Installing An Unsupported Floppy

Question

   My recently delivered XPS 435t/9000 came with two usable but unpopulated front-accessible 3.5" drive bays, for which a floppy disk is a mentioned possible use. I'm old-fashioned enough to use one, but the only one I have to install is an IDE floppy drive.

        As you may be aware this computer motherboard has no IDE data ports, and the device power cables are SATA only. There are little IDE to SATA data cable converters available and IDE to SATA power port converters as well, which should do the job if WIN 7 PRO x64 would recognize and use a converted device such as this - would it?

        The related problem is that all 5 available motherboard SATA data ports are in use by other SATA devices, which also use all 5 SATA power cable connectors. The 5 SATA motherboard ports actually use only 3 physical ports, 2 of which are multiplied; the 3rd physical port is not multiplied. There are available inexpensive multiplier/Y-cables for both the SATA data port and power connectors. I assume providing a 6th power connector in this way would cause no problems, but I don't know if the unmultiplied SATA port #5 (the third physical port) on the motherboard implies that the BIOS is restricted to a maximum of 5 SATA data channels plus the external eSATA port, and a 6th would not work - would a 6th data channel obtained by using a multiplier on port #5 operate properly? If yes, does that also imply that either of the already doubled ports could be multiplied again to create a 7th data channel if I should need one?

Thanks for your help......

ottabear · Accepted Answer

Thanks a lot, osprey4, for apparently breaking the logjam I've experienced around this issue. Your point about a floppy controller looks right on.

As I earlier explained I much prefer an internal solution to an external enclosure, which I find more expensive, more complicated and clunkier. With a little research I've located a Startech PCISAT2IDE1 combo controller PCI adapter card, which not only provides the 40-pin IDE connector but as a bonus 2 SATA 1.0 connectors, which would allow 2 more SATA devices beyond the 5 I already that occupy all the 5 available motherboard SATA data ports and use all five power connectors, The card, plus a SATA power cable splitter that provides another SATA power connector plus an SP4 power connector for the floppy, would together cost no more than an external enclosure that would fit an IDE floppy and connect via either a USB or eSATA cable.

I know there's been some concern over floppy controller cards not working properly under WIN 7 x64, but this card uses the VIA VT6421 chipset, for which the manufacturer provides a new specific WIN 7 x64 driver.

As for your point about flash drives being better than floppies, I agree in principle, but I also have a very large collection of legacy floppies, and don't have enough flash drives that I can afford to send them to my friends every time I want to transfer something small but important!

Thanks again, guy.............

shesagordie · Answer

ottabear

An internal floppy drive supports 34-pin data cable connector and cable, this cannot be connected to either a 40-pin IDE connector, or data cable.

I have the same situation with new desktops and found using a USB external flopply drive, like THIS, to be the better solution.

The external FD, I gave the link to, also works with Windows 7 64-bit systems

Bev.

ottabear · Answer

Thanks for the prompt reply, Bev (shesagordie), but I need a little more detail if you have it.

I know an IDE floppy uses a 34-pin, not 40-pin, data connector, and a "mini" 4-pin power connector rather than the "large pin" 4-pin standard Molex connector, but I believe I can find connectors to convert both of these into standard SATA data and power connectors - the issue would be whether or not the 435t/9000 and WIN 7 PRO x64 would recognize and use such a device configuration, whether it uses an internal drive or an external enclosure connected by an eSata or USB cable.

I've been unable to find a SATA-configured floppy (floppies are virtually obsolete these days), but if such a device exists and doesn't cost an arm and a leg it would be the best solution, internally or externally; but it would involve considerable additional expense and leave me to toss a perfectly working IDE floppy.

I accessed the link for your external enclosure (thanks for including it), and it's good to hear it will support WIN 7 x64 even though the Newegg website doesn't list that under the supported OSs. Because I couldn't reach full tech specs via Newegg or the manufacturer's website I was unable to determine whether it could use an eSATA connection or only a USB one, and whether or not it could connect directly (or less satisfactorily via converters) to an IDE floppy. Nonetheless I'm sure I could find other external floppy enclosures that include direct IDE connections and perhaps even use an eSATA cable rather than USB. But a major issue is little or no additional cost, so the preferred solution would be to use my existing IDE drive in an internal drive bay, with SATA data and power connections.

Lastly, the external eSATA connection (to an external enclosure) would be no problem, but for the internal solution (whether the floppy is native SATA or converted IDE) would work only if my BIOS would accept an additional (6th in this case) SATA data channel. Any knowledge about this, or suggestions on where else to ask (Dell seemingly doesn't allow emails to Tech Support and the phone would be clumsy for this kind of detail)?

Thanks again..............

Skybird · Answer

The 34-pin floppy connector is not IDE.  It is a data pinout for floppy drives.  A floppy drive cannot connect to an IDE.  Your onlyrecourse is a USB floppy drive.

ottabear · Answer

Bev:

A little hands-on testing has, I believe, demonstrated that you are technically correct about the pins but have drawn an incorrect conclusion.

My MS or HP floppy does indeed have only 34 pins, but the connector socket on the backplane is sized and keyed exactly correct for the larger 40-pin data cable, which plugs in easily - the device's 34 pins simply don't use 6 of the "outside" wires on the 40-pin connector; the other end of the data cable plugs in normally to the motherboard port - I'm facing this problem situation, of course, because my new motherboard is so "modern" that it has no IDE data cable port or IDE power connectors, only SATA ones. It seems evident to me that the floppy was clearly intended to use the standard 40-pin data cable, but leave 6 wires unused; if one tried to plug a 34-pin cable into that 40-pin-sized socket there'd be a real danger of misaligning it given the extra space on both sides. If a different 34-pin cable was in fact intended to be used, the connector socket in the backplane would have been made an appropriately narrower width.

And I agree with you about the use of an appropriate external enclosure if there's no other way to use the drive. But this would be my last resort, because an external enclosure is a more expensive, more complicated, and less elegant (clunkier) solution than simply installing the floppy in the internal drive bay already waiting for it, with appropriate inexpensive converters to allow it to connect with an all-SATA system.

What I also need someone to tell me authoritatively (calling Dell techs who monitor this forum) is whether, with the physical connection issues dealt with as described herein, the 435t/9000 BIOS and WIN 7 PRO x64 OS would "see" this device, recognize it as a proper floppy drive A: , and operate it normally. Solving the physical connection problems alone is no guarantee the floppy drive will be usable.

Thanks for sticking with me on this difficult question, Bev...............

osprey4 · Answer

Hi Ottabear,

Apart from an external enclosure, the only way to add a floppy drive would be by adding a floppy drive controller card.

Frankly, I subscribe to the view that a $5 flash drive can do anything a floppy diskette can faster and more reliably.

osprey4 · Answer

Dave, Please post back and let me know if this works. Good luck!

Storage, Drives & Media

Installing An Unsupported Floppy

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