Poll: Do you have a floppy installed in your computer (main rig)

[bcterps]

I still have one, only use it for flashing the bios or running some diagnostic programs. Still the only way that I know of to run WD and Maxtor HD diagnostic programs. That's basically the only reason I have one.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: benchiu
I still have one, only use it for flashing the bios or running some diagnostic programs. Still the only way that I know of to run WD and Maxtor HD diagnostic programs. That's basically the only reason I have one.

AFAIK, you can use most common CD burning programs to make a bootable CD from the image of those diagnostic programs floppies. Once you do that, you've got a bootable CD that will act just like the floppies. As long as your optical drives and/or motherboard aren't extremely old, you should be able to boot from a CD just as easily, and a bit faster.

 

[bcterps]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: benchiu I still have one, only use it for flashing the bios or running some diagnostic programs. Still the only way that I know of to run WD and Maxtor HD diagnostic programs. That's basically the only reason I have one.

AFAIK, you can use most common CD burning programs to make a bootable CD from the image of those diagnostic programs floppies. Once you do that, you've got a bootable CD that will act just like the floppies. As long as your optical drives and/or motherboard aren't extremely old, you should be able to boot from a CD just as easily, and a bit faster.

*bonks himself on the head*

Why didn't I think of that before? Thanks!

 

[Insane3D]

:beer:

 

[Double Trouble]

As long as your optical drives and/or motherboard aren't extremely old, you should be able to boot from a CD just as easily, and a bit faster.

Yes, but that doesn't help you when you need to insert a floppy to insteall XP on a serial drive (to provide the driver), and it doesn't help you when you just need to quickly grab a couple of small files from one PC to another if they are not networked. Yes, there are plenty of workarounds so you don't have to have a floppy, but for $7, why deal with that hassle. What's the big downside??

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: tagej

As long as your optical drives and/or motherboard aren't extremely old, you should be able to boot from a CD just as easily, and a bit faster.

Yes, but that doesn't help you when you need to insert a floppy to insteall XP on a serial drive (to provide the driver), and it doesn't help you when you just need to quickly grab a couple of small files from one PC to another if they are not networked. Yes, there are plenty of workarounds so you don't have to have a floppy, but for $7, why deal with that hassle. What's the big downside??

That is probably the biggest reason for having a floppy, and why I still keep one around. However, there are a few workarounds, even for that. The first one involves editing a few of the XP startup files, and burning a new XP CD image that will look for the drivers in another location. However, that option is probably a bit much for the casual user. Another option would be to install the OS on a regular IDE drive first, then cloning with Ghost or the like, or even a S/ATA - PATA coverter.

As you said though, it would be easier, at least initially, to use the floppy. That's why it still has it's uses.

The two things that bug me about floppies is they usually don't get used much, so they tend to just end up being dustraps and they add just another cable into the case. I know these are minor, but I prefer to use my 3.5" bays for things like USB hubs, or memory readers and the like, and I just generally think the front of the PC looks cleaner with no floppy. I guess it really boils down to personal preference.

Just remember, people use their PC's for different things. For you, it might seem silly to not have a floppy, but to someone else, it may seem equally as silly to have one. Everyone's different.

:beer: