In Pictures: External Data Storage Through The Ages

[Bloob]

Can't remember which version of Windows was the last one, but I still remember the days when you had to boot up from a floppy just install Windows (or anything really). Gotta love technological progress and especially IT.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

WOW! I don't want to even think about the punch cards I had to create when I took my first computer class in college. A single typo would ruin the entire batch.

 

[sporkimus]

I still have my old floppy disks as well as an external floppy drive. Occasionally I end up working on computers that cannot boot from flash drives and some of the best utilities I have are on floppies.

 

[pacioli]

[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]Indeed it is plus it is easy :s[/citation]
It is not easy if you haven't seen one in five years...

 

[SinisterSalad]

DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY!!!

 

[runswindows95]

[citation][nom]Bloob[/nom]Can't remember which version of Windows was the last one, but I still remember the days when you had to boot up from a floppy just install Windows (or anything really). Gotta love technological progress and especially IT.[/citation]

Far as I can remember, Windows 2000 Professional was the last Windows that required floppies to boot. In fact, it took 4. I'm not 100% certain about ME for I always installed either 2K Pro or 98SE on systems that old.

 

[Tab54o]

I have a copy of ultima 6 that came on 5.25" floppies.

 

[cangelini]

Anyone notice how you click Read More just once and it sticks now? That's because of your feedback ;-)

 

[cookoy]

You can store basic programs on audio cassette tapes too with Apple II and maybe Commodore. And what 5.25" floppy disk doesn't come with the C-Brain virus on its boot sector

 

[DigitalWarlord]

[citation][nom]turbotong[/nom]Where are the portable hard drives?[/citation]
There are quite a few external storage devices/methods absent from this list. (e.g. External HD's, MemoryStick, CompactFlash, HD-DVD's, etc.)

 

[Guest]

I used 5.25" well into the 90s.

 

[gokanis]

[citation][nom]cangelini[/nom]Anyone notice how you click Read More just once and it sticks now? That's because of your feedback ;-)[/citation]
It could delay the onset of my carpal tunnel by a week or more....

 

[g-unit1111]

[citation][nom]GI_JONES[/nom]I used to work for a place that had a digital camera that used 3.5in floppies for storage.[/citation]

I still have my old Epson camera that had a real CF card in it - and it used a serial port - something you don't find on PCs these days. The price of that camera? $500.

 

[SinisterSalad]

I used to work for a place that had a digital camera that used 3.5in floppies for storage.

I use to SELL those cameras, lol. Thankfully, they didn't sell very well compared to others. No markup in Sony products!

 

[warezme]

[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]Indeed it is plus it is easy :s[/citation]
[citation][nom]Microgoliath[/nom]Isn't floppy disk still the best and safest way to update your bios? Correct me if I'm wrong please xD.[/citation]It used to be. Now with most smart vendors, you just download an ISO and burn it to a bootable DVD. Last time I tried to use a floppy I had to find a working drive in my storage shed, find a usable serial cable to hook it up and dig out a floppy from somewhere and try to remember how to format it as bootable. It was a royal pain, made me wish I had a USB floppy but if your computer is to old USB isn't bootable.

 

[warezme]

[citation][nom]SinisterSalad[/nom]DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY!!![/citation]
It was such a negative generation. Between Don't copy that Floppy and Nancy Reagan Just Say No, I was afraid to say yes even when it was good.

 

[memadmax]

I still have Win95 on floppy ^.^

 

[megamanx00]

You forgot to mention the poor reliability of zip disks and super disks. I heard proportionally more complaints for super disk users though ^_^

 

[quangluu96]

Where is SSD?

 

[Dax corrin]

I had many failures of LS-120. :/

 

[sol_]

Had anyone mentioned the hole punch trick to turn the 5.35 floppy into a double sided diskette? I did that with every disk I owned, all 1000 of them, without a problem. Needed all that room from the software we 'traded' in highschool for our C64's!

 

[j2j663]

Oregon Trail on 5.35 floppy, now those were the days!

 

[LordConrad]

Why no mention of the MultiMedia Card? The MMC came before the SD Card.

Why no mention of the original IBM hard drives, weren't they external stand-alone devices?

 

[QEFX]

Where's my 2.88MB floppy disc ? Or my 21MB floptical & external HDs? Who checks the facts on this site?

 

[lp231]

Iomega also has the Clik!
It's the smallest drive in terms of physical size during its days.