How can I get my stuff off of my old floppy disks? 💾💾💾
I know I know, I'm showing my age. Some people don't even know what floppy disks are, but for those of you that do remember, is there a way to retrieve my data? I haven't heard of any companies that do it. I know they are obsolete now, but I still have hope. I've written a ton of poems in my day and that was how we saved things back then. I think I have seen some type of device that I can plug into my computer, almost like an adaptor, but I don't know.
Let me know if you know of anything that could help!
You can buy a USB floppy drive and connect it to your computer. It might become difficult if some of your data are stored on 5 1/4" floppy disks, but drives for 3 1/2" disks are easily available: https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-USB-Floppy-Disk-Drive/dp/B01NCV01GY/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=YKR9QYI32X8X&keywords=usb+floppy+drive+3.5-inch+external&qid=1654720920&sprefix=USB+floppy+drive%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTFRQNEk1VEFZWEM2JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTU5MDI1MVMzTDBaNFRaTzJOMSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDkyNTQ5MjFJS1U3T0JLSjNBMiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
@sweetiepoo I wrote my Master Thesis on a Mac, using Word 5.1a, and the file is almost inaccessible now, because it contains pictures and math formulas which OpenOffice cannot convert. I have some hard copies of my thesis somewhere in the basement, and a postscript file (plain old classic postscript), so I can at least print it. Not that anybody would want to read my thesis... 😏
It depends, sweetie, on the format of whatever you've saved/programmed. Lots of systems of yesteryear have, unfortunately, gone by the wayside. Some companies - Ie, Microsoft Word etc - might just let you retrieve it, but you'll probably find that it'll need to be reformatted as the data will be all over the place! Letter and coursework will not end up in damn paragraphs! Lol!
Yes, you can buy the disc drives. Hey you can buy anything tech. There's always some company making this stuff.
And may need to find someone with or buy yourself an old OS with the programs neccessary to read the files... I had a similar problem when I went through getting files of my floppy discs. Especially with the Microsoft Word documents.
And failing what helen said, there are companies that will transfer old media to new. It's not cheap but we had some home movies on mini VHS that I just could not find a way to transfer so we mailed them off. Got them back no problem.
I used to have a USB floppy disk reader. Not sure they are still out there but you may want to look for one. I had no idea there were other responces already.
