Floppy disk drive

Most embroidery machines came with a floppy disk drive as the method to input designs even as late as the mid 2000s. A floppy disk, or diskette, is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles. They are read and written by a floppy disk drive (FDD).

By 2010, computer motherboards were rarely manufactured with floppy drive support; 3 1⁄2 " floppies could be used as an external USB drive, but 5 1⁄4 ", 8 ", and non-standard drives could only be handled by old equipment.

While floppy disk drives still have some limited uses, especially with legacy industrial computer equipment, they have been superseded by data storage methods with much greater capacity, such as USB flash drives, portable external hard disk drives, optical discs, memory cards, and computer networks.

Legacy industrial equipment that is still in operation today often uses a FloppyToUSB device for more efficient data transfer.

The manual for the Tajima Neo II built in 2002 states:

• Do not put the floppy disk near magnets or a TV set.
• Do not expose the floppy disk to excessive heat, humidity, or direct sunlight.
• Do not place objects on the floppy disk.
• Do not stack floppy disks to store.
• Floppy disks do not last eternally. Data must be copied to backup floppy disks for storage.
• Do not use damaged or deformed floppy disk, otherwise the floppy disk drive could be damaged.
• Clean the floppy disk drive once a month using a cleaning disk. If the head is foul, trouble to reading/writing data could occur.
• If a floppy disk is inserted impetuously, pressing the eject button may fail to eject the floppy disk. This could cause the floppy disk to be damaged and, in addition, the floppy disk drive could be damaged.