Hi,

As part of the ImageDisk project, I created a bootable image so people
could use ImageDisk on non-DOS systems, this contains (among other things)
PC-DOS 7.1, and drivers to enable access to USB mass storage.

You can get this image from my "Daves Old Computers" site:
-> "Download Software/Images" (near bottom)
-> "Bootable diskette" (mid page)

I obtained a new GoTek not that long ago (still on original firmware),
and have had pretty good results with it. This is how I use it:

- Power on with BOTH buttons pressed to format the USB stick in a way which
can contain images - wait till it counts up then goes back to 000.
(only do this ONCE for each new USB stick you use)

- Use the buttons to select the image you want to access.

- It should work as a floppy drive, you can format/write/read.

If you have a flopyp image you wan to write to it (like BOOTIMD.IMG),
do so like any other floppy - select the image you want to access, then:

Under DOS you can use tools like my "XDISK.COM"

Under WinBlows you can use something like "DSKWRITE.EXE" (which is included
in the bootable ImageDisk distribution).

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 11:05:

At the moment, I'm without a floppy drive, so in order to get some drivers onto my reformatted PC, specifically USB drivers for Windows, I really need to access the image I've put onto my pen drive for the FlashFloppy. Currently, it's not being recognised in Windows either. And being able to use the FlashFloppy in DOS would have made using an image of a boot disk possible, too.

If the system runs DOS (or a windows that can be booted into DOS) and has a serial port, you could look at using my DDLINK file transfer program to get files from another system.

If the sending systems doesn't run DOS - DDLINK works well under DosBox.

DDLINK can "bootstrap" itself to a new system over a serial connection - the target systems does not need any specific software/commands
other than CTTY (built into DOS). MODE might be needed if you are running a version of DOS that doesn't default it's COM ports to the usual
2400,N,8.

Once you get DDLINK bootstrapped, it can transfer files over:
- Serial port (slowest)
- Parallel port (faster - but doesn't work in DosBox)
- Network (needs a "packet driver" - which you can transfer via serial first)

Also, with the Gotek - I find that under Winblows (in my case Win7) - floppy image 000 shows up if I plug in the bare Gotek formatted stick,
I can read files from it, don't think I've tried writing to it (but it might work).

Using image 000 could be an easy way to move files without having to move the Gotek itself between systems.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 12:09:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hi,

As part of the ImageDisk project, I created a bootable image so people
could use ImageDisk on non-DOS systems, this contains (among other things)
PC-DOS 7.1, and drivers to enable access to USB mass storage.

You can get this image from my "Daves Old Computers" site:
-> "Download Software/Images" (near bottom)
-> "Bootable diskette" (mid page)

I obtained a new GoTek not that long ago (still on original firmware),
and have had pretty good results with it. This is how I use it:

- Power on with BOTH buttons pressed to format the USB stick in a way which
can contain images - wait till it counts up then goes back to 000.
(only do this ONCE for each new USB stick you use)

- Use the buttons to select the image you want to access.

- It should work as a floppy drive, you can format/write/read.

If you have a flopyp image you wan to write to it (like BOOTIMD.IMG),
do so like any other floppy - select the image you want to access, then:

Under DOS you can use tools like my "XDISK.COM"

Under WinBlows you can use something like "DSKWRITE.EXE" (which is included
in the bootable ImageDisk distribution).

Wow. Thanks for the lengthy replies and suggestions. I’ll try playing around with this once I’m back from work. 😄 So I need to use a DOS utility to access files on a Gotek then? I’ve always tried accessing it from drive B, if I already have a physical floppy drive installed, but it won’t have it. I take it this works for any USB device or is it just the Gotek?

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 12:20:

If the system runs DOS (or a windows that can be booted into DOS) and has a serial port, you could look at using my DDLINK file […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 11:05:

At the moment, I'm without a floppy drive, so in order to get some drivers onto my reformatted PC, specifically USB drivers for Windows, I really need to access the image I've put onto my pen drive for the FlashFloppy. Currently, it's not being recognised in Windows either. And being able to use the FlashFloppy in DOS would have made using an image of a boot disk possible, too.

If the system runs DOS (or a windows that can be booted into DOS) and has a serial port, you could look at using my DDLINK file transfer program to get files from another system.

If the sending systems doesn't run DOS - DDLINK works well under DosBox.

DDLINK can "bootstrap" itself to a new system over a serial connection - the target systems does not need any specific software/commands
other than CTTY (built into DOS). MODE might be needed if you are running a version of DOS that doesn't default it's COM ports to the usual
2400,N,8.

Once you get DDLINK bootstrapped, it can transfer files over:
- Serial port (slowest)
- Parallel port (faster - but doesn't work in DosBox)
- Network (needs a "packet driver" - which you can transfer via serial first)

Well, I have 86Box on my main PC with DOS, if that works? 😄 I would probably need a lengthy serial adapter cable, which I presume you can get? Would my main PC/86 Box system detect the 98 machine that way? Thanks.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 13:42:

... So I need to use a DOS utility to access files on a Gotek then? ...

No, In operation it appears like any other floppy drive.
You can format/write/read from any OS.

If you want to put complete floppy disk image onto it, you need a tool to do that (like it would for a "normal" floppy drive),
you might even be able to use ImageDisk - I don't know however if Gotek supports non- DOS/Win diskette formats
(like noin-512 byte sectors, non-sequential sector numbers etc.)

I happen to use it in a DOS system, so I use my own XDISK utility to put images onto it - but you can use something like DSKWRITE
which is the smallest/simplest WinBlows tool I've found to write floppy images to drives - but you could also use any other floppy
disk imageing tool (like WinImage).

Also, under Win7, If I just stuff in the USB stick I use with GoTek, I can see the file on Floppy 000 - so you can use that to
move files without having to take the physical GoTek - this might also work for writing, but I've not tried.

I know Gotek provides some other tools - maybe there is something there that will let you access other floppy
images directly from the USB stick.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 13:44:

Well, I have 86Box on my main PC with DOS, if that works? 😄 I would probably need a lengthy serial adapter cable, which I presume you can get? Would my main PC/86 Box system detect the 98 machine that way? Thanks.

For DDLINK anything will work with lets you run 16-bit DOS programs, and provides access to a serial port or network card/packet driver.
I've not gotten parallel transfers to work in anything but native DOS (even W95/98 booted to native DOS works)
- I've used DDLINK to move stuff to/from DOS booted under PCEM (via network).

DDLINK does not know or care what kind of system is on the other end. I've written DDLINK server sides for various embedded systems
which make it easy to transfer stuff to/from them.

For bootstrap, DDLINK only looks for the command prompt (After you have done "CTTY COMn" as instructed, then does only
"COPY COMn DDLINK.COM", "DDLINK". (The DDLINK.COM sent is a very simple bootstrap which loads and runs a better bootstrap,
which accepts to actual DDLINK.COM data and writes it back to DDLINK.COM)

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 16:18:

No, In operation it appears like any other floppy drive. You can format/write/read from any OS. […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 13:42:

... So I need to use a DOS utility to access files on a Gotek then? ...

No, In operation it appears like any other floppy drive.
You can format/write/read from any OS.

If you want to put complete floppy disk image onto it, you need a tool to do that (like it would for a "normal" floppy drive),
you might even be able to use ImageDisk - I don't know however if Gotek supports non- DOS/Win diskette formats
(like noin-512 byte sectors, non-sequential sector numbers etc.)

I happen to use it in a DOS system, so I use my own XDISK utility to put images onto it - but you can use something like DSKWRITE
which is the smallest/simplest WinBlows tool I've found to write floppy images to drives - but you could also use any other floppy
disk imageing tool (like WinImage).

Also, under Win7, If I just stuff in the USB stick I use with GoTek, I can see the file on Floppy 000 - so you can use that to
move files without having to take the physical GoTek - this might also work for writing, but I've not tried.

I know Gotek provides some other tools - maybe there is something there that will let you access other floppy
images directly from the USB stick.

Hmm. Odd. I mean, the device comes on in DOS and I'm able to cycle through the images on the pen drive, but I can't seem to access them. I've used WinImage so far to add the images to the drive, though I will have to look at a freeware version soon. So writing the images to the pen isn't a problem, it's accessing them in DOS that is.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 16:47:

For DDLINK anything will work with lets you run 16-bit DOS programs, and provides access to a serial port or network card/packet […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 13:44:

Well, I have 86Box on my main PC with DOS, if that works? 😄 I would probably need a lengthy serial adapter cable, which I presume you can get? Would my main PC/86 Box system detect the 98 machine that way? Thanks.

For DDLINK anything will work with lets you run 16-bit DOS programs, and provides access to a serial port or network card/packet driver.
I've not gotten parallel transfers to work in anything but native DOS (even W95/98 booted to native DOS works)
- I've used DDLINK to move stuff to/from DOS booted under PCEM (via network).

DDLINK does not know or care what kind of system is on the other end. I've written DDLINK server sides for various embedded systems
which make it easy to transfer stuff to/from them.

For bootstrap, DDLINK only looks for the command prompt (After you have done "CTTY COMn" as instructed, then does only
"COPY COMn DDLINK.COM", "DDLINK". (The DDLINK.COM sent is a very simple bootstrap which loads and runs a better bootstrap,
which accepts to actual DDLINK.COM data and writes it back to DDLINK.COM)

I'm afraid I'm a bit clueless with this; I'm unclear how I would go about doing this exactly. Do I... run the DDLINK program on my 98 PC in DOS and then do the same in 86Box in DOS...? You also say Parallel is faster, but how would that work in 86Box's DOS? Thanks.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:04:

Hmm. Odd. I mean, the device comes on in DOS and I'm able to cycle through the images on the pen drive, but I can't seem to access them. I've used WinImage so far to add the images to the drive, though I will have to look at a freeware version soon. So writing the images to the pen isn't a problem, it's accessing them in DOS that is.

By "writing the images to the pendrive" do you mean directly to the USB pendrive on a modern system,
or do you mean writing to the pendrive while mounted in the Gotek (by writing to the selected floppy)

I don't believe you can write images directly to the USB pendrive(and if the system seems to allow it, most likely you are corrupting any floppy images already there) - Perhaps one of the Gotek utilities can do this, but I've not
tried - I write images to the selected floppy via the Gotek all the time without problems.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:14:

I'm afraid I'm a bit clueless with this; I'm unclear how I would go about doing this exactly. Do I... run the DDLINK program on my 98 PC in DOS and then do the same in 86Box in DOS...? You also say Parallel is faster, but how would that work in 86Box's DOS? Thanks.

Do you have DDLINK on the W98pc already? I though you were trying to get stuff on/off without having a working floppy.

If you have DDLINK on there already, just us it with DDLINK running in 86box.

If you need to bootstrap it onto the W98pc, I'd try restarting the W98pc in DOS mode, then run: DDLINK C=1 /B
<assuming you are using COM1 - adjust C= as needed otherwise>

Then follow the on-screen prompts.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 12:09:

Hi, […]
Show full quote

Hi,

As part of the ImageDisk project, I created a bootable image so people
could use ImageDisk on non-DOS systems, this contains (among other things)
PC-DOS 7.1, and drivers to enable access to USB mass storage.

You can get this image from my "Daves Old Computers" site:
-> "Download Software/Images" (near bottom)
-> "Bootable diskette" (mid page)

I obtained a new GoTek not that long ago (still on original firmware),
and have had pretty good results with it. This is how I use it:

- Power on with BOTH buttons pressed to format the USB stick in a way which
can contain images - wait till it counts up then goes back to 000.
(only do this ONCE for each new USB stick you use)

- Use the buttons to select the image you want to access.

- It should work as a floppy drive, you can format/write/read.

If you have a flopyp image you wan to write to it (like BOOTIMD.IMG),
do so like any other floppy - select the image you want to access, then:

Under DOS you can use tools like my "XDISK.COM"

Under WinBlows you can use something like "DSKWRITE.EXE" (which is included
in the bootable ImageDisk distribution).

Yeah, I can't seem to get it to format it. I've pressed both buttons during boot and it's come up with FF Update Flash 3.42. If I press the centre knob, it comes up with USB and then E01. All the images I put on are still there, according to my main PC.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:23:

Do you have DDLINK on the W98pc already? I though you were trying to get stuff on/off without having a working floppy. […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:14:

I'm afraid I'm a bit clueless with this; I'm unclear how I would go about doing this exactly. Do I... run the DDLINK program on my 98 PC in DOS and then do the same in 86Box in DOS...? You also say Parallel is faster, but how would that work in 86Box's DOS? Thanks.

Do you have DDLINK on the W98pc already? I though you were trying to get stuff on/off without having a working floppy.

If you have DDLINK on there already, just us it with DDLINK running in 86box.

If you need to bootstrap it onto the W98pc, I'd try restarting the W98pc in DOS mode, then run: DDLINK C=1 /B
<assuming you are using COM1 - adjust C= as needed otherwise>

Then follow the on-screen prompts.

I don't, no. I've literally done a fresh install and have nothing on at the moment. And yeah, I need to get stuff onto it. Usually the first thing I put on are USB drivers so I can access my pen drive, but I can't seem to get my FlashFloppy to work properly. If I select Floppy drive B in the BIOS as 3 1/2, as it's connected to my second IDE floppy cable, in Windows it thinks it's a 5 1/4 floppy drive.

Yeah, so if I enable Floppy Drive A and B in the BIOS (I usually put them to 3 1/2 inch 1.44), I get two floppy drives appearing in Explorer. Neither recognises my Gotek. It takes ages to respond and then tells me 'please insert disk/floppy'. The green light on the Gotek usually comes on as well, but, nada. If I just have floppy drive A enabled, I get one 3 1/2 floppy drive, but again - fails to read it. If I just have B enabled, even if I set it to 3 1/2 inch 1.44, it recognises it as a 5 1/4 floppy drive. But again - can't read it. >_<

Yep. Totally stuck with this FlashFloppy drive. I've tried connecting via the second connector of the floppy cable, the first connector, disconnecting everything and re-connecting it back up, I've made sure the jumpers are in the right place, I've deleted the config file on the pen drive, tried setting up floppy drive A, B, and A and B, I've tried seeing if the pen drive can be formatted directly from the device, which I don't believe it can be. Button combos don't work and I see nothing in the wiki to suggest it can be done, I've tried adding the config files back, and all it does is create another IMG.CFG file called IMG_0, I've tried copying the contents of IMG into that, but it just deletes it, and all of this just gives me an error on the device and puts everything upside down. 🙁

--- Background Information ---
Traditionally the Shugart floppy interface supported 4 drives, and used
flat/straight-through cables and each drive had to be jumpered as drive 1-4.

The PC changed that - IBM figured people were too stupid to configure jumpers
on a drive, and IBM didn't want their dealers to have to stock two different
drives (A: and B:)

SO... IBM made the "twisted" floppy cable you find in PCs, which makes drive
A: appear at the (twisted) end of the cable, and drive B: at the (straight)
next connector in - to be able to access the pins they needed to swap, they
had to use select 1 (drive B:)

This means BOTH drives in a PC are have to be jumpered as drive 2 and the PC
FDC output is non-standard as drive 1 is selectred through the pin for drive 3.
--- End of background ---

So... your Gotek (like any other floppy drive) has to be configured as drive 2(B:)

My Gotek has 7 jumpers visible from the top-back, just above the interface pins:

1     *-* * * * * *          - and | show where
2               |            jumpers are placed
3     * * * * * * *

I'm guessing the right 4 are: . . . 4 3 2 1
which would correctly make it drive 2(B:)

If you only have one drive, place it at the (twisted) end of the cable and only
configure drive A: present in BIOS.

If you don't have a twisted cable, or get annoyed by your PC trying to boot
from the Gotek - place it at the untwisted connector and configure only B:
present in BIOS.

Once you do the two-button "format" of a USB stick in the Gotek, you should
be able to pick a virtual drive using the buttons (individually), after which
the Gotek should just appear as a "normal" floppy drive - you should be able
to format/read/write like any other floppy disk **

** It's been a while since I set it up - it's possible that the two-button
operation preformats the individual disks - but as this is O.S. dependant
I wouldn't expect it to.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:35:

Yeah, I can't seem to get it to format it. I've pressed both buttons during boot and it's come up with FF Update Flash 3.42.

I may have misremembered - now that I think of it, pressing the two buttons AFTER power-on is how you do a format,
Pressing them DURING power-on if how you initiate a firmware update.

If I press the centre knob, it comes up with USB and then E01. All the images I put on are still there, according to my main PC.

What do you mean by "center knob" - Mine has only the two buttons.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 20:15:

I may have misremembered - now that I think of it, pressing the two buttons AFTER power-on is how you do a format, Pressing them […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-10-18, 17:35:

Yeah, I can't seem to get it to format it. I've pressed both buttons during boot and it's come up with FF Update Flash 3.42.

I may have misremembered - now that I think of it, pressing the two buttons AFTER power-on is how you do a format,
Pressing them DURING power-on if how you initiate a firmware update.

If I press the centre knob, it comes up with USB and then E01. All the images I put on are still there, according to my main PC.

What do you mean by "center knob" - Mine has only the two buttons.

I've tried it several times, and even whilst on the desktop, but it hasn't come up with any format option. I've not been able to find anything in the wiki about being able to do it, either.

Mine has a dial on it and you can select with it by pressing it in.

DaveDDS wrote on 2025-10-18, 20:10:

--- Background Information --- Traditionally the Shugart floppy interface supported 4 drives, and used flat/straight-through cab […]
Show full quote

--- Background Information ---
Traditionally the Shugart floppy interface supported 4 drives, and used
flat/straight-through cables and each drive had to be jumpered as drive 1-4.

The PC changed that - IBM figured people were too stupid to configure jumpers
on a drive, and IBM didn't want their dealers to have to stock two different
drives (A: and B:)

SO... IBM made the "twisted" floppy cable you find in PCs, which makes drive
A: appear at the (twisted) end of the cable, and drive B: at the (straight)
next connector in - to be able to access the pins they needed to swap, they
had to use select 1 (drive B:)

This means BOTH drives in a PC are have to be jumpered as drive 2 and the PC
FDC output is non-standard as drive 1 is selectred through the pin for drive 3.
--- End of background ---

So... your Gotek (like any other floppy drive) has to be configured as drive 2(B:)

My Gotek has 7 jumpers visible from the top-back, just above the interface pins:

Copy code to clipboard

1     *-* * * * * *          - and | show where
2               |            jumpers are placed
3     * * * * * * *

I'm guessing the right 4 are: . . . 4 3 2 1
which would correctly make it drive 2(B:)

If you only have one drive, place it at the (twisted) end of the cable and only
configure drive A: present in BIOS.

If you don't have a twisted cable, or get annoyed by your PC trying to boot
from the Gotek - place it at the untwisted connector and configure only B:
present in BIOS.

Once you do the two-button "format" of a USB stick in the Gotek, you should
be able to pick a virtual drive using the buttons (individually), after which
the Gotek should just appear as a "normal" floppy drive - you should be able
to format/read/write like any other floppy disk **

** It's been a while since I set it up - it's possible that the two-button
operation preformats the individual disks - but as this is O.S. dependant
I wouldn't expect it to.

I see. Kind of. ^^; Just trying to process it. But yes, I have a dual floppy IDE connector. The first has the twist, which I use for an actual floppy drive. So at least I did have it set up right initially.

I did move one of the jumpers as I believe it was set wrong. This was how it was to begin with:

So it was at J5 and JA, which I believe it should be at JC. I think the config had to be modified last time. Although with the errors I'm getting now, maybe I was wrong...? This is where I put it: