How to Copy Data From a Floppy Disk to a CD

Most newer computers do not have floppy drives.

Floppy disks used to be the primary medium for portable storage and transfer of files for any personal computer. Unfortunately, floppy disks can only hold a maximum of about 1.44MB. A CD can hold about 486 times that much data, and most newer computers do not even feature floppy drives anymore. Copying data from a floppy disk to a CD requires a CD burner and a blank CD-R or CD-RW. CD-RWs are rewritable, as opposed to the CD-R which can only be written to once.

Things You'll Need

• CD burner
• Blank CD-R or CD-RW

Instructions

1. Insert the floppy into your computer's floppy drive. Browse to the floppy drive on your computer and open it up.

2. Select all of the contents of the floppy disk and copy the files to your desktop or somewhere you will be able to locate them later.

3. Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW into your CD burner. There are many different software applications that you can use to burn data onto a blank CD. Windows and Mac systems include native CD burning programs, while numerous other applications can be downloaded for free from the Internet. Open up your choice of CD burning software.

4. Create a new data CD project using your CD burning software. In Windows, for example, an autoplay menu should appear when you load a writable disc. Alternatively, click "Start > My Computer (or Computer)" and double-click the optical drive's icon. Add all the files that you copied from the floppy disk onto the CD. Depending on your burning software, you may be able to configure a few different options such as the burn speed, or whether the CD should be checked after it is burned.

References

• Worldstart: Tips and Tricks: How to burn a CD

Resources

• CDBurnerXP: CD/DVD types and names