Read files from 1993 vintage Disk Drive

[VBAhack]

Any tips on how I might read the files from a 1993 vintage disk drive? My guess is that it is formatted to be compatible with Windows 3.1 (as opposed to DOS). When I attach it to a modern PC it spins but appears to be an unrecognizable format.

Either it is corrupted or some special trick is needed to read the files. The drive is from my father in law's computer (which unfortunately no longer works) and contains written memoirs that my wife decided she wanted (15 years after he passed).

Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.

[MartinLiss]

If you are willing to pay for the service there are many commercial places that will recover files.

[Nightwalker83]

Don't know if this site would be of any use?

http://www.gaby.de/win3x/esoft.htm

[JuggaloBrotha]

Any tips on how I might read the files from a 1993 vintage disk drive? My guess is that it is formatted to be compatible with Windows 3.1 (as opposed to DOS). When I attach it to a modern PC it spins but appears to be an unrecognizable format.

Either it is corrupted or some special trick is needed to read the files. The drive is from my father in law's computer (which unfortunately no longer works) and contains written memoirs that my wife decided she wanted (15 years after he passed).

Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.

Have you tried connecting it to the comp via usb? Getting an external HDD kit (make sure it's for IDE hard drives) are relatively cheap (less than $50)

[DeanMc]

It would be probably as cheap to buy a pc with 3.1 on it and slap in the drive.

[Lord Orwell]

Any tips on how I might read the files from a 1993 vintage disk drive? My guess is that it is formatted to be compatible with Windows 3.1 (as opposed to DOS). When I attach it to a modern PC it spins but appears to be an unrecognizable format.

Either it is corrupted or some special trick is needed to read the files. The drive is from my father in law's computer (which unfortunately no longer works) and contains written memoirs that my wife decided she wanted (15 years after he passed).

Any suggestions at all would be appreciated.

windows 3.1 wasn't even a disk operating system. You installed it on top of dos. It may be that the drive has been compressed with drivespace or doublespace. If this is the case the drive will have hiddenfiles on it and the drive image will end in a number such as .000 or .001. However if this is his only drive, it will also contain the supporting software to read it. Set this disk as your boot drive and see what happens.
You need to verify though that your drive is even being recognized by your bios. Simply plugging the drive into power will make it spin. That has nothing to do with whether or not it is even a functioning drive. It is possible the drive is bad.

I would like more information, such as whether or not the drive