c64 - its back and its badass!

[psxphill]

I was considering buying one of those. But got a 1541 U2 instead.

Yes, not only can it emulate a disk drive it will also emulate a tape drive.
 
The disk drive emulation is complete in the 1541u2, but isn't in the sd2iec.
 
http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/sd2iec_(firmware)#Are_fastloaders_supported.3F
 
If you just want to transfer files to real 5.25" disks then http://store.go4retro.com/zoomfloppy/ is pretty good for that.