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Is an FDD neccessary?

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by skylane, 2007/06/28.

  1. 2007/06/28
    skylane

    skylane Inactive Thread Starter

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    We recently purchased a new desktop with all of the latest technology (..or almost new). Of course it does NOT have a 3.5 FDD as most new desktops do not. Is there ANY reason to invest the $9.99 for a 3.5 floppy drive..? (Opsys is Xp Media and the HD is a SATA NTFS).
     
    skylane,
    #1
  2. 2007/06/28
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Is an FDD neccessary? -> Only if you need it...
     
    Steve R Jones,
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  4. 2007/06/28
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Currently I would not be without a floppy drive - at any price, although I still run XP Pro and not Vista and will do so for the foreseeable future.

    In XP, without a floppy, you cannot ...

    Use Automated System Recovery (ASR)
    Load SATA drivers on a clean/repair install
    Memory tests can be run from a floppy on boot (seem to recall that this is incorporated in Vista) - or from a CD, but you have the hassle of burning it.
    Boot from a Win 98 floppy - probably can't do that in Vista anyway, to run fdisk, etc

    Floppies bypass the need to burn a few Kb to CD, but they are becoming scarcer to buy. My local supermarket was recently remaindering their stock of floppy disks - needless to say I stocked up :)

    Bottom line is, as Steve posted, do you need one?, but at under $10 I would have one - just in case. Your call :)
     
    PeteC,
    #3
  5. 2007/06/28
    Rockster2U

    Rockster2U Geek Member

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    Very well put.
    And yes, it is almost a must have for some things.

    ;)
     
    Rockster2U,
    #4
  6. 2007/06/28
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    I took mine out of my now old Dell Desktop because it was sitting on top of the 2nd HD making the HD run hotter then it should.

    Packaged it up and put it away for a "rainy day" though.

    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #5
  7. 2007/06/29
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I don't have a FDD on my new Vista laptop... I'm 99.9999% sure I never need one :D

    If it was XP, yes, I'd agree you probably want one. AFAIK in Vista, anything that would have req. a floppy can use a USB key or CD/DVD.
     
    Arie,
    #6
  8. 2007/06/29
    Chiles4

    Chiles4 Inactive

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    I have a floppy in my WinXP Pro rig but haven't used it probably 2-3 years. Everything I need to do can be done from boot CD. I don't know what ASR is. Is that a "repair install "? Then again, at the slighest sniff of serious trouble I simply re-ghost the box.

    When I was using it, I was getting an enormous amount of errors and bad floppies using floppies and drives (on 2 PCs) that were all quite new.

    *insert floppy, test it, get errors, throw it over shoulder into garbage, okay next*

    It was like something was telling me this technology just doesn't cut it anymore. Back in the old days, floppies seemed to last for years. Last time I used them it was a couple of months - tops.

    I'm toying with the idea of shelving the floppy drive and sticking a camera card reader in. They're quite sweet and they come with a USB port.
     
    Chiles4,
    #7
  9. 2007/06/29
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    PeteC,
    #8

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