DOS ain't dead

I'm going to try to copy data from old DOS & CP/M format 5.25 floppy disks to an external HD.

I've found a gadget on the web http://shop.deviceside.com/prod/FC5025
that will allow me to connect a 5.25" floppy drive to a USB port on my PC and read my old disks, even the CP/M disks from my old Kaypro 2 computers.

The catch is that this gadget only works reliably with a TEAC FD-55GFR 5.25" or equivalent Floppy Drive. The seller tells me that he can't guarantee that it will even work at all with the Canon MD5501 Half Height 1.2MB floppy drive I have in my collection.

I'm an old guy barely scraping by each month on Social Security and folks on the web are asking between $200 and $400 for those old TEAC drives. So those prices are out of my reach.

I once had an old PC with two floppy drives, one was a 3.5" drive and the other a 5.25" drive. But four years ago I was forced by skyrocketing Seattle rents to move from my large 2 bedroom apartment to a very small 1 bedroom unit. So I had to toss out a lot of stuff I'd collected over the years. And one of the things I let go was that PC with the two different sized floppy drives. If only I had known how hard it would be to replace it.

I'd be grateful for some advice on how to scare up an affordable TEAC floppy drive. And I'd also be grateful for suggestions on other ways I might tackle this problem.

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Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
Running MS-DOS 6.21

Google says there’s several on eBay under $100, including shipping. Here’s one from another vendor at about $50 shipped.

https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m40183593178/

Maybe would be better for you to ask people from Seattle for copying the data. There must be someone with 5,25 drive.
Maybe somebody even here on this forum
1) lives some near
2) has 5,25 drive

I fullfil only the point 2. But if you are ready to risk you can send me to Czech rep. the diskette via normal post service.

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DOS-u-akbar!

> I'm going to try to copy data from old DOS & CP/M format 5.25 floppy disks
> to an external HD.
>
> I've found a gadget on the web that will allow me to connect a 5.25"
> floppy drive to a USB port on my PC and read my old disks, even
> the CP/M disks from my old Kaypro 2 computers.
>
> The catch is that this gadget only works reliably with a TEAC FD-55GFR
> 5.25" or equivalent Floppy Drive. The seller tells me that he can't
> guarantee that it will even work at all with the Canon MD5501 Half Height
> 1.2MB floppy drive I have in my collection.

Eric Auer kindly emails me with this info:

> http://www.deviceside.com/fc5025.html says: "It has been
> tested to work well with the TEAC FD-55GFR drive and
> should also work with most other PC-style 5.25" drives."
>
> ... so the whole point of great efforts to get exactly
> THAT specific Teac drive is probably not worth that
> effort at all! PC floppy drives are expected to be
> sufficiently compatible to each other. In the worst
> case, Will could try a few drives from local sources
> if the one from his own collection unexpectedly fails.
> He could probably return the USB adapter, worst case.

I would rather not send a floppy with important data far away as it may easily come into range of mag. fields and get erased...

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DOS gives me freedom to unlimited HW access.