Now the question of what it is - USB FDD, allappears less frequently on the web. People have ceased to be interested in such devices, since disks first appeared, and later - flash drives. But still, a floppy disk drive can be useful for those who have an outdated motherboard model.
Do I need?
Although modern PCs are no longersupport floppy disks, you can purchase special "adapters". Such floppy drives are connected to a PC via a USB interface. Also, the question arises whether it is realistic to put "Windows" on the Raid, if there is no directly floppy disk drive itself.
If suddenly the installation of the operating system requiresspecial drivers from you, for this you need a physical drive and a floppy disk. You can either purchase the drive itself that connects to the motherboard, or you can buy a USB drive.
Appearance
If you do not know what it is USB FDD, then most likely you have never seen a floppy disk. Previously, these media were often used instead of flash drives and disks, because they were not yet available.
The first floppy disk drive became known duringthe existence of an IBM PC computer. He was five inches and used only one side. Placed on such a diskette 180 KB. Later, double-sided floppy disks began to appear and double the recording density appeared. The capacity of many reached 720 Kb.
Interestingly, then all this was enoughas an operating system like DOS or second version of Windows used a bit of space. PC could only work with the drive. Winchester was not needed for him.
Of course, a little later it became necessarycreate additional memory. Floppy disks became even more voluminous and acquired 1.44 MB. Immediately, 3.5-inch floppy disks became known. Such drives got into the computer and were no different as a whole. Before the OS appeared on the disks, they were placed on a floppy disk.
Inside
Прежде чем появился внешний FDD USB, было use of internal drive is available. Older motherboards still support it. He joins through a special train. Power is connected through the power supply. Most likely, if you basically do not provide for the use of a floppy disk drive, you will have to activate its work in BIOS.
BIOS
Turning on the internal drive will depend onversion of BIOS. One way or another, look for the Integrated Peripherals section. In the menu there will be a line with Onboard FDD Controller. Here you need to activate this controller by selecting Enabled.
Maybe there will be such a problem that allenabled, but the drive itself is not displayed anywhere in the system. To do this, in the first paragraph of the BIOS we are looking for Standard CMOS Features. For Drive A, you will need to select floppy disk options.
If you have a newer version of BIOS, then you need to go to the second tab, find the Devices Configuration line there and turn on the controller. The drive is also activated on the first tab.
External device
Here we are right close todeal with USB FDD: what it is and how to work with it. If you do not have the drive itself, and the motherboard does not support the connection of the internal device, then you can purchase an external drive. In BIOS, there is a line where you can optionally connect FDD as a USB device.
In the USB settings, this item is specified differently.Look for a combination of Legacy and USB. Nearby it will be indicated whether this option is on or off. Automatic parameter can be set. External floppy should work. But do not forget to immediately check that all existing controllers with USB interface are connected, and the mode for them is set to 2.0.
Replacement
But to answer the question of what it is - USBFDD, it can be a little different. It turns out that in the BIOS settings you can configure the floppy emulator. If you go to the USB Mass Storage menu, you can see the Emulation Type item there. In it, you will find the parameter Forced FDD. In this case, you can create a drive emulation.
Вам не надо будет приобретать флоппи-дисковод.They can be a simple flash drive. The only thing you need to use it a little differently. If you need to put the Raid driver on the drive, then simple formatting may not be enough.
Installation
It is caused by the fact that the flash memory itself is somewhatnot prepared for what USB FDD drives could do right away. To make it work correctly, you will have to install an additional program. You will need to download FlashBoot with the antivirus turned off and with administrator rights.
Just need to say that this is a paid programbut for one time you will have enough demo. Select the floppy to USB conversion. After you need to select the floppy image. But remember that you will have to download it from the official website of the motherboard manufacturer.
To get a floppy image, you can go toofficial resource. The resolution of the document will be ".img". On each of them is a 1.44 MB diskette. If you yourself want to make an image of the existing floppy disk, you will need the Floppyimage utility.
So let's continue.Select Wrap, and then indicate which flash drive will be recorded all the data. Next in the line with the file system, you need to select FAT12, and then click on formatting. Everything is ready, you can work with the emulator.
In general, as practice shows, this hasslecase too much. It is much easier to buy a 3.5 FDD USB drive. Although many believe that such a device will lie idle for a long time, and they are wondering if it makes sense to spend the extra $ 20 on it.
Programs
Of course, all the described methods are now lessrelevant than they were in 2012-2013. or even earlier. But the Internet can still ask such questions. This is due to the fact that some programs are difficult to work without a CD drive or floppy disk drive. Such applications can save a small amount of data to media. In this case, you need to conditionally "deceive" the system. This is done with emulation.
There are many programs for this business.For example, ImDisk can be considered a good option. It can be simply downloaded, without additional installations. Once you have found the file with the extension ".exe", it will be enough just to run it. In the program you need to select the floppy image. As in the case of setting the BIOS, it will be enough to choose the disk "A", which was previously responsible for the floppy disk drive.
In the type of device, click "Floppy". Next, save the image, format and delete the drive. By the way, you need to run the program from the “Control Panel”.
Ready device
Of course, there is an option for the most lazy.You can try to buy a 3.5 FDD USB drive emulator. It easily translates a system that specifically requests 3.5-inch floppy disks. In general, this option is needed for all sorts of technological equipment. For example, on machines, embroidery machines, medical devices, etc.
Such an emulator connects to a PC via a standard interface, but it does not install a diskette, but a USB flash drive.
Boot drive
If you worked with a bootable flash drive,Most likely, you would like to know what USB FDD is in BIOS. You understand that if you just throw off all the files of the operating system on a USB flash drive, then nothing good will come of it. Therefore, you need to make the boot version of the drive. This will not only have to work with the programs on the desktop, but also go to the BIOS.
Depending on what goals you are pursuingor what possibilities your PC has, you should choose the boot option. When you get into the BIOS, you will see that there is a whole list of options. If we talk about simulating booting from other devices, then there is already a familiar USB FDD, USB HDD, USB CDROM.
Variationality
The first option is needed to simulate a floppy disk (by the way, there is a USB ZIP with it). The second option is to boot from the hard drive, and the latter helps install the OS from the optical CD.
The choice of one of them will depend onopportunities. For example, many programs that prepare a flash drive, work only in the format of USB HDD. But this option does not support all versions of BIOS. This situation can create a problem in which you simply can not start the flash drive. The WinSetupFromUSB program works with floppy drives, hard drives and regular drives, so this utility is suitable for absolutely everyone.
How it works?
No matter which option you choose, youyou will need to check that all controllers are working and turned on. After you need to set the boot sequence. All PCs start downloading from the hard drive. To select a flash drive, you must move it up in turn. Then it will be the first to start loading.
But remember that if you use a USB flash drive asimitation USB FDD, then in the list you will need to choose a floppy drive. In the First Boot Device line, specify the FDD USB option. Let the hard drive remain the second boot sequence.
One of the problems that can overtake you inthis process - when the BIOS does not support booting from a flash drive. Then either use all of the above options (create an emulator, buy a floppy disk drive), or just try updating the BIOS version.
