Floppy Disk Archeology February 13, 2009 2 Comments
I’ve got a box, filled with 5.25″ floppy disks. Most of them are for the Apple II computer. There are also disks for old IBM PC’s, a Kaypro 4 , and who knows what else. It’s time to excavate and salvage, which is not real easy. There’s basically three hurdles: 1) reading the disks at all, 2) getting them on to something modern computers can read, and 3) getting those files to be usable on a modern computer. So it’s time to bust out my 1983 Apple //e and get disking. The plan right now looks like I will copy the disks to a flash memory card like those in a camera, but I’ve also got an unusual older Mac which is one of the few which can use Apple II software, so I might be able to copy the disks to that. I’m pretty excited about it. It will be like seeing old friends. Friends made of bits. I’m not a computer person or anything.
