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!
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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 There are two problems, though: (a) the data on the floppy disk may be corrupted because the disk is so old (b) the program which is necessary to retrieve the data is no longer available or does not run on your computer.
@sweetiepoo For example, recent versions of MS-Word refuse to load and read old Mac Word 5.1 files. They simply do not load. OpenOffice does read and convert them, though.
@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... 😏
