Floppy drives

Gnu

OSNN Addict
Joined
20 Jun 2004
Messages
129
Good li'l article. In my house, floppy drives are pretty much a dinosaur -- only one PC on the network actually has one, and it never gets used. I really don't know anyone who uses 3.5" floppies as a file distribution medium anymore, and the only way they would really be missed these days is as a boot method in emergencies (and I use CD-Rs for that).

I really don't see MS's phasing out of floppy drives in the MS spec as a real concern for most people, even computing novices. Since XP ships with 99% of new PCs, and the install CD-ROM is a fairly full-featured bootable rescue disc, I see no real reason to carry the floppy torch into the 21st century. 3.5" drives are underpowered and horribly unreliable, and they deserve a swift death.
 
I agree with you Gnu , i cant remember the last time i used my floppy drive .. or my ZIP for that matter either

CD's are the way to go , i bet in a few years we will be saying this about CD's :)

and Using DVD disks

:p
 
Still use both, especially zips in uni, tho if a file is only a meg or so , I will just email it to myself...more secure and frankly, easier.
 
Floppies are useful

I couldn't live with out that little floppy drive. I need it for servicing, repair and recovery. I can boot to dos and do alot of work that I can't do if the OS is down. I know I couldn't do my job with out one. The only saving grace for me is the USB drives. If a new computer doesn't have a floppy it'll have USB. I'll have to by one real soon, my company will never pay for it.
 
Floppy drives have been almost replaced by email.
But there are times when internet isn't available and I still
occasionally need to use the floppy to bring a file home
from work for example.

If the floppy drive IS removed, PC's are going to have to
come with a standard writeable removable media of some
sort to replace it.

I think cd-burners standard is the way to go (replace
cd-roms) as computers having been coming with standard
readers for them for almost a decade, and most users these
days are going to want a cd-r anyway.

But for FULL backwards compatibility, maybe all pc's
should ship standard with "super floppys" (LS-120 aren't
they called?)
These IDE drives take 120meg disks and well as the
standard old 1.44 floppies.
 
Hey, not so fast........

I use my floppy drive everyday. My digital camera uses floppy disk. Sure beats messing with cables and programs that don't work.

Someday, when they come out with a camera that like better I will get one that uses CD's. :)
 
Ewww ... a Sony Mavica, I presume. I like my photos with a little less mud in them, thanks. :p

It was a good idea when they first came to market, when USB wasn't as commonplace and PC card readers were a bit expensive. It just doesn't make much sense now. Most floppy-cams either operate at pitiful resolutions or are horribly compressed -- 1.44 MB just isn't enough for a practical digital camera, not to mention the inherent reliability issues to the medium.

I don't mean this personally -- if you like your camera, brilliant. I'm just giving general opinion ... floppy drives are a poor storage method, and digital cameras are no exception.
 
Floppy Drives may not be used often or moretheless, only once a year, but they still are handy. They are still good for storage of files and reports and other small programs and stuff. Boot disks and what not. I rarely use mind, but they are still very useful. Wouldn't diss them to much, because you just might need one sometime in the future.
 
As a tech they are valuable.

They offer a choice when one or the other isn't working. Many a times I find that the cd rom is out of whack (big technical term) and the only way in is booting to a floppy or installing a driver.

It's like the old saying you don't miss it till you need it :)

Rock On!!!:cool:

o0RaidR0o
 
Originally posted by Gnu
Ewww ... a Sony Mavica, I presume. I like my photos with a little less mud in them, thanks. :p

It was a good idea when they first came to market, when USB wasn't as commonplace and PC card readers were a bit expensive. It just doesn't make much sense now. Most floppy-cams either operate at pitiful resolutions or are horribly compressed -- 1.44 MB just isn't enough for a practical digital camera, not to mention the inherent reliability issues to the medium.

I don't mean this personally -- if you like your camera, brilliant. I'm just giving general opinion ... floppy drives are a poor storage method, and digital cameras are no exception.

I normally never reply to a post like you made.

"I don't mean this personally", now that made me smile.

I made no bragging statements about my camera, not even the name.... only that I daily use the floppy drive for my camera

I use my camera with the computer.
I agree it is NOT for printing! I have NO use for printed pictures.. I have drawers full of them, taken over the years with my 35 MM camera. I haven't taken a 35 MM picture since I got my Mavica about 4 years ago. I enjoy seeing my pictures on the computer and the convenience of CD storage for all my images.

Your high resolution cameras doesn't make a dime's difference when it comes to posting a computer image. Once it's uploaded, high resolution, low resolution, they all come out about the same.

I read everyday on different forums where people are having problems uploading images into their computers.... using your USB and card readers and other programs. None of that is needed with my camera. It has worked without one error for 4 years. :)
Also I don't have to "resize or resample" every picture before I can view the complete image on my screen.

You bet I like my camera.... if I didn't, I well can afford ANY camera or anything else I might desire. :D
When they come out with a 10 X optical zoom that stores on a CD I will buy it. Sony has one that writes to a CD but it's not 10 X zoom.

You started this thread about the old floppy drive had out lived it's time.
Well take a look at this, for XP owners that are without a bootable CD-ROM. Seems Microsoft disagrees with you. :D
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=33290&area=search&ordinal=1

Also, I ordered my Dell with a Ethernet card installed. Had I went to Office Depot and purchased a Ethernet card I would have to had to use my floppy drive to install the drivers.
 
lelu -- I only reason I make such critical assumptions is because you're apparently in the minority. I've seen quite a few Mavicas eat disks, corrupt data, and the drive mechanisms just plain die. Yes, some older PC-card readers DO have their quirks, but I haven't had any problems with USB cameras on machines that didn't have USB issues in the first place.

I wouldn't have anticipated the need for boot disks for XP (Microsoft certainly didn't) -- it's been so long since anyone made a motherboard that didn't support bootable CD-ROMs that 99.9% of them are WAY out of the XP spec.

I didn't mean to slight you or your camera, and I'm sorry if you took it as such -- was only meant to be a friendly debate about the future obsolescence of floppy drives.

Anyway, all of this is probably moot. All the posted news means is that Microsoft no longer requires a floppy drive in their OEM PC specs, so they can get their shiny logo. I don't think PC manufacturers will be absolutely desparate for the extra interrupt not having one would provide -- or the $5 or so floppy drives cost to produce these days -- any time soon.
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back