Working of the Floppy Disk Drive

The floppy disk drive reads data from a floppy disk just as a cassette player reads music from a cassette. The magnetic particle on the surface of the floppy disk holds the stored data, the head moves over these magnetic particles and reads the data. The data is stored on the sectors and tracks of the floppy disk. The tracks are concentric circles on the floppy disk.

The steps followed by the floppy disk drive to read data from the floppy disk:

1. The user executes a command, or disk. The program requests information from the floppy disk.

2. The spindle motor in the floppy disk drive rotates the floppy disk.

3. The stepper motor moves the read write head over the required track and the read write head reads the data from the floppy disk.

4. The floppy disk drive sends the data to the microprocessor for processing.

5. The spindle motor stops rotating the floppy disk in the floppy disk drive.

The steps followed by the floppy disk drive to write data on the floppy disk:

1. The user executes a command, or the program sends data to be written on the floppy disk.

2. The spindle motor in the floppy disk drive rotates the floppy disk.

3. The stepper motor moves the read write head over the required track for the read write head to read the track address from the floppy disk for storing the data.

4. The erase coils located on the read write head erases the data from the track.

5. The write head is wound up.

6. The write head converts the binary data into electromagnetic impulses and writes the data on the floppy disk.

7. The spindle motor stops rotating the floppy disk in the floppy disk drive.

Installing the Floppy Disk Drive

You must install the floppy disk drive on the motherboard to make it accessible to the system. To connect the floppy disk drive, we require the floppy disk drive and connecting cable.

• Turn off the power supply and unplug the power cable from the system.

• Check the front panel of the system case to check if there is a vacant slot to install the floppy disk drive.

• Check the data cable if you can attach additional devices to it. Check if there is a spare power supply cable to connect to the floppy disk drive.

You may also be interested in:

Configuring the Floppy Disk Drive

Creating a Bootable Floppy Disk

Troubleshooting the Floppy Disk Drive

Floppy disk drives

Types of Floppy Drive

Components of Floppy Drive