… the Minolta 5400, it's now history at least as far as SilverFast is concerned. … in the SilverFast world you can use this Minolta scanner with version 6.6. up to Windows 2000 or Mac OSX 10.3 … .
Not correct. SilverFast 6.6 works fine with the Minolta 5400 and Windows XP (32-bit). It also appears that it’s possible to make virtually any Minolta scanner work in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, both 32-bit and 64-bit, allowing the scanners to work with SilverFast or the Minolta scanning software. I’ve used the instructions below to use my Minolta 5400 with Vista 64-bit. Here is a quote from a post in the SilverFast forum:
Re: Silverfast 8 for Minolta 5400 and 5400II
by kainanderson » Fri May 04, 2012 8:35 pm
The drivers supplied by Minolta work just fine with Silverfast and do not need to be replaced or rewritten. Below you will find the procedure to make virtually any Minolta scanner work in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 both 32-bit and 64-bit allowing the scanners to work with Silverfast:
1) Find the name of the driver file the Minolta software installed that isn't working. This is usually in the folder c:\windows\inf and is named DSXXXX.inf where the X's are numbers. For the Dimage 5400 gen 1 it is DS2890.inf. Copy this file to your desktop for editing.
2) Open the file and search for [Manufacturer]. Add ,ntamd64 at the end of the %Mfg% line so %Mfg%=Models becomes %Mfg%=Models,ntamd64.
3) Copy the entire [Models] section and paste it underneath itself renaming the tag to [Models.ntamd64]. Now you should have both a [Models] and [Models.ntamd64] section that are identical.
4) Save the driver file.
5) Now point the scanner in device manager to your new driver file (it may be in other devices and just need to update driver and manually choose driver location as your new driver inf).
This process not only allows all scanners to work with Silverfast, but also allows the original Minolta software to work in Windows 7 (32 and 64) as well. This process works for old Nikons that don't have Windows 7 drivers as well once you locate the actual driver file in c:\windows\inf.
Hope that helps.
http://forum.silverfast.com/silverfast-8-for-minolta-5400-and-5400ii-t8678.html#p32921