I don't if this is a real issue, but are 3 1/2 floppy's becoming obsolete. I for one, today, stick to my usb jumpdrive because it's faster, holds more, and I can carry it around on my keychain. Most computers today do have front usb ports which makes using them all the more appealing. The only appeal I see for the 3 1/2 floppy's nowadays are that almost every computer, even hella old ones like my Dell Dimension 333, has one. The disks are still easy to transport and carry documents/pics to turn in for classes and give to people. I recently thought about not even installing one on my computer since the only use that I saw for it was to update my BIOS. I probably will, but this issue did come up for me.
3 1/2 floppy's becoming obsolete?
- Thread starter Loki1
- Start date
Except for some BIOS updateing (if your bios doesn't support or you do not link the idea of Internet bios updateing), and sometimes driver loading, they are pretty much useless. You can use a usb flash thumb drive and have a gigbyte of info in a smaller package for 60 bucks, or a DVD with 4 gb on it. They are outdated and old technology.. do i still put a floppy drives in computers i build yes.... do i use them more than 5 times in the 3 years i keep a computer.. no. The drives are cheap 5 to 10 bucks, so they aren't like a make/break componet.
My ChainTech MB has The Flash Utility builtIn.. Well on a off chance since I doNot have a floppy I stuck the BIOS update ona CD, The Utility Detected it and Flashed it with No Problems What so Ever.
Most of the Time you have to DL a utility then put it on a "clean" bootable floppy
I ask you whats the difference between a"clean" bootable CD (easily made with any Boot image, even a floppy image" and a Bootable Floppy?
As Far as running the Flashing Software is concerned I doubt there is any, alil more work to make maybe. But I'm certain it will work.
Most of the Time you have to DL a utility then put it on a "clean" bootable floppy
I ask you whats the difference between a"clean" bootable CD (easily made with any Boot image, even a floppy image" and a Bootable Floppy?
As Far as running the Flashing Software is concerned I doubt there is any, alil more work to make maybe. But I'm certain it will work.
they are already obsolete. i had to use one to get my raptors drivers loaded tho... i blame M$ for that.
i agree with having them just in case, and i for one and putting one in my next build, for emergency purposes. for most things yes they are certainly pointless, because i can just use a usb drive, but great to have for an unforseen event
Just let them die already 
I haven't had one ever since bios's supported booting from cdroms
BTW.....You can update bios's within windows now so just kill the floppy please hehehehe
I haven't had one ever since bios's supported booting from cdroms
BTW.....You can update bios's within windows now so just kill the floppy please hehehehe
My dad was skeptical that i would need a floppy drive for my computer, he was pretty quick to backtrack on that one when i told him that i can't install to a SATA HDD (my only HDD type in this comp) without a floppy. If vista has native SATA drivers then i'm not touching floppy, but until then i use that.
only reason i would use it is going from an xp machine to a 98 machine that doesnt support the drivers for my jumpdrive.
use it ocasionally .
Heck an expensive one is 20.00 and its not like you can use the port for anything else so as long as a mb has a port for it why not have one have seen quite a few posts here about i can't load some driver or flash my bios because I don't have a floppy.
I suspect before too awfully long floppy ,serial,parallel ports will all be obsolete.
Heck an expensive one is 20.00 and its not like you can use the port for anything else so as long as a mb has a port for it why not have one have seen quite a few posts here about i can't load some driver or flash my bios because I don't have a floppy.
I suspect before too awfully long floppy ,serial,parallel ports will all be obsolete.
Hurricane Andrew
Golden Member
- Nov 28, 2004
- 1,613
- 0
- 76
Don't have one in either my main home rig or my work rig. Haven't missed 'em. I haven't found a need for one that a bootable CD couldn't handle.
Don't have one installed in any of my systems, but keep one around just in case. I needed one to update the bios on my new X2 system so it would support my cpu prior to installing windows, and I needed it the first time I installed windows on my sata raid array. I slipstreamed the drivers into my xp cd so I don't need it for that anymore, but still would have been screwed if I didn't have one around.
Don't you NEED a floppy for when you put your computer together? To load up the drivers and whatnot.
That's the benefit. Turning them over to different people, often strangers. Are you going to give a classmate a thumb drive of your own? I doubt it. Thumbdrives left unattended is like money being left on the table. Gets picked up FAST. One of these days perhaps thumbdrives with limited memory will be on sale at any computer/office store for $10 for a 25 pack, then things will change. But that's not happening anytime soon.
I bought a 100 pack of cd's for $0.99 after rebate so why on earth would You mess with floppies.....they cost more than cd's now lol
AND
I didn't even have to load SATA drivers for My computer when I built it. I guess I have a kickass motherboard (A8N SLI)because winxp pro loaded on My SATA raid 0 config without asking for any disk. I made a bootable cd just incase but never needed it.
You gonna carry a 100 pack of CD's everywhere you go? Well I guess if you have a 15lb laptop then it's ok. But for the rest of us with 5-6lb laptops, it's not an option. Carry one in the tray and then realize you forgot to save the latest changes, with 5 minutes left on your deadline, and guess what, you're SOL. Been there, done that. Floppies still rule for cheap portability.
Ricemarine
Lifer
- Sep 10, 2004
- 10,507
- 0
- 0
This is a repost.
They won't be obsolete for a while.
We need them...
You will know when floppys are obsolete when schools don't use them anymore.
They won't be obsolete for a while.
We need them...
You will know when floppys are obsolete when schools don't use them anymore.
even though i never use them, i'm still stuck with mine because i need the floppy backup. otherwise MSI won't flash it
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