Where is my 3.5 inch floppy?

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:55:12 -0700, "Steve Turner"
<stevezygote.TakeThisOut@telus.net> wrote:

>I am totally new to Vista. I just bought a new computer and it has an OEM
>version on the HDD.
>
>Well, surprise, surprise! I don't have a 3.5 floppy. I do on my old XP based
>machine. And I've got a lot of stuff stored on floppies. How can I access
>this in Vista?

Kinda late to think about that now, isn't it? You didn't notice that
there was no floppie drive when you were shopping?

By an external drive.

>In addition, how can I boot from a floppy in an emergency when there IS not
>floppy?

You can't, Ben Stein.

It had a drive bay in it that I THOUGHT was for the floppy. Is this lack of
a floppy standard to Vista?
And what do you mean by "by an external drive"
And "you can't Ben Stein"....who is Ben Stein?

"Nonny" <nonnymoose.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:2nrg84hfvtgch8q3dueno8q3nba46qpcop@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:55:12 -0700, "Steve Turner"
> <stevezygote.TakeThisOut@telus.net> wrote:
>
>>I am totally new to Vista. I just bought a new computer and it has an OEM
>>version on the HDD.
>>
>>Well, surprise, surprise! I don't have a 3.5 floppy. I do on my old XP
>>based
>>machine. And I've got a lot of stuff stored on floppies. How can I access
>>this in Vista?
>
> Kinda late to think about that now, isn't it? You didn't notice that
> there was no floppie drive when you were shopping?
>
> By an external drive.
>
>>In addition, how can I boot from a floppy in an emergency when there IS
>>not
>>floppy?
>
> You can't, Ben Stein.

Floppy drives have pretty much disappeared in the last decade with the
advent of the USB memory stick. They are not routinely included in new
machines and it has nothing to do with Vista.

You can get an external floppy drive from most stores that sell computer
equipment for about $25 that plug into your computer via the USB connection.
Recommend you also get a good USB memory stick to transfer your information
from floppy to stick. A single 2GB stick is pretty cheap and will hold about
2,000 floppy's worth of information. If you have programs that install from
floppy, you might want to update those. (Incompatibilities are bound to
occur with these programs and your modern computer.)


"Steve Turner" <stevezygote.TakeThisOut@telus.net> wrote in message
news:%23tHJMYY7IHA.4548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> It had a drive bay in it that I THOUGHT was for the floppy. Is this lack
of
> a floppy standard to Vista?
> And what do you mean by "by an external drive"
> And "you can't Ben Stein"....who is Ben Stein?
>
> "Nonny" <nonnymoose.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:2nrg84hfvtgch8q3dueno8q3nba46qpcop@4ax.com...
> > On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:55:12 -0700, "Steve Turner"
> > <stevezygote.TakeThisOut@telus.net> wrote:
> >
> >>I am totally new to Vista. I just bought a new computer and it has an
OEM
> >>version on the HDD.
> >>
> >>Well, surprise, surprise! I don't have a 3.5 floppy. I do on my old XP
> >>based
> >>machine. And I've got a lot of stuff stored on floppies. How can I
access
> >>this in Vista?
> >
> > Kinda late to think about that now, isn't it? You didn't notice that
> > there was no floppie drive when you were shopping?
> >
> > By an external drive.
> >
> >>In addition, how can I boot from a floppy in an emergency when there IS
> >>not
> >>floppy?
> >
> > You can't, Ben Stein.
>

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:55:12 -0700, "Steve Turner"
<stevezygote.TakeThisOut@telus.net> wrote:

> I am totally new to Vista. I just bought a new computer and it has an OEM
> version on the HDD.
>
> Well, surprise, surprise! I don't have a 3.5 floppy. I do on my old XP based
> machine.


This has nothing to do with XP vs. Vista. Floppies have become largely
obsolete, and very few (if any) new computers have come with floppy
drives for the last several years, regardless of what operating system
they have installed.


> And I've got a lot of stuff stored on floppies. How can I access
> this in Vista?


Here are several choices:

1. Buy a floppy drive (about $10 US) and install it.

2. Buy an external USB drive (slightly more expensive but doesn't need
installation).

3. Burn the contents of your floppies to CDs on your old computer or
on the computer of a friend with a floppy drive.

I would personally pick choice number 1, but all of the above work.


> In addition, how can I boot from a floppy in an emergency when there IS not
> floppy?


You don't. If your drive is NTFS, a floppy with DOS on it couldn't see
it anyway (at least not without special software).

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

"Steve Turner" <stevezygote RemoveThis @telus.net> wrote in message
news:uTgyjQY7IHA.4652@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>I am totally new to Vista. I just bought a new computer and it has an OEM
>version on the HDD.
>
> Well, surprise, surprise! I don't have a 3.5 floppy. I do on my old XP
> based machine. And I've got a lot of stuff stored on floppies. How can I
> access this in Vista?
>
> In addition, how can I boot from a floppy in an emergency when there IS
> not floppy?
>
> Thanks.


Your old XP based machine was supplied at a time when floppies were still
seen as having some use.. late model XP machines do not have inbuilt floppy
drives.. floppy drives are 'old hat'..

Use your old XP machine to copy the data from your floppies, and then
transfer them to a USB stick, CD-R or directly to your new machine..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:08:39 -0700, "Steve Turner"
<stevezygote RemoveThis @telus.net> wrote:

>It had a drive bay in it that I THOUGHT was for the floppy. Is this lack of
>a floppy standard to Vista?

It has been standard on computers for several years, even with XP.

>And what do you mean by "by an external drive"

WOW... you ARE out of the picture!!

It is a hard drive connected to a USB port.

People also commonly use flash drives in place of floppies... the
smallest currently available is about a gig and will hold the contents
of about a bazillion floppies.