NationStates Jolt Archive

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

I used one yesterday.........


as a shuriken.

I used one last week (it was an old computer) but its not necessary, no.

I used one yesterday.........


as a shuriken.

As a what now?

I don't even have a 3 1/2 floppy drive on my computer. I've discovered the wonder of flash cards, and microdrives. Floppies are dumb because they hold sooooo little. Like I was trying to transport a massive document on a floppy and it wouldn't fit. To hell with them.

As a what now?

Ninja star....

the last time i used a floppy disk was the time the disk got stuck in the drive. that was nearly a year ago. it's still there making noises occasionally.

As a what now?

as a throwing weapon often star shaped. used by ninja (I think) and possible samurais

I don't even have a 3 1/2 floppy drive on my computer. I've discovered the wonder of flash cards, and microdrives. Floppies are dumb because they hold sooooo little. Like I was trying to transport a massive document on a floppy and it wouldn't fit. To hell with them.

This is why I find it amazing they still install them - you can't even fit a single digital picture on one, let alone your entire holiday snaps.

With all the enviro-nonsense we hear about these days, can the manufacture of things that just sit there all their lives unused and unloved really be justified?

I used them for a project I did. They are really cheap which is an advantage I thinks.

i paid to have one put in mine, because im nostalgiac like that


what i long for are the days of the external floppy with the 5 1/4 disks.

mmmmmmm ultima 4.

I live in a world where techs of all kinds are used for different things. In a world where all computer parts are equal, and all are compatable. We all know this place, we all live there.

In a world where pancakes make a catering company, and a banana is a phone, I ate my goldfish for breakfast.

My OS is Windows, my card is Discover.

[insert signature here]

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

1998, maybe

It is not too small! It is what you do with it that matters.

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?


I used to like playing with my 3 1/2 floppy. But eventually people started getting bigger disks, and my 3 1/2 floppy disk was just an embarrasment. Wasn't big enough. Didn't carry enough of the good stuff in it. Pfft.. Oh well.

This is why I find it amazing they still install them - you can't even fit a single digital picture on one, let alone your entire holiday snaps.

With all the enviro-nonsense we hear about these days, can the manufacture of things that just sit there all their lives unused and unloved really be justified?

All they're good for is to be wasted. Like, when I was in fifth grade I used to pull them apart and look at the magnetic disc on the inside. And what did I do after that? THrew it away. Waste of plastic, I tell ya.

used one the other day... stupid dad thought windows 95 was newer than xp so insisted i installed it on his "new" 266Mhz P2 machine :headbang:

In a world where pancakes make a catering company, and a banana is a phone, I ate my goldfish for breakfast.
You're going to have to give those up if you're serious about dieting, I'm afraid.

used one the other day... stupid dad thought windows 95 was newer than xp so insisted i installed it on his "new" 266Mhz P2 machine :headbang:
:eek:

used one the other day... stupid dad thought windows 95 was newer than xp so insisted i installed it on his "new" 266Mhz P2 machine :headbang:
To be honest, I not sure I'd recommend trying to install XP on such an old machine anyway.

EDIT: God, that sounded geeky. Shoot me now.

thats very true. i offered him my old laptop (800mhz 20gb 256mb) if he wanted it... it can about manage xp but he seemed to think his dinosaur was better for some reason

EDIT: :mp5: as requested

the last time i used a floppy disk was the time the disk got stuck in the drive. that was nearly a year ago. it's still there making noises occasionally.

anyone got any tips for sorting this?

used one the other day... stupid dad thought windows 95 was newer than xp so insisted i installed it on his "new" 266Mhz P2 machine :headbang:

How much did he pay for that POS computer? I must say, I still have a set of floppies to install Windows 3.1x. It's pretty rad.

just take out the drive and put in a bin

You're going to have to give those up if you're serious about dieting, I'm afraid.

not true

fish is really healthy.

anyone got any tips for this?
Pick the computer up and shake it violently?

Stick a pen in and try and prise it out?

idk he just said he got this new computer and he wanted windows and that internet thing

To be honest, I not sure I'd recommend trying to install XP on such an old machine anyway.

EDIT: God, that sounded geeky. Shoot me now.

I concur..(to both parts) ;)

You're going to have to give those up if you're serious about dieting, I'm afraid.

Small portions.

:)

just take out the drive and put in a bin

i tried that, but it's a laptop. it all seems to be tied in together like a single unit.

Small portions.

:)
Is it possible to have a large portion of goldfish?

I suppose it's ok, as long as you only have one at a time.

Pick the computer up and shake it violently?

Stick a pen in and try and prise it out?

if it starts making noises i just hit it til it stops. but it's not a sustainable solution.

I need a floppy to load my raid drivers

couldnt u copy the drivers onto a cd?

if it starts making noises i just hit it til it stops. but it's not a sustainable solution.
My technical expertise really does extend no further than trying to pull it out with a pen, then ignoring it, I'm afraid.

If it's a Dell laptop I wouldn't worry too much anyway, to be honest. It'll probably explode long before the floppy becomes a problem.

my laptop has little slide switches on the back to let you remove the drives and battery

I use them...often.

I am too loyal to just push them aside.

How much did he pay for that POS computer? I must say, I still have a set of floppies to install Windows 3.1x. It's pretty rad.

I still have comodore 64 disks. I wish i had my comodore 64 though :(

emulator for your pc then!

my laptop has little slide switches on the back to let you remove the drives and battery

Same here, but mine doesn't have a floppy drive.

emulator for your pc then!

good idea :)

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

It's not the size of your format, it's the transfer rate that counts. :)

I still have a "virgin" (never been installed) 5 inch floppy drive that has never been used, and never found a home. I look at it briefly every day and say to myself, "What the hell am I gonna do with this?"

Haha 3 inches.

I still have a "virgin" (never been installed) 5 inch floppy drive that has never been used, and never found a home. I look at it briefly every day and say to myself, "What the hell am I gonna do with this?"

If i got a bigger disk, could i stick it in there?

It's not the size of your format, it's the transfer rate that counts. :)

True. It should also be noted that no matter the size, you should always watch out for viruses.

Haha 3 inches.

Yeah thats what she said about you last night, eh? :p

True. It should also be noted that no matter the size, you should always watch out for viruses.

Thats why you always test your system periodically. And always put a firewall on!

everyone knows that the best way to not get a virus is to not interact with any other computers at all.

abstinence is best.

everyone knows that the best way to not get a virus is to not interact with any other computers at all.

abstinence is best.

Well networking is a natural thing. Its a very beautiful concept if you think about it.. Two computers, sharing files...Ahh. I remember my first time sharing a file. Good thing I had a firewall on...because although it was some good sharing, she had "bugs"

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

I use 3 1/2 floppes for sneaker net.

to easily transfer small files when working on pc's not connected to the network.

I still use em from time to time even though I have a usb stick. Just old fashioned I guess. They work for word files and some other smallies. A real funny joke is to stick a floppy to a frdige with a magnet and stick a note on it saying something like "Here's the (fill in the blank) you asked for".

It's been a while now.... I miss the good ole days.... :(

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

I thought this thread was going to be something dirty, when I read the title. :p

For primary storange no ... If internet connected I just upload to my ftp server otherwise I have pen drives and external hard drives

BUT I have used one almost every day depending ... sometimes there is no other way

For example today I had to format a machine that had an ABIT AN7 MOBO that does not have onboard sata drivers for XP so when you load XP you have to load the SATA controller drivers before windows installer will recognize a hard drive

They are still usefull ... at times but not for storage of documents and such more as driver support

On my ol' DOS machine, all the time.

I still have a "virgin" (never been installed) 5 inch floppy drive that has never been used, and never found a home. I look at it briefly every day and say to myself, "What the hell am I gonna do with this?"

Hehe. You should install it for the WTF factor. :)

(unless i'm mistaken they use the same leads as a standard 3.5inch floppy drive - but i've never had to install one myself, so I don't know for sure.)

I do a lot of lab work on machines that use older computers, so I have to use disks to move results to my own computer. So, yeah.

I use floppies a few times a week. Floppies are the lowest-common-denominator in removable storage. As someone mentioned, they're good for install-time use because you can't garuntee that the install-mode OS is going to support all your hardware. Its true that USB mass storage is starting to edge it out, but as long as theres legacy hardware and legacy OSes out there, floppies will still have a place.

Floppies are still kind of used as images too: bootable CDs (floppy emulation boot), some network boot protocols, archived legacy software (I've got floppy images of most old Windows/DOS/OS2 installs, and for plenty of old applications).

Finally, it's bleeding handy in OS development to be able to test new boot loaders, kernels etc, or in working on a diskless workstation (currently I've got two old 486DX 66's running "diskless" as VNC/RDP terminals, a boot floppy's permanently in to do handle the network booting for me since I don't have an EEPROM programmer nor the boot chips for the network cards)

Admittedly, I would really prefer that every single PC in the world supported flash or usb booting, but not there yet :)

It's been a while now.... I miss the good ole days.... :(

I remember tape drives...'You can store whole programs on an audio cassete? Awesome! I'm going to copy the program of "Bats" out of Analog Magazine onto my Atari 400 and save it on a tape!"

Why don't I know more about computers if I started that early? Shut up, that's why...

I used them for a project I did. They are really cheap which is an advantage I thinks.
They cost more than CDRs.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=676621&D=2%20floppy&No=10&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntt=floppy&N=100000&uniqueSearchFlag=true&y=13&x=31&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&An=text

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=678120&x=0&Ntt=cdr&y=0&uniqueSearchFlag=true&An=text


Hell, you can get a thumb drive for the cost of those floppies.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=564324&Nr=200000&N=200090&id=564177&Ne=200090&level=SK&An=browse

Unless you mean cheap as in crap, like you glued them together and made a skyscraper, then yeah.

I still have Wing Commander Academy on 3 1/2".

As I was about 6 when it came out, and definitely computerless, I have no idea where it came from.

No, not used one for ages.

How much did he pay for that POS computer? I must say, I still have a set of floppies to install Windows 3.1x. It's pretty rad.

I still have my box set for DOS 3.30 with 3.5" disks & 5.25" disks... ah back when IBM still owned DOS...

They cost more than CDRs.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=676621&D=2%20floppy&No=10&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntt=floppy&N=100000&uniqueSearchFlag=true&y=13&x=31&Nr=100000&Ntk=all&An=text

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=678120&x=0&Ntt=cdr&y=0&uniqueSearchFlag=true&An=text


Hell, you can get a thumb drive for the cost of those floppies.
http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=564324&Nr=200000&N=200090&id=564177&Ne=200090&level=SK&An=browse

Unless you mean cheap as in crap, like you glued them together and made a skyscraper, then yeah.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!! SHUT DOWN!!!! bahahahahahaha.....

I used 'em last time I installed my RAID OS. They're also handy as boot disks, or to backup your bootloader.

I dont even have one in my computer.

Didnt see a reason to include it when I built it.

I just set the BIOS to load from the C drive, and make a windows boot disk, just in case.

However, if you want to Flash your BIOS for some reason, and cant find a utility to do it without a disk, you may need one.

Asus makes a nice little utility program, so I dont.

I use 'em all the time. Though not with my laptop. I've got an Amiga 500 that I use for cheering myself up. I play the original Civ on it a fair bit. :)

It must have been at least 6 years since I used a floppy or installed a floppy drive in a new PC.

I didn't.-_-

My new PC doesn't have one, and neither do the computers at 6th form, so I use an elderly USB drive instead.

And I've realised I've just lost it. Shit.

My new PC doesn't have one, and neither do the computers at 6th form, so I use an elderly USB drive instead.

And I've realised I've just lost it. Shit.

Aha! I just found it. Anyway, it's 64mb and cost about 50 quid to get. Can't remember when though.

We still use them on some of the machines here at work, as they don't have CD or Zip drives or networking (no way of getting a cable to them - and they run DOS, so wireless is out) and don't need much data transferring at a time.

Also, I don't think Windows XP/2K setup will read RAID drivers from anything other than a floppy drive.

Neither my main home or work machines have floppy drives installed, but I do have them kicking around Just In Case (finding a working disk, though - that's tricky).

My home computer doesn't even have a floppy drive anymore..
I should probably find some place to check what's on my last few floppy disks, and see if anything needs rescue for posterity..

My laptop doesn't have a floppy drive, and it's officially a relic.

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

I also installed a 5.25 floppy drive on a pentium 4. And it works!
I'm looking for a 8" unit now... and maybe a Winchester streamer unit.

I used a floppy a month ago... when I wanted to draw Minix-tan. I wanted Minix-tan to use one as magic carpet and realized that I had none in my house. I had to go to my parents' to get one. I prefer online file transfer despite my nonexisting bandwidth.

I also installed a 5.25 floppy drive on a pentium 4. And it works!
I'm looking for a 8" unit now... and maybe a Winchester streamer unit.
I still have an 8 inch floppy. With the unbelievable size of 128 kilobytes!

I still have an 8 inch floppy. With the unbelievable size of 128 kilobytes!

Good God man, what on earth do you need something that large for?!

Good God man, what on earth do you need something that large for?!

Ever come across one of those Apple pamphlets from the eighties, where they've got their machines all lined up, and the specs written out for you, and they're talking about how they have 128 KBs of built in internal magnetic storage? Yeah.

those were the days...

My PC's pretty old & the 3.5" drive broke a couple of years ago. I never bothered to repair/replace it.

all the best computer games ever invented in the history of man and the world....fit onto a floppy disk. I think the measure of a games worth should be if it can fit on a floppy disk. If it is too big, the game is no good. Take that you WOW bastards.

All the best,
Playing Pong since 88'

all the best computer games ever invented in the history of man and the world....fit onto a floppy disk. I think the measure of a games worth should be if it can fit on a floppy disk. If it is too big, the game is no good. Take that you WOW bastards.

All the best,
Playing Pong since 88'
Almost agreed. If your demo is 15 minutes long and is 2GB, the game is no good. You can't even preview games these days because they have all the graphics and stuff needed for the full game but less and less gameplay. If PC game piracy is going up, it is solely because demos are a wasted of everyone's time.

Almost agreed. If your demo is 15 minutes long and is 2GB, the game is no good. You can't even preview games these days because they have all the graphics and stuff needed for the full game but less and less gameplay. If PC game piracy is going up, it is solely because demos are a wasted of everyone's time.

Yeah - who wants to download a demo that large? I have a hard time with new games, because I never know if they're worth the money, and i've been caught out a couple of times (*cough* WoW - not really my thing), because there was no demo released, or the demo was too big to download. I have to rely on reviews, word of mouth or past experience with the developer's games now, and none of them are 100% reliable. I've actually found myself going back in time to be safe due to the internet availability of older games and a second hand game store that is not far from where I live.

all the best computer games ever invented in the history of man and the world....fit onto a floppy disk. I think the measure of a games worth should be if it can fit on a floppy disk. If it is too big, the game is no good. Take that you WOW bastards.

All the best,
Playing Pong since 88'


Not true... nethack takes, depending on the OS up to 2 megabytes.

When was the last time you used a floppy disk?

I haven't even seen one in ages, let alone used one. Is there really any need for the drives to be installed on computers these days, when we have wireless networking, CD-Rs and USB pens?

The last computer I had, and have since replaced, didn't come with a floppy drive. I made a point of paying extra to have a floppy drive on this computer, but I think it may have been used as much as 3 times in a year and a half.

And that was to pull old essays out of my wife's archives, which go back several years.

Floppy's are obselete.

None of my computer have floppy drives. It was said above, floppies are obsolete.

I use floppies all the time. Some of the information I have is proprietary, so if I have to take it home to work on, I have to put them in a special case. It has a combination lock, and if you get the combination wrong three times, it activates a powerful electromagnet and scrubs the discs. I understand this is pretty much standard in some industries.

AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA! great thread, really!

Neither my main home or work machines have floppy drives installed, but I do have them kicking around Just In Case (finding a working disk, though - that's tricky).

Hahaha, so true... I have my RAID drivers backed up on like 10 floppies, cuz I know all my disks are crap. circa 1990...

Floppy disks are not obsolete just yet. They're great for smallish files, and there are tons of powerful, tiny utilities out there. Or for users who do not have USB ports available. Why burn a 640KB file onto a 700MB disk?

I have a 5.25" drive sitting on my desk right now.

I still have some software that needs to run from drive A:, so a floppy is good for that. Sadly, the only machine I have that has a 3.5" drive is the Win98 machine I bought in the spring of 1999. P3-450.

When I moved out of my parents' house, I remember I had a bunch of files on their computer I wanted to take with me, but I didn't have a computer yet. So I used PKZip (2.04G, for DOS) to create one giant Zip file that spanned 23 floppies.

I miss DOS.

To answer the question, I tend to burn DVDs if I need to move data to a computer off my network.

RAID Drivers for Windows XP.

EDIT: Shit, I might need to pick one of those up when the time comes. Good thing they are only $9.

couldnt u copy the drivers onto a cd?

Nope, the Windows XP installer requires they be on a floppy.

I dont even have one in my computer.

Didnt see a reason to include it when I built it.

I just set the BIOS to load from the C drive, and make a windows boot disk, just in case.

However, if you want to Flash your BIOS for some reason, and cant find a utility to do it without a disk, you may need one.

Asus makes a nice little utility program, so I dont.

Or unless you run a software raid like me ...

RAID Drivers for Windows XP.

EDIT: Shit, I might need to pick one of those up when the time comes. Good thing they are only $9.

Same my K9N-DL raid needs them as well

Or unless you run a software raid like me ...

Don't worry. Vista don't need the floppy anymore. You just have to sign away your free will when you accept the Windoms Vista EULA.

Don't worry. Vista don't need the floppy anymore. You just have to sign away your free will when you accept the Windoms Vista EULA.

I have RC1 loaded but to be honest I never fooled around with my raid (it is installed on a partition on a standalone with my main os) I have not tried to get it to map the raid (as the data was really important on the raid and did not want to fubar it ... and the raid is too big for me to back up onto anything else)

I have RC1 loaded but to be honest I never fooled around with my raid (it is installed on a partition on a standalone with my main os) I have not tried to get it to map the raid (as the data was really important on the raid and did not want to fubar it ... and the raid is too big for me to back up onto anything else)

After seeing snippets the EULA, I decided that I am going to try to migrate off of Windows as much as school allows me. I have to use a Windows only* app for my programming course.

*Its not really Windows only. It is Win/Mac/Linux compatable, but the linux installer is based on java. Have they no idea? Sure, it is a Java Dev Env, but seriously, don't trust Java for something so mission critcal. What is wrong with a makefile and gcj? Nothing, that's what. Damned ignorant tits.

After seeing snippets the EULA, I decided that I am going to try to migrate off of Windows as much as school allows me. I have to use a Windows only* app for my programming course.

*Its not really Windows only. It is Win/Mac/Linux compatable, but the linux installer is based on java. Have they no idea? Sure, it is a Java Dev Env, but seriously, don't trust Java for something so mission critcal. What is wrong with a makefile and gcj? Nothing, that's what. Damned ignorant tits.

Agreed ran across some such application development here

Though in the end my focus has been windows repair issues so I normaly am back to VB6 which is windows only (unless you know a development envyronment for standalone vb6 applications in *nix)

Agreed ran across some such application development here

Though in the end my focus has been windows repair issues so I normaly am back to VB6 which is windows only (unless you know a development envyronment for standalone vb6 applications in *nix)

KDevelop?

i dont use a computor

they destroy teh environment

I also installed a 5.25 floppy drive on a pentium 4. And it works!
I'm looking for a 8" unit now... and maybe a Winchester streamer unit.

You should be able to use an old MFM or RLL hard disk with modern PCs (that have an ISA slot... there are some specialist modern mainboards still manufactured with ISA slots, or you can get ISA breakout enclosures with a PCI-ISA bridge card). Admittedly, you'll only get a few mb out of it (I think I've a 20mb MFM or RLL drive somewhere at my parents place), but it should work if you can get a machine with the slots to put it in. Albeit probably only with dos/win16 or linux, but yeah.



Originally Posted by Nutty Carrot Cakes
couldnt u copy the drivers onto a cd?


Nope, the Windows XP installer requires they be on a floppy.

I can guess at the technical reason for this... in order to load things from the CD, it requires already having loaded the applicable ATA or SCSI drivers. If you're loading RAID drivers, then it might require unloading the ATA or SCSI drivers or rescanning the busses after/during loading the raid drivers. Since it's conceivable that there could be USB-based raid, USB mass storage can't be used either. So, it just resorts to floppies since there's no conceivable way floppies could be included in RAID drivers.

Basically, it's easier to just load all the drivers at once, than mess around trying to order them correctly at runtime (in a minimal install environment)

I put a floppy drive into my new machine. Then I hooked it up with state of the art, neon colored, round ribbons. And have never used it once. But it is there should I ever need to. Like as soon as I find that old game my family has.... I don't even remember what it's called. I just remember I love it, and it's on two floppies.

I put a floppy drive into my new machine. Then I hooked it up with state of the art, neon colored, round ribbons. And have never used it once. But it is there should I ever need to. Like as soon as I find that old game my family has.... I don't even remember what it's called. I just remember I love it, and it's on two floppies.

OMG! BRANIN!

OMG! BRANIN!

*bows*

I still have an 8 inch floppy. With the unbelievable size of 128 kilobytes!

Argghhh!!! SUPERCOOL! - Sheer jealousy - IT MUST BE MINE! GIMMEEEE!

You should be able to use an old MFM or RLL hard disk with modern PCs (that have an ISA slot... there are some specialist modern mainboards still manufactured with ISA slots, or you can get ISA breakout enclosures with a PCI-ISA bridge card). Admittedly, you'll only get a few mb out of it (I think I've a 20mb MFM or RLL drive somewhere at my parents place), but it should work if you can get a machine with the slots to put it in. Albeit probably only with dos/win16 or linux, but yeah.


I know, I still have some MBs with ISA/EISA slots at home (and working).
But the Winchesters, I want them mainly because they look so cool (although a wee bit retro).