Need advice regarding 5.25 inch floppy discs...

[KansDem]

Over the weekend I cleaned out a closet and came across several 5.25-inch floppy discs from 20 years ago. One was my masters thesis done on a Zenith computer using WordStar.

I believe I can throw these away, although I put a lot of work into some of the projects saved on them, and therefore am a bit reluctant to throw them into the trash. But I figure I couldn't run them on anything now, so why save them?

Anyway, barring the return of antique computers and software, should I toss them?

edited to change subject line...

[AllegroRondo]

1. If you really want to save the data

ask around with the computer geeks you know. Someone may have an old computer with a 5.25 drive and a 3.5 drive, so you could convert it to that, then move it to a CD on another machine.

I just threw away an old computer with a 5.25 drive on it, too....

[KansDem]

2. Damn! And to think you almost could've had my master thesis!

I bet you're kicking yourself for not holding onto that computer a little longer! ;)

[Nye Bevan]

3. You could try this company

http://www.mediavision-data-recovery.com/floppy-disk-data-recovery.aspx

Not sure how much they would charge for this, though.

[KansDem]

4. Thanks!

:hi:

[unpossibles]

5. there are companies which dispose of and often re-sell old technology equipment

they'll have one, and you can probably get it for a steal.

[LeftyMom]

6. Post on Craigslist or Freecycle to see if anybody has a computer that'll do it?

I mean, if I still have my Commedore 64, undoubtedly you can track down somebody with an old PC.

[Maineiac]

7. 5-1/4" disks went the way of Beta Max tapes years ago,

but there are plenty of people around with drives if you need the data. Hell, I still have a stack of 8: IBM floppies kicking around somewhere. They make great placemats if I'm having a nerd themed dinner party. Put sone felt on your 5-1/4" disks and they'll make interesting drink coasters. When they get too sticky and nasty, toss them. They're just a mylar disk with an iron oxide coating encased in a plastic sleeve. Not much to endanger the planet there.

[sir_captain]

8. What OS did that computer run?

I'm assuming it was DOS. If so, you could buy a 5.25" drive off of ebay for probably around $10, boot up DOS old-school and import the wordstar files into word. I don't think Word 2003 has the import filters for WordStar anymore, but I've been told that the one WordStar supplied for use with Word95 still works.

Anyway, getting a drive off of ebay would be the cheapest way to do this. You can download DOS for free too.

[Xithras]

9. The odds of those still working are very low.

The old 5.25's were intended to be a temporary storage device. Back then, real "long term" storage was all handled by tape, so the disks were only designed to maintain data for 5-10 years TOPS. On top of that, I would assume that you were using consumer grade writable disks, which had a thinner magnetic layer than commercial disks in order to keep costs down. Very few people bought high grade floppies for personal use 20 years ago, opting instead to buy the cheapest disks they could find at their local Sears or Radio Shack. So you have low grade disks, which were stored in a non-climate controlled environment, and which are at 200% to 400% of their maximum design life.

Be optimistic, but before you spend a lot of money to try and recover these, be equally realistic. If you happen to find someone that has an old computer, go ahead and give it a shot...but I wouldn't waste a dime trying to recover them, because I can almost guarantee that you'll be throwing your money away.

By the way, I do feel for you. I have a ton of software code from the mid-90's that I saved onto some old iOmega Ditto cassettes. My drive has been dead for years, and after three DOA purchases off of Ebay, I've given up on ever recovering the data.

[hunter]

16. Some are surprisingly usable.

I've got 25 year old floppies and computers that still work.

I'm a total freak too, I've got an eight inch floppy drive in my garage, and so far as I know, it still works.

When I start using a new computer I always copy everything from my old computers over. I've got stuff I wrote in the 'seventies. What's really fun is that my old 8-bit Atari stuff runs fine in emulation, and all my BSD Unix stuff runs in Linux with just a few tweaks.

I've still got my senior thesis stuff,even though I'm afraid to look at it because the whole process was a nightmare, and I burned through a few advisors writing it because I was a loon.

Hmmmmm... maybe it should be lost.

[Cobalt-60]

10. Handle with care

the oxide must be hanging onto those by a thread.
Somewhere I have an old 386 with the 5.25 drive.
Look at Yard Sales or even on the discard piles outside peoples homes.
Even if the computer is fried, you can probably scrap out a drive.

[arcos]

11. Odds are, they won't work at all...

A few months ago I found several 3.5 inch disks and non of them worked. Floppy discs in general have a pretty short lifespan.

[KansDem]

12. Thanks to all who responded to this thread!

:hi:

You gave me some great ideas! :think:

[jayfish]

15. I Have A Good Idea.

I'm 95% sure I have a 5 1/4" drive and a cable or adapter to connect it to your computer. If you want it it's yours. Just PM me with shipping info.

Jay

[KitchenWitch]

13. A little off topic - WORDSTAR?

OMG, you have brought back nightmares for me.

:rofl:

[CTyankee]

14. This is why I have ALL of my grad school papers AND my thesis

in hard copies in my home office files! Paper doesn't degrade like those floppies. I'll have them till they yellow with age and then my kids and grandkids will have them. Yay!!