How Does a Floppy Start-Up Disk Work

A floppy start-up disk contains the basic operating system that allows a computer to boot-up when it has a blank or corrupted hard drive. Without an operating system, a computer does not know what to do once it is powered on. Most floppy start-up disks are 3 1/2 inches in size and made of a hard outer shell that protects the magnetic medium inside.

A Short History of Floppy Start-up Disks

When personal computers were first introduced, the operating system was loaded into the computer via a floppy disk. A small EPROM chip was in the computer that told the system to look for the floppy. The user would load the operating system and then use another, separate disk to load the application program to be used.

Advances in Floppy Start-up Disks

As technology grew, floppy start-up disks were used once when you loaded the operating system on the hard drive. The only time the disk was needed was when you either reformatted the hard drive or the system became corrupt. Other uses for a floppy start-up disk included flashing the BIOS with an update or to load specific drivers for the computer.

Why Every System Needs a Start-up Disk

Every version of Windows, since Windows 95, has offered the ability to make a start-up disk so that diagnostics could be performed on a failing hard drive or system. By booting the computer with the start-up disk, the user can attempt to repair corrupted files or recover important documents from the hard drive before reformatting and reloading the operating system.

The Floppy Drive

Some newer computers no longer come with the floppy drive installed. To rectify this, an external USB floppy can be purchased or the user can add an inexpensive floppy drive to the system. All versions of Windows support floppy drive and disk technology, although with Windows Vista a start-up disk is not necessary.

Making a Start-Up Disk Work

In order to read the operating system from a floppy start-up disk, the computer BIOS has to know to look for the drive. This is a simple change that can be done when the computer is first turned on. Enter the BIOS area and make sure that the floppy drive, usually Drive A, is included in the boot sequence for the machine. To find out how to enter the BIOS of the computer, the user may have to consult the manual if the key code command is not shown when booting up.