How can I connect a 5.25" floppy disk drive to a modern computer?

[Chuck(G)]

In addition to the KryoFlux, there is also the DiscFerret.

Didn't I mention that a couple of posts back?

 

[tingo]

Chuck(G); I now see that you did. Sometimes things are overlooked.

 

[MikeS]

Didn't I mention that a couple of posts back?

Tsk, tsk... pots & kettles ;-)

 

[Chuck(G)]

Point taken, Mike. :blush:

 

[Chuck(G)]

Point taken, Mike. :blush:

There's also using a Backpack drive innards and a parallel port.

 

[mikerm]

There's also using a Backpack drive innards and a parallel port.

I tried that once, and couldn't get the drivers to work on any modern OS. I also tried one of those non-printer parallel to usb adapters, no go.

 

[Chuck(G)]

You know, I posted the source to a DOS real-mode driver to the Backpack drives a year or two ago on this list. There's absolutely nothing to prevent you from rewriting it for whatever your idea of the best operating system is.

 

[bettablue]

This thread hits really close to home. A friend of mine told me he has some sort of adaper in Storage to connect the old floppy drive to the floppy connectorcable. There is no ISA slot on this computer either, but he says it will work. (I'll believe that when I see it though) The problem is that his storage unit is in Utah, and he now lives in Las Vegas. I'm waiting for him to go up there so he can get me a couple to try on an older computer I have. The computer has a 3.5" 1.44 meg floppy and came with Windows XP home installed. I was hoping to do the same thing and install a 5.25 360K drive into it for writing disk images.

No PCI-ISA adapters exist, at least in fully functional form for these late chipsets.

So the scenario I predicted is coming to fruition.

Anyone interested in a legacy floppy-to-USB project?

There are also things like the Deviceside thing, but I don't know how much support there is for transparent floppy (to Windows) handling. My guess is that it requires their own drivers.

Note that the other thing gone is PATA support.

 

[Ps2K]

I got a Panasonic JU-475 the other day and it works perfectly on my 21st century Core2Quad Q6600

Shoppinglist:
- Floppy drive
- Proper flatcable with on-chip connector
- 1 free molex connector for the power

Caveats:
- My old Compaq Deathstar Evo has an 5.25 option in the BIOS, however it does not recognize the drive (at least in FreeBSD)
- My old Athlon-1200 has no 5.25 option in the BIOS;
- You can read/write files to the floppy (I use DS/DD 360K) but you cannot format the files
- Formatting through VirtualBox DOS machine causes the VM to lock up
- DOSBox will also flip out when writing images etc. to the floppy

Technical issues encountered during the installation:
- Jumper settings; The terminator jumper seems important
- When closing the drive the floppy does not get clamped properly causing me to spend a few hours of useless troubleshooting. (Cutting a piece of my credit card into shape and fitting it in the drive helped solve this)

If you need help getting it to work, post your issue(s)!

Link to the cable I used:
http://www.conrad.com/Floppy-disk-d...nrad-int&pi=980790&ci=SHOP_AREA_37573_0410115