New Build - Still need floppy drive??

[bob943]

It's been about a year and a half since my last full build - Are builders still putting floppy drives in a new Socket 939 or Intel 775 machine?

[naptownman]

There's still so much you can do with a floppy that I still include them in any new builds. They're only $8 so not having one isn't going to save anything in cost. But they can save your tail if you have a problem.

[AllGamer]

yes you WILL need a FDD to install your SATA HDD

ironic isnt it? :r

[Sterling_Aug]

Yes, floppy drives are not quite dead yet even though Dell does not provide them on the standard builds we got at work.

[Midknyte]

you could always get an external usb floppy. most new motherboards support usb boot

[Rocketmech]

I am finding some of the new motherboards require no floppy for installing a single SATA drive for XP SP2 . I'm guessing this is bios related , perhaps someone else can elaborate. However, for SATA RAID you still need a floppy .

[missiveusa]

you could always get an external usb floppy. most new motherboards support usb boot

Or do what I did: Leave case open, plug in FDD from outside the case, install SATA drivers with Windows, then lose the floppy. Haven't missed it, and my case looks better. Can't see much use for FDD with optical drives and burners as cheap as they are.

[AllGamer]

Or do what I did: Leave case open, plug in FDD from outside the case, install SATA drivers with Windows, then lose the floppy. Haven't missed it, and my case looks better. Can't see much use for FDD with optical drives and burners as cheap as they are.


that's why i do :D

i need all the extra 3.5" slots i can get for HDDs :r

[AllGamer]

I am finding some of the new motherboards require no floppy for installing a single SATA drive for XP SP2 . I'm guessing this is bios related , perhaps someone else can elaborate. However, for SATA RAID you still need a floppy .

indeed this has been confirmed elsewhere

only very very new Mobos with build in BIOS support for those SATA controllers will be able to pass the dumb Windows check during installation.

or possibly it fools Windows into thinking it's a regular IDE controller, instead of a SATA controller.

:t

[Peter M]

That is actually a hardware question: Can the SATA controller run in IDE controller mode (losing all the features SATA has over IDE, but gaining driver compatibility), or is it native-SATA-only hardware?