need old 5 1/4 floppy on XP

On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:41:26 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"



Cool.

Now he needs a floppy interface and BIOS that can handle that old standard.



| I don't pretend to be a hardware expert, but as far as I know, almost
| all motherboards can do this. My motherboard, a GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P
| LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard, which is a pretty recent
| one, can.



New systems like from Dell don't even come with a Floppy drive anymore


Yes, I know. Almost no system comes with one except a custom-built
system where someone wants a floppy.


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



See cable in below...
http://www.nullmodem.com/Floppy.htm

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:41:26 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"



Cool.

Now he needs a floppy interface and BIOS that can handle that old standard.



| I don't pretend to be a hardware expert, but as far as I know, almost
| all motherboards can do this. My motherboard, a GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P
| LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard, which is a pretty recent
| one, can.



New systems like from Dell don't even come with a Floppy drive anymore


Yes, I know. Almost no system comes with one except a custom-built
system where someone wants a floppy.


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



See cable in below...
http://www.nullmodem.com/Floppy.htm

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"

| On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:41:26 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
| wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"



Cool.

Now he needs a floppy interface and BIOS that can handle that old standard.



| I don't pretend to be a hardware expert, but as far as I know, almost
| all motherboards can do this. My motherboard, a GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P
| LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard, which is a pretty recent
| one, can.



New systems like from Dell don't even come with a Floppy drive anymore


| Yes, I know. Almost no system comes with one except a custom-built
| system where someone wants a floppy.


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



| But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

| However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
| almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
| what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



The cable to the motherboard or floppy controller hasn't changed. The only questions
are...
1. Does the end user have the appropriate cable

2. Does/will the BIOS recognize a 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"

| On Mon, 5 Apr 2010 22:41:26 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
| wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"



Cool.

Now he needs a floppy interface and BIOS that can handle that old standard.



| I don't pretend to be a hardware expert, but as far as I know, almost
| all motherboards can do this. My motherboard, a GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P
| LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard, which is a pretty recent
| one, can.



New systems like from Dell don't even come with a Floppy drive anymore


| Yes, I know. Almost no system comes with one except a custom-built
| system where someone wants a floppy.


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



| But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

| However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
| almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
| what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



The cable to the motherboard or floppy controller hasn't changed. The only questions
are...
1. Does the end user have the appropriate cable

2. Does/will the BIOS recognize a 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:17:28 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



| But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

| However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
| almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
| what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



The cable to the motherboard or floppy controller hasn't changed. The only questions
are...
1. Does the end user have the appropriate cable


Well, OK. But if you don't have a 5.25 floppy cable, you can buy one
inexpensively, just as you can buy a 5.25 floppy drive inexpensively.
That's not really an issue, as far as I'm concerned.



2. Does/will the BIOS recognize a 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive.



OK, if the BIOS doesn't recognize it, that of course is a real issue.
I had assumed that if the BIOS recognized 3.25" floppy drives, it also
recognized 5.25" floppy drives. But perhaps I'm wrong. I don't want
to take the time to restart and check right now, but I'll try to
remember to check the next time I power off.

Thanks again.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

On Tue, 6 Apr 2010 16:17:28 -0400, "David H. Lipman"
wrote:

From: "Ken Blake, MVP"


and those that do
have a single interface cable for the 3 1/2" floppy. However, it is a completely
different cabling for the 5 1/4" drive.



| But that I didn't know. Thanks for the info.

| However can't an old cable be used to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to
| almost any motherboard? Or is the motherboard connector different from
| what it used to be back in the 5.25" days?



The cable to the motherboard or floppy controller hasn't changed. The only questions
are...
1. Does the end user have the appropriate cable


Well, OK. But if you don't have a 5.25 floppy cable, you can buy one
inexpensively, just as you can buy a 5.25 floppy drive inexpensively.
That's not really an issue, as far as I'm concerned.



2. Does/will the BIOS recognize a 1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive.



OK, if the BIOS doesn't recognize it, that of course is a real issue.
I had assumed that if the BIOS recognized 3.25" floppy drives, it also
recognized 5.25" floppy drives. But perhaps I'm wrong. I don't want
to take the time to restart and check right now, but I'll try to
remember to check the next time I power off.

Thanks again.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
copy protected games it might be fun to play.

But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?

I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
copy protected games it might be fun to play.

But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?

From: "ggull"

| I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
| old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
| copy protected games it might be fun to play.

| But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
| 5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
| or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?


I couldn't find a 1.2MB 5.25" USB floppy drive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

From: "ggull"

| I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
| old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
| copy protected games it might be fun to play.

| But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
| 5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
| or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?


I couldn't find a 1.2MB 5.25" USB floppy drive.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp

ggull wrote:
I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
copy protected games it might be fun to play.

But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?



Do a search on Ask.com (or your favorite search engine) and see what you
can find. If you have the 5.25 drive and a USB enclosure you might be
able to engineer something if you can find the right cables to connect
the 5.25 drive to the USB enclosure.

--
JD..

ggull wrote:
I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got some
old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
copy protected games it might be fun to play.

But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?



Do a search on Ask.com (or your favorite search engine) and see what you
can find. If you have the 5.25 drive and a USB enclosure you might be
able to engineer something if you can find the right cables to connect
the 5.25 drive to the USB enclosure.

--
JD..

Thee 5" drive connector is an edge connector that slides on the board
rather than an IDH connector that matches up with pins. You should be
able to find the ribbon cable from on line electronic houses.

One issue is whether the floppies are 350LD or 1.2HD. You can end up
with issues reading 360s on a 1.2 drive as the media didn't store as
strong a magnetic field and tended to waste away.

Thee 5" drive connector is an edge connector that slides on the board
rather than an IDH connector that matches up with pins. You should be
able to find the ribbon cable from on line electronic houses.

One issue is whether the floppies are 350LD or 1.2HD. You can end up
with issues reading 360s on a 1.2 drive as the media didn't store as
strong a magnetic field and tended to waste away.

"JD" wrote in message
...
ggull wrote:
I'd just like to say thanks for this interesting discussion. I've got
some
old 5.25 inchers I'd like to grab the data off of someday, even some old
copy protected games it might be fun to play.

But a related question. Is there such a thing as an external, say USB,
5.25" floppy drive? (I use an external 3.5" floppy when I need it.)
or would it be easy to cobble something like that together?



Do a search on Ask.com (or your favorite search engine) and see what you
can find. If you have the 5.25 drive and a USB enclosure you might be able
to engineer something if you can find the right cables to connect the 5.25
drive to the USB enclosure.

--
JD..

The USB enclosure method won't work. Reason is that the electronics in the
drive are designed for PATA (EIDE) or SATA drives. The cabling and
electronics are entirely different. There are USB 3.5" external floppy
drives available but I have never seen one for 5.25" floppies.