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When I refresh my computer, or each time I navigate from local disks back to my computer, my floppy disk driver makes a loud noise, and its green led blinks. I'd like to stop it from making noise, however, I don't want to disable it (soft or hard).

Why does this happen?

And what can I do to prevent it?

P.S. I'm completely aware that floppy disks are really rare today, with nearly zero functionality. See Picture: floppy

Omid1989
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  • Wow. It's been almost a decade since I saw a floppy disk drive. Do you actually use the drive? There are 'softer' ways of disabling it rather than physically unplugging it, and this might be suitable for you. – ChrisInEdmonton Apr 06 '16 at 13:07
  • Thanks @ChrisInEdmonton for your comment. This PC I'm using is 14 years old :D But I'm not using the floppy disk often. However, I don't want to disable it, be it soft or hard! – Omid1989 Apr 06 '16 at 13:10
  • What's a floppy disk? lol. – Moab Apr 06 '16 at 16:52
  • @Moab, A floppy disk is the 3d-printed version of the save icon! (https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSpReF0zZmnHVYZLGaJ3LIuo-D7-CjhqxeGboLRPa8pC2vnIJv2) – Omid1989 Apr 07 '16 at 03:47
  • If it didn't produce noise in the past then you have to options: 1. It's broken now, you need to replace it (I doubt you would find anybody repairing it). 2. Something has changed in your pc, if you're lucky, you can find a restore point without noise. – Máté Juhász Apr 07 '16 at 04:02

1 Answers1

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In order to detect if there's a floppy disk in the drive, the drive seeks. This is the light and noise you are experiencing. When you navigate from your local disks to your computer, Windows Explorer checks to see if you inserted a disk.

Unfortunately, there's no way to prevent this behaviour short of disabling the floppy drive. Some drives are quieter than others, though I'm not sure many companies still sell drives these days.

If you are willing to disable the drive, you can often do so in your BIOS. This is a lot easier than physically unplugging the drive. Alternatively, you can (or at least, used to be able to) buy external floppy drives. You could leave this unplugged until you needed to use a floppy disk.

ChrisInEdmonton
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  • Thanks @ChrisInEdmonton for your detailed answer. Actually, I don't remember I had heard these noises every time I navigated in my computer, in the past. I'm not sure. It would be great if we find a solution for stopping the noise, without disabling the drive. – Omid1989 Apr 06 '16 at 15:03
  • I didn't find any solution, and finally disabled the floppy drive from device manager. – Omid1989 Apr 07 '16 at 15:37