Update: Simply using the a1000 seems to have recharged the battery a bit? I don't get the error message anymore.
I did some more research and found a Gotek drive that suited my needs, and it comes pre-loaded with amiga disk images as well. Keeping the native format was mainly what made the decision, so thanks for that input. Picked up an adapter for the external drive port also. I'll post another update once those come in and I experiment with them.