Thinkpads Forum

I just donated my old desktop PC to a women's shelter ... and aside from my ThinkPad 760XD, I no longer own anything with a floppy drive!

In cleaning up my office, I ran across a bunch of old floppy discs ... but I have no idea whether any of the data on them is worth saving.

So ... my question is, what type of connector is on the end of the floppy drive cable? Is it proprietary to IBM? Is there any chance that someone makes an adapter to convert this connector to USB? ... or am I resigned to not being able to transfer any of the data on the floppies to my current PC?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

UPDATE: Here's the part # of the drive, if it helps - 46H5749

If there's no adapter available, I guess my other option is to just purchase an external USB floppy drive ... just trying to figure out of there's an alternative to spending more $$$!!

forgive me if my memory is not so good on the 760 series these days BUT i think that SOME of the 760 series had an external floppy connection on the back of the machine.. looks like a trapezoidal shaped connector.. like this--> \===/ sort of.. behind a fold down panel..

it would take a 701 series floppy.. using a special IBM cable..

AND i just tested this out with a 760C and a 701 floppy..

BUT WAIT.. theres more..

you DO know that that 760 should accept a floppy drive inside the machine.. under the flip up keyboard.. where the CD drive also fits..

the FRU p/n for the external floppy is 46H4056.. this is fron memory..

and welcome to the forum..!

Here's a picture of what I'm trying to deal with:



Just need to know if there is an adapter to convert from the IBM cable connector to USB!

I've seen similar one in old (P-I era) Fujitsu notebooks.

You can by the original floppy drives for the 760/380 series in Ebay, I guess they're cheap. Alternative you can post a WTB (Want To Buy) thread in this forum.

My 2 cents...

Tasurinchi wrote:You can by the original floppy drives for the 760/380 series in Ebay, I guess they're cheap. Alternative you can post a WTB (Want To Buy) thread in this forum.

My 2 cents...

Perhaps I've not been clear in my posting ... I already have an external floppy drive for my 760XD laptop. What I was trying to determine was whether that drive could be connected to a different PC which didn't have a connection like the one on the back of my old ThinkPad.

Since those floppy drives were in use prior to USB becoming popular, the odds of finding a patch cable or gender changer are going to be pretty slim. Unless someone long ago got creative in their basement workshop and made their own.

If it were me, I'd see if a family member or friend had an older PC with a floppy drive available that I could just borrow. In absence of borrowing one, my next thought would be to buy a cheap USB floppy drive. After the disk exploration you can just re-sell it.

If buying ain't an option then see if someone will copy all your floppies over to a DVD. You could then pick and chose what is important off the disc.

bankerjohn wrote:I already have an external floppy drive for my 760XD laptop

I guess my post was then pretty useless Better buy a USB floppy in Ebay or here in the forum. They're also cheap! I got one used some month ago for few bucks, nobody want them nowadays...

Majestic wrote:Since those floppy drives were in use prior to USB becoming popular, the odds of finding a patch cable or gender changer are going to be pretty slim. Unless someone long ago got creative in their basement workshop and made their own.

If it were me, I'd see if a family member or friend had an older PC with a floppy drive available that I could just borrow. In absence of borrowing one, my next thought would be to buy a cheap USB floppy drive. After the disk exploration you can just re-sell it.

I thought that finding an "adapter" cable was probably pretty slim ... so I broke down and bought a USB floppy drive on eBay, for less than $10 shipped. If an adapter was indeed available, it probably would have cost more than that!

Thanks, forum members, for the advice!