After all the hustle and bustle since the new mac mini was released last week without an optical drive, i've wondered if anyone out there still uses floppies? and what would you use them for?
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Anyone still use a floppy drive?
- Thread starter Paulywauly
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Was thinking of tinkering and getting a usb floppy drive and some blanks to have a go with, just for nostalgic reasons!
I still use them at work. We have some older equipment used for measuring electrical circuits that writes to floppies only.
I do, my old camera (Sony Mavica) has a built in floppy drive as it pre-dated removable media. It has a Carl Zeiss lens so it takes better pictures than these new fangled megapixel digital cameras.
In highest definition I can get four images onto the one disc!
And I need a floppy to transfer files between my 16 year old Performa which my kids still use.
In highest definition I can get four images onto the one disc!And I need a floppy to transfer files between my 16 year old Performa which my kids still use.
I'm wondering what MS is going to use to replace the floppy "Icon" with. The applications I use at work still have it, even though our IS dept. doesn't install floppies on any of our computers.
I'm the same way. I have a bunch of old Macs and PCs, and I still use the floppy drive in those cases.
I do, my old camera (Sony Mavica) has a built in floppy drive as it pre-dated removable media. It has a Carl Zeiss lens so it takes better pictures than these new fangled megapixel digital cameras.
Actually, I know the feeling; four images onto one disc......earlier this evening, I imported the CD "The Hours" (Philip Glass) onto my iTunes and noticed that this one CD takes up ten times the space of my first 80MB computer, back in the very early 1990s.
This thread brought back memories. Yes, I have a box of floppies, still; and I still use an (external) optical drive, too.
Cheers
Well if you want to compare sizes... an icon in OSX uses about 20kb, which is more than the entire 16kb memory of my first computer in 1984!
You could probably get away with reducing the file size if required, 800MB is a bit excessive.
To be honest I have not used a floppy drive for over 10 years. I still have some I used for storage in a box in the back of my garage, but I have no computers that can read them and do not really feel a need to see what is still on them. I only hang on the them because I do not want someone else to read my data. Some day I will get a large magnet and wipe them all clean.
I do not use my CD drive anymore either. I ripped all my CD's about 5 years ago and have not touched one since.
Dvd's only when I need to rip a movie to my computer. I have no need to deliver media anymore, and I store back ups on multiple Hard drives. Since I am now purchasing my movies through iTunes this usage is becoming smaller and smaller. I have about 50-70 left at home to rip as I have the time.
I purchase almost all my programs from the web, either the app store or directly from the programmer. Have been doing this for years.
I have even removed all my CD and DVD players from my home theater system and only stream through my ATV. They are now with the other relicts collecting dust in my garage.
I do use USB memory sticks/network/e-mail/mobile me if I find a need to transfer files from any machine to another.
I do not use my CD drive anymore either. I ripped all my CD's about 5 years ago and have not touched one since.
Dvd's only when I need to rip a movie to my computer. I have no need to deliver media anymore, and I store back ups on multiple Hard drives. Since I am now purchasing my movies through iTunes this usage is becoming smaller and smaller. I have about 50-70 left at home to rip as I have the time.
I purchase almost all my programs from the web, either the app store or directly from the programmer. Have been doing this for years.
I have even removed all my CD and DVD players from my home theater system and only stream through my ATV. They are now with the other relicts collecting dust in my garage.
I do use USB memory sticks/network/e-mail/mobile me if I find a need to transfer files from any machine to another.
We use one at work to transfer CAD/CAM data to a CNC Wire Erosion Machine and we are still using 720 kB DD floppies.
We had to replace the floppy drive in January and it cost a whopping £645 plus VAT!
We had to replace the floppy drive in January and it cost a whopping £645 plus VAT!
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Back in 2007 my high school had computers running windows xp. The security software wouldn't let you go on most websites (including all webmail services) or use USB drives, so the best way to transfer work between home and school was using floppy disks. I transferred them to a lenovo desktop we had at home and then I could move them by USB to my black MacBook. That takes me back!
That was a few years ago now, but they worked really well for moving the occasional word document around...
Back in 2007 my high school had computers running windows xp. The security software wouldn't let you go on most websites (including all webmail services) or use USB drives, so the best way to transfer work between home and school was using floppy disks. I transferred them to a lenovo desktop we had at home and then I could move them by USB to my black MacBook. That takes me back!
That was a few years ago now, but they worked really well for moving the occasional word document around...
I haven't used one since 2002 when i was at college.
current storage methods like USB etc are obviously superior, but there was always something satisfying about having a bunch of differnt coloured floppies for different purposes labelled up in a little box. You also don't get that satisfying "clunk" sound when ejecting a USB drive!
This is gonna sound stupid, but i might try using them for light document storage just for the hell of it
current storage methods like USB etc are obviously superior, but there was always something satisfying about having a bunch of differnt coloured floppies for different purposes labelled up in a little box. You also don't get that satisfying "clunk" sound when ejecting a USB drive!
This is gonna sound stupid, but i might try using them for light document storage just for the hell of it