I know these are two very different beasts, but I'm really struggling to make a decision here.
My main use-case for either device would be backing up a few hundred floppies as well as testing development versions of my game on my Amiga 1000 (I guess that's already a plus for the Gotek, since with the SDBox I'd have to convert the ADF to something I can run from a hard drive?). As far as I understand, with the Gotek I could back these up directly whereas with the SDBox I'd need to convert them all to ADF manually, is that correct?
Is there any way to use the Gotek as a temporary hard drive replacement?
If I end up choosing an external Gotek, I assume I'll be able to use it across platforms and also back up my Atari ST floppies by simply getting the right cable for it, correct?
Eventually, I want to get a Parceiro for my Amiga 1000 so that might make the SDBox moot sooner than later.
You might as well consider the HxC, even if it’s more expensive.
Yes, it’s my usual rant, but hear me out
. Admittedly, besides the higher price you also need to convert your adfs.
You get a dual-floppy emulator.
You also get limited read-access to the SD card from Workbench. I think you need Workbench / Kick 3.1 or higher.
You can’t boot off the SD card, so for backing up adfs from an Amiga you could consider both anyway. Boot from floppy or emulator (Gotek or HxC), and access the SDbox as a harddisk.
There are programs for the Amiga to read floppy disks and write images to a harddisk.
With a HxC, what you also have as an option is to mount an empty disk image and then copy your really floppy to the emulated one. As the HxC works with a disk image that is not an adf, it might work for some copy protected programs more than with an adf. Don’t know if the Gotek offers a similar functionality.
You can convert any HFEs (the adfs of the HxC) to adfs. Some might have issues if specially copy-protected.
Please be aware that for archiving, you might as well get a device for the PC to do the archiving much more conveniently.
Get a Greaslewasle or Kryoflux.
Personally, I have a Kryoflux and am happy with it.
Did that answer some of the questions?
Yes, it’s my usual rant, but hear me out
. Admittedly, besides the higher price you also need to convert your adfs. You get a dual-floppy emulator.
You also get limited read-access to the SD card from Workbench. I think you need Workbench / Kick 3.1 or higher.
You can’t boot off the SD card, so for backing up adfs from an Amiga you could consider both anyway. Boot from floppy or emulator (Gotek or HxC), and access the SDbox as a harddisk.
There are programs for the Amiga to read floppy disks and write images to a harddisk.
With a HxC, what you also have as an option is to mount an empty disk image and then copy your really floppy to the emulated one. As the HxC works with a disk image that is not an adf, it might work for some copy protected programs more than with an adf. Don’t know if the Gotek offers a similar functionality.
You can convert any HFEs (the adfs of the HxC) to adfs. Some might have issues if specially copy-protected.
Please be aware that for archiving, you might as well get a device for the PC to do the archiving much more conveniently.
Get a Greaslewasle or Kryoflux.
Personally, I have a Kryoflux and am happy with it.
Did that answer some of the questions?