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As a retro-enthusiast, I've always been dismayed that nobody ever made a USB 5¼" floppy drive. I know there are things like Greaseweazel that read the magnetic
by cbm-vic-20 2y ago
As a retro-enthusiast, I've always been dismayed that nobody ever made a USB 5¼" floppy drive. I know there are things like Greaseweazel that read the magnetic flux on the disc, but I just want to read and write PC formatted floppies without all the hackiness. I don't know how good GW is as a plug-and-play solution.
- RandomBacon 2y agoI have an internal combo 5¼ & 3½ drive, and I tried with a floppy to USB adapter, but it didn't show up in Ubuntu. The drive worked last time I used it in a Windows 7 machine using a motherboard that had a floppy header. If that drive is valuable, let me know how I should describe it on eBay and I'll give it to a friend with an account. I imagine someone can find a better use for it than sitting in my closet.
- mjg59 2y agoThe spec doesn't support it. Any USB 5.25" drive is going to either need special drivers or would have to pretend to be a generic mass storage device, which gives you a differently weird set of compatibility issues. Should be possible to make it read/write, but formatting would be a nightmare and it wouldn't appear as a floppy drive at the OS level, just a weird small memory card reader or something.
- snvzz 2y ago>I don't know how good GW is as a plug-and-play solution. Better than usb floppy drives, for sure. GreaseWeazle is very capable and easy to use.