External 5.25" Floppy Drives? 52
R2.0 writes "Are there any external 5.25" FD's out there? My wife
and I have a number of old 5.25" floppies with all sorts of
interesting stuff from school - she had a Kaypro, and Lehigh had just
gotten hundreds of Zenith PC's. In the interest of archival record
keeping (Ok, I'm a packrat), I'd like to get this stuff off the old
floppies and onto my HD, and then maybe onto CD-R. Problem: I'm out
of 5.25" bays in my Dell, so I can't just put in one of those handy
combo 3.5"/5.25" drives. And I can't just pop the CD player out,
pop in an old drive, and do everything in one batch - I need to be
able to do this a couple of disks at a time, between changing
diapers, etc. Can anyone suggest an external solution to my
problem? Parallel, serial, or USB; homebrewed or purchased." Ah,
the endless problem of preserving data from old media. Due to the lack
of use that 5.25" drives have had in the past 10 years, this might be
a very hard-to-find item. Is anyone making 5.25" drives anymore?
I've got one... (Score:5, Funny)
-Dave
Where to buy 5.25 floppy (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Where to buy 5.25 floppy (Score:3, Informative)
I did the same thing... (Score:3, Interesting)
I pulled a working 386 out of the trash at work about a year ago. I'm thinking I could use the floppy drive on there and dump everything to the 100-some-old MB IDE harddrive and just plug that in to my regular machine to copy them all off... or pop an old network card into it, but that's probably too much work. I've also got pcAnywhere and that funky yellow parallel cable that came with it.
The advantage I have is that I have quite a bit of old hardware sitting around. If you can't find a new drive, go to a computer consignment shop and pick one up. Or possibly even get an old '386 machine (or so) for less than $100 bucks.
I don't know what the current availability of 5-1/4" drives is, but it's not too hard to get ahold of old computers these days. It seems almost everyone's got an old clunker in the closet or basement that you could borrow.
Good luck!
Re:I did the same thing... (Score:1)
Damn I wish i got that seagate to work, it was only 40MB but it was still good (worked on the 286 it was pulled out of) and was built like a brick shithouse.
"External" drive (Score:5, Insightful)
- get a really long floppy cable (up to 0.75m is ok) (ar extend/build one yourself - 34 wires)
- get 2 molex power connectors (one male on female) and 4 wires and build an "power extender"
- remove an ISA/PCI cover plate
- pull the floppy and power cable trough there
- connect to the drive outside the case
- use duct dape as you see fit.
- do not use near strong EM fields.
Re:"External" drive (Score:1)
external (Score:1, Redundant)
While we're at it, I want an altair.
Do they make linux for the altair, yet?
USB 3.5 external floppy conversion (Score:3, Interesting)
Doh! (Score:1)
-- Bamfarooni
Get a Dual unit or just take your CD-ROM out... (Score:1)
As for the question of whether 5.25's are still made, I am sure Teac or somebody still pops out a few 5.25's and if they don't I am sure there are millions upon millions that are disused and availble for a pittance.
FLAME BAIT
I have to say this, has the viewing audience of Slashdot gone so mainstream that it is to this level where "Ask Slashdot" posts are about very very basic hardware and software questions? Whats next? "Where is the Any key" Or "I don't have any memory left in my computer"? "How do I delete files"? "Why does my Windows keep crashing?". FLAME BAIT
Commentary. (Score:3, Insightful)
I have to say this, has the viewing audience of Slashdot gone so mainstream that it is to this level where "Ask Slashdot" posts are about very very basic hardware and software questions? Whats next? "Where is the Any key" Or "I don't have any memory left in my computer"? "How do I delete files"? "Why does my Windows keep crashing?". FLAME BAIT
No, though I suppose it has gotten so "mainstream" that you can't be bothered to read the fucking question. To wit, he writes:
Problem: I'm out of 5.25" bays in my Dell, so I can't just put in one of those handy combo 3.5"/5.25" drives.
To which you respond:
Get a dual 3.5/5.25 unit
Amazing. Not even an article to link to, the whole thing is right here, and yet you _still_ manage to both not read it properly and then bitch about how stupid people are becoming here on Slashdot.
Hey, have you met my good friend the kettle? Y'all the same color, you see.
--saint
Re:Commentary. (Score:1)
Re:Get a Dual unit or just take your CD-ROM out... (Score:1)
Why on earth would you make such an unlikely assumption? The only time I've ever seen a 3.5 mounted in a 5.25 bay is in one of those combo plates that have USB and/or FireWire front ports in the extra space. It doesn't make sense to swap out such a unit for a dual 3.5/5.25 either permanently (you'd lose the front ports) or temporarily (in that case, just mount an old 5.25 until the disks are read and forget the 3.5/5.25 "dual" feature).
Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:5, Interesting)
To anwer your question, I think it would be best to setup a direct cable connect with an older machine to do this. Do newer ATX boards even support 5.25" floppy drives?? This way you can setup a script or something to read all of the disks (2 or more if you have that many drives) onto the hard drive then send em over to the newer machine with the CDR. I have a similar issue in that I got some disks I used when I built my 8085A trainer. It has all of the ROM code on them as well as my Senior Project code (although that code would be useless since I don't even have the hardware for the project anymore...I still have the 8085A). These disks were written on a HP 9000 system and I don't even think a PC could read them. Oh well. I don't intend on blitzing the code in the rom and I think if I ask, I could get access to their new rom burning stuff they have now (I bet it's on normal PC's now....). It would be nice to build a little rom burner for my PC and use the ole 8085A to control a Christmas Light display.
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:3, Informative)
The biggest problem you might have is that a lot of 5.25" drives either are fixed as the first floppy drive, or have jumper settings that are long-lost. So you hook up your 5.25" as the first floppy and 3.5" as the second, and then swap them in the BIOS.
Incidentally, I recently built a 1.2 GHz Athlon box with a 5.25" drive by special request of the customer. It does work, and yes, even Windows 98 and 2000 support it. (Dunno about XP, but I'd presume so since it works with Windows 2000.)
(This is a little OT, since the orignal poster asked about external drives, but he can always do this and just sit the drive outside of the case somewhere, assuming this isn't supposed to be a permanent solution. Or he could just buy a bigger case.)
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:1)
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:1)
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:2)
Turns out, we didn't but we even resorted to "trying" to boot a old IBM PC (NO stinking AT in back of it....this was an original 8086 based PC)
Nope - 8088. At 4.77 Mhz.
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:1)
There was also an 8086 before the 8088. the 8086 also ran at 4.77 MHz. the 8088 came in 4.77 an 10 MHz versions.
Re:Don't this sound familiar...... (Score:2)
Is the data still there? (Score:4, Informative)
5.25" seems more durable than 3.5" (Score:3, Interesting)
YMMV. IANAMF (I am not a Magnetic Field)
Re:Is the data still there? (Score:2)
I cannot say the same about the 3.5" ones. I never used again an 3.5" drive to flash my bios since a brand new 3.5" diskette made me 'happy' with an "BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR" post message.
The old disks are better - the new ones SUCK ! We want our old trusty floppyes which you could rewrite dozens of times without fear of data loss !
Re:Is the data still there? (Score:1)
Re:Is the data still there? (Score:1)
Anyway, I had similar results with my
Have it hang out (Score:5, Funny)
there is no reason for it to be sleek.
Just open the case, put the drive on the floor,
and close it all up when you need it no more.
easy (Score:4, Informative)
First, get a powered 5.25 drive box. So many of these were used for external SCSI CDROM drives, that they can be had for almost nothing. A quick ebay search turned up this beut [ebay.com], which you can "buy now" for $15.00
Acquire your floppy drive. Once again, ebay makes this easy [ebay.com].
Remove the CDROM drive and rear SCSI centronics connector from the drive box. Mount the floppy drive in place of the CDROM. Discard CDROM.
Remove slot cover from PC. Run floppy data cable out the gaping hole and through the gaping hole in the back of the drivebox.
Done
Almost all 5.25" drives use a card-edge connector. No floppy cables seem to have these anymore. The easiest way to get the adapter is usually to buy a 3.5" floppy drive "mounting kit" most of which still include the little adapter.
You will probably have cable-length issues if you want to leave your internal floppy connected at the same time. You can solve this by having a custom cable made, finding an extension cable, or buying a 5.25"/3.5" combo drive (once again, ebay has several) and just leaving the internal drive disconnected (or remove it) for now. Most of the combo drives take an IDC header (as opposed to card-edge), so you won't have to find an adapter or old floppy cable, either.
This entire adventure will end up costing you roughly $30 and some time. If you are competent with a screwdriver, I would estimate 60 minutes from start to finish once you have all the pieces.
Have fun.
PS/2 (Score:2)
Good Luck!
Re:PS/2 (Score:1)
Re:PS/2 (Score:2)
Re:PS/2 (Score:2)
I set up a network of PS/2 Mod 30's running Arcnet and Banyan VINES. My God, I'm old!
Wow, are YOU an Optimist! (Score:1)
There's this thing called a search engine. (Score:3, Insightful)
Google is your friend [google.com].
- A.P.
check ebay. (Score:2)
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPIC ommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&que ry=external+5.25+drive [ebay.com]
Re:check ebay. (Score:2)
And one (1) IBM PS/2 part [ebay.com] that IIRC uses the only thing remotely standardized as an external floppy connector -- A giant DB connector with something like 35 pins. Let me know if you have a PC with one of those plugs around
(IBM also had/has a much smaller ThinkPad floppy connector, and you might be able to find a 5.25" drive for one of those. But good luck...)
Other way (Score:2)
Besides after you done you have a PC to play with.
Might have one available (Score:1)
I picked it up for free, to complement my computer museum. I'd be happy to loan it out however long it's needed, for shipping costs. I'd have to take a little time to hook it up and make sure it really is a PC part and not some other 8-bit accessory, but the connector looked promising.
Email me if you're interested.
-jupo
These guys will take care of you (Score:3, Funny)
read some emulator faq's (Score:1)
2) Do you have the OG computers? Again, based on the Apple II emulator FAQ's, it may be easier just to read the floppies on the original computer and send it out over the serial/parallel ports?
My collection of 5.25" disks... (Score:2)
In a deep corner of a closet I found the following gem: Leisure Suit Larry 1 and 2, both in the original boxes. Methinks it's time to dig out an old 5.25" drive from the parts box and see if I can get it up and running in a dos emulator. Alas, I may have to follow some of the advice posted elsewhere here to install the drive. Turns out that I've also run out of space on the front of my case.
Thanks, Slashdot, you've found me a great way to kill time for the evening!
Re:My collection of 5.25" disks... (Score:2)
This interpreter for Xwindows will play those classic games (and more)o your unix platform of choice. http://freesci.linuxgames.com/
Run the ribbon cable out of the case (Score:1)
Back in the day I had a PCjr (my first computer). When I got it (used) it had an external floppy drive (2nd drive, original drive in the computer) both 360k 5.25". The PCjr floppy controller only supported one drive because it was a supposedly lower-cost version than the PC controller. So the whole kit consisted of (1)a replacement floppy controller, (2)a replacement ribbon cable that ran from the card to the existing internal drive and then out of the case to the back of the (3) external drive case. The external drive case contained a rather large transformer along with I think some diods (extremely basic 120VAC to +12,Earth,Earth,+5 voltages). Also mounted on the circuit board inside of this external case was a ribbon cable that connected to the drive mounted inside the case. The connector for the ribbon cable coming out of the PC to this thing was simply the edge of this board sticking out of the external case a slight bit (with an appropriate hole in the case).
Anyway, the bottom line is that you can very simply get a longer floppy cable, run it outside the computer case somehow. This kit accomplished this by basically filing down part of the case to leave a slit for the ribbon cable to fit through. You'll probably need to figure out a more creative way.
Of course you will need to supply power to the drive. Depending on how you can run cables out of the case, well, just run a power cable outside of it too. Or for a more professional solution actually buy an external 5.25" drive case with power supply. I am sure they exist although many of them probably have a SCSI setup. You ought to be able to find a plain one though.
But lets assume you don't want to do that. If you can get your hands on any parallel port floppy drive then it /should/ be usable as a generic parallel port to floppy adapter. I.e. even if it currently has a 2.88MB 3.5" drive it should work with a 5.25" drive except for the fact that the cable connectors are different (though the signals are the same).
Oh, one other thing, you mention that some of these disks were not from PCs. Hope you know how to read the filesystem on them. However some disks you just plain won't be able to read because the drive is different (i.e. Apple).
Wayback Machine (Score:1)