If you had a Linux live CD, you could use the dd tool to try imaging the USB drive. I'm not sure if it would work, but given the stage at which the floppy is meant to be recognised, I'd say there's a chance it would (if you're game ).
<ul>
<li>Put the temp.IMA file onto the USB drive like normal</li>
<li>Download Linux CD (Ubuntu is good), burn and boot (not on the laptop)</li>
<li>Insert flash drive. It should be autodetected (Ubuntu is good like that) but if it isnt:
<ul>
<li>Open the terminal program. You can access it from the main menu on the top bar.</li>
<li>Type "ls -al /dev/disk/by-id" and note the last result that is of the form "xxxxxxx user user /dev/disk/by-id/sdXY --> /dev/sdXY".</li>
<li>That is, the "sd" with the highest number and the highest letter.</li>
<li>While you're at it, note down all results that point to a "/dev/sdXY" device.</li>
<li>Type "su -c mkdir /mnt/usb; su -c mount /dev/sdXY /mnt/usb" where XY are the letter and number of the last sd device</li>
</ul></li><li>In the terminal program (open it if you haven't) type "cp /mnt/usb/temp.IMA ~"</li>
<li>Then type "su -c rm -rf /mnt/usb/*"</li>
<li>Then type "su -c umount /dev/sdXY"</li>
<li>Then type "su -c dd if="~/temp.IMA" of="/dev/sdXY""</li>
<li>Then try to use it like it were the required floppy disk during Windows installation.</li>
<li>If you try this method, your USB drive may require reformatting, so back up everything on it first, and we can help you reformat it to restore functionality if you require it. </li>
</ul>

EDIT: Also, if it's a year old I'd say it almost definitely does use SATA (good).