Floppy Disk Becoming Relic of the Past

[Lord_of_the_Dense]

Floppy Disk Becoming Relic of the Past As Many Computers Made Without a Floppy Drive

ATLANTA (AP) -- Long the most common way to store letters, homework and other computer files, the floppy disk is going the way of the horse upon the arrival of the car: it'll hang around but never hold the same relevance in everyday life.

And good riddance, say some home computer users. The march of technology must go on.

Like the penny, the floppy drive is hardly worth the trouble, computer makers say.

Read entire story here (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/040906/floppy_death_4.html).

OK, so which of you cows is still using this outdated feed bag?

[vernarial]

Not me.

[lordpake]

I do. It's still - sometimes - the most convenient way to move data to older comps. Or to school/work comps where you can't install usb memory stick coz it's external device (or sumthing like that)..

[gbread49]

Though outdated, the floppy drive still has its uses, and every box I build, I always install a floppy drive. They cost hardly nothing and when you need one, it can be a life saver.

1. Quick temporary storage and transport of small files.

2. Flashing of drives, BIOS (most OEM's still use this method to flash.)

3. Boot Disk for older 'puters (oh yeah, there are 100,000's of them still in use).

4. Multi-boot environments, ie., when 98SE is also installed.

5. Upgrading of OS (Especially for WinXP) for those whose BIOS do not support booting from a CD-ROM.

6. A quick way to reformat and/or clean a drive.

True, alot of these reasons, an average user would have no use, but for one who builds, or does upgrading, reformatting, etc.... it definately serves its purpose well.

[Nick Madcat]

I remember how i was a complete 98 and DOS nut before i went over to NT kernels (2k, XP). Did lots of work in dos and 98. Hell yesterady i needed to make a temporary 98 partition to test stuff and the floppy drive was dead from mechanical crap. Had to replace real quick.

Definitely keeping drive. But ZIP drive comin in real soon.