Floopy Drives Must Die

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: Rike
Where's the poll tab for "I don't care."?

Its the little "reply" button on the lower right.

 

[Cerb]

Floppy drives are already obsolete, OS, mobo, and controller card manufacturers just need to realize this and move to CDs.

For general data transportation, USB card and DVDs can't be beat, especially w/ DVD-RW discs have finally come down to reasonable prices.

The last three times I needed a floppy:
1. BIOS update (mobo)
2. BIOS update (video card)
3. Professor required email and floppy copies of a paper.

I use CDs and DVDs for moving more data around, and my I5 (which I also keep the newest FF, CWS, Hijak This, Ad-aware, and Spybot on, along w/ new defs, for either free or pay cleaning work ).

For BIOS flashes, using a USB card would be great, and may be something for the future (I think it's possible now, but not necessarily easy). Floppies are mainly useful due to being able to be written to with the current BIOS, which a CD can't.

On an aside: are credit card size CD/DVD RWs available? That would rock.

 

[wpshooter]

There are a few things that floppies are still needed/useful for.

I still like the idea of being able to use my Win98SE boot diskette.

I do not like the unreliability of the media.

But for $5 to $20, I think the drive is worth having, for now until hardware & software companies ALL truly decide to make them obselete.

If you are going to install one, pay a couple of extra bucks & get & install a TEAC brand.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Cerb

On an aside: are credit card size CD/DVD RWs available? That would rock.

Yes there are mini CDRW and DVDRW media (3" I think) They have weird size CD's too like business card size.

 

[anarchyreigns]

The title says "Floopy" drives, so why are you all talking about "floppy" drives. Don't you guys know anything about computers? Were talking "floopy" drives here. I say keep the floopies and lets get rid of the floppies. (just kidding all)

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: g33k
Floppy disks are an undependable media. Your data can get lost so easily on a floppy, I wouldnt take the chance. Sometimes I have NO idea why the floppy drive will not read my disk! Random erros such as "disk not formatted or has been formatted for a Macintosh." A Macintosh!!!! I don't own a stinking Macintosh.

I've learned my lesson, I don't use floppy disks anymore. They are bad bad bad. Just burn a cd, they are way more dependable. Floopy disks are just too unstable. I would use them only as a last resort.

I've found that cleaning the drive can make an "unformatted disk" readable again. Those drives go so long without cleaning that the heads won't work right.
But, I will agree, floppies aren't good for long-term, mission critical storage.

Oddly enough too, burning CDs isn't always good. New CD-RWs, especially the "Ultra speed" discs, rated for 16-24x burning speeds, are not always readable on older systems. Some 24x and 32x CD-ROM drives can't even see the disc. High speed discs, 8x-12x, those are generally the better balance of speed and compatibility.

I hear all these wonderful things about the Mt Rainier format, but where is it?

 

[jameswhite1979]

Also to boot for Partion Magic. If people want to use them then let them why the hell not they know the risks. For the record I do not have a FDD

 

[imported_Truenofan]

i dont even have a floppy drive in my comp, i figured, i can update the bios w/o floppy, and i dont use an os's that cant install themselves

 

[dakels]

Someone tell me why Gigabyte, one of or the most premium brand motherboard manufacturers does not have a non floppy based bios installer while everyone else seems to (last time I checked)? My machines do not have floppy drives, never need them. I had to buy one just for my Gigabyte 8KNXP so I could update the bios. Slipstreaming, CD, USB Floppy, etc all didn't work.

Not real happy with Gigabyte's US/english support either for my (then) top of the line motherboard. Still a great motherboard though... and dual bios is nice if they were easier to friggin update.

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi All, I don't know what you guys are going to do when it wont boot and the CD won't reaad. I'll have it fixed and running while you are still scratching your heads. Jim

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: JimPhelpsMI
Hi All, I don't know what you guys are going to do when it wont boot and the CD won't reaad. I'll have it fixed and running while you are still scratching your heads. Jim

Er, use another CDROM drive. Lite-Ons are very good for this, as they always seem to read and boot just about anything, and have few, if any, compatibility problems.

 

[whatho45]

i heart usb drive

 

[Hacp]

Can't you update the bios via a bootable CD?

 

[Steven the Leech]

Originally posted by: boomerang
I can see where the casual computer user or gamer would have no use for a floppy drive.

Anyone who repairs or troubleshoots computers would be sad to see them go. I just did some serious OS repair (saved myself a reinstall) this weekend and the floppy drive saved my butt. I could have burned a CD, but it was quicker with a floppy.

Yes and How long are people going to keep asking this same old question, isnt this question getting old?

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Can't you update the bios via a bootable CD?

The bioses for my boards/PCs download as a .exe and demand a floppy before they start to pull the image out. Wont even let me select a drive letter.