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A virtual floppy disk is a virtual alternative to a traditional floppy disk and exists as a file rather than a physical disk. A virtual floppy disk behaves like a traditional floppy, except that file contents are stored as a disk image on the hard drive. It is created by copying a physical floppy disk to an image file.
The OS may recognize a virtual drive as a physical drive. The image substituted for the actual physical drive is created by using disk emulating software. However, a virtual drive may emulate any type of physical drive, including a floppy drive, hard drive, tape drive or optical CD/DVD/BD/HD DVD drives, among others. It may be created in RAM or on a hard drive.
This term is also known as a virtual drive or a RAM drive when created in RAM.
Certain software programs still require a floppy disk for installation. However, few manufacturers produce floppy drives, and very few retailers sell floppy disks. Other floppy disk uses include facilitating hard drive partitioning, accessing the command line prompt and virtual machine file transfers. Virtual floppy disks are sometimes preferred because they are easier to manage without loss or damage to the physical disk.
Software programs may be used to create a virtual floppy disk in the absence of a physical floppy disk. Examples of these programs are Diskcopy, Floppy Image Creator and Virtual Floppy Drive.