Author Topic: 5-1/4 inch floppies  (Read 1440 times)

Hawkmoon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,197
5-1/4 inch floppies
« on: March 15, 2017, 09:44:46 PM »
Does anyone have a computer or an external drive that can read them?

I just unearthed a set of 5-1/4" floppies with a Truetype font collection on it. I think Windows now includes some of them, but not all. Not the end of the world if I can't get them copied to a more modern media, but if anyone has the ability to read them I'd like to get the fonts transferred to a thumb drive or a CD/DVD.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

lee n. field

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,534
  • tinpot megalomaniac, Paulbot, hardware goon
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2017, 10:47:46 PM »
Does anyone have a computer or an external drive that can read them?

I just unearthed a set of 5-1/4" floppies with a Truetype font collection on it. I think Windows now includes some of them, but not all. Not the end of the world if I can't get them copied to a more modern media, but if anyone has the ability to read them I'd like to get the fonts transferred to a thumb drive or a CD/DVD.

I have a 5.25 drive, and a cable.  I'll have to see if I have access to an older computer with a floppy interface.
In thy presence is fulness of joy.
At thy right hand pleasures for evermore.

Jim147

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 7,587
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2017, 11:19:23 PM »
I have a few older computers with a 5 1/4 drive do you want one? I think I have one running win98 but it hasn't been plugged in for years

I think I still have win nt and win 95 on 3 1/2 around here somewhere and some old copies of Linux.
Sometimes we carry more weight then we owe.
And sometimes goes on and on and on.

BAH-WEEP-GRAAAGHNAH WHEEP NI-NI BONG

Hawkmoon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,197
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2017, 11:57:17 PM »
I have a few older computers with a 5 1/4 drive do you want one? I think I have one running win98 but it hasn't been plugged in for years

I think I still have win nt and win 95 on 3 1/2 around here somewhere and some old copies of Linux.

T'aint hardly worth shipping an entire computer just to copy the files off a couple of floppies. If they work, could I send the diskettes to you with a couple of blank CDs and ask you to copy the files over?
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

Nick1911

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,486
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2017, 12:06:41 AM »
T'aint hardly worth shipping an entire computer just to copy the files off a couple of floppies. If they work, could I send the diskettes to you with a couple of blank CDs and ask you to copy the files over?

Just a suggestion, it would easily fit in an email attachment.  No need to mail physical media back.

I have one computer with a 5.25 inch floppy drive - unfortunately it's so dated I have no other interfaces to get anything back off of it.

sumpnz

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 8,304
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2017, 01:45:39 AM »
Didn't Irwin have a thread a long time ago about disposing of old floppy disks?

K Frame

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 44,007
  • I Am Inimical
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2017, 07:13:06 AM »
You can buy a USB powered 5.25" floppy drive from any number of sources on the net.

And, most of them are under $25.
Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

Jamisjockey

  • Booze-fueled paragon of pointless cruelty and wanton sadism
  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 26,580
  • Your mom sends me care packages
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2017, 08:01:28 AM »
Judging by the thread title, I wasn't sure what was going to be lurking inside this thread...
JD

 The price of a lottery ticket seems to be the maximum most folks are willing to risk toward the dream of becoming a one-percenter. “Robert Hollis”

Hawkmoon

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 27,197
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2017, 08:09:12 AM »
You can buy a USB powered 5.25" floppy drive from any number of sources on the net.

And, most of them are under $25.

That's worth looking at. I'm sure I have some other old 5-1/4" floppies here that might be worth recovering if the price isn't too high.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
100% Politically Incorrect by Design

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,741
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2017, 09:10:58 AM »
You can buy a USB powered 5.25" floppy drive from any number of sources on the net.

And, most of them are under $25.

Are you sure you don't mean 3.5" floppy drives? 5.25 is a different animal regarding communication.
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

K Frame

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 44,007
  • I Am Inimical
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2017, 09:23:58 AM »
Judging by the thread title, I wasn't sure what was going to be lurking inside this thread...

Well, now you are.
Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

K Frame

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 44,007
  • I Am Inimical
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2017, 09:26:46 AM »
Are you sure you don't mean 3.5" floppy drives? 5.25 is a different animal regarding communication.

Crap, I was sure that I had seen 5.25 USB floppy drives...
Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

Ben

  • Administrator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 45,741
  • I'm an Extremist!
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2017, 09:30:06 AM »
Crap, I was sure that I had seen 5.25 USB floppy drives...

Yeah, if you type that in as a search term, it shows a bunch of drives, but they are all 3.5". The old 5.25 drives require bridging to work on modern mobos. There is hardware out there, but I think it runs like a hundred ducats (plus the drive).
"I'm a foolish old man that has been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trousers and a nincompoop."

Jim147

  • friends
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 7,587
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2017, 11:24:04 AM »
I'll drag one out and plug it in this week
Sometimes we carry more weight then we owe.
And sometimes goes on and on and on.

BAH-WEEP-GRAAAGHNAH WHEEP NI-NI BONG

lee n. field

  • friend
  • Senior Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,534
  • tinpot megalomaniac, Paulbot, hardware goon
Re: 5-1/4 inch floppies
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2017, 12:43:31 PM »
http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html, the interface

http://www.floppydisk.com/transfer, a service that says they can do it for you.
In thy presence is fulness of joy.
At thy right hand pleasures for evermore.