Acmlm's Board - I2 Archive - Hardware/Software - Floppy disks
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Surlent
Posts: 787/1077 |
Iomaga Zip drives also tend to break in some cases, or they get the fatal click of death, thought they are fare more reliable than an old floppy, indeed. But the prices and sizes should not be compared with a normal CD-R  
The same thing is said about certain CD-Rs, if they are not from Verbatim, Sony or other known brands. As for me, I already burnt a lot of CDs from a cheap manufacturer without problems. I'm having a stack of 50 pieces of them left here, too. |
BMF98567
Posts: 673/1261 |
Originally posted by Vystrix Nexoth
All of the failed in the same manner? That sounds like it might be a problem with the disk drive; though it doesn't rule out the possibility that all the disks had the same problem, especially if they were all kept together. *shrugs*
Well, I tried two different floppy drives on two different computers, with the same result. I think they all just mysteriously failed in the same manner. They were all different brands, though (they were old hardware driver disks that I had reformatted), so...jeez, I really don't know. |
HyperLamer
Posts: 3533/8210 |
I imagine it was a lot like booting Windows XP off 14 disks. Had to use the recovery system to fix this computer in school, and it wouldn't boot off a CD.  Not only that but we had to reboot like 4 times during the process. Not fun! (Why couldn't they just put CD-ROM drivers on a disk instead of the entire program?  ) |
Colin
Posts: 7127/11302 |
Ah, I remember when I had to reformat my old 486. The good people at IBM sent me a backup and that was very nice of them.
The bad news, of course, was that the backup came on 35 floppy disks. Imagine how fun THAT process was.  |
Rydain
Posts: 486/738 |
I don't ever have to transport data from my computer to another one that isn't hooked up to our home network or available via other means (e.g. FTP), so I don't use any sort of removable storage. |
FreeDOS
Posts: 1195/1657 |
Originally posted by HyperHacker
I want one of those USB drives but they cost money.  It also kinda sucks when you work with Win98 systems a lot (thankfully I don't anymore, but most of the school systems used it last year), since you have to install drivers for them.
Not usually... just that Windows 98 didn't support all of USB's features, so it often fails on generic mass storage things. |
HyperLamer
Posts: 3516/8210 |
Originally posted by Tarale
A lot of people still use floppies as PRIMARY STORAGE which just boggles my mind. The amount of people who lose really really important documents cause they're on a floppy that failed... I try to tell users that they need to back up to a computer or something, but... *shrugs*
Heh, I did that back when I had a 486 with an 88MB hard disk. I learned not to pretty quick though.
I want one of those USB drives but they cost money. It also kinda sucks when you work with Win98 systems a lot (thankfully I don't anymore, but most of the school systems used it last year), since you have to install drivers for them. |
KsoftFusion
Posts: 35/71 |
Floppies used to be useful and I always used them, until I got a CD Burner. I emptied my floppies, reformatted them, and sold them (Used Floppy Disks: Good Condition: only 5 cents a disk!)
Now I have a handy dandy 256MB USB key that kicks a**. The only thing I use floppies for is boot disks now (and transfer to my brothers old 486 since it's not connected to the network and the CDR's don't work on it) |
Jesper
Posts: 2134/2390 |
I've used a floppy *once* within the last two years, and that's for installing the GC-to-PC-gamepad adapter I got two years ago. Even then, I remember it taking two years for me to discover that the floppy drive on my old Compaq desktop was broken (the first time I used it), and I got that one almost five years ago now.
I remember feeling a bit puzzled when the original iMac came out seven years ago, removing the floppy drive. The answer wasn't really clear either - USB keydrives didn't exist, next to noone had broadband or a LAN and CD-Rs were just coming out. But since the alternatives exist now I'm surprised it's still around. |
Ailure
Posts: 8193/11162 |
I use them for booting an OS...
...that's all the uses I had used them for. Althought I did use them alot back in the 486 days, where the HD space limited things. I remember being able to fit four-five pictures on one disc... yes we did draw alot back in the day. In Paint.
I better dig up some of thoose disks. You would be so surprised how you can actually use a damaged disks, as long you give it a run in scandisc/dick checker. |
Vystrix Nexoth
Posts: 279/348 |
Originally posted by BMF54123
I'm amazed by the ridiculously high failure rate of a technology that's been around for so long--you'd think that it would've stabilized somewhat by now, via the introduction of new materials, sturdier drive mechanisms, and whatnot.
Actually, they may be unreliable not in spite of the technology having been around a long time, but because of it. The focus nowadays is on writable CDs and DVDs; Floppy disks and drives are, by and large, considered a thing of the past; therefore few new floppy disks are being manufactured; therefore the ones that are still around are not new (including the ones you can buy at a store; they've probably been sitting in warehouses or on shelves for years). Floppy disks most likely were considerably more reliable in their heyday, but those same disks are old, dusty things nowadays (and dust, on a cartridge where the actual data storage part is readily accessible, is ungood).
Originally posted by BMF54123
But nooooooo, just last week I grabbed a few used floppies off my "pile o' stuff", hoping to make a Win98 boot disk, and ALL of them had failed in the same manner and could not be reformatted. How can they become physically damaged just by sitting in a stack on my desk?
All of the failed in the same manner? That sounds like it might be a problem with the disk drive; though it doesn't rule out the possibility that all the disks had the same problem, especially if they were all kept together. *shrugs* |
FreeDOS
Posts: 1190/1657 |
The little cover on the 3.5" disks was made so you don't need sleves to protect them. It really does help, but not all the way... Although I've yet to have a problem with them just sitting in a box.
As for backup, I only have 2GB of music on my iPod, so why not use the other 16 ? (Note that the 20GB measure is done in metric gigabytes, not the binary one) |
Surlent
Posts: 783/1077 |
The problems are not floppies, but the laziness people often have.
If you have a very old computer and no burner, it may be another thing, but every semi-decent computer has a CD rewriter, and though it might be hard to save 100 gigs of porn documents, games and such, there could be backed up at least some things like images and other things.
As for me, I'm the only one from all my friends who backs up his data. I'm doing that every two weeks; the most important stuff fits on a single DVD what costs me 15 minutes with Nero plus some minutes to check eversthing after burning.
And I also might want to get an USB stick w/ 512 MB. This might be nice; plug in, move data on that, plug out; but when I check my money bag and often empty bank account ...
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Tarale
Posts: 1492/2720 |
Personally, I'll be happy to see Floppies gone, and replaced with perhaps USB drives instead.
While as I stated I haven't used floppies myself in a long time, I get calls from clients a bit saying that their disk isn't working. I'm not sure what they expect me to do about it (either in person or on the phone) but I usually have to tell them that floppies are unreliable and that their disk has failed.
A lot of people still use floppies as PRIMARY STORAGE which just boggles my mind. The amount of people who lose really really important documents cause they're on a floppy that failed... I try to tell users that they need to back up to a computer or something, but... *shrugs*
Of course, I know from experience that there's a problem with USB drives too.... in particular, my Mum's partner keeps losing the damned things cause theyr'e so small. (And no... putting it on a string around his neck does not help at all...)  My Mum considered getting an iPod shuffle for him, then she saw the size..... (and so now he's getting a full blown iPod). |
neotransotaku
Posts: 2497/4016 |
because they would fail more often since it is easier for data to get corrupted by particles in the air since one particle can take out more data on a disk with a higher capacity. As for improvement of reliability, magnetic discs are meant to be stored in a vacuum environment and not in exposed air where there are tons of particles out and about. In addition, when you don't use your floppy drive for a long time, dust still accumulates in it, which collects on the head and thus screw up perfectly good discs... |
HyperLamer
Posts: 3492/8210 |
Originally posted by BMF54123
I'm amazed by the ridiculously high failure rate of a technology that's been around for so long--you'd think that it would've stabilized somewhat by now, via the introduction of new materials, sturdier drive mechanisms, and whatnot. But nooooooo, just last week I grabbed a few used floppies off my "pile o' stuff", hoping to make a Win98 boot disk, and ALL of them had failed in the same manner and could not be reformatted. How can they become physically damaged just by sitting in a stack on my desk?
Floppies are also incredibly slow. My Athlon 2700+ slows to a crawl whenever I scan a disk, or when a disk has become unreadable (the drive just thrashes the heads around for a minute or so, trying to find readable data). I would imagine this is for compatibility reasons, but it's still incredibly annoying nonetheless, and shows just how ancient the technology behind even the newest, most expensive PC is...
Amen! Last time I needed to use a floppy, I just got out a bunch of old ones, all of which worked perfectly the last time they were used and were kept in a dust-proof disk holder... I went through ELEVEN of the goddamn things before one finally worked.  My computer also slows to a crawl to even just check if there's a disk in the drive. With all this crazy new technology, you'd think they could improve on something this old. For that matter, why hasn't anyone made a disk that can hold more than 1.44MB? |
Kario
Posts: 1372/2082 |
I dont use them. I dont know anyone who uses them. I transport data by CD and email. I still have a stack of them somewhere, all formatted and 2.0mb capacity. |
Colin
Posts: 7104/11302 |
At the moment, I don't. I really only do all my work on my PC and back things up to other media so they're pretty much useless.
However, I do have a couple of working ones around in the event I end up having to work in a computer lab at school; although to be honest, I could just use Gmail to store the work. |
Keikonium
Posts: 1016/-2459 |
I have about 50 floppies...most are still working. I dont have a CD or DVD burner in my own computer so when I need to transfer a file from my computer to my moms computer (also the only one with internet) I have to use floppies. Before we even owned a CD burner tho, I used to backup most of my stuff on Floppies. I had a 20MB video split up (using a program called GSplit) and backed up on those floppies at one point...Now its on a CD all in one peice! So I voted yes that I still use floppies all the time. |
Tarale
Posts: 1489/2720 |
I haven't used a floppy for years.
I wouldn't know where to even find one in my house, although I know I do have some, somewhere in my "big box of crap". |
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