5 1/4" floppy

To my knowledge, there are no usb 5.25" floppy drives.

Probably the easiest alternative would be to go to a public library and see if they can help you. Or an elemantary school library. They may still be using this older equipment. Or maybe a data transfer company. Or yes, borrow an old computer.

I still have a PI (150 MHz) that can read/write from the 5.25" drive (some of my old dBase III programs are stored on this media. I still transfer data from 5.25" drives --> 3.5" media, when people request it.... which is rare nowdays.

You might look for an external drive enclosure that uses USB. I believe that some of them support 5 1/4" drives.

Unless the firmware in the 3.5" USB drive supports 5 1/4", I suspect that it will not work.

I also don't recall seeing any adapter cables that will bridge from a 3.5" drive connection to a 5 1/4" style.

Chas

I am kind of interested in the make/ model of MB, but on to the question.
In situations like this the first solution is to use one of the old floppy cards that support four floppies. These cards have an onboard BIOS like a SCSI card so they do not rely on the MB BIOS.
Some "Tape Accelerator" cards also have an onboard BIOS, and an accelerator card supports all floppies.
(In my experience, check it before install.)
Does this PC have a free 5.25 slot?
Does it have a 3.5 floppy?
If so, then a TEAC dual floppy drive may also work.
These are very hard to find.
(Also needs an untwisted floppy cable.)
Yes, we have customers also, that still have old data stored on 5.25 floppies.
They do not have the time/money/manpower to transfer it all to tape or hard disk, so it sits, and several times a year they go look something up.
(We are talking thousands of 5.25s at one site.)
(Think closet, one half full.)
It works, so whatever they want/can afford.
Regards, Chris