June 2002
Beginner to intermediate
816 pages
32h 59m
English
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Step 6: Install the Floppy Disk Drive
Modern floppy disk drives have no user-configurable settings. All FDDs are set in hardware as B:. Whether the drive appears to the system as A: or B: depends on which cable position you attach the FDD to and how the BIOS is configured. Install the FDD, noting the following:
If the case has externally accessible 3.5” drive bay(s), use one of them for the floppy disk drive, saving the 5.25” bays for other purposes. If for some reason you must install the FDD in a 5.25” bay, you’ll need to purchase an adapter for $5 or so.
A standard FDD cable has three connector positions, one on each end and one in the middle. Between the middle connector and one end connector, a portion of the cable is twisted. The two connectors separated by the twisted portion are used to connect drives. The other end connector attaches to the motherboard FDD interface. Attaching the FDD to the connector on the far side of the twist makes that FDD A:. Connecting it to the middle connector (before the twist) makes it B:. Some cables have five connectors, with two connectors (one header-pin and one edge-card) at each drive position. These dual connectors can be used interchangeably, depending on which fits the drive. The edge-card connector was used by 5.25” FDDs, which are obsolete, but many adapters that allow a 3.5” FDD to be installed in a 5.25” drive bay use the edge-card connector.
Most recent BIOSes support only one FDD, and have a BIOS setting that allows drives A: ...
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