View Full Version : How long will we keep using floppy drives?
After reading the post by Lex about having games on a floppy disk it made me wonder, how long will we keep using floppy drives?
With software getting bigger and bigger(file size), the capacity of a floppy disk 1.44Mb is not really useful for much these days. Apart from old games, documents or low-res pictures there is not much you can fit on a floppy these days. I used one for the first time in months to save a picture and found I could only fit 1 pic on it.
With CD burners becoming so cheap and CD-R,CD-RW discs even cheaper I think that most people would use CD's over Floppy disks. I'm wondering if they will start to make the floppy drive an option rather than a standard part for a PC.
Even when you buy new software or hardware, the programs(or drivers for hardware) come on CD and most new big games are now available on DVD.
Does anyone have an opinion or know about the future of the floppy? :)
How long will we keep using em?? id say for the majority of purposes they stoped years ago.
new computers dont even come with a floppy drive much of the time anymore.
its been an option for a least a few years now. Honestly they're all but gone. USB flash drives are whats taking its place.
Oh please...Floppy disks are far from outdated. Whether they come with a floppy disk drive or not, each and every single motherboard still has the floppy disk connector on it. And it will probably continue to. Why?
Well, I'm more willing to give away a floppy than a USB flash drive. Yes my 1GB flash drive was pretty cheap but I'm not about to give it away! Yes, CD's are cheaper but CDs are often a lot easier damaged than floppies. Yes, floppies can be damaged quite easily but they often manage to last longer than CDs.
The advantage? A floppy drive will work on almost any computer with any OS with one hell of a lot less trouble than CD drives. So what do we still use them for? Boot disks. We tend to just use floppies when we're [to put it bluntly] in "the sh*t", but they are damn useful :) The other thing is work on important networks. For example, school networks. Each and ever single computer at the school I used to be in had their cd drives removed. The only ones with CD drives were the ones I used. [ I did have a little influence there :p] Why? Simple. The School's policy was no installed programs, no games, etc. etc. A floppy is enough for the Excel Document or Word Document that students often bring in, but too small for most of the games that these kids played. Yes there were restrictions set over the network but this was simply an extra measure and a good one IMO. A lot of system admins will work their networks like this - extra security.
The floppy drive won't die. It just won't. And whilst we're talking of floppies, everyone thinks the good old 5.25 is dead. *pats 5.25" floppy drive* Fantastic thing :p
new computers dont even come with a floppy drive much of the time anymore.
O_o - Can I ask where you live? I don't think I've ever seen a pre-built computer sold without a floppy drive. Yes I've seen people do it when buying their machines in parts [like I always do and most system admins do] but, never for pre-built machines.
well i suppose floppy drives are usefull for thoes still living in the 90's and have the old slow computers. but today they're slow, and hardly big enough to hold 1 file anymore. they are rarely used. check around in some stores and ask them how much the sell floppies. i have friends who work at places like that. they dont even stock many floppies because of the fact that no one really buys many of them.
Why even give away a floppy anymore? with a bit over a meg in size its become easier and faster to email the files rather then spend the time to put them on a floppy.
Actually your advantages arent really advantages at all. CD's will work with less problems in any OS. Why do you think Floppies came either formated for Windows or formated for Apple? CD's are universal.
CD's actually damage FAR less then floppies. floppies are VERY touchy, dust inside them can screw them up. thats why they have to be protected all the way around like that. one scratch and its gone.
and with mini CD's there isnt even a size advantage to floppies.
most boot programs are even getting to just getting to be made for cd's now. its quicker and easier to do.
O_o - Can I ask where you live? I don't think I've ever seen a pre-built computer sold without a floppy drive. Yes I've seen people do it when buying their machines in parts [like I always do and most system admins do] but, never for pre-built machines.
you need to start opening your eyes then.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109241,00.asp
Dell Drops Floppy Drives in New PCs
Future Dimension 8250 desktops will offer floppy drives as an option--alongside thumb drives.
Tom Mainelli, PCWorld.com
Wednesday, February 05, 2003
It's time to say goodbye to the floppy drive.
We've all heard that before, but this time Dell means it. The company will stop listing the floppy drive as a default entry on its top-end consumer desktop, the Dimension 8250, starting later in February. To get one, you'll have to ask for it.
"We want to introduce them [customers] to the alternatives and let them choose," says Shannon Baxley, manager for Dimension product marketing. Dell thinks that most customers, forced to choose, will go with something more useful--specifically, thumb drives.
The floppy drive has been functionally obsolete for some time; most of the files people share are simply too large to fit on its meager 1.44MB capacity.
"Most people can't recall the last time they used their floppy. Customers were telling us they don't use it," says John New, senior manager for Dimension product planning. Most people are, however, afraid not to have one. "It's mostly just a comfort factor, he says. "They think, 'I might need it.'"
both dell and gateway off the top of my head offer most of thier computers preselected without a floppy drive. of course the buyer can select to have it. but if they take the default options on many of the computers, they will not get a floppy drive. And that was a couple years ago.
years before that Apple took the floppy drive off thier computers.
So you cant find one without? or you just never looked?
Floppy will never die? sorry, its been all but dead for some time now. Some just are afraid of new technology, too cheap to buy the new technology, or just dont want to let go of the past.
Oh no, I do have the new technology but the floppy just isn't dead for so many people. I'm all for new technology. I was one of the first to go out and buy those flashy CDRW drives [and I still have my 2x] when they first came out, same with DVDRW drives.
Actually your advantages arent really advantages at all. CD's will work with less problems in any OS. Why do you think Floppies came either formated for Windows or formated for Apple? CD's are universal.
CD's actually damage FAR less then floppies. floppies are VERY touchy, dust inside them can screw them up. thats why they have to be protected all the way around like that. one scratch and its gone.
First of all, PC-Formatted, [yuck..Windows]. Second it isn't so much the disks as the OS. Mac OS has been able to read/write all PC and Mac formatted disks since 198X. PCs have been able to read MacFormatted floppies for a long time as well, with appropriate software. And so, just as Mac properties differ to PC for Floppies they also differ somewhat for CDs although in slightly different ways.
Ask someone to show you a floppy and they'll pick one out from 1990. Ask someone to show you a CD, the oldest one they have is usually less than 2 years old. CD's scratch very easily, whereas the protection on the floppy is sufficient for most cases to avoid scratching . As for dust, CD's also stop operating with a large buildup of dust. Granted this is substantially larger than the amount of dust required for floppies. However , just as CD's can be cleaned it is also very easy to clean a floppy and we've all done it, several times.
with a bit over a meg in size its become easier and faster to email the files rather then spend the time to put them on a floppy.
First of all, not all people have access to fast email. Some countries are way ahead of others in BB access and certain agegroups tend to stick to certain packages. A large proportion of the slightly more elderly community [50+] accessing the internet will do so by dialup [ppm] simply because they only use it to send/receive family emails. Also email is by no means secure. As an accountant you would be willing to send some account details in an Excel file in an email to transport them from home to work? I sure as hell wouldn't. It'd be around a 1MB Excel file and it would just go on a floppy. Why not a CD?
Well if it is in a corporate environment with relatively conscious system administrators the users won't have access to the CD drives. This is an extremely common option used by several administrators to reduce user tampering, especially if we're perhaps talking school networks, with 1500 11-18 year olds trying to break everything in any way they can!
Onto the issue of size:
For the typical work user a floppy has enough space on. Typical uses are MS Word for word processing. A 50 page document often takes little space, even with pictures. Excel files. Well, they can get pretty big. I have a couple of excel files which reach the row limit [until MS finally manage to remove that limit] and they weigh in at around 13MB. However most people with this amount of data would be using Access Databases, and transferring to a simple Access sheet we end up with just under 500kb. For a typical work user 1.44MB is more than enough. So, for certain environments it does have its uses.
or just dont want to let go of the past.
Yes, there are the few things I've mentioned above but in another way You've sort of hit the nail on the head there. People won't let go of the floppy which is why it won't die. But the real question is, why won't people let go of it? A lot of it is because like you said earlier they're using old systems. Still living in the nineties? Perhaps. Why? Reliability. There are a few machines in the hospital here running old NixLike OS's, which have been running for a bloody long time. The one I'm thinking of ran one program, taking measurements from one of the machines and outputting the data graphically on screen. It was fast, efficient and did the job. That computer was recently removed in favour of a newly bought Dell machine running...Windows. Not only does this machine take one hell of lot longer to boot up [slowing everyone down], it is also slower in displaying the results, the software is actually more complicated to use and it has one hell of a lot more chance of crashing.
People use old machines because they're reliable and do the job that they're expected to do without problems. And as long as people use old machines people will use floppy drives and other older hardware, so they have their uses there as well.
you need to start opening your eyes then.
So you cant find one without? or you just never looked?
I never ever buy prebuilt computers and rarely look at them. Waste of time/money. And I have to say each and every single one of the 300 computers I specced up for a company had a floppy drive. It is an essential for some people and always will be. It really does depend on the use..
The floppy is by no means dead, we just have more options available to us now and some people believe the floppy isn't for them. For others [e.g the school] it will probably prove be a valuable piece of hardware still for a long time to come.
"Most people can't recall the last time they used their floppy. Customers were telling us they don't use it," says John New, senior manager for Dimension product planning. Most people are, however, afraid not to have one. "It's mostly just a comfort factor, he says. "They think, 'I might need it.'"
This is a keeper :D I love this quote. He'll sell a computer without a floppy to someone because he believes they don't need it. However he manages to sell a P4 2.8Ghz computer with DVD Burner, 6.1 Channel Sound, 256MB Graphics Card and all the trimmings, for an extortionate price to a 60 year old lady who only wants a machine to check her email. Charming, I have to say.
lil_mikey91
02-03-2005, 10:34 PM
yeah i think that they should make floppy disks bigger or they will get forgotten
Ok guys.... back to your corners :D ..... what have I done :eek: just kidding
You both have some very good points, I think Lex is right about the Floppy drive staying round for a long time. One point you both missed about the floppy is that you need to be careful not to put the disks near any magnetic field. I don't know if disks are affected as well, but I have thrown out all my audio tapes years ago because the sound quality deteriorated too much and did have them stored properly in their covers away from magnetic fields. Most of the tapes I had were less than 10 years old, and most were recorded only once.
I do think the floppy will become an optional extra soon, but i'm sure it will still remain popular with many people. It seems there are still plenty of uses for the floppy.
This is a keeper I love this quote. He'll sell a computer without a floppy to someone because he believes they don't need it. However he manages to sell a P4 2.8Ghz computer with DVD Burner, 6.1 Channel Sound, 256MB Graphics Card and all the trimmings, for an extortionate price to a 60 year old lady who only wants a machine to check her email. Charming, I have to say.
Good point..LOL :D
bout what you said about cd's scratch very easily. thats exacly my point tho. cd's will still read with many scratches as long as they're not deep. floppys are much more sensitive.
i never said it was totally dead, but i said its basically dead.
Every day that goes by, the floppy dies a little more.
And every day that the USB thumb drive gets cheaper. its killing the floppy every bit more.
i give it less then 5 years before stores do not even sell floppys anymore. and they pretty much stop being made at all.
Mark my words on that one. ;) the argument really has no end here, i could post up more and more stats showing the decline of the floppy, and you can make up more and more hypathetical uses for it. So we agree to desagree on it. However i Guarantee, 5 years, floppy no more.
i never said it was totally dead, but i said its basically dead.
Every day that goes by, the floppy dies a little more.
And every day that the USB thumb drive gets cheaper. its killing the floppy every bit more.
I've never heard of the USB thumb drive although i'm not big on looking at every option for comps, I have a computer that works well enough so i'm happy.
Despite not knowing what a USB thumb drive is, wouldn't a CD-RW(or DVD-RW) be better because they are so common now? CD burners are quickly becoming a standard, everyone I know has one, yet I know no one with a USB thumb drive.
i give it less then 5 years before stores do not even sell floppys anymore. and they pretty much stop being made at all.
I think most stores will stop selling floppy disks, but there will still be some. When there is a demand for a product, there will be someone to supply it, they will just be harder to get.
However i Guarantee, 5 years, floppy no more.
Nothing personal Null ;) , but i'd put money on you being wrong :D
thats fine, i'd be happy to take your money. ;) and yes, as long as theres a demand for a product, it will be made. my point is there will be no demand for it. theres hardly one now.
The usb drive, or memory stick, is the little stick, bout the size of a key or keychain that plugs into a usb port. you can get them in up to 512mb or 1gig in size, you plug in em, you store what you want on em and take em out. they are MUCH quicker and easier then floppy ever was. and they are growing more and more popular all the time. and with no moving parts, or things to scratch, they are harder to damage.
they've pretty much already replaced the floppy for personal use. busnisses already have most employees have one, that they carry around and plug into whatever computer they're working at.
but as lex said, right now at $15 a stick, no one gives them away to others to give them a file. cd's are more and more being used for that. unless its a word document or such.
first quick, high storage device that comes along, as cheap as a floppy, will be the final nail in the floppy.
Freakums
02-25-2005, 06:27 PM
heh. for me, I live my floppy disks even oif for only one reaosn over cd's:
rewritable.
and over memory card and mini-drives . . . whatever you call them?
well . . . I work/play on about 18 different computers . . . if nothing else then simply becaus ei have them really, besides, how else would you playa dos-game then on aan old 1980 dos-only, no permanent memory, has to be booted up with a 42-inch floppy disk?
oh, did I mention I work with a lot of different sizes of floppy disks? ^_^
42 inches is probably a bit oif an over-estimation, but the disks are abotu as big as a large text book, minus the thickness.
anyway . . . those memory card things don;t hook-up to a lot of my computers .. . a lot of them don't even support such recent inventiosn as modern floppy disks . . . which are no longer floppy, really, and old disks that would fit into your commodore 64 or commodore 128 drive . . . .
actually, I took the cd drives out of my newest computer (the one I'm using now) so that I could DL games to those large disks. Any cds i havre, I run on my slightly older computer, 20 GB, 256 MB of ram .. .. etc.
A lot of you are probably pitying me now . . . . . .
/me pities the new gamers who simply cannot understand the charm and addictiveness of old games.
pollovivo
03-16-2005, 06:53 AM
As much as I love those good old floppies :) I think that their time is just about up... now rises the era of the flash drive... ;)
Arkacia
03-17-2005, 11:58 PM
I found out a few days ago that my new computer has a floppy drive, but does'nt have one. Its there and visible on the outside of the computer, but on the inside, is'nt plugged in to power, and from the looks of it, can't be.
So maybe my comp is one of those thats caught up in the trend towards not having floppy disks, though I find it an awful pain in the butt not having access to one, when I want to save something small, and have to burn it onto a CD instead of just wacking it onto a floppy.
Personally, I think there will always be a place and need for floppys, just not as great as in years past.
nige111
03-31-2005, 01:28 PM
floppy drives will die tomorrow, in comes double sided CD/DVDs! (they dont come tomorrow tho :( )
blurr3d
04-26-2005, 04:17 PM
I only use floppys to boot from if needed.
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