Re: OT: Can modern PCs run 5-1/4" floppy drives?

That would cost too much. For the cost of buying something pretty, and/or the nice dinner, he could have bought a top-of-the-line computer with a better mainboard BIOS that could take a 5-1/4 floppy.

Isn't there some way to out-source the operation? FedEx the disks to some data conversion place, that will then copy the files to flash drive...?

Michael

Yep, just out-source the operation already.

Here's one hit from google: floppy conversion:

What will you do when a client gives you an Apple II 5-1/4" floppy, with an important Fortran program on it...?

Michael

Did that (nice Thai restaurant), won't work ;-)

Not always an option if the stuff on there is confidential.

That's not so far-fetched. Once I had to decipher a HP disk. Of course, they had their own format, LIF or something. We really needed that data because it contained important recordings from a logic analyzer.

Uh? Whose office IS it ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

Mine but we have an understanding that we don't keep anything that we don't really need. I've seen too many horror stories of packrats. It would be sad if I'd have to keep this big old box just because I can't make the 5-1/4 work in the new one.

Confidential? From the 1980s? Annual reports would be a bit out of date, no? Ditto that for patentable material.

Michael

Trade secrets, just like the Coca Cola recipe. No biz reports, all tech stuff.

Joerg snipped-for-privacy@removethispacbell.net posted to sci.electronics.design:

HP LIF disk conversions. Been there, done that. Had/have a freeware utility from somewhere. Both 5-1/4 and 3-1/2 to PC formats. I still have a few 5-1/4 LIF disks.

Jeez! You only need it long enough to complete an archival project. How many sessions could that possibly be?

Mine were all archived a long time ago. It's just for that odd client project that occasionally pops up. Restoring/modifying decades old production automation and stuff like that. Not all of them have transferred the stuff to new media. So I'd have to keep this old box almost until I retire.

Maybe I'll hide it somewhere under the house ;-)

Late at night, by candle light, JosephKK penned this immortal opus:

I believe FreeBSD is able to read most file systems. An idea: set up an FBSD box from old parts and set it up as a file server. Once it's up and running it can be remote controlled over telnet or ssh so it may be hidden under a table or a closet. Of course you'll have to walk over to it to stick in the floppy and then give the appropriate commands to mount the drive.

However, there's a fair bit of tweaking and a rather steep learning curve so if you're not in geek mode maybe you'd better not bother.

- YD.

Joerg wrote: Can modern PCs run 5-1/4" floppy drives?

I have no problem with a 5.25" on an intel 1.6Ghz P4D !

As long as the bios recognises it, there is no issues using the drive.

Meantime I found out that the IT8718F controller on this mobo does handle two floppies and also knows the old 1.2MB format. Even got the datasheet.

However, the BIOS may be the issue. It does not support that old format and only one drive. Hopefully the OS can bypass that restriction.

This whole issue is an interesting learning experience. When studying the (huge) datasheet for the IT8718F I found that it can do a whole lot more than classic PC jobs. It even seems to have a capability to act as an infrared remote for TVs. That blew me away.

Several years ago I bought some cases in which you can mount a hard drive and talk to it via USB. IIRC the old AT standard cabling could handle floppy as well as hard-drives. Maybe that would provide a solution?

...Jim Thompson

The killer is the bios! Someone mentioned SCSI adaptors..... Well it just so happens that I have a machine with an Adaptec SCSI card and it has a floppy port.

Athlon 4.2Ghz Gigabyte mobo. I plugged in a standard 5.25" drive instead of the 3.5" It see's the drive as a 1.2Mb floppy! Reads and writes no problem. Setting the drive as "B" required changing a jumper, nothing else.

Problem !!! XP cannot see the 5.25". In addition trying to find it, XP failed to see the 3.5" drive as well.

Linux has no such problem and will allow drag and drop between the two devices.

HTH.

The electrical interface for 3.5" and 5.25" drives is the same and the BIOS is only used for bootup. (unless, of course, you run dos 1.x or dos 2.x) As long as the FD controller is enabled and the OS hasn't had a stroke ala vista, there shouldn't be a problem. (cue chairman troll to come to vista's defense)

Yes, not elegant but it would. Where did you get them?