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How can I read 3.5 inch floppy disks with a MacBook Air (M1)?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6
Very likely the 1.44 MB variety. Do not expect to read old 800KB floppies from Classic MacOS. Note that only after you insert a compatible floppy will the drive image appear on the Desktop, and only then if you set Finder Preferences > General to:
Unfortunately, such searches have thus far produced inaccurate results. A disk drive that simply proclaims “Mac compatibility” fails to inform prospective buyers what operating systems are supports.
Very unlikely you will see a product advertising support for Big Sur as many of these floppy drives remain old manufacture, and Apple shipped no Macs after 1998 (Classis MacOS) with floppy drives. I happen to have one here that still works on macOS 11.6 that was originally purchased for my 1999 iMac DV SE.
I’ve read that Big Sur can accommodate 1.4MB floppies.
This article is very comprehensive and you may find the information you’re after.
You'll have to find a compatible usb - Floppy Disk reader.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=usb+floppy+disk+reader
Reading floppy disks
