NRG Tech External USB 1.44 MB 2X Floppy Disk Drive

First of all .. I bought this USB external floppy drive to use with my new laptop computer. It cannot read a floppy disk in Windows 7 64bit, It cannot read a floppy in Linux Ubuntu 14.04 64bit, It cannot read a floppy in Windows XP 32 bit. This USB Floppy Disk Drive .. (NRG Tech External USB 1.44 MB 2x Floppy Disk Drive) will not read a floppy disk at all. When a disk is inserted and the drive is accessed, Windows (all) reports the floppy is not formatted .. Would you like to format it now? You can say yes and the little format window will come up and then you get a message - "Windows was unable to complete the format." Linux cannot access anything on the floppy. It keeps on trying, but never succeeds. The drive shows up in Windows and Linux, the light comes on when the drive is accessed. I also tried this drive on another laptop with windows 7 32 bit and it failed again to read a floppy. I tested all the floppy disk in 2 different internal floppy drives. The floppy disk do contain data and they all read fine in the internal drives. I guess I jumped to quick and purchased the wrong brand / wrong usb external floppy drive. I thought the 5 star reviews, would mean it would work fine out of the box. Sadly that isn't the case. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do this weekend with the new drive and the laptop, but now I have to try and find a decent drive that actually works! Keep in mind when you are looking for an external floppy drive: What will it read? I have a mix of floppy disk. Both: 3.5 - 720kbs & 3.5 - 1.44 kbs. Some USB external floppy drives will read 720 ds/dd disk and some will Not! You should try and find out if the drive you are looking at - reads both. (720KB - 3.5" = DS/DD & 1.44MB - 3.5" = DS/HD). I have lots of both, So I'm going to get one "eventually" that works and reads both. Update: I received a email reply from from NRGTech. (After emailing them as they requested.) They were very concerned about the negative feedback and informed me that I received a "free" 2 year warranty with the drive. They pretty much said to give them time to deal with the problem before leaving negative feed back. I've decided to return the drive for a refund. I will update this review when I get (buy) a new drive. I will provide information on what I get, what it reads, writes and formats, so Stay Tuned!Note to reviewers: Saying it works doesn't tell anyone much. The reviews of this USB floppy drive is a good example. Look at the reviews. What floppy disk can the drive read? Can it read a 720 kbs ds/dd? or just 1.44 kbs ds/hd? Can it format a disk? On what type of machine are you using it? On a Mac? On a PC? On a Linux machine? What Operating System is the computer using? Is it XP, ME, Vista, 7 or 8.1? Mac OS 9.2.2, Mac OS X v10.0, Mac OS X v10.5? Linux Ubuntu? Fedora Linux? PC Linux? Linux Mint? System details are very important .. Just saying!

I bought this in preparation for an upcoming project for a client who still runs some DOS applications. The day will come when the computer this is running on will die, and I'll end up having to load up a VM on a new system off of floppies. As such I've done some testing, but not yet used in a live fire event.Pros:1.) I have tested this device plugged into 2 different Windows PC's and a Mac. Each recognized it as a floppy drive and would read and write to a disk.2.) OS's tested were Win7, Win8.1, Linux Mint 17, OSX 10.6.8. Each operated as expected.3.) Self contained unit, powered from USB connection.4.) Cable length of 22" from the connector to the drive is long enough for situations where the USB has to plug into the back of the case and the drive pulled around to the front.Cons:None yetMy only other observation is that the first floppy I stuck in the drive could not be read. I'll cut the device some slack because it was a Windows 3.0 floppy from 1990, so 24 years in a box have taken their toll. Heck even when 3.5" floppies were cutting edge they were not the most reliable things to deal with. The other disks I tried worked without a problem.

This is my FOURTH drive I've bought since April. I have Windows 7 Professional and this one worked perfectly right out of the box. I can tell already, this one is a keeper so if you stop here, STOP HERE because you don't need to torture yourself looking any further.It's an attractive unit, it sits on top of my desktop and I've got it plugged into a front USB. I am so impressed with this NRG Tech External.UPDATE 12/9/2014: Had to come back to say it again that I am so pleased with this external. As I already mentioned, when I need to use it I just plug it into a USB on the front of my monitor, when done, I pull the plug out, I don't keep it plugged in. THIS UNIT IS WONDERFUL!

Absolute JUNK! Same experience as other 1 star buyers. I took a chance because of the few good reviews, but same experience. It doesn't work on ANY of the old diskettes or BRAND NEW diskettes purchased. I tried multiple computers with the same outcome. Typical error that the diskettes need to be reformatted, but then when you try on the new ones, it won't even format. It is supposed to work on Windows 7 64-bit, which is what I have, but useless.This is the second brand with the same results. Made in China and the quality, or lack thereof, show it.Buy at your own risk, but junk.

Worked perfectly! Plugged it in, put an old floppy in, and it came right up. I had put family emails on floppies in 2000 to 2002 and now we have a little family history to look at. Thank you technology.

Was able to read a single disk once. tried this drive on multiple systems using multiple disks to no avail. checked disks on an old tower running 7 with an internal drive, and confirmed disks are good. This drive just didn't work out.

I can now recover all of my lost photos on discs. It works great and I am soooooo Happy.

Works with both Windows XP and 7. Very handy and inexpensive for anyone with old floppies.