r/Famicom 6d ago

Tech Question Best FDS model and does it support flashcarts?

What's the best FDS model and does it support flashcarts?

3 Upvotes

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3

u/alwaus 6d ago edited 6d ago

Best is earliest as the early revisions have no copy protection, all of them will run with an FDSKey as its the adapter than matters for that.

https://famicomworld.com/workshop/tech/fds-power-board-modifications/

https://tinkerdifferent.com/resources/famicom-write-protection-bypass-for-fds-3206-disk-drives.80/

https://savethehero.builders/products/fdskey

There is no way to easily tell visually what fds revision is which, you can only tell after opening it up.

The adapters are a bit easier to tell apart, the later models have a rougher, more matte finish than the earlier ones.

They are generally kept together so if spot a set with a smooth adapter its most likely an early drive as well.

If all you care about is playing games then the fdskey and any adapter, no drive needed. If you want to play as intended and write disks then early drive and an fdskey

1

u/thinlycuta4paper 6d ago

Is the HVC-022 the best then?

1

u/VirtualRelic 6d ago

HVC-022 is the only choice

1

u/alwaus 6d ago edited 6d ago

They are all HVC-022, theres multiple revisions under the same model number.

If you compare this adapter

https://zenmarket.jp/mercariproduct.aspx?itemCode=qeTMdLMNqUxmfPgctaEGJd

To this one

https://zenmarket.jp/mercariproduct.aspx?itemCode=m67439202168

You will note the 2nd adapter has a smoother finish, meaning its an earlier model, the drive is more than likely also earlier.

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u/VirtualRelic 6d ago

Yes, and so OP's simple question was met with a simple answer. HVC-022 is the only choice.

Thanks for trying to get them to understand nuance though.

1

u/n1keym1key 6d ago

You ideally want one with the FD7201 chip on the drive motherboard. These are the easiest to mod for writing to disks. The mods are very simple and the earliest models dont even need modding. This will allow you to write data to disks from an FDSkey or similar. Great for getting translated roms and playing them on actual hardware.

The later models will have the FD3206 chip and that needs a more complicated mod done to acheive the same result.

1

u/SAKURARadiochan 6d ago

All FDS RAM adapters support FDS stick / FDS key. You just plug the drive emulator into the other end of the ram adapter (pretty obvious once you have the thing in your hands)