Floppy disk, do I need it?

They've stopped including 3.5" drives for the same reason they stopped
including 5 1/4" drives when the 3.5" drive was invented. Technology is
past that. If you have a CD-RW drive and some CD-RW disks you should be
able to do everything you could do with the 3.5" disks. You only need the
3.5" drive if you actually have something saved on 3.5" disks that you still
want to access, which likely programs are or soon will be obsolete and data
could be consolidated. CD-RW disks can hold at least 682 MB of data, so you
could copy about 473 of your 3.5" disks to one CD.

I would personally want a 3.5" drive in a new PC for now just in case, but
then I also wanted to keep my 5 1/4" drive when I bought my first PC that
didn't have one, and I didn't end up using it much.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that many
(most?)
of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd be
losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely use
that
feature any longer.

I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers available, but
are
they worth the trouble and expense?

What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?

TIA

Ken Bland

The reason for having a 3.5" floppy is not necessarily because you still
use them for storage, it is that for certain maintenance chores they are
much easier to use and for certain installations they are absolutely
necessary. With Vista that is less of an issue but if the OP intends to
use XP he should get a floppy drive. Installing XP on certain disk
controllers is absolutely impossible unless you "slipstream" the drivers
or use a floppy for the drivers, most of the time it is much simpler to
use a diskette than it is to slipstream the drivers. A startup boot
floppy (for NT/2000/XP)is also another case where a simple boot problem
can be easily fixed with the use of a floppy diskette.

John

Eric wrote:

They've stopped including 3.5" drives for the same reason they stopped
including 5 1/4" drives when the 3.5" drive was invented. Technology is
past that. If you have a CD-RW drive and some CD-RW disks you should be
able to do everything you could do with the 3.5" disks. You only need the
3.5" drive if you actually have something saved on 3.5" disks that you still
want to access, which likely programs are or soon will be obsolete and data
could be consolidated. CD-RW disks can hold at least 682 MB of data, so you
could copy about 473 of your 3.5" disks to one CD.

I would personally want a 3.5" drive in a new PC for now just in case, but
then I also wanted to keep my 5 1/4" drive when I bought my first PC that
didn't have one, and I didn't end up using it much.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...

I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that many
(most?)
of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd be
losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely use
that
feature any longer.

I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers available, but
are
they worth the trouble and expense?

What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?

TIA

Ken Bland

I don't know what you're talking about on drivers. I've installed XP many
times and never needed drivers on another disk on install. If I have needed
them, they must have been slipstreamed. If the average home user can't
unstall XP without a driver disk, where would they obtain such a disk if
they have no OS installed? The XP disk should have enough basic drivers
included to get up and running, and regular drivers don't even fit on a 3.5"
floppy anymore. The last video driver I downloaded from nVidia was 19 MB.

I've never needed a boot floppy for XP, but on the rare case you would need
one, is it not possible to use a CD? Granted it would be a massive waste of
space if you can't write anything to it other than the boot files, but blank
CDs are pretty cheap, and in many stores now you can't even buy 3.5" disks
anymore.

"John John" wrote in message
...
The reason for having a 3.5" floppy is not necessarily because you still
use them for storage, it is that for certain maintenance chores they are
much easier to use and for certain installations they are absolutely
necessary. With Vista that is less of an issue but if the OP intends to
use XP he should get a floppy drive. Installing XP on certain disk
controllers is absolutely impossible unless you "slipstream" the drivers
or use a floppy for the drivers, most of the time it is much simpler to
use a diskette than it is to slipstream the drivers. A startup boot
floppy (for NT/2000/XP)is also another case where a simple boot problem
can be easily fixed with the use of a floppy diskette.

John

Eric wrote:

I don't know what you're talking about on drivers. I've installed XP many
times and never needed drivers on another disk on install.

If you purchased your computer from one of the large oem's all that is
needed is on their reinstall or restoration disks. If you later add a
disk controller, or if you use generic OEM or retail CD's and have
certain SATA controllers, PCI disk controller or RAID controllers the
Windows XP setup program may not be able to see the hard disks. You
have to use the F6 driver installation method and you *must* supply the
controller drivers on a floppy diskette. Otherwise you have to go
through the hassles of slipstreaming the drivers to the installation cd.
It is not all that unusual to install on disk controllers that need
drivers that are not on the XP cd and it is usually a heck of a lot
easier to press the F6 key during the installation and supply the
drivers on a diskette.

John

John John wrote:

If you purchased your computer from one of the large oem's all that is
needed is on their reinstall or restoration disks. If you later add a
disk controller, or if you use generic OEM or retail CD's and have
certain SATA controllers, PCI disk controller or RAID controllers the
Windows XP setup program may not be able to see the hard disks. You
have to use the F6 driver installation method and you *must* supply
the controller drivers on a floppy diskette. Otherwise you have to go
through the hassles of slipstreaming the drivers to the installation
cd. It is not all that unusual to install on disk controllers that
need drivers that are not on the XP cd and it is usually a heck of a
lot easier to press the F6 key during the installation and supply the
drivers on a diskette.

I have a box here that duel boots between XP Pro x86 and x64 with the OS
for each on RAID 0. The only way to install the necessary RAID 0 drivers
when installing the OS was to use a floppy drive, in my case an external
USB.
--
Mike Maltby

Interesting.. I've never had that sort of issue.. if you can't use a CD for
those drivers you will need the 3.5" drive (if you know this, you could
always add the drive when you add that controller). Otherwise the 3.5"
drive is practically obsolete.

I still have a 5 1/4" drive in the attic and I believe a box of disks for it
somewhere. If I get time someday I may install it and see what's on them.
When I bought a new hard drive, I set it as the primary drive and installed
Windows on it, and left in my old drive as a secondary drive just in case I
need anything. I haven't accessed that old drive in a long time. One of
these days I'll go through it and see if there's anything worth saving that
we don't normally need (ie pictures), then wipe it out. Those old 40 GB
drives are big enough to still be useful, though by today's standards
practically obsolete.

"John John" wrote in message
...
Eric wrote:

I don't know what you're talking about on drivers. I've installed XP
many times and never needed drivers on another disk on install.

If you purchased your computer from one of the large oem's all that is
needed is on their reinstall or restoration disks. If you later add a
disk controller, or if you use generic OEM or retail CD's and have certain
SATA controllers, PCI disk controller or RAID controllers the Windows XP
setup program may not be able to see the hard disks. You have to use the
F6 driver installation method and you *must* supply the controller drivers
on a floppy diskette. Otherwise you have to go through the hassles of
slipstreaming the drivers to the installation cd. It is not all that
unusual to install on disk controllers that need drivers that are not on
the XP cd and it is usually a heck of a lot easier to press the F6 key
during the installation and supply the drivers on a diskette.

John

My comment at the bottom.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
: I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that many
(most?)
: of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd be
: losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely use
that
: feature any longer.
:
: I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers available, but
are
: they worth the trouble and expense?
:
: What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?
:
: TIA
:
: Ken Bland
:
:
I'm responding to my original post acknowledging all the helpful
recommendations. If there's any chance at all that I might need a floppy
diskette sometime I'm going to get it. I can order several models of a Dell
computer (and perhaps others as well) with XP instead of Vista AND an
installed floppy disk reader/writer. It costs $30 US that way, but it'll be
there available when and if I need it.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland

I certainly hope your experience with Dell is better than the one I recently
had. Of course, I was trying to get a laptop for my wife, not a desktop. I
finally had to cancel the order because of all the 'delays' and 'back
orders'.....all of which they knew about well ahead of time. This, I know,
because it was written up so many times that Google had pages and pages of
hits about it. Admittedly, I entered the system about the time everyone was
placing orders for their school kids, but, Dell should have been more up
front about the delays.

Sure hope your experience is better!
Heirloom, old and got a better deal locally
anyway.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
My comment at the bottom.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
: I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that many
(most?)
: of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd be
: losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely use
that
: feature any longer.
:
: I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers available, but
are
: they worth the trouble and expense?
:
: What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?
:
: TIA
:
: Ken Bland
:
:
I'm responding to my original post acknowledging all the helpful
recommendations. If there's any chance at all that I might need a floppy
diskette sometime I'm going to get it. I can order several models of a
Dell
computer (and perhaps others as well) with XP instead of Vista AND an
installed floppy disk reader/writer. It costs $30 US that way, but it'll
be
there available when and if I need it.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland

I started to reply earlier, but because I am not fond of Dell, I didn't
post it. But do make sure that they don't put McAfee on your
machine......unless of course, you like it.

And I did check Tiger in the US and there were at least 3 floppy
internal drives which included the digital camera card readers for
$20.....or I could sell you my separate USB one, grin.

Just be careful with Dell.....or for that matter, any of the Big Box
companies. I got burnt up here by one......MDG Computers.
Canadians.....don't buy there.

Cheers....Heather

"Heirloom" wrote in message
...
I certainly hope your experience with Dell is better than the one I
recently had. Of course, I was trying to get a laptop for my wife, not
a desktop. I finally had to cancel the order because of all the
'delays' and 'back orders'.....all of which they knew about well ahead
of time. This, I know, because it was written up so many times that
Google had pages and pages of hits about it. Admittedly, I entered the
system about the time everyone was placing orders for their school
kids, but, Dell should have been more up front about the delays.

Sure hope your experience is better!
Heirloom, old and got a better deal locally
anyway.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
My comment at the bottom.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
: I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that
many
(most?)
: of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd
be
: losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely
use
that
: feature any longer.
:
: I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers
available, but
are
: they worth the trouble and expense?
:
: What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?
:
: TIA
:
: Ken Bland
:
:
I'm responding to my original post acknowledging all the helpful
recommendations. If there's any chance at all that I might need a
floppy
diskette sometime I'm going to get it. I can order several models of
a Dell
computer (and perhaps others as well) with XP instead of Vista AND an
installed floppy disk reader/writer. It costs $30 US that way, but
it'll be
there available when and if I need it.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland

H:

Did you ever go to one of those computer shows by 'MarketPro'?
You can find out about them on the internet for your area.
There you can get whatever you are looking for, at the best prices, but you
must be choosey, meaning to 'look around' before you buy and come early.

Harry.


"Heirloom" wrote in message
...
I certainly hope your experience with Dell is better than the one I
recently
had. Of course, I was trying to get a laptop for my wife, not a desktop.
I
finally had to cancel the order because of all the 'delays' and 'back
orders'.....all of which they knew about well ahead of time. This, I
know,
because it was written up so many times that Google had pages and pages of
hits about it. Admittedly, I entered the system about the time everyone
was
placing orders for their school kids, but, Dell should have been more up
front about the delays.

Sure hope your experience is better!
Heirloom, old and got a better deal locally
anyway.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
My comment at the bottom.

"Justin Thyme" wrote in message
...
: I'm strongly considering a new desktop computer and notice that many
(most?)
: of them no longer include a slot for floppy disks. I feel like I'd be
: losing something that might be necessary, even though I very rarely
use
that
: feature any longer.
:
: I believe there are accessory floppy disk readers/writers available,
but
are
: they worth the trouble and expense?
:
: What will I lose if I have no floppy disk ability at all?
:
: TIA
:
: Ken Bland
:
:
I'm responding to my original post acknowledging all the helpful
recommendations. If there's any chance at all that I might need a
floppy
diskette sometime I'm going to get it. I can order several models of a
Dell
computer (and perhaps others as well) with XP instead of Vista AND an
installed floppy disk reader/writer. It costs $30 US that way, but
it'll
be
there available when and if I need it.

Thanks again.

Ken Bland