Bootable solid state floppy disk drive
View Patent ↗A solid-state floppy disk drive is disclosed. In one embodiment, a solid-state floppy disk drive may include a non-volatile memory and a connector for coupling the solid-state floppy disk drive to a computer system. The non-volatile memory may store instructions and data which may allow the solid-state floppy disk drive to emulate a mechanical floppy disk drive having a bootable floppy disk inserted into it. The computer system may be booted using the solid-state floppy disk drive.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a solid state non-volatile memory, wherein the solid state non-volatile memory stores first program instructions which emulate a plurality of floppy disks, wherein at least one of the floppy disks is a bootable floppy disk, wherein the solid state non-volatile memory further stores second program instructions which are executable to emulate switching among the plurality of floppy disks; and
a connector electrically coupled to the solid state non-volatile memory for coupling the apparatus to a computer system.
2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of floppy disks emulates a bootable floppy disk.
3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the solid state non-volatile memory comprises a plurality of partitions, wherein each of the partitions emulates at least one of the plurality of floppy disks.
4. The apparatus as recited in claim 3 , wherein at least one of the partitions comprises a boot sector and an operating system, wherein the at least one of the partitions emulates a bootable floppy disk.
5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4 , wherein the at least one of the partitions has a memory size corresponding to a standard format floppy diskette.
6. The apparatus as recited in claim 4 , wherein the at least one of the partitions has a memory size of 1.44 MB.
7. The apparatus as recited in claim 3 , wherein at least one of the partitions comprises a boot sector and an operating system and emulates a bootable floppy disk, wherein the at least one of the partitions comprises the second program instructions which are executable to emulate switching among the plurality of floppy disks.
8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the apparatus emulates a floppy disk drive which successively stores respective ones of the emulated plurality of floppy disks in a predetermined sequence.
9. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the second program instructions which are executable to emulate switching among the plurality of floppy disk drives comprise a disk swap utility program.
10. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first program instructions are configured to emulate a file allocation table (FAT).
11. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the solid state non-volatile memory is an electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).
12. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the solid state non-volatile memory is a flash memory.
13. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the connector is a universal serial bus (USB) connector.
14. The apparatus as recited in claim 13 , wherein the connector is configured to couple the apparatus to a control/bulk/interrupt (CBI) USB device controller.
15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14 , wherein the apparatus emulates a USB floppy disk drive which successively stores respective ones of the emulated plurality of floppy disks in a predetermined sequence.
16. A method, comprising:
coupling an apparatus to an interface of a computer system, wherein the apparatus comprises a solid state non-volatile memory, wherein the solid state non-volatile memory stores program instructions;
executing the program instructions on the solid state non-volatile memory, wherein said executing comprises emulating a plurality of floppy disks being loaded successively on a floppy disk drive.
17. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein said emulating comprises at least one of the plurality of floppy disks emulating a bootable floppy disk.
18. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein the solid state non-volatile memory comprises a plurality of partitions, wherein said emulating comprises each of the partitions emulating at least one of the plurality of floppy disks, wherein said emulating comprises the at least one of the partitions emulating a bootable floppy disk.
19. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein said emulating comprises the apparatus emulating a floppy disk drive which successively stores respective ones of the plurality of floppy disks in a predetermined sequence.
20. The method as recited in claim 16 , wherein at least a portion of the program instructions comprise a disk swap utility program, wherein said executing comprises executing the disk swap utility program to swap among the plurality of floppy disks in the predetermined sequence.
21. A computer readable solid state non-volatile memory medium, comprising:
first program instructions which are executable to emulate a plurality of floppy disks, wherein at least one of the floppy disks is a bootable floppy disk;
second program instructions which are executable to emulate switching among the plurality of floppy disks;
wherein the computer readable solid state non-volatile memory medium emulates a floppy disk drive which successively stores respective ones of the plurality of floppy disks in a predetermined sequence.