[Tfug] USB Floppy

[Angus Scott-Fleming]

On 4 Dec 2009 at 17:53, Bexley Hall  wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Once in a great while, I have need of a 5" floppy drive.
> I used to keep a machine with 3 & 5" drives in it just
> for that purpose.  But, nowadays, the exposed drive bay is
> worth more to me for other uses than a seldom used 5"
> floppy drive!
> 
> But, it occurs to me that I *should* (?) be able to
> bastardize a 3" USB floppy to hack together a 5"
> floppy.  I.e., gut an external CDROM case; install
> the 5" floppy with the smarts from the 3" USB
> floppy and I *should* be able to read and write
> 5" media (?).
> 
> Of course, this depends on how "universal" the "floppy
> USB controller" guts are...

Well, since the 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" floppy cables both plug in to the same 
controller on the MB, I would think they would be very similar.  Been a long 
time since I actually handled a dual-floppy cable but I'm sure I have a couple 
sitting around that you might be able to look at to check pin-outs etc.  I have 
a Gateway 486 tower in my office which has both types of floppy.

> Comments?  Does this have a reasonable chance of working
> (I'd hate to scrap an otherwise decent 3" USB floppy
> just to discover it *won't* work...)

Googling turned up a fair number of people who are looking for things like 
this, I bet there would be a small market for it.


--
Angus Scott-Fleming
GeoApps, Tucson, Arizona
1-520-290-5038
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