Any need for floppy drive in a new system?

[Ken]

Is there any need for a floppy drive in a new system? If, for example,
I were to use an Intel mb that has its drivers on a floppy, as I have
heard that the DP35DPM does (go figure!), what would the workaround be?
USB? CD?

I figure I would rather not put in the extra cable if it is not needed.
The $20 expense is negligible.

Thanks
KK

 

[Conor]

Is there any need for a floppy drive in a new system? If, for example,
I were to use an Intel mb that has its drivers on a floppy, as I have
heard that the DP35DPM does (go figure!), what would the workaround be?
USB? CD?

I figure I would rather not put in the extra cable if it is not needed.
The $20 expense is negligible.

Thanks
KK

I've not needed one for a few years now. BIOS updates come as windows
executables and there's no reason you can't set SATA to IDE mode,
install Windows then the SATA drivers and set the SATA back to SATA in
the BIOS.

Although Vista negates all of that because it'll look on a USB stick
for them.

 

[John Doe]

Floppy drives are obsolete.

 

[Ed Cregger]

Tiger Direct sells an external USB connected 3.5" diskette drive that works
superbly. And you are right, some software vendors still resort to storing
their backup/startup files on diskettes.

Ed Cregger

------------------

 

[Ken]

I've not needed one for a few years now. BIOS updates come as windows
executables and there's no reason you can't set SATA to IDE mode,
install Windows then the SATA drivers and set the SATA back to SATA in
the BIOS.

Although Vista negates all of that because it'll look on a USB stick
for them.

Conor,

Please tell me more about installing Windows XP with a SATA drive, as I
was going to ask that question at some point. My present system uses an
IDE drive, but I would like to be able to just go all SATA. How does
one do it to install WinXP?

Thanks
KK

 

[Ken]

Tiger Direct sells an external USB connected 3.5" diskette drive that works
superbly. And you are right, some software vendors still resort to storing
their backup/startup files on diskettes.

Ed Cregger

Ed,

There are four that are on the tigerdirect website: two by Sony, one by
diablotek, and one by Sabrent. Which of these are you using with
success? (I assume they don't need drivers to be loaded, just plug in
and go?

Thanks
KK

 

[Ken]

Tiger Direct sells an external USB connected 3.5" diskette drive that works
superbly. And you are right, some software vendors still resort to storing
their backup/startup files on diskettes.

Ed Cregger

forgot to add the URL:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...s=external+floppy+usb&image12.x=0&image12.y=0

 

[VanguardLH]

Tiger Direct sells an external USB connected 3.5" diskette drive that works
superbly. And you are right, some software vendors still resort to storing
their backup/startup files on diskettes.

But which will NOT be available until after the OS loads the USB driver.
I believe there are now some BIOSes that will boot from USB devices but
the OP never gave any details on his [proposed] system.

 

[VanguardLH]

Is there any need for a floppy drive in a new system? If, for example,
I were to use an Intel mb that has its drivers on a floppy, as I have
heard that the DP35DPM does (go figure!), what would the workaround be?
USB? CD?

I figure I would rather not put in the extra cable if it is not needed.
The $20 expense is negligible.

Thanks
KK

If you need to flash the BIOS to update it (and only do that if the new
version actually gives you something you didn't have before), how are
you going to boot from a device other than your hard drive? You may be
able to configure the BIOS to boot from the CD drive but then you need
to create a bootable CD. It is likely that you won't be able to burn to
that CD when booting from it so you won't be able to save a copy of the
current BIOS as a backup in case the new BIOS is bad, faulty, or
incompletely copied to the EEPROM. It is not safe to perform a BIOS
update while Windows is running. What happens if Windows crashes while
the BIOS update is taking place? An incomplete BIOS burn can leave your
computer unbootable and you'll never be able to boot it again until you
replace the EEPROM chips (that have the firmware already burned in) or
replace the motherboard (which might not work with your current OS
install on your hard drives until you perform an in-place upgradge, aka
Repair install, if it works).

If you boot into Recovery Console mode, and if you are using a SATA or
SCSI hard drive, you will need to hit F6 on startup and later insert the
floppy to load the device drivers; otherwise, Windows will report that
no mass storage (hard drive) was found. I don't remember the prompt for
the driver disk letting you use a CD/DVD drive and you got stuck having
to use a floppy.

Are you going to carry around a CD (and in a jewel case) when all you
need is to transport a file under 1.2MB or 1.44MB in size? A floppy
fits in your shirt pocket. A CD does not not. There are those
mini-CDRs but they're overpriced. Nowadays users carry around USB thumb
drives (aka flash drives) to do the physical transport and to give them
lots more space and bigger files to save on it, but that requires
getting an OS to boot up sufficiently to load the USB drivers so that
thumb drive can be used. You could make the floppy bootable and carry
around a file to boot another host and get your file over on its drive
(provided it doesn't require OS-loaded drivers, too, to access that
drive).

If you need to boot into true DOS, are you going to do it using a CD?
Maybe if you have LOTS of other utilities that you want to run, like
anti-virus scanners, partitioning utilities, etc. What if it is the
CD/DVD device that is broken but you still need to start a boot into
DOS? If the hard drive is broken, you won't be able to load a DOS from
another partition on that hard drive using multibooting.

I hardly believe you need to be concerned about a $5 floppy drive when
considering the cost of building your own computer. However, I have
seen some pre-build makers ask for an exaggerated price on a floppy
upgrade (so I'd buy it separately and install it). You didn't bother to
mention if you are looking at a desktop or laptop computer. I'd
probably not bother with a floppy on a laptop, or get one that inserts
into a slot if I ever needed one later (but then, of course, your
problem and work is pended until you get the required hardware to
resolve your problem).

 

[Ken]

If you need to flash the BIOS to update it (and only do that if the new
version actually gives you something you didn't have before), how are
you going to boot from a device other than your hard drive? You may be
able to configure the BIOS to boot from the CD drive but then you need
to create a bootable CD. It is likely that you won't be able to burn to
that CD when booting from it so you won't be able to save a copy of the
current BIOS as a backup in case the new BIOS is bad, faulty, or
incompletely copied to the EEPROM. It is not safe to perform a BIOS
update while Windows is running. What happens if Windows crashes while
the BIOS update is taking place? An incomplete BIOS burn can leave your
computer unbootable and you'll never be able to boot it again until you
replace the EEPROM chips (that have the firmware already burned in) or
replace the motherboard (which might not work with your current OS
install on your hard drives until you perform an in-place upgradge, aka
Repair install, if it works).

If you boot into Recovery Console mode, and if you are using a SATA or
SCSI hard drive, you will need to hit F6 on startup and later insert the
floppy to load the device drivers; otherwise, Windows will report that
no mass storage (hard drive) was found. I don't remember the prompt for
the driver disk letting you use a CD/DVD drive and you got stuck having
to use a floppy.

Are you going to carry around a CD (and in a jewel case) when all you
need is to transport a file under 1.2MB or 1.44MB in size? A floppy
fits in your shirt pocket. A CD does not not. There are those
mini-CDRs but they're overpriced. Nowadays users carry around USB thumb
drives (aka flash drives) to do the physical transport and to give them
lots more space and bigger files to save on it, but that requires
getting an OS to boot up sufficiently to load the USB drivers so that
thumb drive can be used. You could make the floppy bootable and carry
around a file to boot another host and get your file over on its drive
(provided it doesn't require OS-loaded drivers, too, to access that
drive).

If you need to boot into true DOS, are you going to do it using a CD?
Maybe if you have LOTS of other utilities that you want to run, like
anti-virus scanners, partitioning utilities, etc. What if it is the
CD/DVD device that is broken but you still need to start a boot into
DOS? If the hard drive is broken, you won't be able to load a DOS from
another partition on that hard drive using multibooting.

I hardly believe you need to be concerned about a $5 floppy drive when
considering the cost of building your own computer. However, I have
seen some pre-build makers ask for an exaggerated price on a floppy
upgrade (so I'd buy it separately and install it). You didn't bother to
mention if you are looking at a desktop or laptop computer. I'd
probably not bother with a floppy on a laptop, or get one that inserts
into a slot if I ever needed one later (but then, of course, your
problem and work is pended until you get the required hardware to
resolve your problem).

This is for a desktop system. The expense is negligible--the question is
whether one needs one at all these days. I may need one for the drivers
for my Intel motherboard, curiously. I have heard that the drivers come
on a floppy, although someone somewhere says they can be slipstreamed
into an XP installation somehow...

Thanks

 

[Dave]

Conor,

Please tell me more about installing Windows XP with a SATA drive, as I
was going to ask that question at some point. My present system uses an
IDE drive, but I would like to be able to just go all SATA. How does one
do it to install WinXP?

Thanks
KK

You boot the WinXP intall CD-Rom. If you watch the messages, you will be
prompted with something like "hit F2 to load third-party scsi drivers" or
something like that. If you hit the button it tells you to hit, then it
will ask you for the location of the drivers. If you have SATA drivers on
floppy, point it to that. WinXP install program will load the drivers, then
the install will continue. If all goes well, the WinXP install program will
have access to your SATA drive then, and you will be able to install XP on
the SATA drive. -Dave

 

[Flasherly]

Floppy drives are obsolete.

My 1.44's so obsolete, it quit working. Severe oxidation, dust build-
up over the heads, I suspect. Need to try and take it apart or
replace it one of these days. Maybe an abrasive disc cleaner kit.
Organized CD/DVDs fills the same purpose better, no denying. Just
I've brought up so many systems with floppies compared to optical
discs I still suffer jetlag. It's horrible - I imagine XP is biased,
refuses to recognize my floppy boot disks, and such, and haven't got
past sitting down with NERO to get the knack right for making a boot
DVD from an OS image its supposed to create off a floppy. All back-of-
the-bus stuff to HIREMS' wow factor, of course.

 

[DK]

My 1.44's so obsolete, it quit working. Severe oxidation, dust build-
up over the heads, I suspect.

Just tested mine. Nine years old, haven't been used in about two
years. Works fine. Personally, I would still put it in if I were building
a new system. The overhread is minimal, the simplicity of it and
backward compatibility with everything is worth it.

DK

 

[Conor]

Conor,

Please tell me more about installing Windows XP with a SATA drive, as I
was going to ask that question at some point. My present system uses an
IDE drive, but I would like to be able to just go all SATA. How does
one do it to install WinXP?

Thanks
KK

The simplest way is to set the channel the SATA drive is on to IDE in the
BIOS. That way, you can install XP without needing to install the SATA
controller drivers. You can then install the drivers once Windows is up
and running then change the SATA channel back to SATA in the BIOS.

 

[Dave]

Just tested mine. Nine years old, haven't been used in about two

years. Works fine. Personally, I would still put it in if I were building
a new system. The overhread is minimal, the simplicity of it and
backward compatibility with everything is worth it.

DK

Well the System I'm using now is about a year old. It has a floppy drive
that has never been used. That floppy drive was recycled from a previous
system, where it (the floppy drive) was installed over two years. In THAT
system, this same floppy drive was never used. So while I've had a floppy
drive in the system I haven't used it in (from what I can remember) close to
four years now. -Dave

 

[VanguardLH]

This is for a desktop system. The expense is negligible--the question is
whether one needs one at all these days. I may need one for the drivers
for my Intel motherboard, curiously. I have heard that the drivers come
on a floppy, although someone somewhere says they can be slipstreamed
into an XP installation somehow...

Thanks

Look at the mobo that you are going to use. On which side of it is the
floppy connector? Then consider if there is anything else you are going
to shove in the 3.5" drive bay(s) that you have in the case. If you
have only a single external 3.5" drive bay and want to use it for a card
reader then don't bother with a floppy. If you have two 3.5" *external*
drive bays then what else are you going to shove in them? Most likely
they would remain unused throughout the history of your computer so you
wasted the opportunity to put some hardware in that may not be used much
but when it is needed can get your neck out of the noose. With the
floppy connector near the drive bays, the cable can be shortened quite a
bit to keep it out of the way and out of the airflow by wrapping it back
and forth and either taping or using a couple wire ties. It's pretty
easy to keep the insides neat unless your cables are too short. In
fact, you could probably shove the extra floppy data cable underneath
the floppy drive if you don't install anything in the bay below it (and
may even be able to do so if something is in there but short, like a
card reader).

You've got the floppy connector on the mobo. You have no concern over
the under $10 cost of a floppy drive. You won't be putting anything
else in that external bay. So why fret over the data cable which can be
stowed neatly out of the way and was probably already included with the
mobo.

 

[VanguardLH]

Think of this way: How often have you used the spare tire and jack in
your car? Maybe never. Maybe once in 10 years. But you feel
comfortable knowing it is there in case of an emergency. If someone
said you could buy the car without a spare tire and jack to save all of
$10, would you buy it that way or get the spare?

 

[John Doe]

Just tested mine. Nine years old, haven't been used in about two
years. Works fine. Personally, I would still put it in if I were building
a new system. The overhread is minimal,

It's minimal when you're just thinking about it.

 

[Ken]

VanguardLH said the following on 4/13/2008 7:37 PM:

Think of this way: How often have you used the spare tire and jack in
your car? Maybe never. Maybe once in 10 years. But you feel
comfortable knowing it is there in case of an emergency. If someone
said you could buy the car without a spare tire and jack to save all of
$10, would you buy it that way or get the spare?

ROFL. Well said!

KK

 

[DK]

It's minimal when you're just thinking about it.

If MoBo supports it, the rest is basically free no matter how
you look at it.

DK