Floppy disk emulator
A floppy disk emulator is a common floppy disk drive upgrade in which a device that emulates a mechanical floppy disk drive replaces the legacy floppy drive. The floppy disk drive emulator typically uses USB flash memory, and the new drive is typically fully compatible.
History
Embroidery machines built from the 1970s until the mid 2000s often used a floppy disk drive to input data to the machine. When compared to newer storage technologies, floppy disks are fragile and prone to dysfunction. When converting an older disk-based medium with a newer storage medium, a common embroidery machine upgrade is to replace the floppy disk drive with a floppy disk emulator.
Floppy disks and floppy disk drives have been phasing out of production, but replacing older, industrial machinery and working systems with newer storage technology is often far more expensive that the floppy drive upgrade option.
See also
FloppyToUSB
FloppyToUSB is a USB upgrade that emulates a floppy disk drive. The device looks has the same form factor as a floppy disk drive but instead of having a port for the floppy it has a USB port for inserting a USB thumb drive. The device reads off the USB stick and the emulator talks to the computer as if it was a normal floppy drive. This are very popular amongst older, very expensive industrial or commercial type equipment.