Floppy Disk Sfotware ---> CD

[Guest]

Hello,
I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that is
distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does what I
need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get old
and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way to
do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and pasting
all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have the
software still install and run properly?

Thanks,
Randy

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "insanerino" <[email protected]>

| Hello,
| I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that is
| distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does what I
| need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get old
| and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way to
| do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and pasting
| all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
| install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have the
| software still install and run properly?
|
| Thanks,
| Randy

Don't use a CD. That's a waste. 4.5MB on a 700MB media ?

Store it on a ZIP disk or a USB flash drive. Just put all the files that are on the three
floppies in the same folder.

 

[Star Fleet Admiral Q]

As David stated, 4.5MB on a 650/700MB CD is wasteful, unless you have other
things you'd like to save.
As far as installing from the CD, it depends on how the programmer did the
setup program, some, as David stated, can put all the files from each floppy
into one folder, and it'll work, others (as I have an old multipurpose
editor 32-bit type, but works for script writing), and I store the floppies
as folders, as in Install Disk 1, is Disk_1, Install Disk 2 is Disk_2, etc.
I can even install, I just click setup in the Disk_1 folder, and when it is
done with Disk_1, it asks me to insert Disk 2 or type/browse to the location
of Disk 2, of course, I just browse to the Disk_2 folder and off it goes,
the same for Disk 3, 4, etc.
If either method don't work, you can always save the files in folders
Disk_1, Disk_2, etc and when the floppies wear out, make new ones, just be
sure to turn on viewing hidden/system files when copying, to make sure you
get everything.

--

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your Service!

http://www.google.com
Google is your "Friend"

 

[Guest]

The reason I need to write these 3 floppies to a CDR is because there are a
number of people I need to get this software to in my class. I have an old
product that is no longer produced so it is open for distributing and I need
to get that software ona CD. The computers in our classrooms no longer have
floppy drives. And it's too expensive to require all students to have a
flash drive. CDRs are cheap anyway. Should I just create 3 folders on the
CD named Disk_1, Disk_2, and Disk_3? And then copy and paste all of the data
from each folder to the corresponding folder? (including hidden files) Then
burn the 3 folders to a disk? Will that work okay?

-Randy

 

[Harry Ohrn]

Do the floppies have labels? If so create folders on your hard drive with
the same name as the floppy labels and copy the contents of the
corresponding floppy to those folders. Now try running the installer and see
if the installation works. If so burn the folders to disc.

 

[Harry Ohrn]

From: "insanerino" <[email protected]>

| Hello,
| I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that is
| distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does what I
| need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get old
| and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way to
| do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and pasting
| all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
| install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have the
| software still install and run properly?
|
| Thanks,
| Randy

Don't use a CD. That's a waste. 4.5MB on a 700MB media ?

Store it on a ZIP disk or a USB flash drive. Just put all the files that are on the three
floppies in the same folder.

So you are implying that purchasing a zip drive and zip disk or a USB flash
drive is cheaper than a 30 cent CD?

 

[Don Taylor From:]

As David stated, 4.5MB on a 650/700MB CD is wasteful, unless you have other
things you'd like to save.

Wasteful?!?
A good CD/R is nineteen CENTS today on sale!
Decent floppies cost more than that to buy.

So, what are you saving?

 

[Don Taylor From:]

From: "insanerino" <[email protected]>
| Hello,
| I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that is
| distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does what I ....
Don't use a CD. That's a waste. 4.5MB on a 700MB media ?

A good CD/R costs nineteen CENTS on sale today!
How much of nineteen cents are you willing to squander?

Store it on a ZIP disk or a USB flash drive. Just put all the files
that are on the three floppies in the same folder.

A Zip disk costs you $6 still, don't they?
And they he has to make every student buy a
new Zip drive for their computer, when they
all already have a working CD drive.

This is silly

My first hard drive was a whopping 30 megabytes!
And I actually made a living off that for a while.
But you have to remember, every eighteen months,
half the knowledge you have about computers has
expired and just doesn't apply any more.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Harry Ohrn" <[email protected]>

|
|>> Hello,
|>> I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that
| is
|>> distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does
| what I
|>> need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get
| old
|>> and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way
| to
|>> do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and
| pasting
|>> all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
|>> install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have
| the
|>> software still install and run properly?
|>>
|>> Thanks,
|>> Randy| So you are implying that purchasing a zip drive and zip disk or a USB flash
| drive is cheaper than a 30 cent CD?
|
| --
|
| Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
| www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
|

USB Flash drives are cheap and are random-read/random-write.

 

[Bob I]

They are a lot more than 20 cents apiece.

From: "Harry Ohrn" <[email protected]>

|
|>> Hello,
|>> I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that
| is
|>> distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does
| what I
|>> need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get
| old
|>> and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way
| to
|>> do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and
| pasting
|>> all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
|>> install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have
| the
|>> software still install and run properly?
|>>
|>> Thanks,
|>> Randy

| are on the three

| So you are implying that purchasing a zip drive and zip disk or a USB flash
| drive is cheaper than a 30 cent CD?
|
| --
|
| Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell/User]
| www.webtree.ca/windowsxp
|

USB Flash drives are cheap and are random-read/random-write.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Bob I" <[email protected]>

| They are a lot more than 20 cents apiece.
|
| David H. Lipman wrote:
|

But are Random-Read/Random-Write not use once DONE, that;s it, etc...

Oh, and cheap CD's have a shelf life.

 

[Don Taylor From:]

From: "Bob I" <[email protected]>
| They are a lot more than 20 cents apiece.

But are Random-Read/Random-Write not use once DONE, that;s it, etc...

and 20 cent CD/RW can be erased and rewritten, that's it, etc...
or just buy another one for 20 cents.

Oh, and cheap CD's have a shelf life.

So do flash memory, zip disks, floppies, cpu's and memory.
Almost all of them will be lost, damaged, thrown away or
worthless in a surprisingly short period of time.

Need any of these brand new, still in the wrapper 1.2 gig hard drives?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Don Taylor From:" <[email protected]>

|> They are a lot more than 20 cents apiece. |

|
| and 20 cent CD/RW can be erased and rewritten, that's it, etc...
| or just buy another one for 20 cents.
||
| So do flash memory, zip disks, floppies, cpu's and memory.
| Almost all of them will be lost, damaged, thrown away or
| worthless in a surprisingly short period of time.
|
| Need any of these brand new, still in the wrapper 1.2 gig hard drives?

Flash RAM has a very long shelf life and is definitely longer that "cheap" cd media. CDRW
is NOT Random-Read/Random-Write. With specific technology you can use a CDRW disc in a
RR/RW fashion but it is not portable and requires client software. It just doesn't compare.

Quality CDRW media at $.20 -- not likely. Even if you bought a 100 count stack.

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Sku.asp?PageType=1&Sku=483064
25 disks for ~$20.00 at 4x speed -- can you say slow !

 

[NobodyMan]

From: "insanerino" <[email protected]>

| Hello,
| I have a question about a conversion. I have a piece of software that is
| distributed between 3 floppy disks. It's an old program, but it does what I
| need it to do so I still use it. The only problem is that floppy's get old
| and wear out. I need to preserve this software. I figured the best way to
| do this would be to burn the program to a CDR. I tried just copy and pasting
| all the content from all 3 floppies to the CD but the software would not
| install and run right. How can I burn the 3 disks onto one CDR and have the
| software still install and run properly?
|
| Thanks,
| Randy

Don't use a CD. That's a waste. 4.5MB on a 700MB media ?

Store it on a ZIP disk or a USB flash drive. Just put all the files that are on the three
floppies in the same folder.

Please reply to the original thread in the future. You have just
fragmented the original discussion, with the two discussions heading
in different direction. Replying to the orignal thread instead of
starting a new thread keeps everything together in one place.

 

[Stan Brown]

As David stated, 4.5MB on a 650/700MB CD is wasteful, unless you have other
things you'd like to save.

I disagree. With CD-Rs costing only a few cents, and being WAY more
stable than floppies, it seems like a small price to pay for peace
of mind.

Floppy drives lose their alignment over time, and in a couple of
years you may not be able to read the floppies ou wrote today.
Also, your next computer may not even have a floppy drive. And
there's the ever-present danger of magnetic fields making a floppy
unreadable.

 

[Galen]

In Stan Brown <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

in microsoft.public.windowsxp.general:

I disagree. With CD-Rs costing only a few cents, and being WAY more
stable than floppies, it seems like a small price to pay for peace
of mind.

Floppy drives lose their alignment over time, and in a couple of
years you may not be able to read the floppies ou wrote today.
Also, your next computer may not even have a floppy drive. And
there's the ever-present danger of magnetic fields making a floppy
unreadable.

Not to mention that I've had the chance to watch Nero toast (that's about
the only burning software I use actually) a multisession disk by adding more
to it and it then required me buying ISO Buster to get my deleted tracks
from the CD. I didn't HAVE to buy it but it served me well and I figured I'd
support it. So using a CD for a small file is not really a waste when you
look at how much a floppy used to cost (I've spent exactly $7.50 USD on one
in the past and yes I remember as it was a 5 1/4 inch Quill) compared to the
price of a CD today??? I quite OFTEN put a single application on a single CD
and archive it.

Galen
--

"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me
the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am
in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial
stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
mental exaltation." -- Sherlock Holmes

 

[Plato]

Floppy drives lose their alignment over time, and in a couple of

Not so much anymore as they are hardly used The media is, and always
has been, dodgy tho.