Possible to update drivers/bios for new motherboards to accept two floppies?

[sona1111]

Hey, on a computer i built myself that is unrelated to anything vintage, i still like my floppy drives. =P I happen to have a 3.5/5.25 combo floppy drive (both in a 5.25 type CD rom type slot thing) However i can only get my "new" (nforce 680I SLI) mobo to detect one at a time. In the bios their is no option for a "B" floppy. Is their a way around this so i can use both of them?

thanks.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Hey, on a computer i built myself that is unrelated to anything vintage, i still like my floppy drives. =P I happen to have a 3.5/5.25 combo floppy drive (both in a 5.25 type CD rom type slot thing) However i can only get my "new" (nforce 680I SLI) mobo to detect one at a time. In the bios their is no option for a "B" floppy. Is their a way around this so i can use both of them?

Sadly, no. Many newer motherboards only bring out the wiring for a single floppy (if any at all!). You might rig up a switch on the cable to switch between the two drives manually, however.

 

[MikeS]

Sadly, no. Many newer motherboards only bring out the wiring for a single floppy (if any at all!). You might rig up a switch on the cable to switch between the two drives manually, however.

Wouldn't you have to reboot and modify the BIOS entry every time you switched?

How about an external USB floppy, even if you did have to "waste" 1/2 of your internal?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Wouldn't you have to reboot and modify the BIOS entry every time you switched?

How about an external USB floppy, even if you did have to "waste" 1/2 of your internal?

Sure, a USB floppy is always an option.

If all the OP wanted to do was read 5.25" HD floppies and read and write 3.5" 2D/HD floppies, then no BIOS changes would be necessary.

5.25" 2D on newer machines is a bit dodgy--I've heard of some southbridge chips leaving off the 300K data rate.

 

[MikeS]

...If all the OP wanted to do was read 5.25" HD floppies and read and write 3.5" 2D/HD floppies, then no BIOS changes would be necessary.
...

Really? I never knew that; you mean a BIOS setting for a 1.44MB drive would permit reading a 1.2MB disk despite the different speed and SPT? I'm gonna have to try that...

 

[Tetrium]

I was also thinking USB 1.44 drive. If you must have an internal drive, another option is to use a Superdisk drive (a.k.a. LS-120) and use only the floppy part of it (XP and above won't work with the 120MB disks properly but afaik will still work with the standard ones)

Edit:spelling

 

[glitch]

You can use a SCSI floppy, which is what I do. I've got a SCSI board installed in my main desktop anyway since I use magneto-optical disks. My current board doesn't have any floppy controller so it's the best internal option for me. Here's a few auctions with < $10 shipped SCSI floppies:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Teac-FD-05HG-1-44-Internal-Floppy-SCSI-/250618481696
http://cgi.ebay.com/Teac-FD-05HG-1-44-Internal-Floppy-SCSI-/250618481803
http://cgi.ebay.com/Teac-FD-05HG-1-44-Internal-Floppy-SCSI-/250604703370

They're slimline drives, so you'll need an adapter.

 

[sona1111]

I have always been a fan of SCSI, and i think i have a host card laying around here somewhere.

Do they make the dual 5.25/3.5 combo drives for SCSI? i think i only have one cable...

and to the other people, thanks for the responses, it sucks you cant have more then one >.< i always kind of liked some things about them more then CDs like that you can easily add and remove files and they wont be scratched in your pocket.

 

[NeXT]

Here's something that I was recommended I try. It's a simple command file that you boot from something like a floppy drive or USB drive made bootable at the simplest level. It sets a flag in the CMOS (so if something goes bad you just reset your CMOS) that (and this is where I forget the exact result but it's either/or) makes the system see the B: drive if all the physical connections exist but the BIOS excluded drive B: or tells your OS that a B: drive exists however both your A: and B: drives are wired together with your B: drives motor toggled on and off by a toggle switch.

In my case it would unfortunately just say that my CMOS was corrupt and reload it's defaults. I wish better luck with you.