How to Use a Floppy Disk on Windows 10
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Key notes
- Floppy disks are a dated method of storing data, but they are not obsolete yet.
- The article below will teach you how to use a floppy disk in Windows 10.
- Do you like learning new things? Then continue checking our How-To section's tutorials.
- Are you interested in Windows in general? Then read more about it in our Windows 10 section.
Floppy disks are things of the past, but if for some reason you need to use a floppy disk, today we’re going to show you how to create a virtual floppy disk on Windows 10.
Before USB flash drives and DVDs, the only way to transfer files was a floppy disk. Floppy disks were used for data transfer in 80’s and early 90’s, but they got replaced by CDs and USB flash drives.
It’s safe to say that floppy disks are old technology, and most modern computers don’t have a floppy drive available. Since modern computers don’t have a floppy drive, the only way to access floppy disk is to use a floppy disk image also known as a virtual floppy disk.
What is a virtual floppy disk and how can I use it?
Virtual floppy disk works in a similar way as CD or DVD image file. You create a virtual copy of a floppy disk on your computer or download one, mount the virtual floppy disk, and you can use it without any problems.
There are tools such as Power ISO that will allow you to create a floppy disk image from files on your computer, but at the same time, this tool can make bootable images from floppy disks.
In order to make a disk image from an actual floppy disk, you’ll need a computer that has a floppy drive or an external floppy drive that connects to your computer via USB port.
Another tool that can help you create virtual floppy disks is Magic ISO Maker, and it works in a similar way as Power ISO. We also have to mention ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver that allows you to create virtual hard disks or virtual floppy disks. This tool allows you to store virtual drives into your RAM, which has its advantages, such as quick access, and you can use this tool for recovery as well.
It’s safe to say that ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver isn’t intended for basic users, but it’s one of the most powerful applications if you need to create floppy disk images.
As for floppy disk images, they are stored as .img files on your computer, and you can mount them just like any .iso file, simply by right-clicking it and choosing Mount from the menu.
As you can see, creating virtual floppy disks isn’t that simple, because floppy disks aren’t being used anymore, so you might want to consider switching from floppy disks to CDs or USB flash drives.
If you want to read more about floppy disks, we have covered floppy disk support on Windows 10, so you might want to read that as well.
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