Finally, Death of the 3.5 inch floppy disk
in [Computers]
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From: David Brown on 28 Apr 2010 15:39 Doug McIntyre wrote: > John Tserkezis <jt(a)techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> writes: >> Spehro Pefhany wrote: >>>> The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers >>>> etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your >>>> only option. > >>> My latest machine lacks floppy support on the motherboard (Asus P6T >>> WS). They suggest using a USB flash drive or USB floppy for RAID >>> drivers. > >> That's nice, but USB flash drives won't ever map to A: or B:. This is >> done intentionally, and it makes perfect sense. But it doesn't help the >> fact that Windows will not look at *any* other drive than A:. > > > I have a Flash Drive that mimics part of its space as a USB Floppy > that *does* map to drive A: or B:. Unfortunately it doesn't work very > well with most systems. :( > > >> So, that leaves USB interfaced FDDs, or, as already suggested, creating >> an alternative boot disk with the drivers included. > > Of course this is all only just for WinXP (ie. that Windows release > from 8 years ago), or Server 2003 from 7 years ago.. > Unfortunately, XP is still the best version of windows for many uses. Lots of companies feel they don't have time to waste testing for compatibility with Win 7, or finding drivers for it, or re-training staff, or handling the support. It's better with the devil they know. Besides, Win 7 has no advantages over XP if you are actually /using/ the computer, rather than admiring the pretty clock on the desktop. > Vista & Win7/Server 2008 either release have methods to read in > RAID/HBA drivers off flash or USB devices during installation while > booted into WinPE. And its easy to make a new WinPE boot environment > with said drivers if needed. I had to install windows (XP and Win 7) on a couple of computers recently - it is often faster to install Windows from scratch than to start using a typical "pre-installed" system (after it takes ages to install windows from a hidden partition, you then have to waste more time removing all traces of the "demo" and time-limited junk that comes with system). While Win 7 installation is mildly improved over XP, it's still seriously inefficient. And once you have the basic system installed, you then have to find and install the drivers - which are often totally absurd (I had to download a 100 MB file for an Ethernet driver, including it's useless utilities - and it wouldn't even install until I'd added dotnet runtimes!). The Windows developers really should get hold of a few Linux distributions to see how OS installers /should/ be made - they have a decade or so catching up to do.
From: Rod Speed on 28 Apr 2010 15:50 George Neuner wrote: > On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:55:51 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > >> Stuart Longland wrote: >> some of the [diskettes] I have at home are slowly decaying with age. >> >> Interesting. What's decaying about them? I've got Fuji MF2HD from the >> 90's and they still work fine. > > The media does not have high enough coercivity to retain magnetic > alignment indefinitely - given enough time it loses orientation and > your data simply fades away. Doesnt explain the claim that they can be read fine and the problem is with new writes. > And unlike hard disks, diskette R/W heads actually touch the recording > surface and gradually wear away the media. See above.
From: SG1 on 28 Apr 2010 16:13 "George Neuner" <gneuner2(a)comcast.net> wrote in message news:srsgt5tea5ma1drvf35dd6jvid1sqljss0(a)4ax.com... > On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:13:11 +1000, "SG1" <lostitall(a)the.races> wrote: > >>I have some disks from 1993 that are still readable. I have some from >>later >>that are gibberish, reformat did not help them come back to life. Guess it >>depends on the manufacturer. > > You can *sometimes* revive old diskettes with media level tools like > SpinRite ... but diskettes gradually lose their magnetic media (the > head touches them) so it depends on how much has been lost. Even if > the diskette appears unreadable to the OS, IME you can usually recover > most of the data from it. > > George Spinrite a name not heard in years. My copy with an eye patch dissappeared many moons ago in a land far away.
From: Joerg on 28 Apr 2010 16:15 Spehro Pefhany wrote: > On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:49:10 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > > >> Yes, and that wear is clearly visible. However, the typical disk is used >> as file storage and only once in a while read back, and then only small >> parts of it. > > I have an old HP logic analyzer that boots off of a floppy. > AFAIK there's also plenty of scopes from Tek and others where that's the only way to get screen shots over to your PC. Unless you bought the now pretty much unobtanium GPIB interface for beaucoup $$$. But mostly I see that with production machines. One floppy slot and absolutely zilch in terms of other interfaces. CNC gear become almost useless without being able to feed data into it. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Spehro Pefhany on 28 Apr 2010 16:37
On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:15:21 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Spehro Pefhany wrote: >> On Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:49:10 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> >> wrote: >> >> >>> Yes, and that wear is clearly visible. However, the typical disk is used >>> as file storage and only once in a while read back, and then only small >>> parts of it. >> >> I have an old HP logic analyzer that boots off of a floppy. >> > >AFAIK there's also plenty of scopes from Tek and others where that's the >only way to get screen shots over to your PC. Unless you bought the now >pretty much unobtanium GPIB interface for beaucoup $$$. But mostly I see >that with production machines. One floppy slot and absolutely zilch in >terms of other interfaces. CNC gear become almost useless without being >able to feed data into it. Many, maybe most, of them have an old-fashioned serial interface too, for which people have cobbed together interfaces so that they can be controlled from a central point. There are half a dozen, from several different suppliers, in a college machine shop that I'm familiar with- used for teaching CNC machining. |