USB-FDD: what is it, loading problems

Now the question of what it is - USB FDD, allrarely appears on the web. People have ceased to be interested in such devices, because first appeared disks, and later - flash drives. But still a floppy disk drive can be useful to those who have an outdated model of the motherboard.

Is it necessary?

Despite the fact that modern PCs are no longersupport floppy disks, you can buy special "adapters". Such floppy drives have a connection to a PC via a USB interface. It also raises the question of whether it is really possible to put "Windows" on Raid, if there is not directly the floppy drive itself.

If suddenly installing an operating system requiresfrom you special drivers, this requires a physical drive and a floppy disk. You can buy either the drive itself, which connects to the motherboard, or you can buy a USB drive.

Appearance

If you do not know what a USB FDD is, then most likely you've never seen a floppy disk. Previously, these storage media were often used in place of flash drives and disks, since those were not yet available.

The first floppy disk drive became known at the timethe existence of an IBM-PC computer. He was five-inch and used only one side. Was placed on such a diskette of 180 KB. Later, two-sided floppy disks began to appear and double the recording density appeared. The capacity of many reached 720 KB.

It is interesting that then all this was enough,Because the operating system such as DOS or the second version of Windows used a little space. The PC could only work with the drive. Winchester was not needed for him.

Of course, a little later there was a needcreate additional memory. The floppy disks became even bigger and got 1.44 MB. Immediately became known 3.5-inch floppy. These drives got into the computer and did not differ in general. Before the OS appeared on the disks, they were placed on a floppy disk.

Inside

Before the external FDD USB appeared, it wasYou can use the internal drive. Old motherboards still support its connection. He joins through a special train. Power is connected through the power supply. Most likely, if you do not have a floppy drive in principle, you will have to activate it in BIOS.

BIOS

Enabling the internal drive will depend on theversion of BIOS. Either way, 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 allis included, but the drive itself is not displayed anywhere in the system. For this, in the first paragraph of BIOS we are looking for Standard CMOS Features. For Drive A, you need to select the floppy disk drive parameters.

If you have a newer version of the BIOS, then you need to go to the second tab, find the Devices Configuration line and turn on the controller on it. The drive is also activated on the first tab.

External device

Here we are directly approachingto understand 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 the BIOS there is a line where you can connect optional FDD as a USB device.

In the USB settings, this item is listed in different ways. Look for a combination of Legacy and USB. Nearby will indicate whether this option is turned on or off. An automatic parameter can be set. External floppy should earn. But do not forget to immediately check that all existing controllers with USB interface are connected, and the mode for them is set from 2.0.

Replacement

But to answer the question about what it is - USBFDD, you can and somewhat differently. It turns out that in the BIOS settings you can configure the floppy emulator. If you go to the USB Mass Storage menu, you will be able to see the Emulation Type item there. In it you will find the parameter Forced FDD. In this case, you can create a drive emulation.

You do not need to purchase a floppy disk drive. They can become a simple flash drive. The only thing that you need to use it will be somewhat different. If you need to put a 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 somewhatis not prepared for what USBDD drives could immediately do. For it to work correctly, you will have to install an additional program. You will need to download FlashBoot with antivirus turned off and with administrator rights.

Immediately need to say that this is a paid program,but for one time you will have enough demo. Choose the conversion of the floppy to USB. After you need to select the image of the floppy disk. But remember that it will have to be downloaded from the official site of the motherboard manufacturer.

To get an image of a floppy disk, you can go toofficial resource. The document resolution is ".img". On each of them is a diskette of 1.44 MB. If you want to make an image from an existing diskette yourself, you need the Floppyimage utility

So, let's continue. Choose Wrap, and after that we specify which flash drive will be written to all the data. Next, in the line with the file system, select FAT12, and then click on the formatting. Everything is ready, you can work with the emulator.

In general, as practice shows, the trouble in thiscase too much. It's much easier to buy a 3.5 FDD USB drive. Although many believe that such a device will be lying idle for a long time, and wonder if it makes sense to spend an extra $ 20 on it.

Programs

Of course, all described methods are now lessare relevant than they were in 2012-2013. or even earlier. But on 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 on the media. In this case, the system should be conditionally "deceived". This is done with emulation.

There are many programs for this case. For example, ImDisk can be considered a good option. You can simply download it, without additional installations. After you find the file with the extension ".exe", it will be enough just to launch it. In the program, you need to select a floppy image. As with the BIOS setup, it's enough to select drive "A", which used to be the floppy disk drive.

In the device type, click "Floppy". Then we 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 purchase a 3.5 FDD USB drive emulator. He easily translates the system, which asks specifically for 3.5-inch floppy disks. In general, this option is needed for a variety of technological equipment. For example, on machines, embroidery machines, medical devices, etc.

Such an emulator is connected to a PC using a standard interface, but it does not install a floppy disk, but a 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.