HOW TO: Transfer AKAI S900 floppies to PC

Ok this is an issue. If you scan the net most people is telling that you need AKAIDISK. And most people is telling one needs Win98 too

WRONG!

You can read/write Akai S900 disks with Omniflop, and it works flawlessly under XP. (actually ONLY XP is supported!) (EDIT 02/18/2010: Omniflop 2.2c has been reported to work with Vista)

WHAT YOU NEED:
  1. PC with floppy drive (not USB!)
  2. Registered Onmiflop program (it's free)
  3. AKAI S900/s950
  4. Floppies (Modern HDs work ok, just put some tape on the HD hole...)
  5. Samples
  6. Patience :)

WHAT TO DO:

First install Omniflop. Later on, when trying to read a disk it will ask for a key and if you don't have it already the wizard will ask to mail the author to get one. Mail him and get your key. (he's very kind and usually replies within 24h. EDIT: I see from the site that now registration is done via WWW...)

Get a floppy, if it's HD put some tape in the hole.


Format the taped disk in the S900 and save some samples on it.

If you are running OS 4 on your AKAI and want to access the samples later from the PC remember to disable "SAMPLE COMPRESSION" from the DISK menu. If you just plan to backup your floppies you can leave compression ON.

Fire up your Omniflop, do the free registration thing, and set it in READ DISK mode using its simple wizard. When it comes to select a format choose the following:


AKAI S-Series DD-disk 800Kb. This is very easy...


Now insert the AKAI floppy in the PC drive. and go "NEXT" REMEMBER TO WRITE PROTECT THE DISK AND PUT SOME TAPE ON THE HD HOLE! If you don't write protect it and something goes wrong you may lose you data. You've been warned...

Now save the file, use .img extension.

Your backup is done. You can write it back to a floppy at anytime, remembering to put some tape on the hole. The best is to format the floppy on the AKAI before writing back images on it.

With Omniflop you can also write back to floppy the new OS 4.0 and load it into the AKAI. Instruction will follow. Information about the new(er) OS 4

Next article: How to load samples from AKAI floppy disk images.

17 commenti:

Anonimo ha detto...

i didnt get it to work :P
there was no akai format for me, and it didnt help by getting the license, theres just universal format or something.

bla a ha detto...

and even though i have installed the drivers, it keeps telling me it havent :/

KONEY ha detto...

Sounds very strange, I've re-installed Omniflop in another PC recently and had no problem at all...

Maybe...when you request your licence make sure you are specifying the format you're going to use.

Anonimo ha detto...

i have got that to work, but now the problem is getting the things to the floppy
when im writin one of your images for example, it just keeps spinnin and spinnin, til it crash.

KONEY ha detto...

The images are OK because I've tested them.

Maybe you can try:

1) Be sure to put tape on the HD hole.
2) Format the floppy in the AKAI before dumping the image.
3) Try another PC or maybe another floppy reader.
4) Try another one .IMG done by you with YOUR floppy reader.

Good luck!

Anonimo ha detto...

The OmniFlop driver replaces the "Floppy Disk Drive", not the "Floppy Disk Controller" - see the User Guide.

Philipp ha detto...

thank you so much for sharing this info! it works!

Anonimo ha detto...

I have used omniflop 2.2c on vista and it works. excellent blogspot by the way

KONEY ha detto...

Thanx lil'mark !

I've included your note about Vista in the post itself.

Anonimo ha detto...

Can you create a video tutorial on YouTube please? I'm lost on how to put the image onto floppy..

Anonimo ha detto...

Can you create a video tutorial on YouTube please? I'm lost on how to put the image onto floppy..

jazzroom ha detto...

Didn't work for me on XP ...
i ve got the license for AKAI S950,
installed the driver, drive doens't read ANY disks\anymore - even after uninstalling the Omniflop driver/..... :(

still want to try reinstalling the Floppy Drive with a real
old NEC drive...
How to correctly install and configure Omniflop ?

anyone could share a Step by Step tutorial?

thanks in advance

jazzroom

Anonimo ha detto...

Thank you very much!

I had two os4 disks, but broken. After downloading your os4 image file and using omniflop I can use my s900 with os4 again! :)

Unknown ha detto...
Questo commento è stato eliminato da un amministratore del blog.
3rdworldcountry ha detto...

hi, with the new omniflop v3.0b & win 7 ultimate i can upgrade mi s900 ? any 1 can help me ? thanks and blessings.

Unknown ha detto...

Hey hello!

I wish to read/write my s950 floppies

I have the latest version of omniflop

but when I have to select a format to read... I can not choose the akai format, it's not present, although I do have the licence for it

Anonimo ha detto...

Hi, why can't I use a USB floppy drive connected to the PC? My PC does not have a floppy drive and I was going to buy an external USB floppy drive ..

Thank you so much for the information!