Cheap Sony floppy drive

In case you're building a system and nead a cheapish floppy, here's a Sony for $9: (so it's a cheapish, high-quality floppy)

http://www.mpja.com/allpictspl.asp?dept=287&product=13381+MI

Generally, I've seen the Sony's for $14-$15, $10 for a generic floppy.

-- Paul

Maybe it's just my floppy drive but I got a sony at Excaliber and it sounds like a small buzz saw whenever it runs. I'm going to contact Excaliber and see if I can RMA it. I'd like to get a Samsung as I hear they're real quiet. Like I said it might just be a faulty drive that I got and not typical of sony.

Hmm, that's a good question. Thanks for posting that information!

Honestly, I've never had a Sony floppy (teac here, and I'm pretty happy with it.) I just figured they're probably alright, although that's not a good practice.

Anybody else -- do Sony floppies suck? Thanks! -- Paul

*edit*
Hmm, I just found this at Newegg, now that I searched:

http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?item=21-103-109

(And it's $7 there.) This really isn't such a good deal after all. Sorry!!! -- Paul
*/edit*

No, Sonys don't suck.

I'm a floppy fan so I put them in every box I build. I'm also a quiet fan so I've experimented with a lot of floppy drives to find the quietest. Ranked in order from quietest to loudest they are: Sony, NEC, TEAC, Panasonic, Mitsumi.

All the Sonys I've used recently have been very quiet so if you've got a noisey one you should RMA it.

What's a floppy drive ? And what's it used for? My computer doesn't have on should I get one?

(I can no longer see any use for them personally. Sure my old super socket 7 has one. New P4 system,no. New AMD system,no. Next system I build I don't think so. Really, what are you guys using them for?)

@Ralf:
Thanks for the info. (And I couldn't agree more on using floppies and wanting quiet computers! ) Sounds like a faulty floppy.

@ Mr. DLucey:
Floppy drive: standard 3.25", 1.44 MB disk drive that just about every computer has.

I think we're approaching the point where we can stop using the floppy altogether, but there are some applications that don't have replacements in sight. 4 that I can think of off hand:

1) BIOS flash disk. Can be replaced with a bootable CD-ROM, but with considerable effort, and what a waste of a 640MB CD! I suppose you could use a bootable ZIP drive for it, too.

2) WD / (insert drive maker here) disk format tools. Generally can't be replaced with a CD-ROM; most programs ask you to insert a floppy, which it will format and transfer the tools image to.

3) linux startup disk after fresh installation. Pretty much necessary if you don't want to install LILO / GRUB to your MBR. You then use dd with the floppy, etc. to extract the LILO info and set up your dual boot with the NT bootloader. Since I don't know of any setup program for any linux distro that lets you write your startup disk to a CDROM, floppy can't be replaced here, either.

3a) Any utility that lets you make a configuration floppy that writes it directly to the floppy, such as setting up a setup disk for linux installs.

4) Many diagonstics programs, such as memtest86, run off of a floppy drive. Some antiviral recovery programs fall into this category, too.

-- Paul

the only reason i have my floppy drive is if i need to flash my board. as for the quality for certain products, there is no real difference between a sony or any other brand name, as long as it works get the cheapest you can. my floppy drive is a 15 yr old Matsui (panasonic) and its still kicking