Slim floppy drives

I was looking up internal floppy drive on Froogle, when I noticed these wafer-thin things called slim floppy drives. Do these work in a regular computer with regular floppy drive connections, and do they fit into a 3.5" drive bay? Also are they reliable and functional?

 

Thye usually have a smaller connector than standard floppy drives. You can get an adapter (http://store.yahoo.com/directron/fddadapter.html).

But do you really *need* an internal floppy? Will a USB one do? I personally distrust removeable magnetic based media of all kinds, I've been burned once too often by it.

 

USB floppy drives are expensive and I don't have free USB ports to waste.

edit: I saw the adapter. Does it snap on easily, or is it hard to put on? Will the drives skrew into a regular bay?

 

Well, if you get the slim drive and the adapter, the adapter isn't made to mount onto the drive. It will hang off of it. Look at the pic of the adapter, the thin ribbon cable plugs into the slim drive and provides power and signal. The regular floppy cable and the power connector also plug into the adapter. Certainly you can insulate the adapter and tuck it away if need be.

I've never tried to mount a slim drive anywhere, I just see them in servers and some of the mini-systems we buy at work. If I was at work right now, I'd go look at one, but I'm working from home today via VPN, so it might be tough to open up a system from here.

Is there a reason you want a slim instead of a regular size? Seems that in a regular case, a slim drive won't be too much of an advantage.

 

No problem, but they're kinda clunky.