USB or Not to USB Floppy Drive

[zooker]

I need an internal USB Floppy. I bought what I thought was one with a mitsumi card Reader. It turned out that it still needs a 34 pin ribbon cable. What are these brainless nerds thinking making all these external
usb floppies, when what is really needed is an INTERNAL USB Floppy
Idiots! How hard can that be? It's not rocket science!!! Does any one know of a True USB floppy, I really need 1 bad!!

 

[fredgiblet]

What are these brainless nerds thinking making all these external usb floppies, when what is really needed is an INTERNAL USB Floppy

Why is that needed? At work we have one external USB floppy that can be used by anyone who needs it, it is almost never used. Why would anyone want to mount a floppy drive (semi)permanently in their case when almost no one uses floppies for more a couple minutes at a time? I only know a couple people who use floppy drives still and they either use old computers or buy new ones with regular interal floppy drives.

Idiots! How hard can that be? It's not rocket science!!!

Probably not hard, but you are the only person I've ever seen who wanted one, why would they go the trouble of making one just for you?

 

[zooker]

What world are you living in? Where I live everyone I know use's a floppy drive, Ever try to put a 5 1/4 inch cd in your shirt pocket. Not everyone is going to run out and buy the latest thing like DVD's, that hold a thousand times what you need. In the 2nd place? The usb floppy has been around a long long time and they should of made them sooner. Maybe there isn't a reason to make Serial ATA DVD's because they mite not be popular?
What is this, a singing contest? I was asking a very reasonable question. It's just yesterday I bought a Samsung 20x ATA DVD and it is GREAT!
I also listened to the swan song of buying a external USB drive which works flawlessly when its not been dropped on the floor. I'm apparently not as wealthy as you and can't a ford a huge desk. I still need an answer to my problem. I thought Forums answered problems, Not Create Them!
I have a Cheiftec case,a Antec True power II PS, A 36 Gig Raptor HD, 2 Gig DDR2 memory, a E6600 cpu,2 20x DVD's and a 19" Samsung LCD &
a snotty external usb floppy. I doubt this is out dated equipment!!

 

[madmurph]

Why is that needed? At work we have one external USB floppy that can be used by anyone who needs it, it is almost never used.

Must agree; it's gone the way of the dinosaur.

Where I live everyone I know use's a floppy drive, Ever try to put a 5 1/4 inch cd in your shirt pocket.

No, what world are you living in? They still driving Edsels and winding the telephone in your neighborhood? Either you don't get out much, or you don't know too many people. The modern day "rocket science" is a 1gb thumb drive that you can buy at Staples for a measly $15. Frankly, everytime I put one of those hockey pucks in my shirt pocket, the lint or the heat made it go "tits up." Get real, get outside more, and join the 21st century. Yeah, the millenium flipped over while you were winding the generator.

 

[Assman]

What world are you living in? Where I live everyone I know use's a floppy drive, Ever try to put a 5 1/4 inch cd in your shirt pocket. Not everyone is going to run out and buy the latest thing like DVD's

lmao, the question is what world are you living in?!

 

[jaguarskx]

What world are you living in? Where I live everyone I know use's a floppy drive...

I live in NYC. At work I cannot remember ever using a floppy disk in the past 7 years. At home, the last time I ever used a floppy was about 6 years ago to update the motherboard BIOS.

 

[SSS_DDK]

There is no such thing as an internal usb drive! If you want such a drive, just glue on the external drive.

 

[fredgiblet]

What world are you living in? Where I live everyone I know use's a floppy drive, Ever try to put a 5 1/4 inch cd in your shirt pocket.

They're called flash drives, they are faster and hold more data than floppies and are compatible with any computer running 2K or better. I understand that some people prefer the Amish country, but I'm not one of them.

Not everyone is going to run out and buy the latest thing like DVD's, that hold a thousand times what you need

DVD's are hardly the latest thing, DVD-burners have been cheap for years.

In the 2nd place? The usb floppy has been around a long long time and they should of made them sooner

They started making them in quantity when internal floppies started to disappear, before then there was no reason at all.

Maybe there isn't a reason to make Serial ATA DVD's because they mite not be popular?

SATA optical drives have been desired by the geeky masses since SATA became the hard drive standard, the problem in that case was the continued willingness of mobo makers to put PATA on their boards. The difference is that the floppy drive has been dead for a while while optical drives are still standard.

What is this, a singing contest?

?

I was asking a very reasonable question.

Mildly reasonable, the problem is most of your post was bitching instead of asking.

I'm apparently not as wealthy as you and can't a ford a huge desk.

I fail to see the relevance, the external floppy we have at work is tiny, if your desk is so small that you can't fit an external floppy on it then it shouldn't be big enough to use in the first place. As for wealth, a flash drive costs less than a floppy drive.

I thought Forums answered problems, Not Create Them!

We created a problem?

I have a Cheiftec case,a Antec True power II PS, A 36 Gig Raptor HD, 2 Gig DDR2 memory, a E6600 cpu,2 20x DVD's and a 19" Samsung LCD &a snotty external usb floppy. I doubt this is out dated equipment!!

The rest of it? no, the floppy drive? yes. Seriously, buy a flash drive, grab an old POS computer with a floppy in it and copy all your floppies to the flash drive, you won't regret it.

 

[madmurph]

Mildly reasonable, the problem is most of your post was bitching instead of asking.

No kidding! A bit arrogant for newbie with only 8 posts.

They're called flash drives, they are faster and hold more data than floppies

The modern day "rocket science" is a 1gb thumb drive that you can buy at Staples for a measly $15.

QFT

 

[zooker]

I didn't know that the amount of post's you make determines how superior you are. This must be the only forum he's ever been on. Everyone has made some good points BUT you all have missed the point
of my diatribe as you would call it. The POINT being That the very 1st day they brought out the first external usb Floppy they COULD of and SHOULD of brought out an INTERNAL floppy. Then for those of US who appreciate a neat and unclttered desk could keep it that way and people who don't appreciate it could have THEIR WAY with external DVD's, External Hard drives and others. I didn't suggest that you aren't welcome to use those devices and I am not insane to prefer my way. People in the BIG cities Make BIG money and down in southern IL where GOD lost his shoes things are a mite different. I have a Flash drive and THEY are Fantastic. But I have over 90 or so floppies that I don't want to lose(maybe I'l hhave too) . The 1 guy that was really trying to be helpful, said about glueing one in, I may Try that. As for bitchin, I'm 77 years old and it makes me feel GOOD!! Lightin UP!!

 

[fredgiblet]

The POINT being That the very 1st day they brought out the first external usb Floppy they COULD of

Yes

and SHOULD of brought out an INTERNAL floppy

No. If you want an internal floppy you buy a regular floppy, simple as that, some motherboards don't have floppy connectors true, but if you want a floppy drive you buy a motherboard with a floppy connector. Its really not that hard. Same thing with PATA, some motherboards now don't have any PATA connectors, I still have PATA drives so I don't buy motherboards without PATA. If you bought a computer without a floppy drive then you made a mistake, there is no reason for a company to go to the trouble of making a floppy drive meant to be mounted internally with a USB connector for the extremely small number of people who don't have internal floppy connectors and want internal floppy drives.

Then for those of US who appreciate a neat and unclttered desk could keep it that way and people who don't appreciate it could have THEIR WAY with external DVD's, External Hard drives and others

Most people don't want to deal with external drives, but the reason that the kind of drive you want isn't made is because there isn't going to be any demand, almost anyone computer savvy enough to install an internal drive will have either bought a floppy drive with their computer or doesn't need one.

I didn't suggest that you aren't welcome to use those devices and I am not insane to prefer my way

I didn't say that you said that and I didn't say that you were.

People in the BIG cities Make BIG money

This is absolutely irrelevant, money isn't the issue...well I guess it is in a way, there isn't enough demand to make enough money for the style of drive you want to have. Your computer is actually not far off mine value-wise

I have a Flash drive and THEY are Fantastic. But I have over 90 or so floppies that I don't want to lose(maybe I'l hhave too)

It would be an excellent idea to replace them, floppies are prone to corruption and really shouldn't be used as long-term storage

The 1 guy that was really trying to be helpful, said about glueing one in, I may Try that.

I still think my idea is better, just dump all the files on your floppies onto a computer that has a floppy drive and then copy them to a flash drive. But to each his own.

As for bitchin, I'm 77 years old and it makes me feel GOOD!!

But it really, really doesn't endear you other people. It makes you come across as very annoying and unlikable and decreases your chances of getting positive feedback.

 

[rwpritchett]

I actually have that same Mitsumi floppy/card reader you speak of. Hey, if you're gonna have a floppy, you might as well have a card reader, right?

Anyway, as you probably already know, the USB part is for the card reader only. Why do you want to hook up an internal floppy via USB? Don't all motherboards have floppy connectors still? I don't think you'd get any speed benefit hooking up a floppy to USB, it would be limited by the old technology anyway. Kind of like driving a Chevette on the Autobahn You can still hook up the floppy drive to your motherboard's floppy connector if you have one.

 

[slim142]

C'mon people! A floppy drive is like $10! getting one doesnt hurt anybody! I still use them and buy them in case cuz u never kow when u gonna need them!

Example, RAID installations, when you need to format a hard drive or idk many other things.

Is that really bad to show your friends that you have a floppy? Who gives a crap, I do have one and Im not afraid to say it.

 

[hergieburbur]

You know, I've been looking for an external USB floppy with a good card reader (7 or 8 in one doesn't work for me) for a while, and haven't found one yet. BUT, I did find an internal floppy (without the card reader) that connect to a USB header. I can't find it anymore though.

I do have to agree with everyone else here though. Floppy drives are legacy items at best. Best case you are looking at around $20 for the drive you seek. for $23 you can get a 2GB USB flash drive that holds 1388 times what a floppy holds. More than that, its smaller, more durable, more portable, has better data integrity, and in some cases is more secure than a floppy drive/disk.

Even more, for someone who has repeatedly mentioned money and economics, you seem dead set on using a technology that is over a thousand times more expensive per MB doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. I am not condemning your choice, I just can't say I understand why you seem so upset by this.

What is the problem using the floppy connector and USB header connection in the first place? I must have missed it if you ever explained it.

 

[hergieburbur]

C'mon people! A floppy drive is like $10! getting one doesnt hurt anybody! I still use them and buy them in case cuz u never kow when u gonna need them!

Example, RAID installations, when you need to format a hard drive or idk many other things.

Is that really bad to show your friends that you have a floppy? Who gives a crap, I do have one and Im not afraid to say it.

Thats not the issue, people have said to use a regular floppy. The issue is he is complaining that they don't make an internal floppy drive that connects to the USB header (I'm pretty sure they do).

 

[slim142]

I really like to have my USB headers for extra USB ports with brackets or for my front panel connector. Why do I need the floppy to be connected to the USB headers? Does adding that 20pin cable really affects you? you can get the round ones for like $5 or so and thats it. I dont think it will affect that much your airflow if that is what you care so much.

 

[hergieburbur]

I really like to have my USB headers for extra USB ports with brackets or for my front panel connector. Why do I need the floppy to be connected to the USB headers? Does adding that 20pin cable really affects you? you can get the round ones for like $5 or so and thats it. I dont think it will affect that much your airflow if that is what you care so much.

You are asking the wrong person. I'm not the one complaining about it. I am perfectly fine with using a standard floppy connector or an external drive. You might want to ask the person that actually brought up the issue.

Personally, I think floppies are dead except for driver loading and in some cases BIOS updates. Hence my earlier post about the USB flash drives.

 

[fredgiblet]

I really like to have my USB headers for extra USB ports with brackets or for my front panel connector. Why do I need the floppy to be connected to the USB headers? Does adding that 20pin cable really affects you? you can get the round ones for like $5 or so and thats it. I dont think it will affect that much your airflow if that is what you care so much.

The issue that I have with floppy drives isn't so much the cables as the controllers. What we have is a legacy device which largely useless that requires a legacy bus system (I believe floppies run on the ISA bus) be present for them just for the rare occasions where it is useful. I think it would be awesome to have a computer with no ISA bus (no serial or parallel port, no floppy controller etc.). I wouldn't even mind floppies if they could be made for the ATA (parallel or serial) bus instead. I WANT THIS ANCIENT CRAP OUT OF MY SHINY NEW COMPUTER!...ahem. But even then it isn't really that big of a deal, I've got a floppy in one of my computers for if I need it but I see no reason to put one in my other computers. The biggest annoyance to me is that it took way too long for USB drives (floppy or flash) to be recognized as the way of the future for RAID drivers and boot disks.

This is why I like Dell and Vista, Dell computers don't mind USB floppies at all for boot purposes and Vista lets you use flash drives to load RAID drivers if you need to.

 

[zooker]

Fredquiblet
If I mispelled your name I really apologize It is NOT intentional!! Mitsumi
is the dumb 1 I bought, SIIG just brought out a new 1 also, Smartdisk Has 1 with a Floppy, all with the 34 pin cable. If you are wanting the latest thing then if you buy those with the hard to bend short cables the manufacturer is saying well I'll only sella 1/2 million of these so I'll stick with old outdated technology. I have never questioned the fact that floppy's are outdated. Everybit of equipment we have is outdated sooner or later, the floppy more so! If the floppy isn't going to sell why are they bringing out new version's. All I wanted to do was find a USB floppy so I could get rid of those ugly cables. I bought a ATA DVD with a small cable why is it bad for me to desire a Floppy with THE LATEST Technoloy instead of yesterdays. Floppies are SLOW, I like to use them. I'm not picking on you fella's, unless your the head of Engineering then If I could
I'd fire your ass for either bringing out gear that won't sell and not making it more attractive. Anyone who thinks a floppy with a small cable (Its Faster)will not sell better then one with a large is not well informed!!

 

[hergieburbur]

... All I wanted to do was find a USB floppy so I could get rid of those ugly cables. I bought a ATA DVD with a small cable ...

I think there are few things you seem to be misinformed about.

First, Internal DVD drives are all ATA. They are connected using either the Parallel ATA (PATA or IDE) 40 pin cables, or the newer Serial ATA (SATA) connections. I assume you meant you bought a SATA DVD drive, correct?

...why is it bad for me to desire a Floppy with THE LATEST Technoloy instead of yesterdays. Floppies are SLOW, I like to use them. I'm not picking on you fella's, unless your the head of Engineering then If I could I'd fire your ass for either bringing out gear that won't sell and not making it more attractive.

Its kinda contradictory to ask for a mating of the latest technology with what is basically an antique at this point. Yes, it is done sometimes, but the key point here (from both an engineering and accounting standpoint) is that it is much cheaper to use the old connection type, which allows them to make cheaper drives. Since the tech is so old, 90% of people wanting internal floppies would rather pay $5 or less for the traditional style then $10+ for an updated version that offers few advantages (see below).

Anyone who thinks a floppy with a small cable (Its Faster)will not sell better then one with a large is not well informed!!

The CABLE is faster, which doesn't affect device speed at all. As you previously pointed out, floppy drives are SLOW. They can generally transfer data at either 500KB/s or in some cases 1MB/s. A faster cable does not make the device faster. The drive is the limit here, and the faster cable DOES NOT increase speed. You could always just get a rounded floppy cable for like a dollar or two.

As for whether it will sell better or not, sales of floppy drives are really low already, and dwindling. Putting a faster connection on them would probably not increase sales, and would probably harm sales by driving up the cost of the units.

BTW, The same concept applies to SATA-150 and SATA-300 (and to a lesser extent IDE). The drives have for the most part not caught up with the connections yet. See here for more info.

To some extent, the same also applies to VGA cards, where most of them have trouble maxing out AGP, let alone 8x PCI-e, or 16x PCI-e connections.

 

[jeffy]

BUT, I did find an internal floppy (without the card reader) that connect to a USB header. I can't find it anymore though.

Similar to these?
http://www.epinions.com/Floppy_Drives--reviews--6490_internal--prices--6494_usb

 

[hergieburbur]

Not exactly, The Ye Data one there still uses a standard FDD cable, and the Intel model is supposedly only usable with specific Rack Mount servers. BUt thanks for trying.

 

[slim142]

I really like to have my USB headers for extra USB ports with brackets or for my front panel connector. Why do I need the floppy to be connected to the USB headers? Does adding that 20pin cable really affects you? you can get the round ones for like $5 or so and thats it. I dont think it will affect that much your airflow if that is what you care so much.

You are asking the wrong person. I'm not the one complaining about it. I am perfectly fine with using a standard floppy connector or an external drive. You might want to ask the person that actually brought up the issue.

Personally, I think floppies are dead except for driver loading and in some cases BIOS updates. Hence my earlier post about the USB flash drives.

Im sorry bro, Im not angry nor screaming nor complaining to you, this message is for those up in the topic who complain about the FDD, so sorry if this sounded wrong for you. You know is not for you.

Fregiblet, legacy or not, I dont think we will stop seeing them in at least 2 more years. Companies still putting parallel and serial ports in their motherboards, some like gigabyte put the connectors in the motherboard (as pins on the headers) so you can plug brackets if you need to. So I dont think your wishes will become true because the reality is that those posts are still usefull for some people and they still have some time in the market.
Hopefully, for me, I dont need serial or parallel ports, those are dead for me. Even the MIDI port, I dont need that cuz my Audigy has it so thats something I dont care for neither. But what I still think is needed is the floppy. It has helped me a lot specially everytime I need to format a hard drive.
I agree with you that chipsets should ban some legacy ports out of the controllers (or the chips or w/e), but I dont think its time for the floppy yet.
BTW, if we make an ATA FDD, the big number of pins wouldnt fit on the drive. So its a waste. There is no such thing as ATA-to-FDD adapters and I dont think if that would exist someday.

If you like so much Dell, why dont you buy one of their pc's with vista on that way you will be the happiest guy in the world.

 

[fredgiblet]

Fregiblet, legacy or not, I dont think we will stop seeing them in at least 2 more years.

I kinda disagree, I think they will still be an OPTION for a few more years but I think that by the end of this year mainstream manufacturers won't have them standard on anything anymore and you'll have to actually look for one if you want it.

But what I still think is needed is the floppy. It has helped me a lot specially everytime I need to format a hard drive.

Um...most OS install disks are bootable these days so you don't really need to use a boot disk, and besides most new motherboards will let you boot from a USB floppy, so we don't really need internal floppy ports.

I agree with you that chipsets should ban some legacy ports out of the controllers (or the chips or w/e), but I dont think its time for the floppy yet.

Actually my idea is for a cheap PCI-PCI-e card with a full ISA system on it (serial and parallel external and floppy internal). That way it is still available to the people who need it but isn't clogging up the system for people who don't.

BTW, if we make an ATA FDD, the big number of pins wouldnt fit on the drive.

They did it with ZIP drives and the super floppy drives IIRC.

If you like so much Dell, why dont you buy one of their pc's with vista on that way you will be the happiest guy in the world.

Most decent mobos these days will allow booting from USB so it's not that big of a deal, I was just mentioning that it was nice that a mainstream manufacturer was moving ahead, at the level of computer that I buy Dell is over-priced and under-performing. Also Vista is a no-go until probably SP1 (or at least until DX10 games start coming out).

 

[slim142]

Fregiblet, legacy or not, I dont think we will stop seeing them in at least 2 more years.

I kinda disagree, I think they will still be an OPTION for a few more years but I think that by the end of this year mainstream manufacturers won't have them standard on anything anymore and you'll have to actually look for one if you want it.

But what I still think is needed is the floppy. It has helped me a lot specially everytime I need to format a hard drive.

Um...most OS install disks are bootable these days so you don't really need to use a boot disk, and besides most new motherboards will let you boot from a USB floppy, so we don't really need internal floppy ports.

I agree with you that chipsets should ban some legacy ports out of the controllers (or the chips or w/e), but I dont think its time for the floppy yet.

Actually my idea is for a cheap PCI-PCI-e card with a full ISA system on it (serial and parallel external and floppy internal). That way it is still available to the people who need it but isn't clogging up the system for people who don't.

BTW, if we make an ATA FDD, the big number of pins wouldnt fit on the drive.

They did it with ZIP drives and the super floppy drives IIRC.

If you like so much Dell, why dont you buy one of their pc's with vista on that way you will be the happiest guy in the world.

Most decent mobos these days will allow booting from USB so it's not that big of a deal, I was just mentioning that it was nice that a mainstream manufacturer was moving ahead, at the level of computer that I buy Dell is over-priced and under-performing. Also Vista is a no-go until probably SP1 (or at least until DX10 games start coming out).

Bro, there are still millions in the world using FDD's. The only ones who decide whether to keep them in the motherboard or not are the chipsets makers like NVIDIA, Intel, VIA, ATI etc