PC World says farewell to floppy

[xmastree]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6314251.stm

[Airbozo]

'bout time! Now maybe windows and other os' will stop requiring the use of one to load external drivers for install.

[onelegout]

'bout time! Now maybe windows and other os' will stop requiring the use of one to load external drivers for install.
Quoted for truth!!!
I can't tell you how much I hate the floppy disk because of that STUPID system!

[gaz_the_chav]

Thank **** as long as I dont have to load my SATA hard drvie drivers with a floppy disk drive.

It's a waist of space now

-gaz

[Airbozo]

Just this week I had to use a floppy to load the dell perc5 driver into windows server 2003 to recognise the disk system. Cannot use a cd or a usb drive since it does not have that option. Anyone know if Vista requires the use of a floppy for external drivers on install?

[DaJe]

With flash drives, who needs a floopy anymore.

[CanaBalistic]

Floppy disk's are the eqivelant of using a mini post-it note while trying to write an encyclopedia.

[Produkt]

I've got close to 10 pen drives... all a gig or more space on them... I do have a floppy drive for a dell laptop and many more for desktop pc's... but they are almost 10 years old now...

[SgtM]

Anyone know if Vista requires the use of a floppy for external drivers on install?

I haven't had the need for a floppy with Vista. I'm not using RAID or SCSI drives though. Just normal IDE. I wish this board had SATA.

[Reyer]

wel screw u guys
i love floppy

and i will go down with the ship

i cant tell u how many times thoes things have saved my ass in school


im not saying i dont like flash drives, i just dont want to let floppy go into the big pc in the sky :neutral:

[nil8]

It is and it will, just like the 650mb CD and the zip drives. Wave it goodbye.
Thumb drives hold thousands of times the info in a smaller space and are easier to use. Goodbye floppy, you've served us well. Enjoy the museum. Say hi to the 5.25" floppy for me.

As for the Vista question, I doubt if MS will actually go back into their basic ramdrive loading program and modify this to accept anything but floppies. Remember, that loader comes from NT.
It would be nice to have them scrap it and replace it with something that can use usb, but don't hold your breath.

[luciusad2004]

I guess in a couple of years we can all tell our kids about the days when we used to have to carry around a box full of Floppy Disks. Sort of like cassette tapes; god am i happy those things are gone.

Edit: Not that i every personally had a box of Floppies, but my mom did. Ive been using computers long enough to have had experience with them though.

Also does this mean the end of the trick were u put a floppy in someones computer so that it wont boot?

[Bucko]

I seriously can't remember the last time I used a floppy.
I removed the drive for my computer because I thought the space it took up was better used for a HDD cooling fan.
I don't even own any floppy disks, so there isn't much point keeping it in there.
Should I ever need it, I'll just remove the case and plug it in to do the job, then unplug it and put it away again.

[Crimson Sky]

One of my rigs needed SATA drivers installed a few years ago, that was the last time i used it during a build.

[onelegout]

i cant tell u how many times thoes things have saved my ass in school


I used to use their unreliability to my advantage in school - I used to bring in a floppy which I had tampered with and say that my homework was on it - then stick it in a pc and pretend to be devastated when it didnt work
I still have a huge box of floppys that came with pc mags, with demos of games like doom on them :D
H

[Airbozo]

I've got close to 10 pen drives... all a gig or more space on them... I do have a floppy drive for a dell laptop and many more for desktop pc's... but they are almost 10 years old now...

Once the pen drives work for loading the initial disk controller drivers I will toss the floppies too.


wel screw u guys
i love floppy

and i will go down with the ship

i cant tell u how many times thoes things have saved my ass in school


im not saying i dont like flash drives, i just dont want to let floppy go into the big pc in the sky :neutral:

Yes floppies have also saved my ass at home, work and school. To this day I use them all the time at work and once my digitasl camera gets here I will not have to use them at school anymore (I have a floppy based digital camera).


It is and it will, just like the 650mb CD and the zip drives. Wave it goodbye.
Thumb drives hold thousands of times the info in a smaller space and are easier to use. Goodbye floppy, you've served us well. Enjoy the museum. Say hi to the 5.25" floppy for me.

As for the Vista question, I doubt if MS will actually go back into their basic ramdrive loading program and modify this to accept anything but floppies. Remember, that loader comes from NT.
It would be nice to have them scrap it and replace it with something that can use usb, but don't hold your breath.

Yes this is the major issue for me. I use them all the time in system builds with windows server 2003 x64, to load the onboard disk controller (and it is not even raided)


I seriously can't remember the last time I used a floppy.
I removed the drive for my computer because I thought the space it took up was better used for a HDD cooling fan.
I don't even own any floppy disks, so there isn't much point keeping it in there.
Should I ever need it, I'll just remove the case and plug it in to do the job, then unplug it and put it away again.

I have a floppy on the _inside_ of my system in case I need it. Once a year I need it on my system and when I need to pull the pics off of my current camera I use the wifes system.

You guys are youngsters! My third job out of the navy, I was responsible for replacing the heads on the 5 1/4 floppy drives in the systems we had at Amoco Productions. I also replaced the spindle motors and head stepper motors and calibrated everything. We had this calibration floppy with a specific data track on it, that we used an oscilloscope to fine tune the head position. It was cheaper at the time to repair them than it was to buy a new one.

Damn I feel old now!

[Gohan]

I have not used a floppy for years