How to Change a Floppy Disk to USB

Copy data from a floppy disk to a USB flash drive.

At one point in time, the floppy disk served as the go-to portable storage device. However, the disks are easily damaged and only hold slightly more than 1 MB worth of data. Because of this, floppy disks have been replaced with USB flash drives. These drives often hold several gigabytes worth of data and are protected in solid, plastic casings, so it is far harder to damage the make of the flash drive.

Things You'll Need

• Floppy disk drive
• USB flash drive

Instructions

1. Insert the floppy disk into the floppy disk drive.

2. Click "Start," "My Computer" and double-click the "A:" drive icon. A window appears with all of the files saved on the floppy disk. Leave this window open for the time being.

3. Connect the USB flash drive to one of the USB ports on your computer.

4. Return to My Computer and double-click the removable device icon. A window representing the USB drive appears on the computer.

5. Click and drag over the files saved in the floppy disk. This highlights all of the files in the floppy disk. Click on one of the highlighted files and drag it into the open USB window. All of the files from the floppy disk drive copy onto the USB flash drive.

6. Once the files have finished copying over, close out the open windows, right-click the removable device icon and choose "Eject." When the icon disappears, you may disconnect the flash drive from your computer.

References

• Wellesley College: How to Use a USB Flash Drive