Help with old 3x5 floppies

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DrKMcK

New Member
Hello there. I just joined today. I am 62 years old and I adore computers. I have 2 new 1TB laptops, 1 quite old blocky laptop with a working 3X5 floppy port and 1 old desktop that also will take 3X5 floppies. I had several laptops in between that I gave to my sister and her children.

I learned back when DOS was THE operating system and personal computers were really starting to become popular. Back then I could copy a program disk, in it's entirety, using the xcopy command, so I had backup disks for all my old DOS games. These games are the reason I keep the old blocky, heavy laptop. The newer computers and laptops won't play the old DOS games and I love my old games. Some of the games are, Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy, Duke Nukem, Castle Wolfenstein, Blacke Stone, Cosm's Cosmic Adventures, Galatic, Phylox, and Creepers. I have many, many more of these that some people might remember.

What I am trying to find out is whether I can xcopy (or another command) the old 3X5 floppies to a thumb drive or an external hard drive as if they were complete copies of the program disks. This way I could install or reinstall a game on the old laptop to play, and then delete the game to install another one.

Progress and technology is wonderful, but sometimes there are drawbacks, such as not being able to keep my old games. Sooner or later, the old laptop will die. I'd like to save my old game programs. Is there anyone who can help me with this? Is it possible to play old DOS games on newer computers?

I'd appreciate the help. :-D
 
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_Pete_

Active Member
DOSBOX would seem to be the way to go. I haven't tried DOSbox myself so I cannot endorse it or say that it would work but a quick Google search would seem to suggest that it would allow you to play old DOS games in Windows 10 or earlier Windows OSs.
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
I have used dosbox. For the most part it's pretty good, but I have had it crash occasionally and it's not always the easiest to use.
 
strollin

strollin

Well-Known Member
First of all xcopy would not be able to copy the whole disk if the disk was bootable since it would not be able to copy the system files required to boot the computer. Do you need to boot the computer with those game disks in order to install them?

If xcopy is able to copy all the files needed to run whatever game you wish to save, then the answer is yes, you can xcopy the disks onto a thumb drive. Just create a new folder for each disk and use xcopy to copy all of the files from the game disk to that new folder. Make sure to create a new folder for each game disk since you don't wish similarly named files to overwrite each other.

However, I'm thinking you probably used diskcopy in the past to copy those game disks. That would be the case if the disks needed to be booted from in order to install the game. If that's the case then you will not be able to use xcopy or diskcopy to copy the game disks to a thumb drive.

You should look into a floppy disk image program such as http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm. Winimage will allow you to create image files of your game disks and then store them on a hard drive or any other drive. You will then be able to use Winimage to restore the image file back to a floppy disk. Some programs can "mount" the image file as a virtual disk and use it that way. If you setup a VM using VMWare Player or similar software, a floppy disk image made with WinImage can be used to install software on the VM. DOSBox is another program that would let you mount those image files.
 
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MisterEd

MisterEd

Member
strollin said:
You should look into a floppy disk image program such as http://www.winimage.com/winimage.htm. Winimage will allow you to create image files of your game disks and then store them on a hard drive or any other drive. You will then be able to use Winimage to restore the image file back to a floppy disk. Some programs can "mount" the image file as a virtual disk and use it that way. If you setup a VM using VMWare Player or similar software, a floppy disk image made with WinImage can be used to install software on the VM. DOSBox is another program that would let you mount those image files.
Click to expand...

I agree with using Winimage. On an old computer with a floppy drive I used Winimage to read the floppy disks for DOS 6.22 to create the following image files:
Disk1.img 1441 KB
Disk2.img 1441 KB
Disk3.img 1441 KB

I used these floppy images with VMware Workstation to create a DOS 6.22 virtual machine.
 
Agent Smith

Agent Smith

Well-Known Member
In school I used to carry a 3.5" disk with me in my shirt pocket. It was like my USB stick back in the day. Then I used a digital personal organizer to take note of websites. That was my bookmarks back up method. LOL
 
mistersprinkles

mistersprinkles

Active Member
We were encouraged to carry 3.5" floppies at school. People used to have fun bringing in viruses to infect the super well protected network of blazing fast Pentium 100Mhz machines.
The computer dude, a certain Mr. Stark, who had a very hairy back so much so that it grew out the top of his sweater, used to sell USED floppys to kids for $1. I was like WTH dude you know those are worth like 25 cents right?
And he was like hey this way at least I make some money. Bastard. My friend threw a gravy covered french fry at his white sweater once and he never got the stain out. Apparently it was cashmere. Mr Stark made the mistake of giving the sweater to my friend and demanding to have it cleaned. My buddy threw it in the washing machine on heavy cycle and destroyed it.
 
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