The older Viking Desinger 1 takes a 3.5" floppy disk, not a card. THe problem is that the floppy needs to be formatted in a specific way in order for the embroidery unit to read it, so you can't just copy & paste to a disk like most machines. So you need some software that will create it. It sure is worth the hassle though. this machine embroiders beautifully and will sew thru ANYTHING. You can hem jeans.