This is how the retro computer community does it. Instead of trying to keep an aging 30-40 year old floppy or hard drive working, people make all kinds of interface adapters to convert it to be able to use SD and Compact Flash cards. It's usually something like an AVR or PIC microcontroller that talks to the ancient computer on one end, and interfaces with the newer storage medium on the other, acting as a middleman.
I have a NES cart that does this with ROM files on an external card. As long as you make it speak the old protocol, you'll fool the machine into thinking it's using the same old equipment.
It's hilarious when some of these old machines install OSes like Windows 3.11 in like two seconds with a solid state upgrade.