitions in them (since "GPT partitioned USB stick - This format allows you to have up to 128 floppy disks/partitions on the USB Stick")?

(The HxC "Image_Less_Mode folder in the firmware archive" - "USB disk prepartionned images" mentioned here https://hxc2001.com/docs/gotek-floppy-e ... ition.html only has setups of maximum 16 image partitions, and none in 6.78MB size, and I couldn't find any documentation or posts about creating more.)

Thanks.

[Jeff]

If the target machine supports these monster floppy disks, yes i can share the script to generate such setup.
note : having more than 16 partitions is not a good idea : some operating systems try to auto open all partitions and tend to going completely nuts .

i will share the Linux scripts i used to generate the current images.

[synthfuldwarphus]

Thank you, Jeff!

Yes, I have a machine that works perfectly with reading HxC 4.5MB images, and quite well with writing them, too. I wanted to also try 6.78MB images, but the Firmware Archive Image-less Mode Prepartitioned Image files did not include that size. Also, more than 16 image partitons could be helpful. So, I would greatly appreciate your Linux scripts to generate the 6.78MB images and prepartitioned setups of more than 16 images.

Thanks for the warning, and I realize that Windows might get overwhelmed with drive letters by the many partitons opening, if that's what you mean! I believe you can possibly remedy this by mounting the diskimage flashdrive as a folder (instead of drive letters) in Windows with: Computer Management -> Disk Management -> select flashdrive with diskimages, select Action -> All Tasks -> Change Drive Letter and Paths, select [Add], select [Mount in the following empty NTFS folder], etc.

I'd imagine using a Linux or Mac system would be fine. But if I'm wrong or you have other tips/warnings, please let me know! (I'm no expert here...)

Will you be sharing the scripts here or else somewhere on the HXC2001 site/documentation area?

[Jeff]

Here it is :

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_dri ... tor.tar.gz

You have just to tweak the "build list" at the end of the script and maybe add your own raw floppy image (use the hxc software to export it to raw/img...)

The major issue is the automount done by most of the operating system (Windows, Macos and even Linux). With more than 16 drives this is becoming a serious problem.

The GPT table seems to have a flag to disable the automount, but i suspect that in this case you can't even open the drive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

see "Basic data partition attributes" and "No drive letter (i.e. do not automount) "
To be tested...

[synthfuldwarphus]

A thousand thanks, Jeff!!

I will test these out over the next week or so, when I pull out the relevant machine out of storage.

Hopefully the larger amount of partitions won't be too much trouble, especially if I can use folders instead of drive letters on Windows.

I there a way I can use a raw 6.78MB image from the HxC software with a script?