Can I FINALLY do away with my floppy...

Legend · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:03

...disk?

Just about to build a new rig with e6600, Bad Axe 2 etc. and wondering if I can finally get rid of this stupid thing that somehow has managed to survive all these years? The only thing I can see I would need it for is to update the mbd BIOS or something similar on boot up, but is there another way to do that just as easily these days without the floppy? I would certainly rather get rid of it than keep it, but if it's going to be necessary then so be it.

:rolleyes:

Yewen · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:06

Not had one permanently in my computer since early 2003, you can certainly get by without one in day to day use.

Syngress · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:13

Same as Yewen really, haven't had one here for a good few years, can not actually remember the last time I needed to use one at all

wolvotim · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:14

I still had to use my floppy when I was setting up my raid0 array a few weeks back. dont know if there is any other way of doing it??

Zefan · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:18

I just hang mine out by the cables when I want to use it.

Corasik · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:20

Yep, the intel SATA controller still needs a floppy to load drivers for both Raid configuration, or to run in 'native' SATA mode.

However you can run SATA in IDE emulation mode, you lose NCQ, but can still run at SATA2 interface speeds. So it all depends on how you plan to configure your HDD's.

thefishdude · 3 Jan 2007 at 23:29

i allways put one im a pc dont do no harm does it. if you dont at least keep one laying around with a cable just incae. there are bios problems that and a ps2 keyboard

aztechnology · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:00

I just used a flopy about 20 minutes ago to run Powermax hard drive checker. Whilst most people can get away with not having one for a tenner, i'll always include one.

afraser2k · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:02

The main uses for a floppy drive I've had were raid drivers and BIOS flash. I think it really depends if you think you can get away with using a USB floppy for the same thing?

I decided to get myself one of the 7-in-1 floppy disk drives that had memory card readers as well.

Ste99 · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:18

I have one just becuase it was a few quid and you never know when you need it.

Trigger · 4 Jan 2007 at 00:22

I still have one but mount it backwards in the case so non of it sticks out of the front. If I ever need to flash the BIOS or install SATA drivers I can just take the side off

Legend · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:08

Corasik said:
Yep, the intel SATA controller still needs a floppy to load drivers for both Raid configuration, or to run in 'native' SATA mode.

However you can run SATA in IDE emulation mode, you lose NCQ, but can still run at SATA2 interface speeds. So it all depends on how you plan to configure your HDD's.

What is 'native' mode? So you'd still need a floppy to install drivers in order run a single or more non-raided SATA drives on a system?

Yewen · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:11

Actually I have around 80 (yes) floppy disk drives, most in good working order.

I have about 3 floppy disks though!

marc2003 · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:14

to flash the bios, i just boot from the ultimatebootcd and drop to a dos prompt. i have a small fat32 partition on my hard drive so i can access bios flashing tools and of course backup my existing bios etc.....

Corasik · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:26

The intel Sata controller can be configured as IDE or ACHI, or Raid

Raid is obvious (I hope)

ACHI is 'Native' SATA, it requires a driver just like Raid mode, it enableds native command queuing, and perhaps a few other options

IDE mode, allows standard IDE drivers and software to access the SATA disks. Most SATA modes are enabled so both sata 150, and sata 300 are supported, but you lise NCQ.

Personally I use IDE mode, the loss of NCQ really doesnt affect a workstation/gaming system much, it's of more use to an extreme multiuser device like a MMORPG server, or even a web/database server. The advantage of using standard IDE drivers eliminates the need for a floppy, and makes upgrading motherboards without reinstalling windows possible. Handy for convenience.

Justintime · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:37

Only have a floppy drive for older systems, got a bootable usb pen drive for others.

stoofa · 4 Jan 2007 at 01:45

You don't really need one now and once Vista is released (with the ability to F6 install drivers from USB or CD/DVD) you certainly won't need one.
However, a floppy drive costs £2 if you don't have one laying around.
99% of cases have the space for one and you never know when one might come in useful - saved me recently when I made the mistake of updating to the F7 BIOS on my DS4 motherboard, was able to get back to a bootable system with the aid of the F6 BIOS on a floppy disk.

Cyber-Mav · 4 Jan 2007 at 02:48

i have a single usb floppy drive now which i got mainly for my laptop but i use it on every system i have no so no need for a floppy drive inside a pc anymore.

t31os · 4 Jan 2007 at 04:14

Is the sata mode you were talking about specific to that motherboard?....

Just wondered because my drives show NCQ enabled, and i never needed a floppy. Pretty sure i only use a floppy for RAID.

Energize · 4 Jan 2007 at 05:11

You can add the sata drivers to the xp disk so you can still have ncq.