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Microsolutions Backpack 5.25" External Parallel Floppy Drive - Immaculate condition

I wish you offered it to us before auctioning it, now I'm forced to try to outbid whoever this is...

Edit: That bastard had a really high bid! Good for you, I suppose, but I really shouldn't be spending this much - I have wanted a parallel 5.25 for a long time though.. :/
 
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I paid $100 for it a few years ago. I can't let it go too cheap. I'm selling it as-is, since I don't have any systems old enough to test it on.

I do plan on posting some other items here later this week.
 
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It's already up to $51 + shipping so far, me winning. :)

I dunno how much higher I can go, though, I'm pretty poor. :/
 
And I recall seeing something similar in the as-is section of WeirdStuff some months ago. I would've thought something like it is worth no more than ten or fifteen dollars...
 
If you need a parallel 5.25" backpack (for use, not just to have something pretty on the shelf), you can take a standard 5.25" drive (or better yet, a dual 3.5"/5.25" drive)), supply your own power supply to the drive and connect it to the board from a 3.5" Backpack and use it that way. Every Backpack floppy drive has a NVRAM/EEPROM on it to hold configuration information for up to 4 drives. Simply use the SETID utility that comes with the drive and add the command-line switch "/DRIVETYPE".

Bingo--you're in business. Supply your own 5.25" enclosure.
 
Destro said:
Wow, most of the boards I'm on consider it rude to post replies explaining why someones item isn't worth what's being asked, or otherwise "thread crapping"... does that not apply around here?
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That's not what I'm saying.

Look, there are at least two categories of "collectors" here. There are the ones who collect things for their collectible value--unopened software, completely authentic systems, working or not. They're not so much interested in using the equipment and items they collect as in collecting and displaying it.

I know of someone who collects cornets (the musical instrument). His collection is encyclopedic and displayed in glass-fronted cases. Many of the instruments are unplayable, but that doesn't bother him--his interest is in the collecting.

On the other hand, I also know of people who own great old 19th century cornets and have had them extensively reworked to be playable. In the same way that many people on this list are more interested in what can be done with the equipment, rather than its authenticity. They're the folks who install XTIDE controllers with multi-gig hard drives into IBM 5150s.

There are oenophiles who are teetotalers and have magnificent collections.

Neither is wrong or less valuable than the other.

I was pointing out that if the idea was to get a 5.25" drive onto a parallel port, there are other less-expensive ways to do it. Leave the authentic thing for someone who will pay for its uniqueness as a collectible, not necessarily for its pure utility.

No "crapping" intended.
 
Chuck(G) said:
If you need a parallel 5.25" backpack (for use, not just to have something pretty on the shelf), you can take a standard 5.25" drive (or better yet, a dual 3.5"/5.25" drive)), supply your own power supply to the drive and connect it to the board from a 3.5" Backpack and use it that way. Every Backpack floppy drive has a NVRAM/EEPROM on it to hold configuration information for up to 4 drives. Simply use the SETID utility that comes with the drive and add the command-line switch "/DRIVETYPE".

Bingo--you're in business. Supply your own 5.25" enclosure.
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i was about to say the same thing, infact, i think you can dual drive the thing, not too sure, but if you can, all you'd need the wall wart for is the board, you could molex or adapt the cable to the other drives.....
 
Chuck, thanks for the explanation. Makes a lot of sense. I retract my comment.

With that said, I'm not sure which of the groups you referred to would want this solution, but maybe it will help someone. This company has come up with a USB bridge to 5.25" floppies. It's not an inexpensive solution, but could be an option in certain circumstances. http://www.deviceside.com/
 
Thanks, I know about the deviceside gizmo, but that doesn't help someone with a vintage laptop--and I don't think it writes yet, does it? Somewhere, I've also got a Rancho Technology parallel-to-floppy interface.

I think your item is a collectable because it illustrates where the term "Backpack" came from for Micro Solutions' product line.

And I've been in your situation too. A couple of years ago, I eBayed a Micro Solutions Compaticard IV NIB, still shrunk-wrapped. I seem to remember it went for about $270. I was dumbfounded.
 
Well damn, I wish you posted before I bid up to $75 inc. shipping Chuck. I've managed to find a VM solution that properly passes the parallel port through (Parallels, ironically) from Windows to the DOS guest, and got a 3.5" backpack running with it. When I got my 3.5" backpacks I immediately tried to hook a 5.25" drive up though, and it didn't work. I did not, however, know there were software settings to use for this.. As well, the 5.25"<->USB is cheaper and a better solution than the damned parallel device, and I'm poor as hell.

Any shot you'd cancel my last bid, destro? It's only one dollar higher than the previous one, and I'd greatly appreciate it... :O

Edit: Gah, now I feel like an ass, after reading the entire page on those USB devices I notice one evil, evil flaw:
"The FC5025 is read-only. It cannot write to floppies."
In addition:
"The included software works on Linux, Mac OS X and 32-bit Windows. It does not run on 64-bit Windows."
I run 64-bit on the box in question. ;p

So, please disregard the request.
 
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I cancelled your bid, as requested. If you're still interested, you will need to place another bid. Please keep in mind that I have not tested the drive, nor do I have the ability (or patience :) ) to, so if you need a 100% guarantee that the drive will work for you, I can't offer that.
 
Chuck(G) said:
There are oenophiles who are teetotalers and have magnificent collections.
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The mind boggles at trying to translate this :)

I joined the board last year but have only returned recently. I've been searching the forum for DOS 1.0, 5150 and 5.25" floppy drives when I came across "There are oenophiles who are teetotalers and have magnificent collections".
 
I thought my statement elegantly summarized the situation with collecting.

A wine lover who collects but doesn't partake is a pretty accurate analogy. There's nothing wrong with collecting for collecting's sake; museums do it all of the time. Raven had fallen into the trap of bidding against what I would assume to be a non-using collector. From his postings, Raven is definitely in the other camp.

Or is owning a bottle of spirits but not drinking it unfathomable to an Irishman? :)
 
Chuck(G) said:
Or is owning a bottle of spirits but not drinking it unfathomable to an Irishman? :)
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Indeed. You know what they say? God invented alcohol to stop the Irish taking over the World. :) And it's not called a Paddy Wagon for nothing. And whiskey in Gaelic is Uisce Beatha, the Water of Life.
 
Destro said:
I paid $100 for it a few years ago. I can't let it go too cheap. I'm selling it as-is, since I don't have any systems old enough to test it on.

I do plan on posting some other items here later this week.
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This is over a year later, so maybe you're not still here. I run Backpack with Win98, and of course it works fine on all my old DOS 386 and 486 machines. It doesn't always work on all of my Win98 machines. It does work best on my Dell Inspiron 7000. I have two Backpack 5.25" and two 3.5", and no amount of money would tempt me to part with them. For I have thousands(?) of old floppies. They are offloaded via the Dell, and then put on my XP machines, so I have a total accessible backup of all the old files whenever I want them. Plus, my two old GRiD computers might need the drives to boot. Someday I gotta get those GRiDs fixed.

I think I tried it on my XP Professional and it recognized the drive, but I am not sure. It was some years ago. My Imation SuperDisk also works on XP, so maybe I'm confusing the two.
 
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brainout said:
This is over a year later, so maybe you're not still here. I run Backpack with Win98, and of course it works fine on all my old DOS 386 and 486 machines. It doesn't always work on all of my Win98 machines. It does work best on my Dell Inspiron 7000. I have two Backpack 5.25" and two 3.5", and no amount of money would tempt me to part with them. For I have thousands(?) of old floppies. They are offloaded via the Dell, and then put on my XP machines, so I have a total accessible backup of all the old files whenever I want them. Plus, my two old GRiD computers might need the drives to boot. Someday I gotta get those GRiDs fixed.

I think I tried it on my XP Professional and it recognized the drive, but I am not sure. It was some years ago. My Imation SuperDisk also works on XP, so maybe I'm confusing the two.
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If you come across another Backpack 5.25", let me know
 
fjk61011 said:
If you come across another Backpack 5.25", let me know
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I'm not aware that Microsolutions ever brought out any Win2K/XP drivers for that particular backpack. I think the product was discontinued sometime during the late 1990s.

Allow me to reiterate that from the controller standpoint, there's no difference between the 3.5" and 5.25" models. Add a compatible power supply to a 3.5" model and hook it to a 5.25" drive and change the drive type in the NVRAM on the board. That's it.
 
Does it support 8" drives? I am looking for good way read old 5.25 and 8 inch media in either DOS or Windows. Have a few ISA/PCI motherboards and bunch of 8 inch drives I think still work.
 
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