SATA bridgeboards for legacy drives

[Jason Hunsaker]

Okay, I know I'm crazy for wanting this, but...

Wanted:
1. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 3.5" floppy drive, or 3.5" SATA 4x
floppy drive.

2. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive, or 5.25" SATA
floppy drive.

3. USB bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive (instead of # 2).

I know, I'm only a market of one. But, hey, they make 3.5" USB 4x
floppy drives. I can dream. Plextor announced a 12x SATA DVD+/-RW
drive. I want everything SATA.

I don't want to transfer everything to a hard drive or CD.
I don't care about speed.
I just want connectivity.

 

[Rod Speed]

Okay, I know I'm crazy for wanting this, but...

Wanted:
1. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 3.5" floppy drive, or 3.5" SATA 4x
floppy drive.

2. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive, or 5.25" SATA
floppy drive.

3. USB bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive (instead of # 2).

I know, I'm only a market of one. But, hey, they make 3.5" USB 4x
floppy drives. I can dream. Plextor announced a 12x SATA DVD+/-RW
drive. I want everything SATA.

I don't want to transfer everything to a hard drive or CD.
I don't care about speed.
I just want connectivity.

You've got it with USB.

 

[Walt]

Do they even make a 3.5" or 5.25" floppy drive which attaches
using the old pATA interface???? I have never seen one.

 

[J. Clarke]

Do they even make a 3.5" or 5.25" floppy drive which attaches
using the old pATA interface???? I have never seen one.

Sort of. The LS-120 and LS-240 have PATA interfaces and will read and write
standard 1.4 meg 3-1/2" diskettes.

On the other hand, ATA and ATAPI are not the same--SATA doesn't
automatically support ATAPI--there are some bridge chips that will when
used with a host adapter containing the same manufacturer's chip allow the
connection of removable-media devices but that's not something one can
count on working at this point.

 

[JT]

Okay, I know I'm crazy for wanting this, but...

Wanted:
1. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 3.5" floppy drive, or 3.5" SATA 4x
floppy drive.

2. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive, or 5.25" SATA
floppy drive.

3. USB bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive (instead of # 2).

I know, I'm only a market of one. But, hey, they make 3.5" USB 4x
floppy drives. I can dream. Plextor announced a 12x SATA DVD+/-RW
drive. I want everything SATA.

I don't want to transfer everything to a hard drive or CD.
I don't care about speed.
I just want connectivity.

Floppy drives, especially 5.25, are not going to be engineered for a new
interface standard. There is NO market or demand for it. Not worth it from
a manufacturing stand point. They are disappearing. 5.25 have already
disappeared from all but dying niche markets. No advantage to have a slow
drive like a floppy on a SATA controller.

JT

 

[Gary Tait]

Floppy drives, especially 5.25, are not going to be engineered for a new
interface standard. There is NO market or demand for it. Not worth it from
a manufacturing stand point. They are disappearing. 5.25 have already
disappeared from all but dying niche markets. No advantage to have a slow
drive like a floppy on a SATA controller.

JT

But anything you can connect a standard 3.5" PC floppy drive, you can
connect a 5.25" drive to, if you want to work at it.

 

[Gary Tait]

Okay, I know I'm crazy for wanting this, but...

Wanted:
1. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 3.5" floppy drive, or 3.5" SATA 4x
floppy drive.

2. SATA bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive, or 5.25" SATA
floppy drive.

SATA is HDDs, and ATAPI devices only. Floppys are practically obsolete
anyway.

3. USB bridgeboard for legacy 5.25" floppy drive (instead of # 2).

More doable. Just get a USB bridgeboard for a 3.5" drive and adapt it
to work.

 

[JT]

But anything you can connect a standard 3.5" PC floppy drive, you can
connect a 5.25" drive to, if you want to work at it.

True enough, but doesn't help with the original question. Floppies are
disappearing. No one is building new interfaces for them. No reason to.
When the floppy interface disappears from the motherboard, don't bother
trying to connect a floppy.

JT

 

[Rod Speed]

True enough, but doesn't help with the original question. Floppies are
disappearing. No one is building new interfaces for them. No reason to.
When the floppy interface disappears from the motherboard, don't bother
trying to connect a floppy.

Or have the sense to use USB that will support floppy drives for a while yet.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

SATA is HDDs, and ATAPI devices only.

Oh? Care to tell where it says that?

Floppys are practically obsolete anyway.


More doable. Just get a USB bridgeboard for a 3.5" drive and adapt it
to work.

Ever wondered what that 3.5/5.25 Drive A, Drive B setting is for in your BIOS?

 

[J. Clarke]

Oh? Care to tell where it says that?

Uh, why would you expect it to support any kind of device that parallel ATA
doesn't support?

Ever wondered what that 3.5/5.25 Drive A, Drive B setting is for in your
BIOS?

I'm sorry, but I don't see what that has to do with connecting diskette
drives via SATA.

 

[Gary Tait]

Oh? Care to tell where it says that?

The ATA in SATA.

Ever wondered what that 3.5/5.25 Drive A, Drive B setting is for in your BIOS?

Nope, becuase I know it is for configutation of the system to know
which drive is connect where, if at all, as floppy drives are dumb
devices.