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
