How can one transfer data from old 5 1/4 floppy disks?

Question

Okay, here's a question that might require some extraordinary computer knowledge. Anyone remember floppy disks from the 1980s? Well, I have some stuff from back in the day, that I would really love to transfer. There are programs written in BASIC and also documents done with the word processor, EASYWRITER. I have a vintage disk drive that is still working (for now) as well as the EW prog. On my current pc, I downloaded programs QBASIC and GWBASIC, which can be opened from the Windows command prompt. I am presently running XP on a Compaq Presario Laptop. Is data transfer possible, and if so, how in the world can this be done?

Answer 1

Connect monitor output to a usb video capture device... then take snapshots of the text files.



It's complicated, but there is a way to connect a 5 1/4 inch drive to your motherboard, the same way a 3.5 is attached. But not on a laptop. Try to find a tower instead, like an older one that already has a 3.5 drive installed. Open it up, look where the drive is plugged in and compare the pins to that of the 5 1/4... you may need a rare adapter to match. You must also change the setting in BIOS to the correct type of drive.



If it boots, simply copy your files to the hard disk. Connect to the internet and email them to yourself, for downloading later. Or, save them onto whatever format is compatible between the systems i.e. 3.5 floppy, cdr, usb stick. As already mentioned, you can open in Windows prompt, using the more recent QBASIC. But I'd stay away from GWBASIC since it is kind of unstable in XP. Notebook is also a good program for reading older word files.



Good luck!

Answer 2

Copy all floppies in a folder where your drive is working and write a cd and transfer all data in your laptop, because I know it is not possible to attach that drive on laptop.

Answer 3

find and old computer which still have floppy drive

just copy data from there into your usb stick and take it to your pc

Answer 4

about transfering data can be read in http://wikipediawiki.org/computers-internet/?q=transfering%20data