3.5 floppy disc reader

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Don1965 Author

Level 1

8 points

3.5 floppy disc reader

I have a ton of 3.5 discs that I would like to open with my 2017 MacPro. I have purchased two external drives, but found neither one would open my discs. In fact, my Mac would not recognize either drive, though both products advertise they can be used with either PC or OS. I suspect the problem may be that my old discs cannot be read by these units. My discs are double-sided, double-density. I am told that may be the problem. Does anyone know of an external drive that is compatible with my 2017 Macbook Pro that can read these kinds of discs?

Posted on Jan 26, 2018 10:01 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

141,439 points

Jan 26, 2018 10:56 AM in response to Don1965

The only drives that can read Mac DSDD 800K format disks were shipped in Macintosh computers that were beige in color. The last of those is the beige G3, available in Desktop, MiniTower, and All-in-One (predecessor to the original iMac).

The drives used a mechanism with a variable speed motor, originally offered by Sony, and the disk was read and written in multiple different Zones, each recorded at slightly different RPM speeds. No other manufacturers decided to copy that format, so there were never any stand-alone readers or after market readers available that could read or write 800K diskettes.

The aftermarket readers you can buy today read and write Macintosh "SuperDrive" DSHD 1.2GB diskettes just fine.

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Answer 2

kahjot

Level 4

2,469 points

Jan 27, 2018 7:52 AM in response to Don1965

You would have to find someone with an old Mac that still has a working floppy drive to get anything off those DD disks. You might be able to find someone willing to transfer the files through the Low End Mac swap list.

Depending on what kind of files are stored on those floppies, you may not have any software capable of opening them.

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3.5 floppy disc reader

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