want to watch old videos, need help knowing what to purchase

[Cornucopia]

Given the potential of a naughty disk "infecting" a good drive and making it go bad, I'd have to require a deposit, if I were doing it for others.

(BTW, used to work with ~4 Zip drives & scores of disks, ~8 Jaz (spelled w/ 1 Z IIRC) w/100s - yes, hundreds - of Disks both 1 & 2GB for archiving & fast sneakernet of video media projects in production company. CoD immediately spelled the end of that avenue of use, and prompted panic & quick transferring of archives to other forms, not always successfully. The stories I could tell...)
I still own 1 zip drive, for Xfer potentialities, but haven't gotten it out in 9+ years.

Scott

[aedipuss]

yeah i still have a working internal atapi zip drive also. i'd just have to take a winXP 32 bit computer out of storage to use it

[lordsmurf]

yeah i still have a working internal atapi zip drive also. i

I have a Zip250 USB that still works. I think. I migrated all zip data off years ago.

The biggest problem format is 5.25" floppies. Almost no hardware exists for those, and what does is expensive.

what service do YOU recommend??

My advice is custom tailored to multiple factors, none of which I know from the few sparse posts. Usually I'd asked for those details, and help the poster. But given how the thread has gone, I'm honestly disinclined to assist further.

[johnmeyer]

I'm down to just one 5.25" floppy drive. No 8" floppy drives ...

[TimA-C]

I never found the Jaz drives all that reliable. I seem to remember them being a bit of a bu**er to eject from the internal drives. I think we ended up moving to writable CDs back when the drives were a couple of hundred quid each.

[johnmeyer]

Iomega's products were always unreliable. I ended up with four of their original Bernoulli boxes (two huge 20 MB cartridges in each enclosure) after I sold my first business. One by one, each of them died, and after very little use, unlike Cornucopia's extensive Zip and Jaz usage (thanks for the reminder that there is only one "Z"). I fortunately had backed up the data to a QIC tape before the last one quit working.

[KKat]

hi TimA-C,
THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO. I have to admit, reading it (and the other posts) is like listening to Charlie Brown's teacher. I know it's in English but most of it reads Greek to me. I'm hearing Charlie Brown's teacher say: "bwop bwop bwop." I don't know the lingo. I appreciate your time and advice.

[KKat]

IMO, this site is misrepresenting itself. It's called "Video Help" and it should be called "Video Help for People that Already Know about Video." Expecting a random person on the net to ask intelligent questions about video when they don't know about video and are coming to a video help forum is, well, not intelligent.

[_Al_]

LOL
Insulting people that try to help is what?

You have no idea how lucky you actually are here. Those guys are so enthusiastic to share what they did back then with all of those older systems. Can't you see it? Don't care? You just be persistent and ask questions, or more importantly look up words and phrases, google them, that is how it is done today. Ask again and again, small steps, just one transfer of yours could be a long, long topic itself. You chose a difficult task for yourself. You should move with it.

[usually_quiet]

IMO, this site is misrepresenting itself. It's called "Video Help" and it should be called "Video Help for People that Already Know about Video." Expecting a random person on the net to ask intelligent questions about video when they don't know about video and are coming to a video help forum is, well, not intelligent.

Congratulations, it is not easy to get there, but you have now earned your very own permanent spot on my troll list.

[DB83]

Wow. Talk about playing the 'victim'

You started a topic by stating a question in the title. You then repeated that same question in the initial post. You actually had a full reply to that question in the initial response.

Yet you then created the problems by editing the initial post which made the original reply look 'simple' (your excuse was IMO lame inasmuch that the photos must have been clear enough to warrant the reply) and then complained to the respondent because it did not help. From there on in the topic went downhill by your own attitude.

Even so you still received a full reply to the question.

No single topic will EVER provide full 'hands on' to transferring 11 different sources. There are tons of topics on here that discuss many of these yet even then the forum is more than tolerant to new topics being opened to ask the self, same questions again. So the help is there. But you must still ask for it.

Set yourself on a pedestal and you quickly lose the patience of quite patient, helpful, people. Do not complain if that happens to you.

[lingyi]

hi TimA-C,
THANKS FOR ALL THE INFO. I have to admit, reading it (and the other posts) is like listening to Charlie Brown's teacher. I know it's in English but most of it reads Greek to me. I'm hearing Charlie Brown's teacher say: "bwop bwop bwop." I don't know the lingo. I appreciate your time and advice.

Elaborate on what you're confused about. While it's understandable that you may not be familiar with Zip disks and Umatic tapes, you certainly must know what a videotape (VHS and 8mm), audio cassette and CD/DVD is?

You're tech savvy enough to have googled a micro cassette player, so you're not completely clueless about how to use the info given to search out the various necessary devices. My suggestion is to take some time off from posting and research as you've done with the micro cassette player, then come back with specific questions.

As DB83 stated, each media requires a specific device and method of transfer/capture to a digital file and some media like the audio cassettes don't contain any video at all. And will be to addressed and answered separately.

[teodz1984]

topic is hopelessh. op doesn't need help.. just ignore him

[aedipuss]

aedipuss;2545447]yeah i still have a working internal atapi zip drive also.
I have a Zip250 USB that still works. I think. I migrated all zip data off years ago.

The biggest problem format is 5.25" floppies. Almost no hardware exists for those, and what does is expensive.

LOL i still have a working original ibm pc-xt. 2 - 5.25 floppies and a 40mb hard drive also working commodore 64s, atari 800s, single sided 5.25" drives and all.

[teodz1984]

op should buy the playback equipment if he wants to play them..

come baxk when you've done that..

[johnmeyer]

IMO, this site is misrepresenting itself. It's called "Video Help" and it should be called "Video Help for People that Already Know about Video." Expecting a random person on the net to ask intelligent questions about video when they don't know about video and are coming to a video help forum is, well, not intelligent.

I offered to transfer your Zip disks for free.

For free.

And you respond with a post like that.

What an ungrateful person you are. What's more, you have done absolutely nothing with the advice that was freely and honestly given.

Enjoy doing everything entirely on your own in the future. I suspect you act this way in other forums as well, and will eventually receive the same response as you are getting in the posts since you wrote what I quoted above.

[KKat]

For: lingyi

Elaborate on what you're confused about.

I'm not sure what you mean about the micro cassette player; I didn't Google anything. To answer your question: it's the lingo. How much time do you spend working with videos and how much time do you spend here at this forum? For me: zero time, maybe one hour total. So that's the difference. Yes, I know the names of some of the devices (not all) but I don't know the names of the cables/wires/adaptors that are supposed (?) to be used to transfer. Expecting that from people, especially from newbies, is, IMO, not helping your site. I get it. I'm a writer. When I talk about writing with editors or other writers, I talk differently about it than I do with my mother. So to another writer, I might say (using "Jaws" since most people know the story): "The antagonist carries the film from page one, through the score, to just shy of the elixir." To my mother, I would say: "As soon as those curtains went up and I heard that music, the thought of that shark scared the hell out of me and I was in for a ride until the end." Both are perfect. Both have purpose. But my mother (and maybe some of you?) won't understand the first one.

Hope this makes sense.

[teodz1984]

wires adaptors cables are useless without the playback equipment..which you sold off. buy them to get playing again..
you cant buy cables first and buy the equipment later.. tapes wont play without a player..is that ppain and simple enough for you?

[lingyi]

Looks like I need to find a different forum or head to Best Buy and find a professional. I appreciate the info but much of it isn't specific. IE: "...and cables to connect to the audio-in of your pc" [what kind of cables, exactly?] I can't go to Amazon and type this. I need the exact name of everything needed for each piece, specifically.

I'm seeing where to purchase stuff for reasonable prices, ie: https://www.google.com/search?q=microcassette+player+usb+port&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS694US694...hrome&ie=UTF-8

This isn't your post?

[lingyi]

For: lingyi

Elaborate on what you're confused about.

I'm not sure what you mean about the micro cassette player; I didn't Google anything. To answer your question: it's the lingo. How much time do you spend working with videos and how much time do you spend here at this forum? For me: zero time, maybe one hour total. So that's the difference. Yes, I know the names of some of the devices (not all) but I don't know the names of the cables/wires/adaptors that are supposed (?) to be used to transfer. Expecting that from people, especially from newbies, is, IMO, not helping your site. I get it. I'm a writer. When I talk about writing with editors or other writers, I talk differently about it than I do with my mother. So to another writer, I might say (using "Jaws" since most people know the story): "The antagonist carries the film from page one, through the score, to just shy of the elixir." To my mother, I would say: "As soon as those curtains went up and I heard that music, the thought of that shark scared the hell out of me and I was in for a ride until the end." Both are perfect. Both have purpose. But my mother (and maybe some of you?) won't understand the first one.

Hope this makes sense.

aedipuss listed what you need for each device. Do a Google search with his descriptions as you 'apparently' did with "microcassette usb port"

Posters here are generous with their time and knowledge, but you're pushing the boundries of much handholding you'll get.

I've reached my limit. Good luck!

[KKat]

That hasn't exactly been my experience. And I hate to burst any bubbles, but I wouldn't hold hands with anybody here. I'm sorry you're offended by my comment; that will make it difficult to hear. From my experience, this forum's a statistic: https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS694US694&ei=b9qNXP-bH5HZ8API...39.UGWGBDaESzk

[teodz1984]

Since you are stubborn just bring your media to a
1. Service that transfers your content to digital media..
2. Pay the bill (no emotions needed)
3. Move on .. hope you finish your project before you join your friends in the afterlife..

[usually_quiet]

Ingrates should get no more help and professional victims deserve no sympathy.

[TimA-C]

KKat, as you're finding out, this stuff IS technical, and precision is important otherwise we all end up talking at cross-purposes. It's bad enough just discussing one issue, or capturing or recording from one type of device . . . and you come on here, asking about 11 (mostly) different devices! I'm sure that when you're talking with friends and colleagues about your particular field of endeavour (or favourite hobby) that your language becomes more specific and, yes, technical? Why would you imagine it would be any different here?

FilmBoss80 and Aedipuss have given you what the various items in your photos are, and you have access to some truly remarkable tech in the various internet search engines to find players and adapters etc. near you and at a (hopefully) reasonable price. As I said earlier, I'd start with friends and family - it's amazing what gets shoved in a drawer or in a box under the spare bed, and forgotten about. Until you have the players we can't start talking about what cables and adapters you'll need to connect with them because there are just so many potential combinations. (BTW, if you think what's been said so far is "bwop bwop bwop." to you, then just wait until you get onto Avisynth scripts for filtering and processing your video captures! Let's just say that there's quite a steep learning curve!) Once you've found some possible devices, by all means come back and ask for advice and opinions on specific items before buying or hiring them, or how to connect them.

A few final thoughts; I'm not sure how far you think you'd get if you took a photo of your car into a garage and then told the person behind the counter that your car didn't work, and that you NEEDED to know EXACTLY what to buy so that YOU could fix it? That you'd already been to another garage but they wanted too much money to do the work. Having a go at that person behind the counter after they've identified the make, model and year of the car in the photo (despite you swapping photos after they'd started answering you . . . ) might seem a tad ungracious? Especially if the person behind the counter was a volunteer, and wasn't getting paid for helping out . . . ?

Also, there's no guarantee that any of the information on any of the devices in your photos is either still intact or still accessible, and the longer you leave it the chances of not being able to access it increases. As this is probably the only time that the info on these devices is going to be transferred or digitized & transferred and, as I think you said they contain memories of lost loved ones, that actually it might be worth paying to make sure that the transfers are done properly and to a high quality before the recordings are lost for good.

If you really want to do as much of it yourself as you can then you NEED to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get you hands dirty (metaphorically). Just as the French tend to be friendlier and more helpful if you try to speak at least a few words in their language, you may find that people here are even more helpful if you don't do the equivalent of standing in the town square, waving your hands and speaking very loudly and slowly in english, and just expecting everyone to run around and do your bidding. After all, we all started out not knowing anything . . .

[KKat]

It's an interesting perspective from millenials and their helicopter parents. The world is literally trying to grapple on how to deal with all of you. Best of luck.

"Generation Snowflake, or Snowflake Generation, is a neologistic term used to characterize the millennial generation as being more prone to taking offence and having less psychological resilience than previous generations, or as being too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own."

Source: Wikipedia