Windows 11 does not support processors older than five years: the irony is that it does support 5.25 “disks from 30 years ago

When Microsoft introduced Windows 11, it did so with the idea that it would serve as an excuse to renew our PC. Although he then slightly relaxed his chaotic requirements, one of them made it clear that you could only install it if you had a post-2017 processor. That actually ended up not being entirely true, as Microsoft herself indicated.

That requirement contrasts with something that a user recently discovered, and which is quite an irony: that user managed to connect a 5.25 “disk drive without too much trouble. This storage medium disappeared from the map almost 30 years ago, but surprisingly it is still possible to use it in Windows 11.

Don’t throw away those old 5 1/4 floppy disks

The user Jrcraft showed on his YouTube channel how he had managed to make a fairly old computer it could work with Windows 11 and with a 5 and 1/4 damper.

The computer’s processor, an Athlon 64 X2 +, was released in 2005, and while it could not theoretically be used with Windows 11, there have long been ways around Microsoft’s requirements. More important still was the motherboard used, a Gigabyte model that had the IDE connectors used for floppy drive.

Precisely to connect the user I used an old 34 pin IDE strip that is still available in online stores And that you plugged into an old 5.25 “drive. Surprisingly, the drive works without the need for additional hardware or software, and the connection is direct: it is not an external drive via USB, as you might think.

It may be that for many the 5.25 “bay of our PC has become something very different from what was offered with those floppy disks, but these storage media are still interesting especially for purposes of preservation of old apps and games.

That format was deprecated when 3.5-inch floppy disks offered higher performance and a more compact size. The floppy disks were something like “the pendrive” of the 90 until the CD boom and until those drives ended up being phased out first from Macs and then gradually from PCs and laptops.

Although in many cases floppy disks are in total disuse, in recent years we have seen cases in which this format was still being used in surprising scenarios.

For example to install critical updates on Boeing 747s or to keep certain data safe, as is still the case in the Tokyo Government, which continues to use it. Although the format in this case is also that of the 3.5 “disk, it is surprising – and even wonderful – that these old rockers are still supported on Windows 11.