can anyone think of a reason I might need to keep a 5 1/4" floppy drive

[rnmcd]

I'm in the process of moving and I'm trying to decided what should make the move with me......

 

[Nebben]

In case the 1980's come back? ...

 

[trikster2]

1. After you throw it out, you'll open a box and find 50 5.25" floppies with very important data.

2. Keep the drive and you'll guarantee you'll never need a 5.25" floppy drive in your life.....

3. Something to show the grandkids in the year 2020?

 

[bluestrobe]

I have 2, used one last year to get information off of an information archive that was 15 years old. Trashing older equipment doesn't make one a better person.

 

[corkyg]

Last week there was a guy dying to buy one. He really needed it. I could use one too - have boxes of data on old 5.25" floppies.

 

[tiap]

I still have one hooked up and use it once in a while to get data from cnc milling machines etc. for machine shops. Files for back in the days Autocad was DOS only

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Wow. And I find it hard to find a valid reason to install a 3.5" floppy....
Tas.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
Wow. And I find it hard to find a valid reason to install a 3.5" floppy....
Tas.

Agreed with software bios flashing and winxp bootable CD I haven't had a floppy in 3 years.....I dont have a floppy drive in my 2 year old laptop either....

 

[l Xes l]

Originally posted by: Nebben
In case the 1980's come back? ...

Nebben.. please, put that pipe down...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I have a 5 1/4" floppy here in my room in case I need one someday (yeah, I brought one to college and it's taking up space in my dorm room)

 

[daveshel]

I have one of those combo 3 1/2 / 5 1/4 drives I'm saving for my museum. Along with my 5x86/133 cpu.

 

[Nebben]

Originally posted by: krnxpride83

Originally posted by: Nebben
In case the 1980's come back? ...

Nebben.. please, put that pipe down...

Uh, k. Whatever that means.

I haven't even used the 3 1/2" floppy drive I put in my current system once yet. I used the 3 1/2" drive in my previous system maybe twice in a period of about 4 years.

I haven't even actually seen a 5 1/4" floppy drive since I was in elementary school.

Unless you are like one of the previous posters in this thread who have a box of data on 5 1/4 disks, just get rid of it.

 

[Doctorweir]

Originally posted by: trikster2

1. After you throw it out, you'll open a box and find 50 5.25" floppies with very important data.

2. Keep the drive and you'll guarantee you'll never need a 5.25" floppy drive in your life.....

3. Something to show the grandkids in the year 2020?

1. But none of the disks will work due to de-magnetization over time

2. Copy that

3. I peronally still keep a 8" floppy disk (remember?) to scare them if they come

 

[ironique]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir

3. I peronally still keep a 8" floppy disk (remember?) to scare them if they come

Oh, the horror!! To think that was high-end data storage at some stage in time!! If you're afraid you'll really, really, REALLY need to use a floppy later, get a USB floppy drive. That way you can use it without having to open up your case to install it.

 

[Bonesdad]

Tell you what, if you find floppies in a box you haven't opened in 15 years, I'm willing to bet you don't NEED the data. If you do, send it to me, I will extract it to a DVD for you and mail to you for free.

 

[imported_fatal]

I would keep it, put it in a box with your Sony Beta & your 8 Track player & tapes

 

[Perplx]

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Tell you what, if you find floppies in a box you haven't opened in 15 years, I'm willing to bet you don't NEED the data. If you do, send it to me, I will extract it to a DVD for you and mail to you for free.

Lets see a DVD is 4483MB, and a 5 1/4" floppy is 1.2 MB. So your saying you'd copy 3735 flopppies for nothing?

 

[Doctorweir]

Originally posted by: Perplx

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
Tell you what, if you find floppies in a box you haven't opened in 15 years, I'm willing to bet you don't NEED the data. If you do, send it to me, I will extract it to a DVD for you and mail to you for free.

Lets see a DVD is 4483MB, and a 5 1/4" floppy is 1.2 MB. So your saying you'd copy 3735 flopppies for nothing?

ROFL *heads for the cellar* :laugh:

 

[bendixG15]

Lets see a DVD is 4483MB, and a 5 1/4" floppy is 1.2 MB. So your saying you'd copy 3735 flopppies for nothing?

My 5 1/4 floppies are 360 kb

 

[Sunbird]

Just a month ago I extracted info from a 5 1/4" diskette for a client with this old drive I had to dig out from a old (really old) 386 case.

Just for interest sake I checked the date, the files was last modified in 1989!!!! :Q

Well, it worked like a dream, after I finally remembered to pull that little lever at the front of the drive down.

 

[dullard]

If you deal at all with a university, trust me, people will want it. There is always a professor or two at every university who starts work again on an old students project and asks for something crazy like a 5 1/4" drive. About twice a year I'm asked if I can get data form some ancient form of technology. Last year someone asked me trying to find about a tape drive from ~1986; I think it was from a Commodore.

I'd imagine some industry is the same.

Unless you are extremly short on storage space, what do you gain by tossing it?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: daveshel
I have one of those combo 3 1/2 / 5 1/4 drives I'm saving for my museum. Along with my 5x86/133 cpu.

I have one of those also. Unfortunately, all my 5 1/4 discs are bad. I guess after 15+ years they rotted or something.

 

[rnmcd]

well, I guess if I ever need one I'll buy it on ebay...as others are doing presently.

Thanks for the input.