Floppy Drive??

[Engagetheband]

Hey guys i'm new to the board and I'm planning on building a computer soon. I was just wondering if I HAVE to include a floppy drive. Is it necessary or could I just use the cd drive for all of the drivers?

I assume that it depends on what format the drivers come in... but any help would appreciated

thanks

 

[Trader05]

i didn't buy or use a floppy drive in my last build. no it is not necessary

 

[zagood]

It's not strictly "necessary" but if you're overclocking it can come in very handy. Some specific examples:

- Memtest86 has a CD-Rom ISO image, but floppy is much easier.
- If you ever flash your VGA bios with something like Nibitor
- Hard drive testing/recovery

Personally, I don't think I'd ever go without a floppy, but there are ways around it.

EDIT: As far as your main question, the majority of drivers are now packaged on CD-ROMs, and you can download pretty much any driver off the net. I haven't purchased a piece of hardware in at least 4 years that required a DOS loaded driver set.

-z

 

[networkman]

If you're planning to install MS 2003 Server, you'll need a floppy drive for any extra storage drivers for SCSI or SATA controllers, as there's NO other way to load them at the start. :roll:

I don't have floppy drives on many of my rigs, although a couple do actually have an LS-120 drive since I have a number of the LS-120 disks anyway. That's of course capable of reading and writing floppy disks too.

 

[Tostada]

I haven't had a floppy in any of my machines in about 7 years.

The only time you need a floppy is if you want to install XP with a RAID 0 as your boot drive, then you need a floppy to install the drivers (unless you download the drivers and slipstream them into XP, which is a total pain).

Originally posted by: zagood
- Memtest86 has a CD-Rom ISO image, but floppy is much easier.
- If you ever flash your VGA bios with something like Nibitor
- Hard drive testing/recovery

How is MemTest easier on a floppy? It just makes it take longer to boot up. And you can burn that tiny ISO faster than you can write a floppy image.

If you have any modern motherboard, you can boot from a flash drive, so that way you can do anything you could do on a floppy, and you don't have to wait through 30 seconds of clicking to get to a command prompt.

 

[twitchee2]

i have one in my closet if i need it. i just recenty took it out of my comp because have only used it for one thing, and that was to load my raid 0 drivers

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: zagood
It's not strictly "necessary" but if you're overclocking it can come in very handy. Some specific examples:

- Memtest86 has a CD-Rom ISO image, but floppy is much easier.
- If you ever flash your VGA bios with something like Nibitor
- Hard drive testing/recovery

Personally, I don't think I'd ever go without a floppy, but there are ways around it.

EDIT: As far as your main question, the majority of drivers are now packaged on CD-ROMs, and you can download pretty much any driver off the net. I haven't purchased a piece of hardware in at least 4 years that required a DOS loaded driver set.

-z

Agreed. Just the fact that the floppy drive can interact with the motherboard on such a basic level makes it useful for recovery operations. Sometimes if a BIOS gets screwed up and resorts to its internal recovery measures, it might look only for A:, and if it doesn't find one, it just sits there confused, unable to even figure out how to initialize the USB ports, much less know that it should use them to look for a thumbdrive.

That said, I rarely use my floppy drive, but when I do want to use it, like say to quickly transfer a small text file, it does the job much quicker than me having to find a USB thumbdrive or a CD-RW.

It just makes it take longer to boot up. And you can burn that tiny ISO faster than you can write a floppy image.

For what kind of system? Takes my system about a half minute just to do the lead-in part of the write. By that time, memtest's tiny image is already written to a floppy disk.
Sure I can use an ultra-speed 16x-24x disc and shave a little time off, but they have fairly spotty readability, at least in the laptops I've used.

 

[Rolcahl]

I also do not have a floppy drive in my system. I do keep one on hand in case I need to do a bios update or reinstall of OS for my SATA PCI card. I have probably only hooked up the floppy drive 2 times in the past few years.

 

[Jiggz]

I use the USB version which I also use with my laptop. NO, you do not need an in-bay floppy drive anymore. But it can always come in handy when you need it. A USB floppy will fulfill the need. Just make sure your bios supports booting to USB devices before getting a USB floppy.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: networkman
If you're planning to install MS 2003 Server, you'll need a floppy drive for any extra storage drivers for SCSI or SATA controllers, as there's NO other way to load them at the start. :roll:

I don't have floppy drives on many of my rigs, although a couple do actually have an LS-120 drive since I have a number of the LS-120 disks anyway. That's of course capable of reading and writing floppy disks too.

You still don't need a floppy.

You can always inject drivers into the ISO. I was doing that with SCSI drivers way back when NT4 was the new thing. Then it auto-detects your hardware and installs the drivers just like it was part of Windows. I'm not sure how broad the term "slipstream" really is, but that's pretty much what you're doing, and if you know how the INFs work, it's really easy.

I'm not saying it's worth the trouble for most people, but you don't need a floppy drive.

 

[Tostada]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
Agreed. Just the fact that the floppy drive can interact with the motherboard on such a basic level makes it useful for recovery operations. Sometimes if a BIOS gets screwed up and resorts to its internal recovery measures, it might look only for A:, and if it doesn't find one, it just sits there confused, unable to even figure out how to initialize the USB ports, much less know that it should use them to look for a thumbdrive.

That's just silly. On modern motherboards, the floppy doesn't "interact with the motherboard on a basic level" any more than a USB drive can. That's totally ridiculous for you to say the BIOS might "get screwed up" and not know how to use a USB device. If you're going to pull out random scenarious like that, the BIOS could just as easily get screwed up and not know how to use a floppy.

Originally posted by: Jeff7
For what kind of system? Takes my system about a half minute just to do the lead-in part of the write. By that time, memtest's tiny image is already written to a floppy disk.
Sure I can use an ultra-speed 16x-24x disc and shave a little time off, but they have fairly spotty readability, at least in the laptops I've used.

What? Does anybody even sell CD-Rs slower than 52X anymore?

It's a simple fact that CD-ROMs are now more common in computers than floppy drives, so you might as well splurge and spend the $0.15 it costs for a CD-R. Even Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs are only $0.25. I know I use MemTest a lot, and the last 5 computers I've used it on have not had floppies. Besides, a CD boots up faster. And CDs cost less than floppies. I guess you could save the $0.15 and use an old floppy, but last time I tried to go through a box of floppies, they all had tons of bad sectors.

You're really not making any sense.

 

[Tostada]

Of course, I can't argue with the nostalgic "click click click" of booting from a floppy. Good times.

 

[pikachu656]

If your building your computer it couldn't hurt to get it. It only cost about $15-20 bucks for one. I put one in my last build just in case I need a floppy. Haven't used it yet though.

 

[networkman]

Originally posted by: Tostada

Originally posted by: networkman
If you're planning to install MS 2003 Server, you'll need a floppy drive for any extra storage drivers for SCSI or SATA controllers, as there's NO other way to load them at the start. :roll:

I don't have floppy drives on many of my rigs, although a couple do actually have an LS-120 drive since I have a number of the LS-120 disks anyway. That's of course capable of reading and writing floppy disks too.

You still don't need a floppy.

You can always inject drivers into the ISO. I was doing that with SCSI drivers way back when NT4 was the new thing. Then it auto-detects your hardware and installs the drivers just like it was part of Windows. I'm not sure how broad the term "slipstream" really is, but that's pretty much what you're doing, and if you know how the INFs work, it's really easy.

I'm not saying it's worth the trouble for most people, but you don't need a floppy drive.

If you're off on a tangent about slipstreaming, then yes, it can be done.

But my recent install of 2003 Server was with the full package, original Microsoft CD and all. There is no option out-of-the-box for loading a 3rd party driver(for the SCSI or other disk controllers) other than via the floppy drive. Period.

 

[Engagetheband]

Thanks for the help guys, I really didn't want to buy anything unnecesary. I think I'll just go without one and if I DO happen to need one then i will get a USB one

thanks again

 

[fire400]

I don't see why a floppy drive would be such a pain. You need it for some motherboard setups and some new hard drive configurations.

Besides, they are convenient for when your USB drive fails, there isn't a media writer within your reach. It's keeping your options open is the point, not whether you "predict" it will benefit you. And for the cost and how long it takes to setup a floppy drive, I think it is well worth it for any computer that has the available compartments.

 

[Engagetheband]

yeah....i might as well....i found one for like 7 or 8 bucks.. i guess i will for good measure

 

[w00t]

I had one spare but i didnt put it in the system i had to use it to load my sata drivers sooner or later i got sick of it and put a copy of the sata drivers on the windows xp install cd using nlight.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Tostada

That's just silly. On modern motherboards, the floppy doesn't "interact with the motherboard on a basic level" any more than a USB drive can. That's totally ridiculous for you to say the BIOS might "get screwed up" and not know how to use a USB device. If you're going to pull out random scenarious like that, the BIOS could just as easily get screwed up and not know how to use a floppy.

Random scenario? The fact that it's happened to me several times is why I brought it up. I had a slightly botched CMOS chip that would sometimes suffer from corruption - it'd boot up occasionally and just emit two low-pitched beeps, ask for a floppy disk with a BIOS image, and just sit there. Floppy disk was the only thing that it would look for. If it couldn't find a disk, it didn't do anything.
And if you're overclocking, risk of needing an emergency BIOS flashing increases.
As I understand it, for the computer to interact with the USB ports is more difficult than for it to interact with USB ports. Floppy disk controllers have been around a lot longer, and thus their support in the BIOS goes much deeper than USB support does.

What? Does anybody even sell CD-Rs slower than 52X anymore?

It's a simple fact that CD-ROMs are now more common in computers than floppy drives, so you might as well splurge and spend the $0.15 it costs for a CD-R. Even Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs are only $0.25. I know I use MemTest a lot, and the last 5 computers I've used it on have not had floppies. Besides, a CD boots up faster. And CDs cost less than floppies. I guess you could save the $0.15 and use an old floppy, but last time I tried to go through a box of floppies, they all had tons of bad sectors.

Who said anything about CD-R's? I haven't used a CD-R in months. Too wasteful. CD-RWs for me. I don't much care for one-use things.
I guess for me, floppies are cheaper, as in "free" - awhile ago, my dad brought home a case of the things that were out for the trash where he worked. Old, old program disks. I formatted and scandisked them all in a day or so - hooked a second floppy drive up and wrote a little batch program. So we've got a bazillion floppy disks at home - since they're so plentiful, well, just look around anywhere and you've got one.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Tostada

That's just silly. On modern motherboards, the floppy doesn't "interact with the motherboard on a basic level" any more than a USB drive can. That's totally ridiculous for you to say the BIOS might "get screwed up" and not know how to use a USB device. If you're going to pull out random scenarious like that, the BIOS could just as easily get screwed up and not know how to use a floppy.

Random scenario? The fact that it's happened to me several times is why I brought it up. I had a slightly botched CMOS chip that would sometimes suffer from corruption - it'd boot up occasionally and just emit two low-pitched beeps, ask for a floppy disk with a BIOS image, and just sit there. Floppy disk was the only thing that it would look for. If it couldn't find a disk, it didn't do anything.
And if you're overclocking, risk of needing an emergency BIOS flashing increases.
As I understand it, for the computer to interact with the USB ports is more difficult than for it to interact with USB ports. Floppy disk controllers have been around a lot longer, and thus their support in the BIOS goes much deeper than USB support does.

What? Does anybody even sell CD-Rs slower than 52X anymore?

It's a simple fact that CD-ROMs are now more common in computers than floppy drives, so you might as well splurge and spend the $0.15 it costs for a CD-R. Even Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs are only $0.25. I know I use MemTest a lot, and the last 5 computers I've used it on have not had floppies. Besides, a CD boots up faster. And CDs cost less than floppies. I guess you could save the $0.15 and use an old floppy, but last time I tried to go through a box of floppies, they all had tons of bad sectors.

Who said anything about CD-R's? I haven't used a CD-R in months. Too wasteful. CD-RWs for me. I don't much care for one-use things.
I guess for me, floppies are cheaper, as in "free" - awhile ago, my dad brought home a case of the things that were out for the trash where he worked. Old, old program disks. I formatted and scandisked them all in a day or so - hooked a second floppy drive up and wrote a little batch program. So we've got a bazillion floppy disks at home - since they're so plentiful, well, just look around anywhere and you've got one.

I mix trance and share 'em with friends. You think I'm going to give them a more expensive CD-RW? Yeah right, like they have a clue what the difference would be between a CD-R and an RW of the same space and performance. DVD's are becoming more mainstream, as you can find a writer for less than a hundred bucks at a retailer, and even half price at an e-tailor.
I remember when CD-RW drives used to cost over 300 hundred dollars about half a decade ago.
Next time you buy something, think about universal costs.

"can you burn something for me?"
~~ "... um, I have to go to the store to get some CD-R's first."

"why?"
~~ "oh because I only have CD-RW's."

"huh?"
~~ "they cost less than CD-RW's"

"so?"
~~ "well, unless you can give me the CD-RW back?"

"are you asking me to pay you?"
~~ "yes I am cheap, 25 cents is a problem for me, so are we going to the store or not?"