[xubuntu-users] Am I the only one who still uses floppies?

[James Freer]

On 29 July 2015 at 08:59, Ralf Mardorf <ralf.mardorf at rocketmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Jul 2015 15:56:15 +0200, Antoine Pitrou wrote:
>>Yes :-) Floppies are slow and fragile. Just buy yourself a couple of
>>USB sticks.
>
> I suspect USB sticks are less reliable than floppy disks. I still own a
> C64 with 5 1/4" DD and an Atari ST with 3,5" DD floppy disks and an
> around 40 MiB SCSI hard disk drive. They are much more than 20
> years, perhaps 30 years old and were much used for music studio work.

I have found problems with USB sticks and don't like them. I do have a
USB portable 3.5 drive although I would like to be able put a 3.5
internal drive in the PC (no longer possible I gather).

I have found 3.5 and 5 1/4 very reliable IF handled with respect i.e.
kept in case and the drive has to be used reasonably frequently
otherwise dust seems to 'kill' them. I never had one 5 1/4 give
trouble whilst I used them. 3.5 I found wouldn't format when new but
once checked could be reliably used again and again.

james