Can I Copy Large Floppies On To CD'S

[PLAZ]

I have a lot of large floppies that I made with my very old IBM computer. None of my new computers have receptacles that accept the large floppies. Is there somehow that I can copy the data on those large floppies onto a usable CD that I can use on my new computers? Or is there some other solution to this problem?

[RJ]

Sure, you can do that. Just copy the data off the floppies with a computer that still has a floppy drive for the large floppies, somehow transfer them to a PC with CD burner (by network, or by swapping hard drive, for example) and then just burn the data to CD.

RJ

[DarkRyu]

Could even transfer the files using a USB data stick if you have one - but even if you don’t there worth buying because you never know when you might need one

or if your not looking to spend any money then what RJ said will work just fine :)

[glc]

It depends what's on those old floppies (I assume 5.25"?). If they are just files, you can copy them to anything. If they are installable programs, you may have to do something else like copy them exactly to 3.5" floppies.

[TwoRails]

... None of my new computers have receptacles that accept the large floppies...I am reading that as you don't have a 5.25" floppy drive to put the floppies into. I've looked for a long time for one myself. About the only thing you can probably find is a used one at your local mom-and-pop computer store or maybe search the swap forum here.

[glc]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110001095714&category=44959
http://www.topmicrousa.com/ca15fldr.html

[EzyStvy]

None of my new computers have receptacles that accept the large floppies.


You have to have the 5 1/4 drive to be able to do anythinng with the floppies.

[clroberts]

Of course that isn't the largest floppy made. They did sell 8" floppies before the 5.25 came out. Does that Ancient computer have a network card? If not, Another idea is to pull the 5.25 drive out of the Old computer and place it in a 5.25 bay in one of your new computers. I think that newer bios's still allow detection of 1.2 mb floppy drives. Use the cable from the old machine as well since the floppy drive is probably the old style that uses the slot style rather than the pin style.

[glc]

A lot of the new machines do not support a "B" drive so you may have to make the 5.25 the only floppy if you do that.

[PLAZ]

glc What do you mean by B drive? Are you saying if I put a 5.25 floppy in a new computer it will not let me transfer the data from the floppy to the hard drive?

[glc]

If you have 2 floppy drives in a computer, one has to be A and the other B. Many newer computers do not support more than one floppy drive. If your bios does not support more than one floppy drive, the 5.25 drive has to be the only floppy - and not all bioses can handle a 5.25" drive either, the capacity is different than a 3.5" floppy. Windows XP can read and write 5.25" floppies if the drive is supported by the bios, but it cannot format them.

Bottom line? If you have 5.25" floppies you need to get the info from, you are best off using an older computer - and when I say old, I mean pre-year 2000 and with an older OS such as Win98.