[Chrome-]

I seriously think that Floppy disks are many times better than CD-ROMs. Why? #1, It's easier to add/remove things on them. #2 They don't get scratched up like CD-ROMs do, and many other reasons.

All we need are faster floppy drives, and bigger floppy disks, let's say like 700MB, or so.

Who agrees?

[DvBoard]

ever heard of a zip drive?

[anvil82]

Floppy disks are far less reliable than cd-roms.

[darksparkz]

Why not a USB flash drive then? It won't get scratched up like a CD, and its just as easy to transfer data, all you need is a USB port.

[JCLW]

Originally Posted by darksparkz

Why not a USB flash drive then? It won't get scratched up like a CD, and its just as easy to transfer data, all you need is a USB port.

2nded

[ticktock123]

i would agree with the USB jump drive option. They have really large diskettes they are (like said before) zip drives. The thing that i really hate about floppy's are the fact that they can be damaged so easy. Leave them in the car on a hot/cold day damaged...leave them in your backpack damaged...and so on. The thing about cds is that if you also leave them around any little kids or if you just set them down wrong they get scratched. Same goes for DVD's. What i love about Thumb drives is that i can leave it in my backpak and be kind of mean to it (that is a college student for ya) and it will work 100% of the time. Also they work for thoes crazy mach called Macs.

While all these formats had their day i feel they are all still good. Floppies i ues for boot disks / CDs / DVDs i ues for install / Thumbdrives i ues for writing papers on campus

[moz_21]

1.44MB. I don't think so. Especially when small (32/64MB) USB flash drives can be had dirt cheap. And I've always had problems with some disks being read on certain floppy drives but read fine on the one it was formatted in...

[hafa]

My, Chrome- I hope you had your tongue firmly in cheek.

***Begining of humor; don't panic****

Floppies are the spawn of Satan and their advocates (present company not included) should be thrown into the deepest abyss with all of their fatherless children.


***End of Humor****


If you are in league with the prince of darkness, (subset of humor) however, here's my response:

I'm on the bandwagon with all here on the USB drives. My favourite is a drive/SD card reader combo like this one. Doubles as a card reader and is infinitely expandable.

As far as floppies being more reliable than CDs I must disagree wholeheatedly. Floppies last about 2 months at the most in the environment here before heat and humidiity renders them entirely unusable. CDs on the other hand, last for years and years with no deterioration whatsoever. Simple care such as an appropriate case and correct handling will ameliorate the scratching problem.

In terms of ease of use, Windows XP has made using a CD-RW just about as easy as using a floppy. All file explorer features and commands function identically. The only thing that differs is clicking the "next" button on the burning wizard. A small price to pay for far superior reliability, exponentially larger space and much faster data transfers.

[Chrome-]

Well I agree that USB drives and the like are better than CD-ROMs and floppies. That's why I've bought quite a few.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I like floppies still for some reason. Maybe I just need to goto bed, I haven't gone to sleep for over 48 hours.

[hafa]

Originally Posted by Chrome-

Maybe I'm just stupid, but I like floppies still for some reason. Maybe I just need to goto bed, I haven't gone to sleep for over 48 hours.

Chrome-: Hi, my name's Chrome and I'm a floppyholic-

Group: HI CHROME-!

Chrome-:Ya see, I just want to use floppies all of the time. Sometimes, I even use them for 48 hours straight and I don't sleep...(shudders)

Group: IT'S OK, CHROME- WE'RE WITH YOU

Chrome-: And sometimes, I even....I even... Like my floppy better than a....a....CD...(gasp!...) (crying...)

Group: THAT'S IT, CHROME, LET IT OUT, YOU'VE MADE THE HARD FIRST STEP OF ADMISSION OF YOUR PROBLEM. YOU'RE ON THE WAY TO RECOVERY...

Chrome-: Thanks, guys, it means alot...I promise I'll only use my USB drive unless it's a bios update, or a RAID driver install or a ....word....document....


Group: CHROME-!!!!!

[Archer36]

Yep, I always loved burning them floppies, they even come in RW versions

More serious, I really didn't care for them mainly because if you got it by a strong magnet it may ruin the disk. However I do LOVE usb drives, I just wish old Win 98 had the drivers built in.

[Quailane]

Hey, guys, floppies beat CD drives in one area; they can switch from read-only to re-writeable!

[twoeyes]

They're all made for different purposes and do them well IMHO. Optical disks are meant for large data storage that is not easially destroyed and stores well, USB drives are for quick and dirty file transfer/temp storage, and floppies basically legacy devices but are useful for booting into DoS, flashing bios, etc. Now if you think about it floppy drives work more similarly to hard drives then to CDROMs, so if you want a floppy as dense as an 80gig HD you might be able to do it, but it could also end up costing just as much, if not more because they'd have to be more durable.

[K15]

Originally Posted by Chrome-

I seriously think that Floppy disks are many times better than CD-ROMs. Why? #1, It's easier to add/remove things on them. #2 They don't get scratched up like CD-ROMs do, and many other reasons.

All we need are faster floppy drives, and bigger floppy disks, let's say like 700MB, or so.

Who agrees?

In my entire life, I have had an optical disc (CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD, video game) fail maybe 2 or 3 times due to scratches. On the other hand, floppies use iron oxide media, which degrades over time (same way cassette tapes do, VHS tapes do etc). So they are not very good. With digital media, the data either works or it doesn't. DVDs/CDs do degrade too, but with the proper environment, they should last many years.
Floppy drive/disk technology will be dead in a short period of time. There is little use for them. The new HD-DVD and BluRay technologies coming out will bring optical densities to heights never dreamed of. 700MB floppy drives would be a joke. It's also completely impossible to make a 700MB floppy drive with a stepper motor design (which is what current floppy drives use).

[Maviryk]

Have you not heard about CD rot?

http://foetusized.org/cdrot.html

[Quailane]

Originally Posted by Maviryk

Have you not heard about CD rot?

http://foetusized.org/cdrot.html

Yeah, but who keeps their in an extremely tropical climate?

[hafa]

Originally Posted by Maviryk

Have you not heard about CD rot?

http://foetusized.org/cdrot.html

This is an isolated incident of materials incompatibilty in early production audio CDs from Polydor & Du Pont Optical UK Ltd., rather than a problem with optical media in general.

[hafa]

Originally Posted by Quailane

Yeah, but who keeps their in an extremely tropical climate?

uhhh.... Me? No problem with "CD rot", however, even with discs > 10 years old; see earlier post.

[ticktock123]

what about this, with the early LPs when you played them a long time they would break down along with that so would tapes. Does anyone know of this going on with Cds or Dvds, Floppies and/or USB drives? I havn't had a problem and I have sure played some cds a LOT of times

[DvBoard]

Originally Posted by ticktock123

what about this, with the early LPs when you played them a long time they would break down along with that so would tapes. Does anyone know of this going on with Cds or Dvds, Floppies and/or USB drives? I havn't had a problem and I have sure played some cds a LOT of times

light causes no wear, therefor CD's shouldn't "break down" due to being read too many times. other factors can cause thier failure, but reading it too many times won't be one.