Is it Possible to Get 5.25" Floppy Disk Drive to Function in an XP PC?

[veritasffg]

Okay - it appears this thing may be do-able.  Thanks again to all who posted.  I'm ordering a used 5.25" floppy drive, with the necessary ribbon cable.  Now, I have to try to set up a DOS 6.2 machine - that should be trip down memory lane.  This forum has been so helpful to me in several matters - I may have to trouble you all again with a new issue.  If anyone has suggestions on this, my email address is available in my profile.

I very much appreciate all the help from the forum participants.

[Geek-9pm]

DOS 6.2 or DOS 6.22 have drive size limit.
Avoid putting it on a large drive. Find an old 2 GB or less drive.

[veritasffg]

For Geek-9pm:

That's a very good point I probably would have missed.  Do you suppose use of a larger drive with only a 2 gb partition formatted (and the balance of the drive unallocated) would work?

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, that should work. Make just one primary partition, 2GB or less. leave the rest unallocated. Do you have 6.2 or 6.22? There is some difference. Ms got into trouble with 6.2 because of an infringement or something somebody else had done. They may have also improved the FAT16  structure. That was so long ago. 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/118335

[veritasffg]

I have both Dos 6.2 and 6.22, if I recall correctly.  Thanks for the Microsoft Dos partitioning article.  It seems to me that I also recall Microsoft had something called Dos Stepup files, but I'll have to research that a little to nail down exactly what that relates to.  This promises to be quite an undertaking - getting back into a DOS programming environment after many years.

Thanks for the tips.

[veritasffg]

Okay all you old hardware guys.  I located an old combination 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drive, and installed the dual unit in a Dell 4400 (first disabling the original 3.5" drive, and replacing its cable from the motherboard with the cable which fits the dual drive.  Problem is - the PC only recognizes the 3.5" side of the dual drive, and does not see the 5.25" drive.  I was hopeful that, as a couple of posters have indicated, current BIOS systems still see the 5.25" single and dual density disks - but apparently not.  By the way, I have a fall back position - I removed the dual drive from a circa 1995 DOS machine, but of course I am limited to use of a very small hard drive if I replace the dual unit in that machine.

If anyone has any further suggestions or remedies, I would be very interested in receiving them.

Thanks.

[Computer_Commando]

You have to go into the BIOS and enable the "B" drive.  "None" is the default, unless you change it to 360K, 5.25 in.

[BC_Programmer]

You have to go into the BIOS and enable the "B" drive.  "None" is the default, unless you change it to 360K, 5.25 in.

unless the 5-1/4" drive is from before 1987 or so it's probably the 1.2MB variety.

[veritasffg]

Thanks to BC_Programmer & Computer Commando.

This is a Dell 4400, and the BIOS only permits enabling/disabling the floppy controller, and setting the configuration of Diskette Drive A.  There is no option for Drive B, or any other diskettte drive designation, in the setup.  I suppose the obvious answer is find a computer which offers a Drive B diskette setup - but how do you do that?  Since this is a dual drive, I even tried to set up Drive A as a 5.25" 1.2 mb, but that only applies to the 3.25" Floppy, which is on top in the dual configuration.  The cabling to the dual drive has a sub-ribbon cable which runs from the 5.25" to the 3.5" drive.  Maybe I'll try to unplug that section of the cable to see if that will default to activation of the 5.25".  Think that might work? 

 Thanks for trying to help - but this effort seems to continually run into road blocks.

[Computer_Commando]

...I suppose the obvious answer is find a computer which offers a Drive B diskette setup - but how do you do that?  Since this is a dual drive, I even tried to set up Drive A as a 5.25" 1.2 mb, but that only applies to the 3.25" Floppy, which is on top in the dual configuration.  The cabling to the dual drive has a sub-ribbon cable which runs from the 5.25" to the 3.5" drive.  Maybe I'll try to unplug that section of the cable to see if that will default to activation of the 5.25".  Think that might work?

The computer I'm on right now (Biostar motherboard, nothing fancy) has the option in the BIOS.  Because Dell 4400 did not offer dual FDD's, the option is missing.
I figured it had to have a second ribbon cable, which drive is on the end of the cable?
FDD cables have a twist in the cable, the drive at the end near the twist is "A".  Sounds like 3.5 is at the end,  You'll have to unplug the small cable and move the main cable to it's place.  Your Dell will only allow 1 FDD.

Your BIOS:  http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4400/syssetup.htm#1097777

[veritasffg]

Yep:  that's the BIOS setup of the Dell 4400.  Your suggestion about switching the cables would be interesting (and you know there's a but coming), but the 5.25" does not have a pin connection - instead it has what I would call a "card" connector (much like say a PCI card) which inserts into a female connector (which is the only connector on the cable coming from the motherboard).  The sub-ribbon (twisted) cable to the 3.5" side is more or less permanently connected from the 5.25" to the 3.5" - although, as mentioned above, I believe I can unplug the twisted ribbon connector from the 3.5" drive.  Something tells me, however, that without provision for a B floppy drive, I've had the schnitzel.

[Computer_Commando]

This is the cable you need to find.


http://www.pc-doctors.com/cable-diagrams/fd.htm

He's got 5 remaining:  http://www.mpja.com/prodinfo.asp?number=7368+CB

[veritasffg]

Wow - Computer_Commando, you really provide a service.  Thanks for all the very specific info.  If I had a single-unit 5.25" drive, my problem would already be solved.  Alas, the drive is a DUAL 3.5" and 5.25" drive, built on a single chassis.  The ONLY external connection to the drive is what appears to me to be a card (circuit board-like) which connects to a female connector (the 5.25" Drive "A" Connector on your photo) on the ribbon cable from the motherboard.  There is NO way to connect directly to the 3.5" side of the drive, since both its power and data connections are built into the unit.  I may be able to unplug the data connection to the 3.5" drive,  and possibly have the 5.25" side become the default A drive, but I doubt it.  I suspect I'm going to be required to find a computer with BIOS settings for both A and B Floppy Drives.

Thanks for all your help.

[veritasffg]

By the way - I've searched quite a bit on the internet, and found references to pin settings for this drive (Epson 800 or 880), but the links to the documents are now obsolete.  I believe there is a jumper configuration block in a difficult to access area on the rear of this drive - but can find no documentation whatever on the net.

[soybean]

If you can not get this to work, here's another option for transferring data from those old 5.25 inch floppy discs to a newer format: http://www.datarecoverymasters.com/floppydiskcopy.php.  However, the cost might be discouraging.