They may not sound like much to you, but a few years ago the only way to get content from one computer to another was to throw floppy disks. Whether they were 5 and 1/4 (5.25) or 3 and 1/2 (3.5), the absence of the Internet in general and other media made it the most used option. And although they were discarded years ago, a user you have retrieved them for the cause and used them in Windows 11.
Yes, the most current Microsoft operating system is capable of reading 5 and 1/4 floppy disks by connecting a drive to the computer. And to prove it, he has uploaded a video to YouTube where he explains the entire process in which makes use of Windows 11 and a 5 and 1/4 floppy drive.
Windows 11 with XP heart
Jrcraft has shown on his YouTube channel how it is possible to connect a 5.25 “disk drive to a Windows 11 computer. A physical medium that has been discarded for almost 30 years and that however Windows 11 is capable of supporting.
In the test, Windows 11 and is able to recognize and read natively a 5 and 1/4 floppy drive. Quite a surprise for the user due to the harsh requirements with which Windows 11 came to market. Just remember how it only works on computers with TPM 2.0 or its theoretical incompatibility with processors prior to 2017.
In order to make the floppy drive work the user made use of a PC from 2005 with an Athlon 64 X2 + processor and with a motherboard that had the IDE connectors used for the floppy drive. On paper this team could not use Windows 11. But Microsoft’s requirements can be skipped.
The 5.25 “reader unit connected via a 34-pin IDE strip and for its detection it did not require the use of additional hardware or software. A Windows 11 that is capable of reading floppy disks like Windows XP did years ago.
This disk format was the one that gave way to the popular 3 and 1/2 floppy disks., which offered greater benefits in a more compact size. Basic floppy disks when it comes to distributing all kinds of software (I still remember loading games with 50 floppy disks) that were the norm until the CD boom and the subsequent arrival of pendrives and external hard drives.