Dell: Who needs a floppy disk? Dell offering USB memory key has option for laptops

[Adul]

Delll: Who needs a floppy drive?

Dell Computer is offering its own alternative to the floppy disk.

The company on Tuesday began offering the USB Memory Key, a small, removable storage device.

Dell will offer a 16MB version of the USB Memory Key in place of a floppy drive for customers who opt to pair it with one of two Inspiron notebook models. The device uses flash memory and works by plugging into a PC's USB (universal serial bus) port. When connected, the Dell-branded device appears on a computer's desktop as a removable hard drive, allowing people to drag and drop files for storage or to move them to another computer. When not in use, it fits easily into a shirt pocket.

i plan on getting one next pay check

 

[dullard]

A few questions:
1) Can you boot from it or do you have to buy an expensive notebook CD burner?
2) Are replacements sent free to you in the mail as advertizements (often AOL) or do I have to buy another one each time a professor wants my assignments turned in and won't accept emailed programs?


USB is a good thing, but I still won't give up my floppy quite yet.

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: dullard
A few questions:
1) Can you boot from it or do you have to buy an expensive notebook CD burner?
2) Are replacements sent free to you in the mail as advertizements (often AOL) or do I have to buy another one each time a professor wants my assignments turned in and won't accept emailed programs?


USB is a good thing, but I still won't give up my floppy quite yet.

U can not boot from it, though maybe in the future you can

Can't help u with number 2, but I do definitely find use for this

 

[ai42]

My only concern is it "driverless" meaning it is built into windows/mac/linux.

The last time I used a floppy was to update my BIOS. Can imgaine any other reason these days with CDRs so cheap and CDRW drives getting so fast.

 

[Mani]

They are working to get these bootable - they may even be now. They are driverless in 2k and XP (and I believe Win ME) which are the most common OSes out there.

 

[Bovinicus]

That is well and good, but the good thing about floppy drives is the fact that just about every PC on the planet has one on it. I think that is the main advantage of floppy drives. The bootable aspect is nice too, but if they make these USB cards bootable, that would be great. Especially since floppies are painfully slow.

 

[ElFenix]

i use a floppy to boot linux because LILO screwed the pooch one day, but thats about it. they've included disk-on-key as an option listed under floppy for a few months now, its just had the dell name sprayed on it... not really a big deal...

 

[andrey]

Originally posted by: Bovinicus
That is well and good, but the good thing about floppy drives is the fact that just about every PC on the planet has one on it.

... except Dell now

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: Bovinicus
That is well and good, but the good thing about floppy drives is the fact that just about every PC on the planet has one on it.

I dunno...as I understand it, every computer that has shipped with a Pentium II or greater has USB on it. So maybe not EVERY single PC on the plant has USB, but definitely the vast majority.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: andrey

Originally posted by: Bovinicus
That is well and good, but the good thing about floppy drives is the fact that just about every PC on the planet has one on it.

... except Dell now

the floppy drive has been and will continue to be optional on notebooks.

the keychain USB memory device has also been optional for quite a while

today's announcement changes absolutely nothing from whats been available for the past 6 months, except that the disk-on-key device now has the dell logo sprayed on it.

 

[WannaZO6]

I have a 64 MB thumb drive and it does no completely replace floppy but comes in very handy when files (bigger that 1.44 MB) need to be transfered quickly. A main advantage is the ability to work with Mac. My little sister has an iBook and it works flawlessly with my Inspiron 8200. It may eventually replace floppy but for now its a convienience.