Good luck with the disk being recoverable at all.  Post a reply if you have any success, I'm very interested!

They used a data cable that wont be compatible with almost any newer PC's
You'll also need an older PC to plug it into
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/fdd/confCable-c.html

Perhaps buy an old $20 PC of trademe that has one in. And hope that it still works :-)
You may also need the old DOS Norton Disk Doctor to revive hard to read old floppies , you'll find it via a google search Im sure

I doubt you'll find a USB 5.25" drive .

Lias:

 

Anyone have one of these lurking somewhere? Just got asked if I can help with recovering something off a 5.25 disk...

 

OMG, how many people have seen this now

SpartanVXL: I'm sure some decade old USB external floppy drives have survived. I distinctly remember having a sony vaio one back in vista days.

We've still got a 3.5" USB Floppy Drive, which is what I suspect you are remembering.  A 5.25" floppy is quite a different wee beastie!  I'll eat my hat if you can find a 5.25" USB floppy drive!  There were parallel port versions available, but that would require a special driver.

OP if you were actually referring to a 3.5" and want to borrow ours, let me know.

Dynamic:

SpartanVXL: I'm sure some decade old USB external floppy drives have survived. I distinctly remember having a sony vaio one back in vista days.

 

We've still got a 3.5" USB Floppy Drive, which is what I suspect you are remembering.  A 5.25" floppy is quite a different wee beastie!  I'll eat my hat if you can find a 5.25" USB floppy drive!  There were parallel port versions available, but that would require a special driver.

 

OP if you were actually referring to a 3.5" and want to borrow ours, let me know.

Lias:

 

Anyone have one of these lurking somewhere? Just got asked if I can help with recovering something off a 5.25 disk...

 

I used to have one at home, I will have a hunt around for it, but if I do find it I will want it back, its my only one.

SpartanVXL:

 

I don't think I've seen a 5 & 1/4 in person let alone a drive for it.

What a youngin you are. Back in the day I used to use 8 inch floppies; about the size of a dinner plate!

MurrayM:

 

What a youngin you are. Back in the day I used to use 8 inch floppies; about the size of a dinner plate!  

What he said

WOW

I once had a Philips business computer the size of a small car. It was discarded by a company I worked for and I was allowed to salvage it. No floppy drive on that one but it had a hard drive the size and weight of a truck flywheel behind a transparent cover that clattered and whistled when started up. Maximum capacity was all of 7(!) megabytes. That model was once featured in a James Bond film. It would have cost tens of thousands but by the time I got it was only an antique curiosity.

MurrayM:

Here's a good geeky read with a few variants that I hadn't thought of in years...  including the 20Mb Floptical which never gained any traction as best I recall at the time.  I don't recall ever hearing about 2" floppies which Sony released for Mavica cameras.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk 

The ZIP drive is kinda off to one side, but close enough to a 'floppy disk' for most people.  I had clients using them for backup until the Click Of Death became a thing.

OP, I think we all apologise for hijacking your thread.  :)

Dynamic: I had clients using them for backup until the Click Of Death became a thing.

And then the Iomega marketing department, apparently with its head in the sand, called the next drive the "Clik". It failed miserably.