28.6 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: and B: to be swapped.
This is important if the FDD cable supplied with your motherboard has
only two connectors and no twist, as do some we have seen. In that
situation, you can use the supplied cable to connect the drive, but
make sure to use BIOS Setup to swap A: and
B: so that the installed drive appears as
A:.
Once you have determined where to install the drive and which
connector you will use, slide the drive into the bay. Some drives and
cases require that the FDD be installed from the front of the case,
and others from the back. FDDs are inexpensive devices, and
manufacturers don't spend much money on amenities
such as shrouded connectors, so it's often easier to
connect the data and power cables to the drive before you slide it
into the bay.
Although power cables are keyed, it can be difficult to line up the
connection after the drive is installed. If the power cable is too
short to allow connecting it to the drive while the drive is outside
the case, you will have to connect it after the drive is installed.
Depending on where the drive is mounted, it may be difficult to see
the connector with the drive in place. If that's
true for your system, connect the power cable to the drive
temporarily to determine how it should be oriented, e.g.,
"red wire toward the data cable."
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