Drives Blog

The problem is, who determines when a device is obsolete? A related problem is, how do you force a company to maintain in perpetuity a full archive of software they've developed or provided?

For example, as long as PCs use add-on devices (cameras, special-use equipment, etc.) that come with software on a CD, an optical reader will be needed occasionally to re-load the original software. This has happened to me. I have a special use camera that I sometimes use with my laptop. Some files on my PC got corrupted and I had to re-load the camera software. I went to the website of the camera manufacturer and downloaded the 'latest' version of the camera software -- only to find out the new software was for a new version of the camera and did not work for the camera I had. Luckily I had kept the CD and was able to re-install the original software using the optical drive in my PC.

I know that a stand-alone optical reader could be used, but that's just another piece of stuff to have to carry around or store. I might as well have it already built into the PC.

Agreed. Once in awhile I even need to use a floppy disc, but unfortunately, I haven't had a computer with one of those drives for a long time.

Nuts had to go poking at my new comp to see if I had a ODD. Yep I do. Nope don't use it.

It used to be that the 3.5" floppy ruled, than the CD ROM, than DVD and now Blue Ray. I used to get Cd's in cereal boxes.

Yet, I have come across some manufacturers that still insist that you use, or load, all that is important on a floppy drive, so it can be used later. I equip at least one of my computers with a "Dinosaur Drive", "A" drive. Yes The optical drives days are numbered. Solid state storage devices are on there way up.

My very first Hard drive was 3.2 meg, I was kicking ass, and yes, I had the world by the tail, I think that lasted about 20 minutes, and that was when Moore's Law kicked in. His concepts are outstanding.

I just hope that I do not break a tooth on a flash drive in tomorrow's breakfast

Optical drives are still a way off from being dead although optical based media such as movies and CDs are definitely on their last legs. (Don't tell that to Sony and the Blu-ray camp)

Smaller netbooks can get away without a drive but full computers will still need them for at least another 5 years. There are still many programs which require a CD/DVD for installation.

I am still looking for a drive for my 5-1/4" disks...The industry obsoleted that format LONG before I was ready! They will probably do that with optical drives as well, as they have for the 3-1/2" diskettes, the RS232 serial interface, the Centronics parallel port...Boy, would I love to have a time machine!

I doubt seriously there is anyone writing about the computer industry trends that has a clue as to how most people use their computers. Unfortunately, manufacturers tend to follow these clueless pundits religiously...

They (5 1/4" Floppy Drives) can still be found.....secondhand. Almost any computer store will save you one if you ask nicely, probably give it to you for nothing!!!

May I ask the reason why you still need one? Do remember that the media is very prone to read/write errors, especially if its being lying around for some time.....or even worse, standing on edge......

To use them properly, they need to be completely re-formatted once a year (full not fast) and the data rewritten again.....

You also need to know what physical format they were written in as there are some "built in" errors of format that can occur....I won't bore you with the details at the moment.....

I'm gradually learning the hard way to make a printed copy of anything worth saving and put it into a good file system whereby I can access it. All other storage media forms have serious life and reliability problems. But as long as we have scanners and software that can translate from images of printed words I feel I'm safe.

Of course fire can wipe out the written records. That's a long shot compared with the number of times I've had a CD, floppy disc, hard disk or SD card come up unreadable.

So after 500 years of printing, 2000+ years of paper and more thousands of years of picture renderings on flat relatively smooth surfaces I feel pretty good about those media. On the other hand I, at 72 years of age, fully expect at least one more form of electronic media to go obsolete and render records unreadable before I die. Might even be 2 or 3 if some of the CR-4 members I've insulted think better of putting out contracts on me.

Ed Weldon

So much for the paperless society that we were promised.

As for saving data, I am a bit paranoid. I run two 1TB drives in a raid 1 configuration. This is backed up by an external hard drive that is kept at a friends home. The really important items such as ancestral pictures; they are scanned, backed up on the external drive and burned onto disks. Two copies are split up to friends and family.

The absolute last thing I may do, is print multiple copies, A good photo printer is relatively cheep. Again I disseminate these among family.

With the exception of a planet killing object from space, I figure that at least one form of media will survive in one of the homes that they are stored.

My CD/DVD burner is primarily a backup and reload tool. I use memory sticks for backing up current projects, so my rewriteable disks are gathering dust.

I don't see another suitable backup tool (cheap, durable media) coming down the pike, so I can't regard optical drives as obsolete.

Mind you, I still have a 3.5-inch floppy installed on my computer, which I'm using to gradually transfer a lot of old material to DVD-ROM.