Tendak USB Floppy Disk Drive, Floppy Disk Reader 3.5 inch Portable USB External 1.44MB FDD Diskette Drive for Windows 11/10/8/7/2000/XP/Vista PC Laptop, Plug and Play (Black)

I was trying to recover data from floppies to my Windows 10 Home machine. I ended up trying five different devices and am posting my review to let you know my results.First, all five devices worked PERFECTLY on my Windows 7 Pro laptop. However, when plugging in to my Windows 10 machine, three of them would only sit and spin with the drive light on, even though they were recognized as drives by Win10.After a little looking, I found that the devices that worked on my Windows 10 machine identified themselves and used the driver for the Y-E Data USB floppy, while the devices that just sat and spun identified themselves and used the driver for a TEAC floppy drive. So there must be a little difference in the internal configuration of the drive that is causing the issue.I tried 5 devices and found that the Tendak USB Floppy Disk Drive worked perfectly, as did the Esynic USB Floppy Drive . Both identified as Y-E Data USB floppy drives. When they were plugged in, they worked smoothly and quietly. It was a toss-up which one to choose to keep, but I eventually went with the Tendak because it seemed slightly quieter and faster, but that was really subjective. The Tendak also had more information such as a warranty card and information on how to contact support, while the Esynic box was empty. As far as quality of the drive, they seemed identical. If I had needed more than one drive, I would have kept them both.For me, initially the Sabrent External USB 1.44 MB 2x Floppy Disk Drive (FL-UDRV) seemed the nicest. The box was glossy with information covering it, you'd expect to see this sitting on a shelf in a big box store. (All other drives came in plain brown boxes). There were touches of quality in how the drive was packed, the box was made to fit it with a area for the cable to fit in and a dust cover over the USB end to keep it clean. It came with a beautiful guide to using the floppy, including information like the write-protect switch and not removing a floppy while the drive light is on, that newer users would not be familiar with. They also had a support phone number, and the person who answered seemed to be an American. Unfortunately, this was one of the devices that would not work on my Windows 10 machine. It identified as a TEAC USB Floppy drive, and when plugged in it simply had the drive light turn on and continuously seek for data. It worked perfectly in my Windows 7 machine, and was very fast and smooth. If I hadn't needed it working on Windows 10 as well, I would have kept this one in a heartbeat. From other reviews, it appears that it works on other people's Windows 10 machines, so I'd recommend you at least try it.The last two devices were both from Chuanganzhuo. 3.5" USB External Floppy Disk Drive Portable 1.44 MB FDD for PC Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8/10,for Mac,No Extra Driver Required,Plug and Play,Black and the 3.5" USB External Floppy Disk Drive Portable 1.44 MB FDD for PC Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Windows 7/8/10 +Dustproof Scratch-Resistant External Bag Case,No External Driver,Plug and Play. Both devices worked fine on Windows 7 Pro, but on Windows 10 Home they immediately had the drive light up and started a very loud seek process that never finished. These devices were louder than any other drive I tested, but did work just fine under Windows 7. Both used the TEAC USB Floppy driver as well.My conclusion: If you are lucky enough to be one of those whose computers will use the Sabrent External USB 1.44 MB 2x Floppy Disk Drive (FL-UDRV), get that drive. It is quality. If you can't, either the Tendak USB Floppy Disk Drive or the Esynic USB Floppy Drive will probably make you happy.

My grandfather recently passed away due to health issues, and my family and I are currently going through my grandparent's home where we're getting ready to sell their house. My grandmother recently moved into an independent living home, and we're going through my grandfather's things as to what to keep, and what to get rid of in preparations to sell the house. While going through their things, My family and I discovered 50+ some floppy disks that my grandfather used from the early 90s to early 2000s. My grandfather was a man of many suprises, so imagine my parents and I's eyes when we saw these floppy disks hiding in my grandfather's office's closet!Besides my uncle working in IT, I am pretty much the only tech-saavy person that my parents has access to for certain things when they need help with technology. My mother put me in charge of handling my grandfather's floppy disks to recover what was saved on the disks. I was a bit concerned about if anything was readable, or if the disks were even going to work on a modern computer. Everybody was telling me that the disks might be formatted for a PC Windows 7 (or Windows 10) and that it might not work on a modern computer. After reaching out to my Uncle who works in IT, and asking for advice on macrumors.com (a forum where people ask other people who uses Apple products for advice and help on software, upgrades, etc.) and they recommended me to purchase the Tendak floppy disk drive as it was compatible for Windows, AND Mac computers. So I decided to listen to them and purchase the Tendak floppy disk.I was very anxious to see if the adapter disk would be able to read the disks on my Apple 27" 5k retina, 2019 iMac desktop which currently uses Monterey as the OS (Operating software). When I the floppy disk arrived, I immediately opened it up, plugged it into my iMac desktop computer, and put the first floppy disk in and it worked! The floppy disk was completely readable, I was able to copy the files and transfer them to my external harddrive and save them. My grandfather was a scientist and an engineer, so there were some files inside the floppy disk that I couldn't open/read such as a .hlg, .swh, .wpd, and .plg files. I learned that .hlg, .swh and .plg files are old technology and there isn't really a software to open those type of files anymore. But I was able to recover 95% of the files saved on the floppy disks, and I was completely shocked that I was able to on a modern 2019 Apple iMac computer. I was extremely excited and happy to see the photos that my grandfather took, and saved on the floppy disks because my family never seen many of these photos before. So, to be able to share these memories that my grandfather took, is probably the last precious gift that he kept and given to us. I cried happy tears when I saw the photos. Thank you, Tendak for making the floppy disk adapter compatible with Mac computers, because otherwise I would never be able to see and save any of these photos!

I had several 3.5" floppies lying around that I wanted to check before tossing them. Thanks to the guidance of a great review on here that compared 5 different USB floppy drives, I purchased this one. Interestingly, that review claimed those drives that utilized a TEAC driver would not work well on Windows 10.I have a desktop running Windows 7 Pro so I connected it to a USB port directly on the computer case and ran through my floppy tests. This drive in fact showed up as a TEAC floppy, which is different from what the prior review said. Perhaps the hardware or USB internals changed since that reviewer's purchase.Regardless, it read the file directories okay for the most part, but then had a lot of difficulty pulling the data off the drive. I then tried it on a Win 10 Pro system, and surprisingly, it worked much better, with good reads off all the disks I tried. Perhaps it was the type of port I had it connected to, the desktop has a very old mobo with occasional quirky USB ports.Another reviewer on here disassembled their drive and found inside an old floppy drive with some USB connectors. I guess that makes sense as what factory in 2023 would be making new floppy drives? So perhaps your compatibility will ultimately depend on the old drive they pulled and the USB interface.