We know that the iPad’s dock hole is pretty much a USB port in disguise, and that the camera connection kit is also a stealth adapter which lets you plug in all kinds of USB accessories and use them.
But I never even thought that it might be possible to import photos from a floppy disk this way. Luckily for us, Niles Mitchell wasn’t so short sighted: He grabbed an old USB floppy drive and hooked it up.
Yeah, it’s slow, but what do you expect? The trick is to make the iPad think that it’s actually connected to a camera, just like you do when you want to connect a had drive or USB stick containing pictures. You need to format the disk as FAT32, create a folder at root level called DCIM, and put the pictures in there.
I have tried this in the past and had varying success. Niles offers a tip which should help: the file names of the pictures have to be exactly eight characters long.
And it works for a floppy, too. You’ll need to connect it to a hub of course: there’s no way the iPad will provide enough power to drive the drive, and you’ll also need a) small photo files and b) lots of patience.
Useful? Nope. Awesome? Oh yes.