HAAS with USB emulator

[newtoid1986]

Hi guys,

We've recently upgraded our VF2 floppy to one of those USB emulator drives.

Everything was working fine saving to the stick from Windows XP and transferring the code to the HAAS via the emulator.

Now we have a Windows 7 computer...

The emulator software installed fine, but the USB thumb drive needs reformatting as we're using a different version of Windows.

Once reformatted the HAAS cannot recognise it!

So can you reformat a thumb drive in windows 7 to match the parameters of XP? Is it to do with FAT and FAT 32?

 

[Jeremy]

Probably. FAT/FAT32 can be read by older machines. NTFS required licensing from Microsoft and a lot of companies didn't want to pay, so they require FAT/FAT32 formatting. Should still be readable in Win7 though. I'm not sure why you would need to format to something else. I have Win7 on my desktop here, and FAT32 is the default option, even for an 8GB USB thumb drive.

 

[bigjon61]

Never heard of reformatting a flash drive for different versions of Windows. We have a desktop on the floor running Windows XP, and the rest in the office are running Windows 7. No problems seamlessly moving files from one computer to the other. Don't see why it would be an issue going to the machine from either operating system. This is dumping computer directly into Hurco Lathes (Windows based control), Okuma OSP5000 controller, and various FANUC controllers. Never had an issue.

 

[SeymourDumore]

So can you reformat a thumb drive in windows 7 to match the parameters of XP? Is it to do with FAT and FAT 32?

Yes, it quite possibly has everything to do with the default file format.
My Win7 machines are set up to default to FAT for removable drives, but you can always override it.

And yes, you can reformat just about anything ( including a USB drive ). Just right click on the drive, select format and pick the FS you'd want.
FAT should always be the safest bet for CNC compatibility.
Once formatted, windows will use the appropriate method to write to it.

 

[dresnerm]

You may already have but check the size. My emulator wouldn't read my flash until I formatted it as 1.44MB. I can split my drive up into 99 partitions but they each have to be 1.44 or the haas won't read it.

And yes most definitely FAT not the NTFS

 

[Kapster]

The usb emulators we have (not on haas) require 2gb or smaller thumb drives(not as easy to find as you would think) and i think file size has to be under 1.44 mb. How do you go about partitioning a thumb drive?

Ours seem to be pretty touchy and unreliable. Seems like if you dont do "safely remove" it eventually screws up and you have to reformat the thumb drive to get it to read. I also have one drive i used to use but control doesnt seem to like it anymore.

 

[hanermo]

The problem is the emulator, and the partitioning.
Its easy and common for windows sw to be unable to do them properly.
There are historical reasons, because at the time, several things were not available, like large removable usb/cf drives.
Depending on how it appear to the haas, it needs one or another MBR and partitioning scheme.

You need special partitioning sw.
Lemme look the name up. The sw is free.

 

[Kelly@PDM]

Hi guys,

We've recently upgraded our VF2 floppy to one of those USB emulator drives.

Everything was working fine saving to the stick from Windows XP and transferring the code to the HAAS via the emulator.

Now we have a Windows 7 computer...

The emulator software installed fine, but the USB thumb drive needs reformatting as we're using a different version of Windows.

Once reformatted the HAAS cannot recognise it!

So can you reformat a thumb drive in windows 7 to match the parameters of XP? Is it to do with FAT and FAT 32?

I just pm you a download link. It's what I am using.
Kelly

 

[newtoid1986]

Hi guys, thanks very much for all your advice.
It appears I had to format the USB stick to FAT format. I then contacted the distributor of the USB emulators on eBay and he gave me the link to download the windows 7 update.
I also used a 2 GB stick as you guys suggested and everything works hunky dorey!
So now we can have up to 100 floppy disks on 1 stick for our 2004 VF2.
Thanks again, all replies are much appreciated.

 

[Kapster]

What was your windows 7 update for, the emulator? Maybe i need to do that on ours. They work most of the time but goof up occasionally.

 

[newtoid1986]

I'll put the link up tomorrow when I get to work. It seems reliable so far!

 

[Kapster]

I discovered something tonight while using mine, you have to wait for the light to go out before pulling the usb or it wont work right. No duh, i know, just didnt think about it.i was trying to take a program from the controller and save it to the thumb drive. I did it three times in a row, as soon as it finished on the screen, i pulled the drive. Went to computer, nothing on drive. Had a moment of genius and decided to wait for the light to go out after saving, worked like a charm.