The serial ports might have been easier (depending what was on the machine already and what you have on hand) but it's not obvious. The real problem was the lack of functioning floppy drive. Most of the modern "normal solutions" wouldn't help.
I suppose it depends on how fast you needed a solution too, getting an adapter for the hard drive probably would have been the easiest method even if you had to wait a week for one to come from ebay. Likewise, a replacement floppy drive could have been purchased too. Overall OP came up with a workable solution that didn't really require much in the way of purchases, and it might help someone else out in the future, it's just so strange.
