How to Read a Floppy Disc

While they were ubiquitous in the 1980s and 90s, floppy discs have been rendered near-obsolete by more modern data storage devices. If you do need to read a floppy disc, though, the Windows operating system has built-in support for reading floppy disks and does not require any device drivers to be installed. Obviously, though, your computer must have a floppy drive for this purpose.

Instructions

1. Insert the floppy to read in the floppy drive of your computer.

2. Click on "Start" and then click on "My Computer."

3. Double-click on the "31/2 Floppy (A)" icon on the My Computer window. This will show you the contents on the floppy disk. Double-click on a file to open it.

Tips & Warnings

• It is highly recommended that you first scan the floppy disk for viruses. Computer viruses can easily spread from an infected computer to your computer when you use the same floppy on both the computers. If you do not have an anti-virus software then use the online Microsoft Windows Live OneCare safety scanner. (See the Resources section below.)

References

• "Microsoft Windows Vista Inside Out;" Ed Bott, Carl Siechert, and Craig Stinson; 2007

Resources

• Microsoft Windows Live OneCare safety scanner