dsk to floppy copy on a PC to be used on msx

This is on most MSX FAQs....

Summary:
1) format the floppy on the MSX
2) write the dsk disk image to the floppy on the PC, but it depends on your OS. On Windows use DiskManager or dcopy.exe. On Linux, you can just use cat or dd.

that does not work on all floppies

try this diskmanager

http://www.lexlechz.at/en/msx.html

*oops*
this is the diskmanager Quibus meant

Hi, this is the thread I was looking for.

I have a SVI-738 MSX, with built-in floppy disk drive but a MSX1 nonetheless, and I've always played my games on disks. So, I want to dump new ones, and for all I've been reading about this operation I will have a hard time doing this. But I want to do it, so the answer is not the MFR. I want to be able to do what others have done and keep playing the way I always played. I'll buy the MFR when I got a MSX2, not now.

If I understood correctly, there will be problems with modern Windows, but I see some people can do it fine with a current Windows, others can't even with Windows 98, and it depends on the disk drive itself, so you never know and I'm totally lost. I don't own a FDD right now, but I'm trying to find and use old ones on my PC so I can format disks in 720 or 360 (I don't even know if MSX1 requires 360 or it works with 720 too. How can I check it, by the way?).

So, I understand if old FDD don't always get the job done, let alone a USB one, right? Or does it work? If that's the case, maybe I can buy one and problem solved.

Well, not really. I have to try the command Format A: /T:80 /N:9, that some people say doesn't work either.

Having an MSX1/MSX2 has nothing to do with what kind of floppies it supports, it depends solely on the drive type. There are MSX2 with 360kb disk drives, and an MSX1 can use 720kb drives (if the disk ROM supports that size - it may be that all do). I think the easiest way (save from checking the original manual which should mention the supported disk types) would be formatting a 720kb disk. I suppose it would just silently format the drive as 360kb if the drive is a 360kb drive. Otherwize (IIRC!) you will be asked if you want to format in DS or SS mode. It's been so long since I've formatted floppies ...

IIRC, with 5.25" drives, writing DD disks on a HD drive made them unreadable on any DD drive. There may be same kind if incompatibilities on 3.5" drives (just guessing here) - so a DD disk written on a HD drive (despite being written in DD format) might work unreliably on a DD drive...

EDIT: It seems the SVI-738 has a 360kb drive. I was surprised this was not mentioned in the wiki....

Funny thing, because just after I wrote the post I checked the wiki and it says "DD Floppy Disk Drive", so "double density"... should mean 720 Kb?

Anyway, I won't be able to use old PCs, but I have the possibility to try several FDD that people I know will let me try. The thing is I will ned to try it on Linux or Virtualbox or whatever, because I'm not installing older Windows in my PC. And some people that discussed the topic (this is not the first thread about this, as you guys already now) say that they can do it with Windows 7 and even 8, so... it's a mystery how these FDD work...