Which USB-floppy drives have 26pin FDD inside? \ VOGONS

Which USB-floppy drives have 26pin FDD inside?

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First post, by atar

Posted on 2026-01-15, 15:49

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Seen on youtube people disassembling 3.5" USB floppy drives and using 26-34pin adapters to connect the USB part to 5.25" drives. Are such 3.5" USB drives still produced?

I've looked into a random NEC model UF-0002, and seen there no distinguishable floppy interface. The electronics uses the USB as the only interface. And the drive is pretty old already: it's from 2008, whereas the videos mentioning the extractable floppy drives are also old but more recent than that.

Did anyone look into the cheap USB drives from aliexpress? What is inside?

Reply 1 of 4, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2026-01-15, 16:11

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There might have been a narrow window of desktop drives being made that were low enough power and USB becoming high enough power that made this feasible before the desktop drives were discontinued.

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Reply 2 of 4, by Bondi

Posted on 2026-01-15, 18:10

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I've seen a couple of videos on that topic, NEC-UF0001 is one of the models that is used for that purpose. Not sure if modern drives have the connector though. BTW there is one such drive for sale on Yahoo Japan right now. Don't see them often.

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Reply 3 of 4, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2026-01-15, 18:27

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Is your goal to get a newer floppy drive that can be converted to plug into a regular floppy controller?

Or are you looking to convert a USB 3.5" drive into a 5.25" USB drive?

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Reply 4 of 4, by atar

Posted on 2026-01-15, 22:35

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cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-15, 18:27:

Is your goal to get a newer floppy drive that can be converted to plug into a regular floppy controller?

My goal is a newer floppy drive for a Laptop. The USB ones have proper size, but without a proper connector the size doesn't matter.

cyclone3d wrote on 2026-01-15, 18:27:

Or are you looking to convert a USB 3.5" drive into a 5.25" USB drive?

For that I've already ordered a couple of USB->34 pin connectors. Should be easier than messing up with 26pin -> 34 pin connectors.

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