Floppy Emu Disk Emulator for Apple II, Macintosh, and Lisa

Bring new life to your old Apple computer!

Floppy Emu is a floppy and hard disk emulator for classic Apple II, Macintosh, and Lisa computers. It uses an SD memory card and custom hardware to mimic an Apple floppy disk and drive, or an Apple hard drive. The Emu behaves exactly like a real disk drive, requiring no special software or drivers.

“Highly recommended.”
– Apple2Online

“A great device.”
– Blondihacks

“A boon for classic Mac collectors.”
– RetroMacCast

Bring new life to your old Apple computer! Floppy Emu is a specialized floppy and hard disk emulator for classic Apple computers. It uses a removable SD memory card and custom hardware to mimic an Apple floppy disk and drive, or an Apple hard drive. The Emu behaves exactly like a real disk drive, requiring no special software or drivers.

The BMOW Floppy Emu is perfect for booting your favorite games and software, or transferring files between vintage and modern machines. Just fill your SD card with disk images, plug in the Emu board, and you’ll be up and running in seconds.

Buy Features Compatibility Manual Firmware FAQ

Parts Sold Separately

For Apple IIc

Just For Fun

Usage Demonstration Video

Documentation

Instruction Manual and User Guide: PDF
日本語マニュアルはこちらから（2021/2/22更新）： PDF
Setup Guide: PDF
Case assembly instructions: instructions
Instruction Manual and User Guide for previous generation Model B: PDF

Features

Displays a menu UI for choosing from the disk images stored on the removable SD memory card
Reads and writes emulated 140K, 400K, 800K, or 1.4MB floppy disk images, or hard disk images up to 2GB
Compatible with all Apple II models, the original Macintosh 128K through the Mac II series and Power Mac, and Lisa 2
Connects to external (DB-19 D-SUB) or internal (20 pin ribbon header) floppy drive connector
Supports all major types of Apple disk images

Apple II Floppy – Emulates 5.25 inch 140K floppy disks on any Apple II series system, as well as 3.5 inch 800K floppies on compatible Apple II models. An optional Dual 5.25 Floppy mode emulates two drives at the same time. Disk image files may be in .DSK, .DO, .PO, .2MG, .NIB (5.25 inch only) or .WOZ (5.25 inch only) formats. Disk images are compatible with common Apple II emulation tools such as AppleWin and Ciderpress.

Apple II Hard Disk – Emulates up to four simultaneous Smartport hard disks, each up to 32 MB (when formatted as ProDOS) or 2 GB (when formatted as HFS). Smartport disks are compatible with the Apple IIgs, Apple IIc (ROM version 0 or newer), Apple IIc+, and Apple II+ or IIe with a Yellowstone or Liron disk controller card.

For Apple II use, Floppy Emu connects to the built-in 19-pin disk connector on the Apple IIgs, IIc, and IIc+, or to a 20-pin or 19-pin connector on a separate disk controller card for other Apple II models. See the instruction manual for details on drive numbering and boot priority.

Macintosh Floppy – Supports 400K, 800K, and 1.4MB floppy disk images, in raw .dsk, Disk Copy 4.2, or MOOF formats. Disk image files are the same format as those used with popular software-based Mac emulators like Mini vMac. Compatible with the original Macintosh 128K through the Mac II series and Power Mac.

Macintosh Hard Disk / CD-ROM – HD20 hard disk / CD-ROM emulation is compatible with the Macintosh 512K, 512Ke, Plus, SE, (SE/30 when used with the Mac ROM-inator II), Classic, Classic II, Portable, IIci, IIsi, or LC I. Supports bootable hard disk / CD-ROM images up to 2GB. CD-ROMs are treated as read-only hard disks. Disk image files are compatible with other popular Mac emulators.

Lisa Floppy – Emulates 400K and 800K floppy disks on the Lisa 2/5 and 2/10. Boot or mount native Lisa Office System disk images in Disk Copy 4.2 format, or use Macintosh disk images within the MacWorks environment.

Compatibility

COMPUTER	DISK EMULATION MODES
Apple II
Apple II, II+, IIe with Yellowstone disk controller	5.25 inch floppy, Dual 5.25 inch floppy, 3.5 inch floppy, Smartport hard disk, Unidisk 3.5
Apple II, II+, IIe with standard disk controller	5.25 inch floppy, Dual 5.25 inch floppy[1]
Apple II, II+, IIe with Liron disk controller	Smartport hard disk, Unidisk 3.5
Apple IIc	5.25 inch floppy[2], Dual 5.25 inch floppy[3], Smartport hard disk[4], Unidisk 3.5[4]
Apple IIgs, IIc+	5.25 inch floppy, Dual 5.25 inch floppy, 3.5 inch floppy, Smartport hard disk, Unidisk 3.5
Macintosh
Macintosh 128K	3.5 inch 400K floppy
Macintosh 512K	3.5 inch 400K floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD-ROM[5]
Macintosh 512Ke, Plus, SE	3.5 inch 400K/800K floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD-ROM
SE FDHD, Classic, Classic II, Portable, IIci, IIsi	3.5 inch 400K/800K/1.4MB floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD
LC [6]	3.5 inch 400K/800K/1.4MB floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD
SE/30, IIcx	3.5 inch 400K/800K/1.4MB floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD[7]
IIx [6]	3.5 inch 400K/800K/1.4MB floppy, HD20 hard disk / CD[7]
IIfx, IIvx, IIvi, LC-II, LC-III, LC 4xx, LC 5xx, Color Classic, Color Classic II, TV, Performa, Quadra, Centris, Power Mac [6]	3.5 inch 400K/800K/1.4MB floppy
Lisa
Lisa 2/5 and 2/10	3.5 inch 400K/800K floppy

[1] Disk II Controller Card with 20-pin connector requires Dual 5.25 Adapter for dual drives
[2] requires internal motherboard connection or Internal/External Switcher for booting 5.25 inch disks, see instructions
[3] requires Internal/External Switcher
[4] requires IIc with ROM revision 0 or newer for Smartport and Unidisk 3.5 modes, see instructions for details
[5] Mac 512K also requires a boot floppy with HD20 Init for HD20 hard disk / CD-ROM mode
[6] uses internal disk connector on the computer’s motherboard
[7] requires Mac ROM-inator II for HD20 hard disk / CD-ROM mode

Technology

Interested in how Floppy Emu works under the hood? Check out the Floppy Emu Technology Design page.

FAQ

Can I boot from an emulated floppy or hard disk?

Yes you can!

Does this require a special driver, ROM, or INIT?

No software is required for standard floppy disk emulation on any system. Apple IIc requires ROM version 0 or later for Smartport hard drives and Unidisk 3.5 drives – ROM version 255 lacks support for these. For Macintosh HD20 / CD-ROM hard disk emulation, most supported Mac models require no software, though the Mac 512K requires Apple’s HD20 Init.

What types of disk image files are supported?

Apple II supports 140K floppy disk images in .DSK, .DO, .PO, .NIB, .WOZ, or .2MG format, 800K floppy disk images in .DSK, .DO, .PO, .2MG, and DiskCopy 4.2 format, or hard disk images up to 2 GB in .PO, .2MG, or .HDV format. The maximum size of a ProDOS volume is 32 MB, so larger hard disk images must be formatted as HFS. Macintosh supports 400K, 800K, or 1.4MB floppy disk images in raw .dsk format, DiskCopy 4.2 .image format, MOOF format, or hard disk images up to 2GB in raw format. Lisa supports 400K or 800K floppy disk images in DiskCopy 4.2 format.

Can I format the emulated disk?

Yes for most drive types and disk image types. However, instead of formatting the emulated disk, it’s normally preferable to use a pre-existing blank disk image. In-system formatting of the emulated disk is supported for all Macintosh disk image types, as well as Apple II Smartport hard disks, Unidisk 3.5, WOZ disk images, and NIB disk images. Formatting performance of floppy disk images may vary depending on your SD card’s write cache behavior. For best performance, use the Blank.WOZ or Blank.MOOF sample disk images that are included with the Floppy Emu firmware.

Can I back-up old floppies using tools like Copy II Plus or Disk Copy 4.2?

Yes, with some conditions. Many disk copy programs perform a simultaneous format-and-write of the destination floppy, which may create problems (see previous answer about formatting). For best results, use a destination disk image type that supports in-system formatting. See the manual for details.

Can the Emu work with copy-protected disks?

Most copy-protected disks in WOZ or MOOF format will work with the Floppy Emu, but there are some rare exceptions. The hardware is primarily designed to work with unprotected disks using standard sector and disk formats.

Can I emulate multiple disk drives at once?

Floppy Emu can store as many disk image files as your SD card will hold. For compatible Apple II models, the hardware supports dual 5.25 inch floppy drive emulation. For Apple II Smartport hard disk emulation, up to four hard disks may be active at the same time. For other computer models and disk types, only one disk can be “inserted” in the emulated drive at any given time.

Can I connect two Floppy Emus to the same computer?

Yes, if they’re attached to separate disk ports, or to separate connectors of a dual-connector disk controller. For compatible Apple II computers, a Floppy Emu board can also be placed in a daisy chain along with other disk drives. The Emu doesn’t have a daisy-chain output port, but the optional Daisy Chainer adds one. Daisy-chaining is not supported by the Lisa or Macintosh.

How can I copy documents from an old Apple II or Mac disk to a modern PC?

Use Floppy Emu to copy the documents from the original disk onto a blank disk image residing on the SD card, then put the SD card in your PC and use a disk image utility program like CiderPress or HFVExplorer to open the disk image and extract the files. See the manual for details.

More questions?

Please see the Floppy Emu user guide for complete details and instructions.

Firmware Downloads

Floppy Emu firmware versions are available with support for Apple II, Macintosh, or Lisa computers.
Install the firmware version for the type of computer you plan to use with your Floppy Emu.

Apple II

Apple II firmware, for Floppy Emu Model C or B, normal version: 250225A
Apple II firmware, for Floppy Emu Model C or B, SPDC version: 250225A-SPDC what’s this?
Apple II firmware, for Floppy Emu Model A: 250225A-ModelA

Macintosh and Lisa

Macintosh and Lisa firmware, for all Floppy Emu models: 240209M

Older Versions (try these if the latest version gives you problems)

Apple II, Model C or B, normal version: 240208A 231213A 230712A 230218A
Apple II, Model C or B, SPDC version: 240208A-SPDC 231213A-SPDC 230712A-SPDC 230218A-SPDC
Apple II, Model A: 240208A-ModelA 231213A-ModelA 230712A-ModelA 230218A-ModelA
Macintosh/Lisa, all models: 231212M 230309M 230203M 221221M

749 comments

749 Comments so far

Christopher Sokolov - August 19th, 2026 10:08 am

It worked for me just fine with my Apple IIe card in an LC II.
Steve - September 30th, 2026 11:49 am

I implemented pagination for the comments shown here about the BMOW Floppy Emu, since things were getting out of hand with 748 comments shown all at once.

749 Comments so far

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