What takes the place of the floppy drive?

[spoon2001]

Is anything going to take the place of the floppy drive?

- cheap media, don't care if you give it away and don't get it back
- bootable
- suitable for software distribution
- easy read/write of individual files, built-in OS support, without a need
for proprietary packet writing software
- readable by system BIOS, no special drivers required

BUT -
- much higher speed and capacity than the floppy disk

I have read that Vista will support the MRW (Mt. Rainier) format, which puts
defect management into the CD/DVD hardware, and makes CDs/DVDs usable as
floppies. But I am not seeing MRW support being built into CD/DVD burners
even though the specification has been out for years. (It would be
interesting to see CD/DVD drive in a 3.5" format, like a floppy, but I
haven't seen that.)

One alternative I guess is the USB thumb drive. But I don't see them
getting cheap enough to pass hand-to-hand like floppies, or for use for
software distribution.

Another alternative is just email and internet.

 

[Conor]

Is anything going to take the place of the floppy drive?

- cheap media, don't care if you give it away and don't get it back
- bootable
- suitable for software distribution
- easy read/write of individual files, built-in OS support, without a need
for proprietary packet writing software
- readable by system BIOS, no special drivers required

BUT -
- much higher speed and capacity than the floppy disk

CDR/CDRW.

 

[Mike T.]

Is anything going to take the place of the floppy drive?

- cheap media, don't care if you give it away and don't get it back
- bootable
- suitable for software distribution
- easy read/write of individual files, built-in OS support, without a need
for proprietary packet writing software
- readable by system BIOS, no special drivers required

BUT -
- much higher speed and capacity than the floppy disk

I have read that Vista will support the MRW (Mt. Rainier) format, which
puts defect management into the CD/DVD hardware, and makes CDs/DVDs usable
as floppies. But I am not seeing MRW support being built into CD/DVD
burners even though the specification has been out for years. (It would
be interesting to see CD/DVD drive in a 3.5" format, like a floppy, but I
haven't seen that.)

One alternative I guess is the USB thumb drive. But I don't see them
getting cheap enough to pass hand-to-hand like floppies, or for use for
software distribution.

Another alternative is just email and internet.

In my opinion, it is going to (eventually) be the USB memory stick (or like
you said thumb drive). Eventually, they will be cheap enough that you can
give one away and not care if you get it back. Eventually all motherboards
will be able to boot from them. Right now, most of them pop up in windows
as a removable hard drive (or mass storage device, no drivers required). It
is child's play to easily read/write any number of files to them, using
windows explorer. They could be used to distribute software, obviously, as
the computer treats them as a temporary hard drive.

I think they will get cheaper. I was just reading that somebody (forgot
who) has managed to make transistors out of PLASTIC. Yup, plastic. Right
now, the only thing stopping USB memory sticks from replacing the floppy is
cost. But the cost WILL come down. And when they start making them out of
plastic? Watch for the prices to drop like a rock at that point. -Dave

 

[JAD]

Is anything going to take the place of the floppy drive?

- cheap media, don't care if you give it away and don't get it back
- bootable
- suitable for software distribution
- easy read/write of individual files, built-in OS support, without a need
for proprietary packet writing software
- readable by system BIOS, no special drivers required

BUT -
- much higher speed and capacity than the floppy disk

I have read that Vista will support the MRW (Mt. Rainier) format, which puts
defect management into the CD/DVD hardware, and makes CDs/DVDs usable as
floppies. But I am not seeing MRW support being built into CD/DVD burners
even though the specification has been out for years. (It would be
interesting to see CD/DVD drive in a 3.5" format, like a floppy, but I
haven't seen that.)

One alternative I guess is the USB thumb drive. But I don't see them
getting cheap enough to pass hand-to-hand like floppies, or for use for
software distribution.

Another alternative is just email and internet.

I have been using CD ROMs instead of floppies for awhile now......... and
use 'multisession' to reuse them. All my systems here use the ROM for
booting if necessary, no Floppy drive installed (sorry Taiwan). Copied and
burned 'emulation' of a Windows startup disk to a CD and use that for
windows 9x prompt boot. Also using CD's with MY hard drive disk utilities
and AV software, to have a bootable anti virus disk. CD's do come in a 3.5
size (although not incased in a jacket like a floppy). Use them quite
regularly as business cards and data transfer. AFA price well CDs are quite
cheap now, in fact cheaper than floppies were back in the day, at 10x the
storage capacity.

 

[johns]

Floppy is a good security and recovery device. I keep a disk
image on my D-drive, and if the C-drive gets hosed, I can
recover the image from the D-drive booting from floppy. Also,
floppy is a good place to run memchecks, and hard drive
diags. Boot dos, with minimal config, and that gives a very
stable diag.

johns

 

[John Doe]

Is anything going to take the place of the floppy drive?

- cheap media, don't care if you give it away and don't get it
back

E-mail is faster, easier, and cheaper.

- bootable
CD/DVD.


- suitable for software distribution

The Internet, or a CD if necessary.

- easy read/write of individual files, built-in OS support,
without a need for proprietary packet writing software
- readable by system BIOS, no special drivers required

A USB flash drive.

I haven't used a floppy drive for years.

One alternative I guess is the USB thumb drive. But I don't see
them getting cheap enough to pass hand-to-hand like floppies, or
for use for software distribution.

Another alternative is just email and internet.

That's your answer, for the vast majority of filesharing.