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| Thread ID: 150896 | 2022-09-22 23:33:00 | Curly One | B.M. (505) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1488414 | 2022-09-22 23:33:00 | Ok, here’s one for you. :D A mate of a mate has a considerable amount of priceless data backed up, which is good, if it wasn’t on 5¼ inch disks. :eek: He would like to transfer the data to a flash-drive. :help: Personally, I don’t like his chances, even if someone had a vintage set-up, given the age of the disks. However, I stand to be corrected. :) |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 1488415 | 2022-09-23 02:32:00 | I can't help other than to say a flash drive is not very reliable for "priceless" data either, a couple copies on different hard drives or a cloud service would be much safer. Fingers crossed the disks are recoverable, but even if you can find a drive and a PC old enough to use it I would be amazed if they all still read reliably. I still have some 3.5 inch disks and a drive here (but no pc I can plug it into any more) and last time I tested most of them were corrupted from being stored so long. |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1488416 | 2022-09-23 04:45:00 | You mirror my thoughts entirely dugimodo. :( | B.M. (505) | ||
| 1488417 | 2022-09-24 00:24:00 | A mate of a mate has a considerable amount of priceless data backed up, which is good, if it wasn’t on 5¼ inch disks. :eek: He would like to transfer the data to a flash-drive. :help: LOL, He'd need to find someone with an ancient machine capable of reading them...and have USB...hmmm. Assuming those disks are still even viable. Why do people do this? I have stuff from my old DOS days, god knows why actually, I have dumped a lot, but I transfer it all the time, to new formants and media. And more than one and never things like flash drives. The only time I use those is temporary move from one place to another and over the net isn't an option. Which these days is almost never. |
piroska (17583) | ||
| 1488418 | 2022-09-24 22:30:00 | Those old discs are likely covered in mold and will be full of read errors. This so called important data is soooo important that he hasn't had a need to read from them all this time? I used to have a program to help recover from read errors on those discs. It would allow repeated read attempts and would display the corrupt blocks, where it was often possible to interpret and correect the bad data manually... but that was back when those discs were relatively new, not 30+ years in storage. Can't even remember the name of the program now, and I discarded all the 5.25" stuff years ago. |
Paul.Cov (425) | ||
| 1488419 | 2022-09-25 05:13:00 | You could try a data recovery service but it will be expensive www.google.com |
feersumendjinn (64) | ||
| 1488420 | 2022-09-25 06:11:00 | You could try a data recovery service but it will be expensive www.google.com Thats true, and a possible resolution, BUT its amazing how often all of a sudden the "priceless data" does have a price related to it and not so important after all, esp when people find out how much it will cost to recover. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1488421 | 2022-10-01 14:16:00 | I can't help other than to say a flash drive is not very reliable for "priceless" data either, a couple copies on different hard drives or a cloud service would be much safer. No No no. Local storage, at least two copies, one stored in garage etc, AND a cloud service. NOT "or". Trusting any one cloud storage provider to keep your important data safe is about as sane as trusting your baby with a crocodile. If your only copies are on the cloud, use at least two different providers. With storage in different countries. Anyway, in regards to the original question... I think 5¼ floppies may be more likely to be recoverable than 3½. Because one problem with 3½ is the metal hub can loosen with age and it's the only thing that keeps the alignment mark for the positional data of the disc. If it moves, you're screwed. 5¼ discs have a cutout hole in the disc instead. It can't become loose or fall off! With mold issues, you can wash the mold off and sometimes it'll work if you use a good data recovery utility like ddrescue. (Done it before). You'll also need some good head cleaning discs and fluid to keep the drive working and not build up mold residue on it. Yes, you will need a working 5¼ drive, the right cable (they don't use the same plug as the 3½ drives) and a motherboard old enough to support it. This doesn't mean a 386, plenty of newer boards that still have floppy controllers can handle those drives (from say Pentium 3 era) or maybe even newer. |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
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