A floppy drive is the part of the computer that reads from and writes to the floppy disk . Floppy disks are also , unlike hard disks , handled and seen ; even a novice user can identify a floppy disk . Because of all these factors , the image of the floppy disk has become a metaphor for saving data , and the floppy disk symbol is ( as of 2011 ) still used by software on buttons and other user interface elements related to saving files , even though such disks are obsolete .