Atari ST HDD options

Harrison

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As some of you know I'm currently hunting for an STE. I know, I know, it goes against all things Amiga, but you know, I like to pay around with all retro platforms. Anyway...

In the Amiga world we have loads of ingenious ways to add HDDs or to replace them with other solutions such as CF card adapters.

The Atari ST doesn't come with an internal IDE port, so that limits it in that regard, but does have the external HDD port on the back. However I've not really kept up with the ST world since leaving it at the end of the 90's, and only just returning to it with my recently acquired STFM.

My question is, have any solutions been developed in the ST world for adding storage solutions such as SD or CF card readers, internal HDDs, CD-Rom drives, or any other solution to the standard desktop all in one ST models? I know it is possible with the big box mega STs and TTs, but not sure if there are even any options available for the others. Anyone know?

It would be great to be able to utilise some form of mass storage solution in an STE to play around with. I always wanted one of those huge external ST harddrives back in the day that sat under monitors and provided something silly like 10MB of HDD space. :LOL:

And does anything like WHDLoad exist on the ST?

One thing I would love to also explore are the more recent alternatives to GEM, such as Magic and Mint.
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Hi,
I to wouldnt mind getting a HD for my STE. I have seen a couple on the other bay. The most recent i saw and missed out on (only went for $70AU) was similar to a Zip drive where it took 40Mb discs. There is a program that allows you to copy downloaded atari game images to a pc floppy so you can play them on a real Atari ST/E called Floimg (found on the first link below). There is also a program that allows these images to be played from an Atari HD but the link that i have is now dead and i cant remember the name. I have included some links that you may find interesting.

I myself would love to get my hands on a Atari Falcon 030.

http://ppera.07x.net/atari/floimgd.php
http://atari-ste.anvil-soft.com/index.htm
http://www.atari.org/
http://piters.tripod.com/atari/tosload.htm
http://atari4ever.free.fr/hardware/video.html
http://www.atari-forum.com/index.php?si ... b7bc14b931

Cheers
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

A guy on the Atari scene called Mikro has come up with a device called the Ultrasatan; I don't know much about it but there are loads of posts on Atari-Forum about it. It may be worth dropping a line to Techie Alison on there as she is VERY clued up on the Atari.
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Ultrasatan sounds interesting. I definitely will look into that.

And thank you for all the links AmigaNut08. I will work my way thought those later. :)

And I already do use Floimg to write ST disk images back to floppy disk on a PC and they quite often work perfect in a real ST. Some floppy images don't write back properly but that is to be expected.

The emulator Gemulator also has built in support for converting images back to floppy, and for making them.
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Interesting, i must check out Gemulator. Anyway here's a link that has many games already converted to run straight off a Hard drive. They will come in handy when you finally get a HD for your Atari. There is also a program there called Image Runner (IMGRF2X). This i think allows you to run game images straight from a Hard drive.

http://ppera.07x.net/atari/fromhd.php#DL

Cheers
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Great. thanks for the link. I've not had time to check these all out yet, but will do very soon.

To many retro things to do, not enough time. Just rediscovered the emulator Dolphin as well. That has come a very long way in 2 years. It now fully emulated a Gamecube and the Wii on a PC and many games run perfectly! I was playing Super Mario Galaxy last night and it works perfectly. :)
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

All this talk here, made me download gemulator and try it out.... :nod:

But I have to say I ran it for 1 minute max before binning it...

Sorry Guys............ :oops:

TC (y)
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Gemulator isn't the nicest ST emulator to try. It emulates well but is a bit over complicated for its own good.

My favourite is an old one called WinSTon which hasn't been worked on for some years no. Steem is also pretty good one that is still being developed.
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

@Harrison

I must check out Dolphin as i am currently without a Gamecube. I mean i do have one but am waiting for XenoGC mod chips to become available so i can mod (or what we call in Australia now, Upgrade) my Gamecube.

Steem is the only Atari ST emulator i have used on the PC. I mainly use it to check out games before i dump them onto floppy to play on the real hardware.

Cheers
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

Dolphin does need a fast PC and a good graphics card to run at a decent framerate, but it is impressive for emulation of both the GC and Wii. No other system this powerful from the last generation has been emulated properly yet.

Gemulator also has the cool feature of allowing you to boot ST games in the PC's drive and run them in the emulator. Quite cool. They just need to work on the emulators frontend now.
 
Re: Atari ST HDD options

I've been looking into UltraSatan some more and it looks great.

http://joo.kie.sk/ultrasatan/

It connects directly to an ST's ACSI harddrive port and allows you to connect 2 SD or MD memory cards and use them as ST harddrives. They cards are hot swappable allowing you to chop and change between then while the ST is running. You can copy between cards and it supports cards up to 8GB on an STE and 4GB on an STFM.

Looks very nice and the final hardware looks very professionally made. It looks like the first batch is currently in final production.

It is maybe a little over prices, but I suppose this is unique.
 
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