Newbie Questions on Diskette Images

[800_Rocks]

I've been engrossed in the Atari 8bit world for a couple years... just getting back to my Atari ST after such a long time... I feel like I forgot some of the basics.  Thanks in advance for my Newbie (second time around) questions.

 

I have a good working 4MB STE with a good working UltraSatan that boots up fine.  My 720KB floppy drive in the STE works good also.  I can take the SD card from UltraSatan and mount it on my Windows 11 PC and I can copy ST files to it... files like .PRG and .DOC files.  Over on the STE I can see these files on the UltraSatan and write these to a real floppy.  That works great.  However, in downloading more stuff for the ST much of it is in .ST or .MSA formats.  I understand these can be loaded/run directly from one of the ST emulators but how do I get these .ST or .MSA diskette images to something usable over on the STE (via the UltraSatan).  BTW I'm not asking about any copy-protected diskette images, rather just the run .ST images that might contain several utilities and/or games.

 

1) Is there a ST program I can run on the STE that can mount a .ST or .MSA image as if it is a floppy?

 

2) Is there a ST program to convert .ST or .MSA images to real floppies?

 

3) Are there Win PC based tools to 'unzip' .ST and .MSA images?

 

4) Is the key to run one of the ST emulators, mount the .ST or .MSA image as if it is a floppy?  Then is there a way to copy some or all of the floppy to my SD Card and take it to the STE via UltraSatan?  Does anyone have a bit of a HowTo Guide on this?

 

I find some information that is 10 or more years old but it points to tools that only work under DOS or very old Windows versions like XP or 7.

 

The only 3.5" drive I have available on my Win 11 PC is a little USB drive. 

 

5) Is there anyway to use my USB 3.5" drive to create 720KB diskettes that are readable by the STE?

 

Restating/Summarizing my questions... 6) What is an optimal/standard workflow to get some or all the files on a .ST disk image to a real STE (or ST)?

 

 

[800_Rocks]

OK I found one way to do this... essentially like my question '4)' above using the Steem SSE emulator.  In this screenshot, starting at the bottom and going around clockwise:

 

1) 'Add' a GEMDOS hard drive which is essentially a file folder in your Windows explorer,

2) In my case the .ST image I wanted to copy was in my 'B' floppy drive.  I opened a window to my 'C' (GEMDOS harddrive) and dragged/dropped the 'B' floppy drive icon onto/into the 'C' drive window.

3) It copied the entire contents of the floppy .ST image into the Windows folder that is used as the GEMDOS harddrive.

 

Now I know I can take my UltraSatan SD Card, mount it on my PC, copy the folder to it... take it to my STE and I can write all or some of the files into a real floppy diskette !!

 

Let me know if you have other ways to do this.  I like several options.  LOL

 

TIA