The IBM ThinkPad USB Portable Diskette Drive, manufactured by Lenovo, is similar to an external hard drive or other external device. It connects to a USB port on the IBM ThinkPad laptop and upgrades a floppy drive to a USB drive for computer readability. The USB Portable Diskette Drive can be used with Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows Millennium Edition (Me) and Windows 98. The USB Portable Diskette Drive comes bundled with a CD-Rom containing driver updates.
Physical Features
The USB Portable Diskette Drive is .65 inches high, 4.06 inches wide x 5.51" deep. It weighs .51 lbs and requires an optimum operating temperate between 39 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit. It reads and writes 1.44 MB diskette media and 720 KB. The Diskette Drive comes with a carrying case and a USB cable.
Power
The USB Portable Diskette Drive does not require external power sources such as batteries or an adapter. It is powered solely from the computer USB port where it is connected. The power requirement is a USB interface and uses 500 mA or less.
Data
The data capacity of the USB Portable Diskette Drive is 720 KB or 1.44 MB (formatted) and the USB data transfer rate is at full speed or 12 Mbps. The data transfer rate is 250 Kbits (720KB) or 500 Kbits (1.44MB). The Diskette Drive has 80 cylinders and the rotation speed is 300 rpm.
Files and Drivers
The CD-Rom with the updated drivers is part of the USB Portable Diskette Drive package. In addition, on the Lenovo Support web site (see Resources), there are two updated drivers released on January 31, 2001. This device is used only with the IBM ThinkPad laptop computer and the updated drivers enable more versions of the ThinkPad.
