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Tech Tip: USB floppy drives and 4D Expansion disks without the filesharing
PRODUCT: 4D | VERSION: 6.0 | PLATFORM: Mac
Published On: February 4, 2000

Following the steps below will allow you to use your 4D Expansion disks on newer model Macintosh computers that lack a built in floppy drive (e.g. Blue & White G3, G4, iMac). You will need a USB drive such as the iMation SuperDisk or the Newer Technology uDrive.


  1. Visit PACE Anti-Piracy and download the USB Floppy Enabler, note that as of this writing it is only certified by PACE to work with the drives mentioned above.
  2. Visit the web site of your drive manufacturer and download the latest version of their USB driver software (often the drivers that come on the CD-ROM are already out of date).
    https://www.superdisk.com/sc/sc_dl.html
    https://www.newertech.com/software/drivers/index.html
  3. Go to the Extensions Manager Control Panel on your 4D Server CPU and select the set "Mac OS X.X All" (where X.X is your OS version)
  4. Physically disconnect the USB drive from the computer (UNPLUG it)
  5. RESTART the Mac
  6. Install the PACE Anti-Piracy USB Floppy Enabler (you do not need to Restart after this installation, just Quit the Installer)
  7. Install the USB driver software for your drive, this time allow the installer to RESTART your computer.
  8. After the computer starts up, make sure there is NO DISK in your floppy drive and then plug the drive into the computer - the light on the front of the drive will light momentarily.
  9. Now launch 4D Server and select "Update Licenses" from the File menu. Don't click any of the buttons in this dialog! Proceed to step 10 immediately.
  10. Insert one of your 4D Expansion Diskettes into the floppy drive.


You will see a message indicating that additional licenses have been added to your 4D Server. If you get a message saying that the license disk is already in use that means the disk was previously used to update a 4D Server with a different serial number. You must go to that server and remove the licenses back onto the floppy disk before you will be able to use them (this is not a USB issue).