HxC SD, because it supports almost every kind of disk possible (and works with almost every machine, like Amiga, Amstrad CPC, some keyboards...). The downside: it's expensive. Also, keep in mind that HxC USB versions lacks write support, and HxC slim lacks the two line display (that helps you to select the right disk image).

I've heard some nice things about Gotek floppy emulators. They're not as flexible as the HxC, but they would work with most PC disk images. Also, it can be adapted with some firmwares to work with disk images from other systems (there is an Amiga firmware, and a CPC one in the works).

And, by far the worst emulators: those unbranded chinese emulators. They only support 3.5 floppy disk images (and sometimes only 1.44 disk images) with standard sector numbering. That means that you won't be able to boot 5.25 disk images, and some disk protections are not recognized.

About usage:
HxC needs a program to convert disk images to hfe files (the ones recognized by HxC), and a minimal setup (copying a preferences file to the SD card) to work.
Gotek and every other chinese emulator will work by simply copying img files to USB drive.

A img file, in terms of floppies, is just a dump of the ordinary 512-byte sectors. The first sector gives the formatting and boot information, and assuming you are using DOS-format images, next comes the FAT tables, then the root directory entries and finally the file data sectors. It isn't the most complex thing in the world to emulate. You might find this useful : http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/10/f … rage-space.html

I did a search on ebay for the HxC floppy emulators and man are those expensive. Then I found an even more expensive one called FlexiDrive but I think they're marketing to industrial/CNC customers. The Gotek seems more in my budget.

I have four of these and they work fantastic for PCs:

USB Floppy Emulator / Simulator - Video Review

Not had a single issue. I ended up formatting the USB with 100 images, not 1000 and then the software worked fine. The software is a letdown, I had to use another version from this German company. Check the thread it has all the information.

snorg wrote:

I did a search on ebay for the HxC floppy emulators and man are those expensive. Then I found an even more expensive one called FlexiDrive but I think they're marketing to industrial/CNC customers. The Gotek seems more in my budget.

I bought mine from Lotharek, it's a rev C one. 70€ are expensive, but way cheaper than those listed on ebay. Even the rev F ones are cheaper from lotharek than from ebay.

About the cheaper ones... I'm tempted to find some "strange" disk images and post them to make a compatibility comparison...

.

I picked up a couple of these for my beige AT cases. No problems so far.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261233274080

In some case protrusion part like USB becomes a installation problem.
If floppy device front panel is covered by spring loaded hatch.

Dirty... 🤣

I'll add my vote for the Gotek drives. I'm sure the HxC drives are much better but you have to keep in mind its just a FDD end of the day. I use mine exactly the same as a 1.44 drive and it works exactly the same (accept without the disk errors)
I've never messed around using it as a 5 1/4 drive or other disk sizes though