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  • USB To 5-1/4 Drive

    From Bill Bradshaw@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 24 14:56:45 2024
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some saved documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could recommend?

    <Bill>

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  • From Paul in Houston TX@21:1/5 to Bill Bradshaw on Wed Apr 24 18:53:14 2024
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some saved documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could recommend?

    <Bill>

    You could copy from the 5.25 to a computer and then copy to usb.

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  • From JA@21:1/5 to Bill Bradshaw on Wed Apr 24 19:41:36 2024
    On Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:56:45 -0800, "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net> wrote:

    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some saved >documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could recommend?

    <Bill>

    Assuming you have a 5-1/4 floppy reader of some sort, and just want to get it transferred via USB,
    will this help:

    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-floppy-disk-adapter-pcb

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  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Bill Bradshaw on Wed Apr 24 21:16:24 2024
    On 4/24/2024 6:56 PM, Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some saved documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could recommend?

    <Bill>



    I have a 5.25" enclosure with USB external connector.
    It has an IDE ribbon cable inside and a Molex power connector.
    The wall adapter for the unit, is a 12V @ 2A power adapter.
    The 12V is converted to +5V, on the enclosure circuit
    board, and that makes the +5/+12 the drive would need.

    5.25" is the size of an optical drive. Most of the time,
    mine has an optical drive. But I sometimes install a
    3.5" hard drive in the enclosure too (different screw holes).

    They also make IDE/SATA adapters with multiple interfaces
    on them, and while the adapter kit does not include a "housing",
    it has all the electrical bits needed for connecting a drive
    to a USB connector. A 12V @ 2A adapter is included with the kit.

    For SSDs, a USB3 to SSD adapter exists. Since the SSD only
    needs +5V, that voltage comes over the USB power cable. This
    allows a 2.5" SSD to be run from a "pigtail cable" that has
    a one-piece SATA connector. This works as long as the
    SSD does not have excessive consumption. A Sandforce SSD
    controller peaks at 7 watts, and that is a bit iffy as a
    candidate. USB3 is nominally 4.5W, but goes higher (until
    the fuse opens).

    SATA enclosures can also run SSD drives, and again, that's
    the 12V @ 2A adapter, followed by a regulator onboard to make
    the 5V an SSD might use.

    But really old, full height 5.25" hard drives, I don't
    think there is anything USB for those. That could be SASI
    or SCSI or the like. A "computer from the era" is the best
    candidate for the crusty olde drives.

    (ST506/ST412)

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/5.25_inch_MFM_hard_disk_drive.JPG

    A "document from 1993" sounds like it is past that point in time.

    You can see some crusty drive examples here. Many of these had
    IDE interface. A file from 1993, might be on an early IDE.

    Some IDE controllers, had a few of the older "modes" removed.
    On occasion, even though the connector mates, the computer end
    may not have the capability to communicate successfully with it.
    You might use your year 2000 computer for a try (the 440BX might
    have the modes).

    http://www.alexandrugroza.ro/olddiscdrives/historical-ide-hdd/index.html

    Paul

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  • From Bill Bradshaw@21:1/5 to Bill Bradshaw on Thu Apr 25 09:10:45 2024
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some
    saved documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could
    recommend?
    <Bill>

    I was hoping I could buy an external drive like my DVD and 3-1/2 drive. I think somewhere in the crawl space I still have the original computer these files where created on. I believe that computer has a 720 meg 3-1/2 inch
    drive and I may have in my surplus boxes a diskette that will work. The
    files will be Wordstar and I did locate a Wordstar windows version that
    should run in one of my vms. I will need to find a conversion program to change the files to another format. I should of been mean and told them I could not locate the files. Of course the final clincher will be the 360
    meg diskettes will not be readable.

    <Bill>

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  • From Paul@21:1/5 to Bill Bradshaw on Thu Apr 25 20:04:17 2024
    On 4/25/2024 1:10 PM, Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some
    saved documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could
    recommend?
    <Bill>

    I was hoping I could buy an external drive like my DVD and 3-1/2 drive. I think somewhere in the crawl space I still have the original computer these files where created on. I believe that computer has a 720 meg 3-1/2 inch drive and I may have in my surplus boxes a diskette that will work. The files will be Wordstar and I did locate a Wordstar windows version that should run in one of my vms. I will need to find a conversion program to change the files to another format. I should of been mean and told them I could not locate the files. Of course the final clincher will be the 360
    meg diskettes will not be readable.

    <Bill>

    "diskettes will not be readable" <=== some things always work in your favor :-/

    At least with hard drive storage from the era, you have a fighting chance. Perhaps better than the odds on some random floppies.

    But, no landing ramps on those drives. Heads stay on the platter
    (for better, or for worse).

    The shock rating on some of those drives was "2G, running" which
    means your drive is in danger just from you walking past the table.

    The original drives were intended for single axis (flat on the table) operation.
    Later, heads were loaded in pairs, with symmetric loading on both sides
    of the platter, and platters "certified both sides good". And those drives operated in six axis.

    Paul

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  • From croy@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 26 07:25:13 2024
    On Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:10:45 -0800, "Bill Bradshaw" <bradshaw@gci.net>
    wrote:

    Bill Bradshaw wrote:

    Of course the final clincher will be the 360 meg diskettes will not be readable.

    SpinRite 5.0 saved (made readable) a few resistant floppies for me, back in
    the day. I've read that 5.0 was better on floppies than 6.0, and I found
    that to be true.

    --
    croy

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  • From Carlos E.R.@21:1/5 to Paul on Sun Apr 28 03:44:41 2024
    On 2024-04-25 03:16, Paul wrote:
    On 4/24/2024 6:56 PM, Bill Bradshaw wrote:
    I find myself in need of something like this. I have to pull some saved
    documents from 1993. Anybody have something they could recommend?

    <Bill>



    I have a 5.25" enclosure with USB external connector.
    It has an IDE ribbon cable inside and a Molex power connector.

    It seems from his second post that he means floppies, not hard disks.
    That's not an IDE interface.

    I see them on Amazon, at least for 3.5"

    --
    Cheers, Carlos.

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