Categories: Tech Updates

How to Copy Files From a 3.5-Inch Floppy Drive to a Modern PC

If you have got 3.5-inch floppy disks formatted for MS-DOS or Windows that you want to replicate to a contemporary Windows 10 or Windows 7 PC, you’re in luck. This is the perfect layout to work with. The 3.5-inch floppy drives held on as a legacy product long after their 1.44 MB ability had turn out to be absurdly small in relative terms. As a result, there are many semi-modern drives and answers available. We’ll cowl the alternatives from simplest to most difficult.

Use an Internal Floppy Drive with a Cheap USB Adapter

If you’re seeking out more of a roll-your-own challenge, you may also purchase a antique internal 3.5-inch floppy force. Perhaps you actually have one sitting around. You can join it to a accepted floppy-to-USB adapter.

You can rig an external energy deliver for the floppy power with the right adapter. Another option is to mount the drive and adapter internally in a laptop case, and then use a SATA electricity adapter there. We haven’t tested those boards, though, so proceed at your personal risk.

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Use a New USB Floppy Drive

If you browse Amazon, Newegg, or even eBay, you’ll locate many inexpensive (everywhere from $10 to $30) modern USB 3.5-inch floppy drives. If you’re in a hurry and want a plug-and-play solution for only a disk or two, this is probably really worth a shot.

However, in our experience, these drives are often frustrating in their unreliability. So, earlier than you dive in, examine through some of the reviews. Make positive you’re ok with risking your vintage records on a drive that in all likelihood cost handiest a couple of dollars to produce.
In the late ’90s and early ’00s, many producers of narrow laptops (like HP, Sony, and Dell) additionally produced outside USB floppy drives. These antique drives have a good deal higher excellent components than the cheap USB drives now on Amazon. They’re also nevertheless recent sufficient to paintings without any repair.

We advise searching eBay for something like “Sony USB floppy force,” and attempting your luck with considered one of those. Most are nevertheless supported as plug-and-play devices by way of Windows 10.

Despite the branding, you don’t want a force that fits your PC. For example, a Sony USB floppy drive will paintings when connected to a USB port on any Windows PC.

Use a Vintage Computer with a Floppy Drive and Network Connection

If you have got an older Windows 98, ME, XP, or 2000 PC or laptop with Ethernet and a 3.5-inch floppy pressure, it is probably capable of read and duplicate the floppy to the laptop’s hard force. Then, you may replica the facts over your LAN to a cutting-edge PC.

The trickiest component is making sure the LAN networking among your vintage and modern-day machines works properly. It comes down to making Windows record sharing from different eras play excellent with one another.

You also can upload files to an FTP site (perhaps, via a local NAS server), after which download them to your contemporary PC.

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Use a New USB Floppy Drive

In the late ’90s and early ’00s, many producers of narrow laptops (like HP, Sony, and Dell) additionally produced outside USB floppy drives. These antique drives have a good deal higher excellent components than the cheap USB drives now on Amazon. They’re also nevertheless recent sufficient to paintings without any repair.

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