Problems reading from a 3.5″ floppy disc

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Colin Whittaker on 22/09/2020 01:57:21:

1) Instead of transferring files with a floppy disc why not use a usb memory stick instead?

With machines/OS this old that begs some questions:

– do the machines actually have any USB ports (USB-1? USB-2?) (or an add-on card for them)?

– are the versions of Windows capable of driving those ports (or are drivers available)?

– Are the Windows/hardware/driver combinations capable of driving modern USB (2) devices?

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

Posted by Emgee on 22/09/2020 10:32:53:

I know exactly where Greensands is coming from, I still use 3.5" floppy discs for a Denford Orac cnc lathe, the program and working files are all in DOS and I do have copies on the computer hard drive running with WinXP, further copies are on a memory stick that I use if writing a program for the lathe in the house.
The computer used in the workshop is disabled from connecting to the net for obvious reasons.

I do not have to use floppy discs but IMO why change something that's working.

Emgee

I spent several years developing and replacing disk drive emulators to replace the mainframe/mini 14" and 8" hard drives which ran process control systems – steel works, food processing, satellite tracking, oil refineries…the processes worked perfectly, the computers worked perfectly, the drives just wore out and were not replaceable.

Searching for "arduino floppy drive emulator" produces a number of options using some modern form of media combined with Arduinos or others to emulate the drive signals and to stream the data in the required MFM format. If you want to spend some money, I worked for the original founders of this company that still advertise replacement drives for floppies as well as a range of elderly and obscure drives. Solid State Disks Ltd

[Oven ManParticipant @ovenman]

I seem to remember, very many years ago, buying an adaptor that fitted into a 3.5" drive and it allowed you read from one of the early style memory cards. Cost a fortune at the time.

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