Ripping the software off 5-1/4 in. Floppies ...

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

The discussion got started, but lets document some of it here.  

What make/model 5-1/4 in. to USB drives have people had success with for the most vintage floppies?  (e.g., Single Side, Single Density, Double Side, Double Density etc.)  

As I have several hundred old 5-1/4 in. floppies, I'd like to at least get everything copied over to a thumb drive or SSD and maybe even a giant .ZIP file I can post on Archive.org

.

[AltairArchaeology]

Check out Greaseweazle (https://decromancer.ca/greaseweazle/) if you already have a 5-1/4 in floppy drive. It captures the flux transitions while reading the floppy, and allows you to save them in a multitude of disk images. While you can use Greaseweazle to write files to a disk as well, you can disable the write function by removing the write inhibit jumper to make sure that nothing happens to the original disks while copying them. 

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

I've found:  https://kryoflux.com/

TGerbic talked about his Device Side:  https://shop.deviceside.com/

I like this with the external cabinet and power supply ... but the external case isn't available so I just ordered the board and power supply.  I can make a nice Oak cabinet for the system.  

Sadly, the Greaseweazle comes from the UK ... and so far I've not been able to get anything else shipped from the UK to the USA this year.  

I figure once I have scanned in the hundreds of floppy disks I have, I could sell or trade the working system to the next guy that needs it.  

.

[Peter Higgins]

The "Greaseweazle" is a commodity item that has been reproduced by many different people. If you do an eBay search for it you will find multiple vendors (including many in the US) who sell:

- the bare board

- 3D printed cases for either the bare board or the board plus various combinations of 5.25" and 3.5" drives

- complete assemblies that include the Greaseweazle, plus enclosure, plus 360K and 1.2M 5.25"drives, plus 3.5" drive.

If you are imaging vintage SD and DD 40 track 5.25" drives, you should buy a 40 track 5.25" drive mechanism and not a newer 80 track HD drive mechanism. Although any 360K drive (like those used in the original PC) will do, I suggest you buy one of the slightly newer half-height 5.25" drives with a direct drive spindle motor - like the Shugart SA455. 

Incidentally, if you are a Mac user, a far better disk imager is AppleSauce+. In my opinion the software supplied with it (unfortunately MacOS only) is far superior to what is available for the Kryoflux:

https://applesaucefdc.com/

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

I found built and ready to go in the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Germany, but not in the USA ... I found one outfit in the USA selling blank boards 2 for $11 including shipping, but I don't want to build one because my aging eyesight is too messed up.  

One kit in a 3D printed cabinet would be nice, but what I found is for 3-1/2 inch drives, not 5-1/4 inch drives.  

My plan is to rip everything off several hundred 5-1/4 in. floppies I have before they're all lost.  

.

[Walt Perko]

Hi, 

I forgot to mention, I ordered a  https://shop.deviceside.com/  and power supply.  

I'll make an Oak cabinet for one of my TEAC FD-55-GFR floppy disk drives.  

.

On Tuesday, May 19, 2026 at 2:18:53 PM UTC-7 Peter Higgins wrote:

[T Gerbic]

FYI, the company says the rev 1309 on the site is the latest for the device side drive board. 

[Peter Higgins]

The DeviceSide USB adapter looks like a great solution if the disks you want to recover data from are on its relatively short "supported format" list. If the disk is not on the "supported format" list (of which there are many) the Kryoflux would be a better option, since it will allow imaging of any disk no matter what the format is. The Kryoflux is also designed specifically for disk imaging, and will try re-reading a bad track multiple times in an attempt to salvage data from it, whereas most other disk reading software will simply "give up" after a limited number of attempts.

As I mentioned the 80-track high density TEAC FD-55-GFR is not the best way to read vintage SD or DD 40 track disks that have a high likelihood of being of marginal quality. This 80 track drive will read only half the width of a track that has originally been recorded on a 40 track drive.  

[Walt Perko]

Hi,  

I've looked at buying a KryoFlux for a few months ... but this is there "BUY" page:  

We are taking a break and have temporarily paused consumer sales while we set up a new shop system. Please subscribe to our newsletter if you would like to be informed when the shop reopens.

If you are a professional user and are interested in acquiring a kit for usage at an archive, library, museum or the like, please contact sales at sa...@kryoflux.com.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
Team KryoFlux

.

[T Gerbic]

The Greaseweasle is easy to obtain but the Kryoflex seems to be unavailable right now, unless you know of someone selling them.  Yes the drive head width is a factor, for both reading and writing. 

Yes the DS USB adapter has a limited reading set but covers all I need at this point. I seem to remember there is at least one app that can convert the image file to another format. Would also need to look at the linux tools to see what options it may have to read the image files and write to some other. I think there are still a bunch of questions to be explored and documented about reading and writing different format disks using different tools, but the starting point is to get them off the original floppies. 

[T Gerbic]

Ya I saw that message yesterday. I then started searching for a board on the typical sites and found none.  I suspect they will become available in the future, but wonder if they are also getting notes from software company lawyers over the ability to get past copy protection. 

[Peter Higgins]

Sorry Walt - I please substitute "Kryoflux" with "Greaseweazle". I think the "Greaseweazle" which is the open-source alternative to the "Kryoflux" is now the way to go.