Questions[floppy](server)

I have a floppy I need to read the contents from - unfortunately it was formatted and the data written on an OpenVMS server. I believe the floppy is formatted "Files-11" or similarly ODS2 and I can see parts of the MDT and file contents through a hex editor, however I would love to be able to mount this and actually read the files off in a sane, normal way.

Is there an ODS2/Files-11 FUSE module or other kernel module I can install to read this format? Any standalone utilities that can understand a floppy image taken with dd?

What purpose does having a virtual floppy drive on a guest in ESX serve?

Is there a way to configure ESX by default to NOT include such a device? It's annoying to have to remove it by hand once a new VM is ready to be provisioned.

I need a way to assign my windows A: drive to a usb. In fact multiple usb's keys and always the standard windows floppy drive A:. It doesn't need to be bootable...

Yes I know that I can set the drive letter but this is not persistant. If I change the USB key the new one is drive letter E:\ again...

I have 3 USB keys that rotate so everytime I take one of the keys it should appear as drive letter A: I should not be limited to 1.44 MB

I know there is a key from hp which has some sort of bios on it. But that is also not what would help me... Just general USB keys.

Is there a tool or a service or an emulator which runs in the background that's maps any usb drive to A:

Any help would be great thanks..

So, we bought some hardware for one of our aging servers.

And, for whatever reason that utterly baffles me, the driver files do not exist on the included CD. Instead, they exist in floppy disk image files on the CD, which first must be written to a floppy disk, from which you then copy the files. Unfortunately, every floppy disk we have is corrupt due to age. So I need a way to extract the files from that image.

Please note that the reason we don't just replace the server entirely (which is definitely due) is because that is not in the budget right now.

EDIT: the disk image is in UFS format apparently. Windows programs will not work!

Does there exist a USB key that acts like a 1.44MB floppy drive? I know there are USB floppy drives and USB flash drives, but if I can find a floppy key, I can finally get rid of the floppy disks entirely. The ideal product would work like those off brand memory cards for the Playstation that had multiple memory pages that could be changed with a button.

I know USB keys can be made bootable, but I work with older servers that support USB floppies but not bootable keys.