floppy disk: outdated!

Truly unformatted floppy diskette usually hangs when inserted and read by the computer therefore it is always advisable to properly format the diskette before using. Even if the label says something like IBM format, you must not rely on it. it must be format before using. I no longer use floppy diskette now but instead I use the hard disk and cd for my data. I partitioned the hard disk so that if the other drive has been infected by the virus, there's still another usable drive where my backup files are located, although I have antivirus software installed in my PC, that's just for security reasons. Back then when I was still using Windows98 in my old computer, the floppy disk saves my PC from data loss. When my old PC was infected by the virus, I used the properly formatted diskette to boot to MS-dos and I deleted the virus file easily using the DOS technique I learned before. When I booted my old PC again, it ran fine again.

Floppy disk still uses most of the banks here in Philippines. Our payroll system generates report and saves to floppy disk then send to the bank since the system they are using runs on Unix platform mostly and they prefer this kind of media storage device for a purpose. USB and CDs are good for us who in to gadget-thingy world but in real business, floppy disk are still their choice.

I have lots of early photos and other files store on floppy disks. I also have an external floppy disk reader which plugs in to my laptop. Things will always change. I have so many photos stored on my computer. I so prefer the old fashioned photo album to remember and share photos.

Its really outdated but my kid which is in her 2nd grade now still uses it at their computer lab which force me to dig deep in my murky stock room and dust away my 3.5 disk drive and revived it ... joke I'm still using an outdated computer with the outdated disk drive and I'm very much outdated too. You are right, their reliability is so questionable. Did you know that the price of a single 1.4Mb floppy disc cost more than 600Mb CD disc.

Time passes as some data storage disk are being thrown out.I remember this one time that i went into a computer rental shop. and then i wanted to save the file from the internet, but when i showed the lady the floppy disk,she refused and prefers USB instead, I was sooo shocked there. and from then on i realized that diskettes have become obsolete. have a lovely day

I stopped using floppy disks and magnetic storage years ago. They are unreliable and flimsy with a low data capacity. For portability, I use a 16 GB USB storage device, which I bring along with me on business trips. For long-term data storage, I formerly used DVDs, but I have now switched to Bluray for this purpose.

Well.. floppy disk is really out dated but yeah I use it sometimes.. it's used when you are repairing the computer which is also outdated..!! :-) what I mean is when I need to format the system which is having windows 98 at that time I can't boot it directly from CD/DVD for that I need to mount the CD from Diskette..

No particular story to share but its both true and sad that with the march of technology so many things which we once cherished, are becoming obsolete on a regular basis. I don’t use the diskettes anymore of course, but our office store has a last remaining pack of diskettes, unopened. Guess, we all started using CDs and then pen drives and so on and the box of diskettes just lay there, unnoticed and never missed again. Maybe I’ll be able to keep them and then pass them on to my grandchildren who can make a fortune selling them as antique??!!!

Hi. I can't help but laugh when I see people still use floppy disks. My kids in school are still using floppy disk and told them that they are already obsolete, so they have to use USB instead. I agree that floppy disk are very sensitive and so as their drive...

I generally use CDs for saving my files.I have a USB but I do not use it much.I had a floppy disk in my previous computer. It was never used.There is no point in using diskette as their price is same if not more than CDs and most importantly there is hardly any space on them. I also have an aunt who until very recently used diskette.I finally managed to talk her out of it.She now uses rewritable CDs.She has thanked me for that.It has made her job a lot easier.

I agree that diskettes are outdated USB and CD's are prefered to be use now. Back then it is difficult for me to save a file which needs big memory capacity diskettes are not efficient using CD is not that common. I had a hard time looking for an computer shop that had a CD writer because that time I don't own a computer. My situation back then is very difficult I need money for renting and diskettes for saving. The only option is to download it on the internet but it took it longer to upload it. Thanks now that USB was invented that is more efficient and easy to carry.

I don't know more about a computer but i believe the floppy disk seldom uses in my house.I could not find them.I think usb is small and comfortable to move everywhere.

lol..diskettes have gone so outdated that,i dint mind saving bucks by not adding a floppy reader to my pc.huhh..my father has some important files in 20 diskettes.he wants them to be transferred to a cd.but none of my friends hav a floppy drive in their comp.so im looking for a cyber center or some old government where probably i can find one.

I just don't know if this is entirely accurate but I think mainframe doesn't have any USB slots that's why Floppy disk is still common to large corporation specially in banks.

Prior to getting my own computer (a Mac) I relied on either the library or internet cafe computers...the library ones ONLY had the floppy disk option to save info rather than disk (guess they didn't want people downloading things). Now that I have a computer I just save my files to my hard drive but once in awhile back up on dvds....I still have my old floppy disks too from the old days...don't even know why I'm keeping them...LOL

Hello koalapenguin, It's funny but of course, we can't just laugh at them. I don't know too much about computer stuff and new technologiy but I try to update my knowledge every now and then. I don't use diskettes anymore and whenever I have problem with IT stuff, it reminds me of my husband!

Hello, I know today technology is super cool... Im done with school since 2004, since that time we still used diskettes. So, I bought like a lot of them and one day when we cleared up the garage and my husband saw diskettes and he said like who is still using diskettes... and I said, I still using it. he started to laugh and he asked me, does your computer have diskette slot? lolz... oh my god, I said.

This is quite funny as I was routing around in the attic the other day and found my first PC which took those 5 inch floppy discs and thought how out dated they were let alone the diskettes. I haven't seen a PC which took this sort of disk for quite a while now, just shows how quickly technology moves as they can't be that old. For me I use both USB and CD for storing files. I use the USB so I can carry them round easily and use where ever I need to. Whilst I do regular weekly back up of files to CD incase of a PC problem.

I no longer use diskettes. I use my hard disk-C and a 4G hard disk taken from my laptop

i cant even remember the last time i saw a computer with a floppy slot or floppy disks for sale other than on a specialized site or ebay. i dont bother to use cds anymore either just because they can get scratched and are to expensive to keep buying. it sounds like i know what im talking about on these forums but trust me i dont XD