Those who have a few years on their shoulders remember the legendary floppy disks , cheap and portable mass memory units.
Before the advent of CDs and USB sticks, they were the most practical method for transferring documents between PCs.
Their use to save files has been so constant and lasting that they have left an indelible mark in computer science, even today, if you notice, the icon of the ” Save ” command in many PC programs is the stylized representation of a floppy disk.
In case you have found one in a drawer and you are curious to know what it contains, or you need to use them, continuing to read the article you will see how to read a floppy on a modern computer.
- How does a floppy disk work?
- Very short history of floppies
- How to read and write a floppy disk today?
- Where to buy floppy disks today?
- How to read and write on a 5.25 inch floppy
How does a floppy disk work?
Floppy disks are simple magnetic disks made of flexible material, protected by a vaguely square-shaped hard plastic coating. The data is permanently written to the disk via a head. In general, the data are written on sectors or tracks, the former are corner portions, the latter are concentric circles.
Throughout the history of computer science, various floppy formats have been seen, each with some different characteristics, the 8-inch and 5.25-inch ones have a hole in their center, while the 3.5-inch ones have a circular metal pin that allows you to spin the disc.
The 3.5 ”drives were designed to be more durable, they have a single opening from which you can access the delicate internal magnetic disk. This opening is protected by a protective tab (usually made of metal) to prevent the magnetic disc from being touched and damaged.
Very short history of floppies
The history of floppy disks is a great piece of the history of computing. In this article we will limit ourselves to a very brief summary.
The first 8 ”(20 cm side) floppy disks were launched on the market by IBM back in 1971. They quickly became irreplaceable, even if a single disk could only hold 79.7 KB.
Their evolution called in jargon ” Mini floppy ” and large 5 ″ and 1/4 (13 cm side) was developed by Shugart Associates and launched in 1976. The format was immediately successful and spread rapidly, the first version could contain 160 kB of data; later double-sided versions were launched capable of containing twice as much.
Already in the first half of the 80s the storage capacity was insufficient, Sony studied and launched the 3.5 inch floppy (9 cm side). It was called ” micro floppy ” and remained popular until the late 1990s.
A 3.5 “floppy in its first version called DD (Double Density) contained 720 kB of data, the HD (High Density) version, which are the only ones still” in use “, contains 1440 kB of data (1.44 MB).
The definitive decline of the format took place only in the early 2000s with the spread of the Internet and USB sticks. Gradually the floppy drive disappeared from our PCs because it was essentially unused. To give you an idea, about 5700 HD floppy disks can be stored in a common and inexpensive 8 GB USB stick.
How to read and write a floppy disk today?
There may be occasions when it is still essential to use floppy disks. Maybe we need to recover data that we saved a few decades ago, or we need to interact with systems that have not been updated or are not updatable.
To use a floppy disk on a modern system, it is necessary, in most cases, to use a convenient external USB reader for Floppy Disk .
It will surprise you to know that no modern operating system has at the moment abandoned support for old and dear floppies. Even the Linux kernel has recently seen the addition of several lines of code aimed at improving support for floppy disks.
Then just insert the USB cable of the floppy disk reader into the PC to see the drive recognized.
If you have an older model USB floppy disk drive, which was common in the 90’s by laptop manufacturers, you can still use it, just plug it into a modern Windows 10 PC and it should be recognized in most cases.
Here are the best USB drives for reading and writing 3.5-inch floppies
Elegantstunning – USB 3.5 portable external floppy disk
- ?– ✔ 【External 3.5 “USB Floppy Disk Drive】 super slim and light, easy to carry, i …
- ?– ✔ 【Premium quality and hard plastic shell】 Portable external floppy drive, custo …
- ?– ✔ 【Automatic plug and play installation】 Plug and play, no additional drivers required …
€ 19.99
Buy on Amazon
Hamlet XFDUSB
- Easy to use product
- Quick and easy maintenance
- Durable and strong
€ 37.99
Buy on Amazon
VBNC 1.44 MB Floppy Disk 3.5
- ✅3.5 inch mini floppy disk, super thin and light weight.
- ✅USB port, no external power needed.
- ✅Ideal for desktop, laptop and portable computer users.
Buy on Amazon
Where to buy floppy disks today?
There are still packs of floppy disks for sale, in fact old disks deteriorate easily and, if the systems continue to work, they must be replaced cyclically.
By now using floppies is certainly not cheap, but here are which discs you can buy to have good quality products (in some periods the products may not be available):
OFFER
Maxell 1.44 MB floppy disk
€ 46.51 −16.52 € (36%) € 29.99
Buy on Amazon
VERBATIM Floppy disk 1,44MB pack of 10
- Disketten
- Verbatim
- 87410
€ 29.99
Buy on Amazon
How to read and write on a 5.25 inch floppy
To read and write old 5 1/4 inch floppies the situation is much more complicated. There are only two viable methods:
- use an old PC with a 5 1/4 inch floppy driveon which to install Windows 95 SE, Windows 98 or ME and take the extracted files with a USB pen. These systems support Plug and Play system should support dongles without complications.
- take an old 5.25 inch floppy drive and connect it to a modern PC via a special USB adapter, to power it you will also need an old power supply with a Molex connector. Both are not easy to find, an American site sells them , but it is a fairly expensive solution.
