Brain Cramp! What floppy drive to get!

[ssguardian]

Help! Massive brain cramp! Found a zillion OLD floppies and looking to buy an external USB floppy drive to view them...but so many have bad reviews about working with Windows 7. Any advice about a good one?

The biggest problem I have is really this....OLD computer with Windows 98se (don't laugh...) has files, photos, etc. I'd like to transfer to my new computer running Windows 7. Of course...old computer does NOT have a CD...the transfer cables I have tried don't work with Win.7...and no floppy drive on new computer...AND no internet access on old computer....Ugh....

Have pity.....

 

[Devux]

I really wouldn't waste time with floppy disks and tracking down a drive. If your Windows 98 box has a network interface card just set up a share that you can access from your Windows 7 machine, and throw all of your files in there. Connect the two computers with an Ethernet patch cable, and access the share. Way faster than floppy disks.

 

[Devux]

Another option I thought of (This one may require a little more work). Windows 98SE has USB support, you could always put everything on a USB flash drive and then use that to move them to your Windows 7 box. The only tricky thing might be finding a USB flash drive that has drivers for Windows 98.

 

[MilesAhead]

Best idea may be a USB docking station. If you have USB 2.0 port you just plug it in and it's a holder for a standard Sata internal drive. The USB 2.0 docks are being sold cheap because USB 3.0 is making them semi-obsolete. Still it's good for stuff like set top boxes and allowing you to plug an internal drive into your computer via the dock. Internals are faster and cheaper than external USB drives.

Copy all your floppies onto the drive in the USB dock. Then plug the dock into the new PC. The old USB 2.0 docks should work with everything. A USB 3.0 dock may be backward compatible depending on the make.

I have a USB 3.0 card in my PCs and man what a difference!! I use WD 6 Gb/s internal drives and they are faster than my internal system drive on both machines! Even my Seagate USB 2.0 external showed an increase in speed of about 18% just because it was plugged into a USB 3.0 PCI express card.

 

[Britton30]

You could try putting the Win98 HDD in your Win7 box and copy those files that way. As for the floppy drive, most any of them will work. You won't be using it for a long time and should work for your purpose.
You could also take your CD/DVD drive and try putting it in the 98 box, providing it has the right header to connect to.
did you try a Windows 7 Easy tranfer cable?

 

[ssguardian]

Thanks for the advice all. Yes-I did try an easy transfer cable, and not compatible with Windows 98se (wouldn't you know...) I'm sure one of these things will work...now if I can just pretend I know what I'm doing....

 

[theog]

Have a look at this:
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...your-own-external-hard-drive.html#post1177933

 

[Britton30]

Thanks for the advice all. Yes-I did try an easy transfer cable, and not compatible with Windows 98se (wouldn't you know...) I'm sure one of these things will work...now if I can just pretend I know what I'm doing....

:roflmao:...as many of us do that.

 

[MilesAhead]

It's way easier to get a docking station for $20 something bucks. You'll find uses for it besides this. You unplug the USB cable and plug it into another PC instead of opening the box. Just search the online discount stores and look at the reviews. A brick & mortar store will tend to try to get you for double and it may be obsolete at that as they unload old stock.

A quick search and I found several under $20.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Just take the hard drive out, plug it into your W7 machine and transfer the files. Easy as can be, and free.

 

[theog]

Just take the hard drive out, plug it into your W7 machine and transfer the files. Easy as can be, and free.

Not all MOBO have IDE ports, also IDE HD boot first.

 

[Devux]

Could always get one of these:
Newegg.com - Vantec 2.5"/3.5"/5.25" SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter - Model CB-ISATAU2
Does SATA and IDE, it will pay for itself the first time you use it. I've used it to rescue a few hard drives.

 

[LiquidSnak]

You are right about the system board, and I was going to suggest a SATA-IDE adapter next, as they are cheaper than docking bays, which is a ridiculous thing to have to purchase IMO for an IDE hard drive, I would much rather have an IDE external enclosure than that. IDE drives do NOT automatically boot first, it's about jumpers and BIOS settings. If they always booted first, I wouldn't have a working IDE drive in my system.

Newegg.com - SYBA SD-ADA50016 SATA to IDE (IDE to SATA) Bi-Directional Adapter

Or buy something that won't become obsolete right after you use it for your IDE hard drive

Sabrent ECS-STU35K Hard Drive Enlcosure - 3.5 IDE/SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA at TigerDirect.com

 

[MilesAhead]

You are right about the system board, and I was going to suggest a SATA-IDE adapter next, as they are cheaper than docking bays, which is a ridiculous thing to have to purchase IMO for an IDE hard drive, I would much rather have an IDE external enclosure than that. IDE drives do NOT automatically boot first, it's about jumpers and BIOS settings. If they always booted first, I wouldn't have a working IDE drive in my system.

Newegg.com - SYBA SD-ADA50016 SATA to IDE (IDE to SATA) Bi-Directional Adapter

Or buy something that won't become obsolete right after you use it for your IDE hard drive

Sabrent ECS-STU35K Hard Drive Enlcosure - 3.5 IDE/SATA to USB 2.0, eSATA at TigerDirect.com

Unless you tend to throw a drive in a kit bag and go around fixing people's PCs I still say the dock is better. If you don't want obsolete get a USB 3.0 dock(I Recommend SIIG with cooling fan.) They can be used with USB 2.0 cable until you get a USB 3.0 card.

Also the dock can be used with other devices like set top boxes for TV. You don't have to unscrew stuff. Just pull the internal drive out and stick another one in.

Also sticking a drive in is not always a piece of cake. See the HP video for HD R and R of HP Pavilion m9515y. The thing has a plastic cage with 4 snaps underneath. I know that tech did about 15 takes to make changing the drive look easy. And that's on a spanking new machine. Not something crappy and dusty. They really go out of their way to make it tough now!! Not everyone wants to buy a case and build their own.

edit: before I got a dock I did the USB housing to use an internal drive like an external. I must have gotten a crummy one because it was a pita with tiny screws I had to undo every time I changed the drive. If you want to leave the same drive in nearly all the time it may be OK. But for swapping out internal drives between PCs and devices it's tough to beat a dock.

 

[Britton30]

One of these Newegg.com - Vantec 2.5"/3.5"/5.25" SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter - Model CB-ISATAU2 would work too, covers about anything.