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8" Floppy

DXBEARDED

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Joined
May 31, 2008
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OK, I can get access to windows 3.1 or 95 or 98 if that will help. I have a drive but no drivers. To the best of my knowledge it was probably a 386 using dos 3.0 or maybe earlier. Any ideas would be of great help.

Does anyone know how or where I can get an 8" floppy drive that will run in or with windows XP? I have 75 old dual sided 8" floppy disks I want to get the info from. Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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I have to agree, you might be able to kludge together a cable that would run a 8" drive off of a current FDD port, but XP is never going to recognize it.

As Mike sugested, knowing what machine it was used it would be helpful. I, personally, have several Tandy business machines with 8" drives and would be able to port the contents of the diskettes to a current HD and then to DVDs or some other media via the serial port.
 
I have a cunning but as yet unimplemented plan:

a) Build an XP system
b) Install PCI Catweasel card http://www.jschoenfeld.com/products/catweasel_e.htm
c) Get FDADAP floppy disk adapter http://www.dbit.com/fdadap.html
d) Get the necessary cables connected up
e) use the current Catweasel software to read my 8" diskettes

I got upto step (c) but zero time has prevented actually getting anything working.

However as the 2008 Global recession bites and my unemployment prospects could pick up, then I might finally get some time to look into it.

Meanwhile somebody else please give it a go, document it, and let me piggy back on your triumph.

Regards marcus.
 
And I have done what amouse has described. It will work, but it works better for me in dos and linux.

The machine boots all 3.

Where are you located? I will read the disks and convert to 5.25" hd, or send you images for a nominal fee. I am located in New Jersey, USA.

Kelly
 
Folks,

I've had excellent results with Dave Dunfield's method of connecting an 8" drive to a PC and his imagedisk software:

http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/img/index.htm

I have a Shugart SA860 connected directly to the motherboard drive controller in an IBM PC300 (via appropriate homemade cabling.) Actually, I built a chassis and put an 8" drive, a 360k FH 5.25, a 1.2M 5.25, and a 3.5" drive and power supplies. I have switches on the front panel to select which drive is a: and which is b:. There's a photo of this affair in the photo album if you click on my name.

Lou
 
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