Floppy disks- anyone still use them?

Fifer

meher wrote:

I've aslo noticed that some central and University libraries still have ancient PCs and they don't have USB ports. I always carry with me a floppy as well as the pen when I'm visiting the library.

That's going to get interesting though as more and more computers come without floppy drives (as most laptops and many desktops now do). How will people exchange info between (for example) university and home? Are there that many PCs still in use without USB ports?

Is there a reason why labels cannot be attached to pen drives?

Mado

Fifer wrote:

Is there a reason why labels cannot be attached to pen drives?

I think it might be an issue of needing a course in how to write your name on a grain of rice.
You can store sooo much on such a little thingy...


I have salvaged a couple at work to use on an old PC that still has software not yet upgraded. They are painfully slow.

inmypocketnottheirs

I use floppy discs as beer mats. Any other uses?

meher

Fifer wrote:

That's going to get interesting though as more and more computers come without floppy drives (as most laptops and many desktops now do). How will people exchange info between (for example) university and home? Are there that many PCs still in use without USB ports?

Is there a reason why labels cannot be attached to pen drives?

I don't have a floppy drive either, on my laptop - I only have one of those extensions - useful to carry it around plug on and work on PCs or laptops which don't have a floppy drive.

It's impossible to label all that contains on a pen. On a floppy it holds only so far as much files as you could make an entry on the label ontop of the floppy disc

Fifer

Mado wrote:

I think it might be an issue of needing a course in how to write your name on a grain of rice.
You can store sooo much on such a little thingy...

I was thinking of using something like this. Still smaller than a floppy and at least 100 times the capacity.

IvanOpinion

I only use USB drives these days (both pen drives and external hard disks) ... had to use a floppy a few months back and forgot how slow they are. Can I suggest that if you carry sensitive data on USB drives then have a look at the Open Source products axcrypt and truecrypt (both have a small footprint) or even the encryption option within WinZip

Ivan

studentphil

This Pc at uni which looks fairly old has floppy drive, 2 USB drives, CD RW writer/reader/DVD Reader, 2 memory card slots- but then I think my Uni does spend a packwt on upgrading its machines which maybe other places don't.

studentphil

I can remember just about when computers used 5 1/2 inch floppy disks- those were the days!!!!!!!!!

Fifer

studentphil wrote:

I can remember just about when computers used 5 1/2 inch floppy disks- those were the days!!!!!!!!!

Youngsters. :rolleyes: I remember the major step forward that was the use of cassette tapes.

meher

Fifer wrote:

I was thinking of using something like this. Still smaller than a floppy and at least 100 times the capacity.

You're stubborn, obstinate, adamant, iexorable blah blah

*where's my thesaurus and my swearing dictionary *