Add floppy to Dell?

[lenjack]

I have a new bottom of the line Dell desktop for secondary use. It does not have a floppy drive and I would like to add an internal one. It appears that it is only necessary to come up with some sort of internal support for the drive as there is nothing there now. Anyone done this, and if so, how?

 

[ScrapSilicon]

possibly

 

[UsandThem]

What's a floppy drive?😉

Seriously, I don't really know what to suggest for support. What do need a floppy drive for anyways?

 

[Shadow Conception]

Get an external USB one. That's what I use for my Dell.

 

[UsandThem]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
possibly

Thats for a 5.25 drive bay. He needs some kind of floppy cage that is compatible with his Dell setup, and since they all mount differently, it might be quite a chore to add one. I would suggest ordering one from Dell, but you probably will pay an outrageous amount.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: UsandThem

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
possibly

Thats for a 5.25 drive bay. He needs some kind of floppy cage that is compatible with his Dell setup, and since they all mount differently, it might be quite a chore to add one. I would suggest ordering one from Dell, but you probably will pay an outrageous amount.

I suppose a 3.5 inch floppy drive wouldn't fit into a 5.25 Dell bay with the aforementioned brackets. Actually might have to do some finesseing ..frt view b110 nm..the bay

 

[jackschmittusa]

If an optical drive will fit, I'm sure that the adapter will fit too. They used to be used all the time for Zip drives, and are still used for things like card readers and front ports.

A more suitable adapter is here:

adapter

Look around, I've seen these for as little as $3us.

 

[eLiu]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
possibly

I have a couple of these things. They work just fine; not the best solution ever, but for a buck, who can complain?

And yeah good call on the floppy 🙂 I'll never build a computer without one (at least until they become unuseable)

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: lenjack
I have a new bottom of the line Dell desktop for secondary use. It does not have a floppy drive and I would like to add an internal one. It appears that it is only necessary to come up with some sort of internal support for the drive as there is nothing there now. Anyone done this, and if so, how?

Does the motherboard even have a floppy drive connector?

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, If your motherboard has a connector for the floppy you only need the floppy and the cable. All other support is already in the OS and DOS. Floppy connector is 36 pins flat cable with a twist between the two end connectors. The A: drive goes on the last connector from the Mother board. You probably will have to enable A: in the BIOS SETUP. It's the 1.44 MB Floppy. If the floppy lite comes on and stays on you have the cable on upside down. Usually the stripe on the edge of the cable goes toward the power connector. Don't have a floppy disk in it first time or reversed cable will blow the floppy.
Good Luck, Jim

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: UsandThem
What's a floppy drive?😉

Seriously, I don't really know what to suggest for support. What do need a floppy drive for anyways?

That's right this is the 21st century.
Floppies are so last millinium😉

 

[lenjack]

thanks all. there is a flopppy connector on the board. I'll probably use the rail adapters (I have several) in the spare 5 1/4 bay.

My question was not do I need a floppy...I've already decided I want one...didn't order it with the comp cause I didn't want to spend $30 on a floppy (I have several of them).

 

[allanon1965]

I have a dell floppy with cage, brand new....10 bucks shipped, its yours...you will find it difficult to make one work without the dell cage...not saying it cant be done, but its not as clean and nice...LMK