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We're doing a component obsolescence project on a very old product. The code hasn't been changed in 20 years, but it may need to be updated now. The entire facility where the product was developed is gone, and I have no records about how the product was developed, other than that the code was written in assembly rather than a higher level language. (A good thing for us...it's easy enough to find an 8051 assembler.)

The other day, I was presented with a floppy disk of interest...an 8 inch floppy disk. Does anyone out there know of any way to read this disk or any services in the US that might be able to recover it? I've found one firm in the UK, but I'm not sure I feel comfortable mailing this overseas.

Edit: I don't have any details of the computer system this was used with. At one time, they heavily used HP Apollo workstations, but I'm not sure if this disk pre-dated that setup.

infinitetape
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  • Should probably be moved to server exchange. Funny thing... I have an 8-inch disk drive in my office wrapped up in bubble wrap for god knows how many years. Don't know much about those old systems but don't think they were particularly compatible. You'll need to find the name of the system, the drive I have is for some AS400 system. They were very common 20 years ago (hell there are sill a bunch around). Once you know that you'll be surprised what people have laying around. –  Jan 24 '11 at 21:31
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    As much as this question intrigues me, it really is "too localised" – Mark Henderson Jan 24 '11 at 22:28
  • It would be worth mentioning what file system is on that disk, or at least what system it originated on. – John Gardeniers Jan 24 '11 at 23:37
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    Aside from the data recovery companies mentioned by Shane and AndyN (and others you can pick up by googling around) you're pretty much SOL -- Data stored on removable media really needs to be refreshed every so often (8" -> 5.25" -> 3.5" -> CD -> etc...) to be sure you can read it later... – voretaq7 Jan 25 '11 at 19:43

2 Answers2

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Found this on google:

http://www.promise-data-recovery.com/floppy-data-recovery.php

Shane Castle
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I'm a satisfied DriveSavers customer. They are in the SF Bay Area.

AndyN
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