Interface question for a Floppy Drive......

[Solomon_Man]

All,
I need some help on a problem I am faced with.

I have a large box of old 5.25 Floppies (a few hundred) from when I
got my first IBM PC back in 1989-90. I have pulled a few out and
tested them on my old 386 (latest computer with a 5.25 drive that I
have) and they seemed to read fine. Most of this stuff is documents
and misc text files maybe a few misc programs. Most is probably
garbage but for nostalgia etc I would like to save the data.

From my reading I would expect that I could take my old 5.25 drive

(which I have more then a few from over the years) and place them in a
newer machine and I believe it should work fine (assuming I have the
correct cable) and I could just copy off my data then burn to DVD. I
have also found a external 5.25/3.5/CDROM drive online that works with
a IDE interface so I can then get a external USB case and I believe
that will work as well. so I have a few options.

So my question finally is this; what is the interface for floppy
drives named? Is it just FDD? I have seen a few people mention that
the best way to attempt to create a external USB 5.25 is to just gut a
3.5 External USB and hook up the 5.25. Has any one attepted such a
project?

Is it that difficult?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Michael Hawes]

All,
I need some help on a problem I am faced with.

I have a large box of old 5.25 Floppies (a few hundred) from when I
got my first IBM PC back in 1989-90. I have pulled a few out and
tested them on my old 386 (latest computer with a 5.25 drive that I
have) and they seemed to read fine. Most of this stuff is documents
and misc text files maybe a few misc programs. Most is probably
garbage but for nostalgia etc I would like to save the data.

(which I have more then a few from over the years) and place them in a
newer machine and I believe it should work fine (assuming I have the
correct cable) and I could just copy off my data then burn to DVD. I
have also found a external 5.25/3.5/CDROM drive online that works with
a IDE interface so I can then get a external USB case and I believe
that will work as well. so I have a few options.

So my question finally is this; what is the interface for floppy
drives named? Is it just FDD? I have seen a few people mention that
the best way to attempt to create a external USB 5.25 is to just gut a
3.5 External USB and hook up the 5.25. Has any one attepted such a
project?

Is it that difficult?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Chris

Just remove the cable and floppy drive and connect the cable to a modern
system. Go into BIOS and set Deive A to 51/4 1.2Mb and Windows should
recognise the drive. You can then just copy off the data.

Mike.

 

[Andre Majorel]

I have a large box of old 5.25 Floppies (a few hundred) from when I
got my first IBM PC back in 1989-90. I have pulled a few out and
tested them on my old 386 (latest computer with a 5.25 drive that I
have) and they seemed to read fine. Most of this stuff is documents
and misc text files maybe a few misc programs. Most is probably
garbage but for nostalgia etc I would like to save the data.

(which I have more then a few from over the years) and place them in a
newer machine and I believe it should work fine (assuming I have the
correct cable) and I could just copy off my data then burn to DVD. I
have also found a external 5.25/3.5/CDROM drive online that works with
a IDE interface so I can then get a external USB case and I believe
that will work as well. so I have a few options.

So my question finally is this; what is the interface for floppy
drives named? Is it just FDD?

5.25" and 3.5" drives share the same Shugart interface. It's a
34-way card-edge connector on 5.25" drives and a 0.1" connector
on 3.5" drives but they're electrically compatible.

I have seen a few people mention that the best way to attempt
to create a external USB 5.25 is to just gut a 3.5 External
USB and hook up the 5.25. Has any one attepted such a project?

Didn't but it may work as long as the USB-to-Shugart interface
knows how to deal with 5.25" drives (different rotation speeds
and number of sectors per track than 3.5" HD drives).