Editing Floppy disk (section)

===Usage in the 21st century===
[[File:Floppy hardware emulator.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Floppy disk hardware emulator|floppy hardware emulator]], same size as a 3½-inch drive, provides a USB interface to the user.]]

In 2002, most manufacturers still provided floppy disk drives as standard equipment to meet user demand for [[Sneakernet|file transfer]] and an emergency boot device, as well as for the general secure feeling of having the familiar device.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Spring |first=Tom |date=2002-07-24 |title=What Has Your Floppy Drive Done for You Lately? PC makers are still standing by floppy drives despite vanishing consumer demand |url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/103037/what_has_your_floppy_drive_done_for_you_lately.html |magazine=[[PC World]] |access-date=2012-04-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224033044/http://www.pcworld.com/article/103037/what_has_your_floppy_drive_done_for_you_lately.html |archive-date=2011-12-24}}</ref> By this time, the retail cost of a floppy drive had fallen to around $20 ({{Inflation|US|20|2002|fmt=eq}}), so there was little financial incentive to omit the device from a system. Subsequently, enabled by the widespread support for USB flash drives and BIOS boot, manufacturers and retailers progressively reduced the availability of floppy disk drives as standard equipment. In February 2003, [[Dell]], one of the leading personal computer vendors, announced that floppy drives would no longer be pre-installed on [[Dell Dimension]] home computers, although they were still available as a selectable option and purchasable as an aftermarket [[Original equipment manufacturer|OEM]] add-on.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2905953.stm |title=R.I.P. Floppy Disk |work=[[BBC News]] |date=2003-04-01 |access-date=2011-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216235741/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2905953.stm |archive-date=2009-02-16 |url-status=live}}</ref> By January 2007, only 2% of computers sold in stores contained built-in floppy disk drives.<ref name="PCW">{{cite news |last=Derbyshire |first=David |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1540984/Floppy-disks-ejected-as-demand-slumps.html |title=Floppy disks ejected as demand slumps |publisher=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=2007-01-30 |access-date=2011-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522070711/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1540984/Floppy-disks-ejected-as-demand-slumps.html |archive-date=2011-05-22 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Floppy disks are used for emergency boots in aging systems lacking support for other [[boot disk|bootable media]] and for [[BIOS]] updates, since most BIOS and [[firmware]] programs can still be executed from [[Boot disk#Boot floppies|bootable floppy disks]]. If BIOS updates fail or become corrupt, floppy drives can sometimes be used to perform a recovery. The music and theatre industries still use equipment requiring standard floppy disks (e.g. synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, sequencers, and [[lighting control console|lighting consoles]]). Industrial automation equipment such as programmable [[Machine industry|machinery]] and [[industrial robot]]s may not have a USB interface; data and programs are then loaded from disks, damageable in industrial environments. This equipment may not be replaced due to cost or requirement for continuous availability; existing software emulation and [[virtualization]] do not solve this problem because a customized operating system is used that has no [[device driver|drivers]] for USB devices. [[Floppy disk hardware emulator|Hardware floppy disk emulators]] can be made to interface [[floppy-disk controller]]s to a USB port that can be used for flash drives.

In May 2016, the United States [[Government Accountability Office]] released a report that covered the need to upgrade or replace legacy computer systems within federal agencies. According to this document, old [[IBM Series/1]] minicomputers running on [[#8.0|8-inch floppy disk]]s are still [[nuclear command and control|used to coordinate]] "the operational functions of the United States' nuclear forces". The government planned to update some of the technology by the end of the 2017 fiscal year.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/677436.pdf |title=Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems |date=May 2016 |website=Report to Congressional Requesters |publisher=United States Government Accountability Office |access-date=2016-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602113649/http://www.gao.gov/assets/680/677436.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-02 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="thehill-20160525">{{cite news |first=Mario |last=Trujillo |work=The Hill |date=2016-05-25 |url=https://thehill.com/policy/technology/281191-us-nuclear-emergency-messaging-system-still-uses-floppy-disks/ |title=US nuclear emergency messaging system still uses floppy disks |access-date=2016-05-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529100524/http://thehill.com/policy/technology/281191-us-nuclear-emergency-messaging-system-still-uses-floppy-disks |archive-date=2016-05-29}}</ref> Use in Japan's government ended in 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Swift |first1=Rocky |title=Japan declares victory in effort to end government use of floppy disks |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/japan-declares-victory-effort-end-government-use-floppy-disks-2024-07-03/ |publisher=Reuters |date=3 July 2024}}</ref>

[[Windows 10]] and [[Windows 11]] no longer come with drivers for floppy disk drives (both internal and external). However, they will still support them with a separate device driver provided by Microsoft.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thewindowsclub.com/use-floppy-disk-windows-10 |title=How to use Floppy Disk on Windows 10 |date=2016-03-09 |access-date=2019-06-11 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117134806/https://www.thewindowsclub.com/use-floppy-disk-windows-10 |archive-date=2018-11-17}}</ref>

The [[British Airways]] [[Boeing 747-400]] fleet, up to its retirement in 2020, used 3½-inch floppy disks to load avionics software.<ref>{{cite news |last=Warren |first=Tom |date=August 11, 2020 |title=Boeing 747s still get critical updates via floppy disks: A rare look inside a 20-year-old airliner |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/11/21363122/boeing-747s-floppy-disc-updates-critical-software |website=[[The Verge]] |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=2021-02-26}}</ref>

Sony, who had been in the floppy disk business since 1983, ended domestic sales of all six 3½-inch floppy disk models as of March 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sony.jp/rec-media/info/20100423.html |title=Notice of Termination of Sales of 3.5-inch Floppy Disks|date=April 23, 2010|access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref> This has been viewed by some as the end of the floppy disk.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2010/04/sony-announces-the-death-of-the-floppy-disk/#:~:text=Fully%2012%20years%20after%20the,that%20it%20took%20so%20long. |title=Sony Announces the Death of the Floppy Disk|last=SORREL|first=CHARLIE |magazine=Wired |date=April 26, 2010|access-date=September 14, 2022}}</ref> While production of new floppy disk media has ceased,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/floppy_disk_business/ |title='Last man standing in the floppy disk business' reckons his company has 4 years left |last=Robinson |first=Dan |date=September 20, 2022 |publisher=The Register|access-date=September 23, 2022}}</ref> sales and uses of this media from inventories is expected to continue until at least 2026.<ref name="Til2026">{{cite web|url=https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/we-spoke-with-the-last-person-standing-in-the-floppy-disk-business/ |title=We Spoke With the Last Person Standing in the Floppy Disk Business|last1=Hilkmann|first1=Niek |last2=Walskaar|first2=Thomas |work=Eye on Design |date=September 12, 2022|access-date=September 14, 2022|quote=Turns out the obsolete floppy is way more in demand than you'd think. ... I expect to be in this business for at least another four years.}}</ref>