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[Sunburn]

I've seen a card that will mate a 5.25 drive to a USB port, goes for about $55. Short of building a machine around a 5.25 drive or getting that card are there any other ways to get a 5.25 drive to work with a modern machine?

thanks

[Scatty]

What other ways could there be today? The connector type for the 5.25 floppy drive would require a cable with the right connection on both ends to be able to connect to the drive, and to the motherboard which also has to have a connector on it for at least a 3.5 floppy drive.

Seeing as today there's pretty much no modern computer which uses floppy drives anymore, neither the ancient 5.25 nor the 3.5 ones, very few, if any, motherboards would have the necessary connector. In case you're lucky and find a modern motherboard which has a connector for a 3.5 floppy drive (5.25 connector is different from the 3.5 one), you'd still need a fitting cable with a 5.25 connector on one of it's ends, and you can find those only on old machines by now, as far as I know. Finding the right cable is actually easier than find a modern (!) motherboard which supports floppy drives. Maybe there are still some specialized modern motherboards for cases just like this, though unfortunately I'm not aware of any.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by Scatty

In case you're lucky and find a modern motherboard which has a connector for a 3.5 floppy drive (5.25 connector is different from the 3.5 one), you'd still need a fitting cable with a 5.25 connector on one of it's ends, and you can find those only on old machines by now, as far as I know.

Actually, any mobo with a FDD connector should support both. While the physical interface differs, the pinouts are the same - it's just a matter of finding a cable with both 3.5" and 5.5" connectors (I know they were around, I think I actually have one or two among my spare parts).

[Sunburn]

Originally Posted by Scatty

What other ways could there be today? The connector type for the 5.25 floppy drive would require a cable with the right connection on both ends to be able to connect to the drive, and to the motherboard which also has to have a connector on it for at least a 3.5 floppy drive.

Seeing as today there's pretty much no modern computer which uses floppy drives anymore, neither the ancient 5.25 nor the 3.5 ones, very few, if any, motherboards would have the necessary connector. In case you're lucky and find a modern motherboard which has a connector for a 3.5 floppy drive (5.25 connector is different from the 3.5 one), you'd still need a fitting cable with a 5.25 connector on one of it's ends, and you can find those only on old machines by now, as far as I know. Finding the right cable is actually easier than find a modern (!) motherboard which supports floppy drives. Maybe there are still some specialized modern motherboards for cases just like this, though unfortunately I'm not aware of any.

Actually I have a 3.5 hooked up to my machine right now. It's an external drive and connects via USB. It's how I loaded my old F-117 game a few days ago.

Anyway, I won't be needing a 5.25 after all. I found Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe on 3.5's instead of 5.25's. Yeas, you can get it on CD but I wanted the box!