Floppy Drive Function - Still Needed - Yes/No.

[Classic Chevys]

I ask the question as posed in the title for the simple fact that the floppy drives on two of the computers I have here can no longer read any information that is saved to them and a pop up window appears saying " No information on disk " then " Do you want to format ".

At some point while back I took all information off those floppys and saved it to CD-R disks, but, the question I have to ask is this:

Some updates from sites require the use of the floppy drive to copy and install files to the computer. Since the floppy drives are basically not functioning, can these updates or whatever be done from CD-r/rw or DVD-r/rw drives???

 

[mailpup]

I suppose it depends on the kind of update you mean. If you are talking about flashing the BIOS, click here for a link to instructions on how to burn a bootable CD to flash a BIOS. Whether or not you have access to another PC with a floppy and Nero software is another question but at least it can be done.

If you mean installing SATA/RAID drivers when installing Windows XP, you can create a slipstream CD with Windows XP and the SATA/RAID drivers combined. You can google for that since there are several sites that give you that procedure.

I've never had to use those procedures myself as I still have functioning floppy drives but the point is it can be done. If there is some other updating you are talking about, give the particulars and maybe someone else can describe what to do or you might google and find it.

 

[raybay]

Sounds as if your floppy drive is out of alignment. If reformatted, it will be read in your computer but no other.
I like to have a floppy drive for testing other equipment and installing some drivers, so I leave mine installed.
Another very common problem is that floppy discs made since 1998 go bad after a few years. The harden, become brittle, or warp. Once they age too much they are no darn good. The only good test is a new floppy disk, that is less than a year old.

 

[Tedster]

yes. ABSOLUTELY. floppies are still needed for easy core functions - especially for things like BIOS updates.