Old Computer Help

**Lowell Goudge** · 01-13-2010, 06:42 PM

Is there any one in the toronto area that has a computer capable of reading 5 1/4 inch floppy disks?

I know someone who's computer failed and all the data is on 5 1/4 inch diskettes, Not sure if 360K or 1.2M disks.

None of my computers support the disk format

Ratmagiclady · 01-13-2010, 06:51 PM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

Is there any one in the toronto area that has a computer capable of reading 5 1/4 inch floppy disks?

I know someone who's computer failed and all the data is on 5 1/4 inch diskettes, Not sure if 360K or 1.2M disks.

None of my computers support the disk format

Well, it can't be too much data. Some computer store should be able to dust something off and copy it. Question is what format is it in?

I do still have a Win98 machine in mothballs that can probably read old DOS, but no physical drive to do it with. Could copy to email or... Zip disk, though.

(Holy Mother, now doesn't this just take me back to days when I was more computer competent than ninety five percent ofthe population, instead of the other way around.

)

This is why, btw, I'm not too confident about JPegs being forever-compatible, since apparently previous versions of the written word *have* become incompatible.. but I do have a machine that I think still works and has the appropriate ports, if it comes down to last ditch.

**Lowell Goudge** · 01-13-2010, 07:06 PM

Originally posted by Ratmagiclady

Well, it can't be too much data. Some computer store should be able to dust something off and copy it. Question is what format is it in?

I do still have a Win98 machine in mothballs that can probably read old DOS, but no physical drive to do it with. Could copy to email or... Zip disk, though.

(Holy Mother, now doesn't this just take me back to days when I was more computer competent than ninety five percent ofthe population, instead of the other way around.

)

This is why, btw, I'm not too confident about JPegs being forever-compatible, since apparently previous versions of the written word *have* become incompatible.. but I do have a machine that I think still works and has the appropriate ports, if it comes down to last ditch.

I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch

ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto

Ratmagiclady · 01-13-2010, 07:25 PM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch

ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto

Well, just a bit. Though some will tell you it's normal, even if all the pipes in Alabama burst.

What you need is someone who was geekier than thou before that even resembled coolness.

Also, you could probably just buy stuff off Ebay till something turns up that still works. If I still had my old pile of junk I could mail you a 386.

(I'm trying to think of who I can still contact that might know someone in Toronto...I bet someone already here will be able to hook you up, though. )

graphicgr8s · 01-13-2010, 09:14 PM

Lowell can't he put another HD in? Even if the bios won't see the entire drive it could be partitioned and loaded with os just to get data off floppys and onto the new hard drive. then copied off. If the old hard drive won't read as master sometimes I've gotten them to work long enough to get data off by installing in another box as a slave then copy data off.

Ratmagiclady · 01-13-2010, 09:23 PM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch

ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto

*blink.* Oh.. Wait a minute here. What actual kind of machine are we talking about here? I may have a *boot disk* from machines that old kicking around. And Dos 6. Could boot off a 3 1/2 inch drive, (even if the HD is dead

and just copy your files old-school to a 3 1/2" disk, ....Probably couldn't *run* Lotus, but you could shift things off the 5" drive to something another machine can read?

**Lowell Goudge** · 01-14-2010, 08:06 AM

Interesting.

the machine in question is a one of a kind unit, Pentium 3 mother board but all kinds of old drives installed, including 3.5 and 5.25 inch drives.

A boot disk possibly start it, Not sure how much would run, but I would think copy*.* shoud work.

If you can e-mail me a zip file with the boot disk contents I could put it on a 3.5 inch floppy and at least boot the machine under DOS.

It needs to be a version of DOS that recognizes the high format drives. But you have me thnking.

Ratmagiclady · 01-14-2010, 08:48 AM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

Interesting.

the machine in question is a one of a kind unit, Pentium 3 mother board but all kinds of old drives installed, including 3.5 and 5.25 inch drives.

A boot disk possibly start it, Not sure how much would run, but I would think copy*.* shoud work.

If you can e-mail me a zip file with the boot disk contents I could put it on a 3.5 inch floppy and at least boot the machine under DOS.

It needs to be a version of DOS that recognizes the high format drives. But you have me thnking.

Cool. I don't actually know what I still have or if the diskettes are still good, but I'll need to do a bit of digging around in my big box of random computerey stuff.

Dos 6, I'm pretty sure is in there,anyway, and on a system disk for an 80/88: this had no hard drives at all and would run off the floppy disk every time. Not sure what else.

I'm also wondering if anyone just has these kinds of things archived online: then you could just grab exactly what you need directly from the Web. Why, I hear there's even some FTP based sites till out there.

Anyway, I expect to see someone come online who's likely to have some ideas, before too long today, to check out that option.

And, hey, I know where else to ask around, too.

little laker · 01-14-2010, 09:42 AM

if that's going to work, it might be easier just using Bing than trying to find a boot disk.
There appear to be lots on-line

Ratmagiclady · 01-14-2010, 10:44 AM

Originally posted by little laker

if that's going to work, it might be easier just using Bing than trying to find a boot disk.
There appear to be lots on-line

Aha, Laker, that appears to be just the sort of thing we're looking for.

**Lowell Goudge** · 01-15-2010, 05:47 AM

thanks every one

managed to get a boot disk, and boot computer.

bad boot sector only on the disk, perhaps other sectors on the HD. Could boot and then run windows but not all functions worked. Anyway, I could read and recover all data

funny how I forgot about a boot disk at the onset.

must be suffering from CRAFT

Ratmagiclady · 01-15-2010, 06:16 AM

Originally posted by Lowell Goudge

thanks every one

managed to get a boot disk, and boot computer.

bad boot sector only on the disk, perhaps other sectors on the HD. Could boot and then run windows but not all functions worked. Anyway, I could read and recover all data

funny how I forgot about a boot disk at the onset.

must be suffering from CRAFT

Haha! Yay! Good news.

I have a real tendency to forget it' no longer like 1996 when relying on old memories of computereyness, myself.

"Ooh, they have the Internet on *computers,* now.

"

01-13-2010, 06:42 PM	#1
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,888	Old Computer Help Is there any one in the toronto area that has a computer capable of reading 5 1/4 inch floppy disks? I know someone who's computer failed and all the data is on 5 1/4 inch diskettes, Not sure if 360K or 1.2M disks. None of my computers support the disk format

01-13-2010, 06:51 PM	#2
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge Is there any one in the toronto area that has a computer capable of reading 5 1/4 inch floppy disks? I know someone who's computer failed and all the data is on 5 1/4 inch diskettes, Not sure if 360K or 1.2M disks. None of my computers support the disk format Well, it can't be too much data. Some computer store should be able to dust something off and copy it. Question is what format is it in? I do still have a Win98 machine in mothballs that can probably read old DOS, but no physical drive to do it with. Could copy to email or... Zip disk, though. (Holy Mother, now doesn't this just take me back to days when I was more computer competent than ninety five percent ofthe population, instead of the other way around. ) This is why, btw, I'm not too confident about JPegs being forever-compatible, since apparently previous versions of the written word have become incompatible.. but I do have a machine that I think still works and has the appropriate ports, if it comes down to last ditch. Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 01-13-2010 at 07:01 PM.

01-13-2010, 09:23 PM	#6
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto blink. Oh.. Wait a minute here. What actual kind of machine are we talking about here? I may have a boot disk from machines that old kicking around. And Dos 6. Could boot off a 3 1/2 inch drive, (even if the HD is dead and just copy your files old-school to a 3 1/2" disk, ....Probably couldn't run Lotus, but you could shift things off the 5" drive to something another machine can read? Last edited by Ratmagiclady; 01-13-2010 at 09:29 PM.

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01-13-2010, 07:06 PM	#3
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,888 Original Poster	Originally posted by Ratmagiclady Well, it can't be too much data. Some computer store should be able to dust something off and copy it. Question is what format is it in? I do still have a Win98 machine in mothballs that can probably read old DOS, but no physical drive to do it with. Could copy to email or... Zip disk, though. (Holy Mother, now doesn't this just take me back to days when I was more computer competent than ninety five percent ofthe population, instead of the other way around. ) This is why, btw, I'm not too confident about JPegs being forever-compatible, since apparently previous versions of the written word have become incompatible.. but I do have a machine that I think still works and has the appropriate ports, if it comes down to last ditch. I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto

01-13-2010, 07:25 PM	#4
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge I suspect mostly lotus 123 spreadsheets. unfortunately the HD died in the computer so it won't boot, any other format, 3 1/2 inch, zip disks etc I can read but 5 1/4 is so old the bios in my oldest working computer at home does not even recognize the drive, it thinks it is a 3 1/2 inch ps, you are a little further away than I was hoping for, although it must be warmer than toronto Well, just a bit. Though some will tell you it's normal, even if all the pipes in Alabama burst. What you need is someone who was geekier than thou before that even resembled coolness. Also, you could probably just buy stuff off Ebay till something turns up that still works. If I still had my old pile of junk I could mail you a 386. (I'm trying to think of who I can still contact that might know someone in Toronto...I bet someone already here will be able to hook you up, though. )

01-13-2010, 09:14 PM	#5
graphicgr8s Guest	Lowell can't he put another HD in? Even if the bios won't see the entire drive it could be partitioned and loaded with os just to get data off floppys and onto the new hard drive. then copied off. If the old hard drive won't read as master sometimes I've gotten them to work long enough to get data off by installing in another box as a slave then copy data off.

01-14-2010, 08:06 AM	#7
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,888 Original Poster	Interesting. the machine in question is a one of a kind unit, Pentium 3 mother board but all kinds of old drives installed, including 3.5 and 5.25 inch drives. A boot disk possibly start it, Not sure how much would run, but I would think copy. shoud work. If you can e-mail me a zip file with the boot disk contents I could put it on a 3.5 inch floppy and at least boot the machine under DOS. It needs to be a version of DOS that recognizes the high format drives. But you have me thnking.

01-14-2010, 08:48 AM	#8
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge Interesting. the machine in question is a one of a kind unit, Pentium 3 mother board but all kinds of old drives installed, including 3.5 and 5.25 inch drives. A boot disk possibly start it, Not sure how much would run, but I would think copy. shoud work. If you can e-mail me a zip file with the boot disk contents I could put it on a 3.5 inch floppy and at least boot the machine under DOS. It needs to be a version of DOS that recognizes the high format drives. But you have me thnking. Cool. I don't actually know what I still have or if the diskettes are still good, but I'll need to do a bit of digging around in my big box of random computerey stuff. Dos 6, I'm pretty sure is in there,anyway, and on a system disk for an 80/88: this had no hard drives at all and would run off the floppy disk every time. Not sure what else. I'm also wondering if anyone just has these kinds of things archived online: then you could just grab exactly what you need directly from the Web. Why, I hear there's even some FTP based sites till out there. Anyway, I expect to see someone come online who's likely to have some ideas, before too long today, to check out that option. And, hey, I know where else to ask around, too.

01-14-2010, 09:42 AM	#9
little laker Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,697	if that's going to work, it might be easier just using Bing than trying to find a boot disk. There appear to be lots on-line

01-14-2010, 10:44 AM	#10
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by little laker if that's going to work, it might be easier just using Bing than trying to find a boot disk. There appear to be lots on-line Aha, Laker, that appears to be just the sort of thing we're looking for.

01-15-2010, 05:47 AM	#11
Lowell Goudge Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,888 Original Poster	thanks every one managed to get a boot disk, and boot computer. bad boot sector only on the disk, perhaps other sectors on the HD. Could boot and then run windows but not all functions worked. Anyway, I could read and recover all data funny how I forgot about a boot disk at the onset. must be suffering from CRAFT

01-15-2010, 06:16 AM	#12
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by Lowell Goudge thanks every one managed to get a boot disk, and boot computer. bad boot sector only on the disk, perhaps other sectors on the HD. Could boot and then run windows but not all functions worked. Anyway, I could read and recover all data funny how I forgot about a boot disk at the onset. must be suffering from CRAFT Haha! Yay! Good news. I have a real tendency to forget it' no longer like 1996 when relying on old memories of computereyness, myself. "Ooh, they have the Internet on computers, now. "