I suppose I could say that I want to be able to read 5.25" floppies for
the same reason I play music on open reel tape decks.
The real reason is as you surmise: I have a large collection of such
floppies, and from time to time I need to access what is on them. And
I don't want to spend several weekends copying all those files to CD or
DVD.
I disagree, you do not need access to them or else you would
have transferred them over to a more reliable medium years
ago.
So decide, do you want to throw them away or copy them off?
I also have several older programs (remember WordStar 4.0, for
example?) that were issued only on 5.25 inch floppies. I want to run
that particular program because many of the files are in WS format.
So copy them off, they don't need be on 5.25" floppy.
Plus I am using the program as part of a public presentation that
includes a section on the history of electronic word processing.
Other software includes MS Word 2.0, 5.0, and 5.5, and WordPerfect 3.1,
4.2, and 5.1.
This is all irrelevant. Typically when one needs to archive
such things, they will either make disc images (such as with
WinImage) and store those so they can later re-create the
original discs (in cases where the installer isn't so easily
tricked into thinking it is being fed incrementally numbered
floppies) or it's something simplier, that you merely need a
certain file like a "disk.id(n)" file or something like that
(it's been awhile since I had to fool with these things) to
let the installer know the correct volume is present.
Besides all that I am a strong believer in backwards compatibility for
all things. My sons would say I'm dinosaur for that reason, but I
really see no reason why a BIOS on one machine should not recognize
more than one floppy drive, while the BIOS on another would. It's a
matter of a few lines of code, after all.
New features get added, old ones removed. It's always just
a few lines of code or a tiny bit of silicon, but in the end
it is only a fixed amount of resources (whether it be code
to fit a PROM or hardware circuits) that are cost effective
- by being what most customers demand, and most don't use
two floppies anymore.
Look on your drive for jumpers to set the drive so the 5.25"
is considered drive A. Use that configuration to copy off
all data on the floppies, then store them wherever you want
it- though if you are going to put it on 3.5", I suggest not
using that ancient drive to do it because its alignment may
have drifted over time and the resultant floppies may not be
as compatible with any randomly chosen 3.5" drive. Thus I
feel it best to make the disc images or file copies and then
individually recreate the floppies if/when necessary.
