Hi All, I hope this is not too off topic, but some of the information is on Norfolk. I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to do some genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a host of old disks, 5.25 inch and 3.5, which are between ten and thirty years old. Several computers on, I find I cannot access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are probably in Wordstar (God bless it!) Any suggestions much appreciated, even if, sadly, that is to bin the lot~! David Scott.

David Know your problem only too well;Electronic Dinosaurs! Isn't a paper record(even non archival) wonderful! Dave On 05/01/2012 10:59 AM, David Scott wrote: > Hi All, > I hope this is not too off topic, but some of the information is on Norfolk. > > I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to do some genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a host of old disks, 5.25 inch and 3.5, which are between ten and thirty years old. Several computers on, I find I cannot access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are probably in Wordstar (God bless it!) > Any suggestions much appreciated, even if, sadly, that is to bin the lot~! > David Scott. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

I think you can still buy peripheral USB diskette readers - try eBay (but other online stores are available!). Ruth > -----Original Message----- > From: norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:norfolk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of David Scott > Sent: 05 January 2012 15:59 > To: norfolk@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NFK] Old Computer Disks > > Hi All, > I hope this is not too off topic, but some of the information > is on Norfolk. > > I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to > do some genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a > host of old disks, 5.25 inch and 3.5, which are between ten > and thirty years old. Several computers on, I find I cannot > access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether > anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are > probably in Wordstar (God bless it!) > Any suggestions much appreciated, even if, sadly, that is to > bin the lot~! > David Scott. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

David, You can purchase both size floppies that connect with a USB drive. I wrote an article for FamilySearch Tech tips about these kind of situations here: https://www.familysearch.org/techtips/2011/10/the-box-of-mixed-media-treasures Hope this helps, Claire Claire V. Brisson-Banks, BS, MLIS, AG(r) Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 801-240-1662 801-455-6271 (cell) -----Original Message----- From: David Scott [mailto:david972scott@btinternet.com] Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 8:59 AM To: norfolk@rootsweb.com Subject: [NFK] Old Computer Disks Hi All, I hope this is not too off topic, but some of the information is on Norfolk. I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to do some genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a host of old disks, 5.25 inch and 3.5, which are between ten and thirty years old. Several computers on, I find I cannot access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are probably in Wordstar (God bless it!) Any suggestions much appreciated, even if, sadly, that is to bin the lot~! David Scott. NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

On 2012/01/05 17:59, David Scott wrote: > I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to do some > genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a host of old disks, 5.25 > inch and 3.5, which are between ten and thirty years old. Several computers > on, I find I cannot access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether > anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are probably in > Wordstar (God bless it!) I'd bin the floppies, since you're unlikely to find a diskette drive for them. The stiffies on the other hand, could just about be salvageable. You should still be able to find a diskette drive to read them. After that, assuming the disks can still be read, it's just a small(?) matter of finding software that will read the files. If Wordstar was used, then you might locate some free- or share-ware that will convert them to a more modern format. -- Regards, Mike Fry Johannesburg

Hi David, To access the files on the disks you will need to buy or borrow a disk drive compatible with the disks. The 3 1/2 " disks should be easy, a USB connection external drive should be readily and cheaply available, the older 5 1/4 " drive may be difficult to locate unless someone has an old working PC with one in it. If you are able to access suitable drives, there are programs available that will read many older program file formats and enable you to copy the text from them even though you will probably lose the formatting. I use Quick View Plus from Avantstar which is a paid version, but there are probably other free or shareware programs available. http://www.avantstar.com/metro/visit I helped a work colleague that had a book written in chapters using Desk Writer Pro on an old portable computer, the 3 1/12 " disk drive was only formatted to the old 720 K type disk, so we had to format a 1.44 M disk to 720 K, copy the files to the disk, then view them using Quick View Plus, and copy the text to Word documents. His case was tricky because you had to use the DOS command DWP.exe to start the program, and the W key no longer worked on the old portable PC. Fortunately it had an external keyboard socket, and we had an old "DIN" type round plug connection keyboard in the cupboard. Good luck. Ray On 6/01/2012 2:59 AM, David Scott wrote: > Hi All, > I hope this is not too off topic, but some of the information is on Norfolk. > > I have taken the opportunity of holidays and bad weather to do some genealogical spring-cleaning. I have discovered a host of old disks, 5.25 inch and 3.5, which are between ten and thirty years old. Several computers on, I find I cannot access these pearls of family history, and wonder whether anyone knows of ways of retrieving them. I think they are probably in Wordstar (God bless it!) > Any suggestions much appreciated, even if, sadly, that is to bin the lot~! > David Scott. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >