Advantages: Quick, Easy, Reliable, Small, Fits into any pocket or bag
Disadvantages: Faded out use lately

...I originally bought this external floppy drive a few years ago after the standard for laptops was not to have an inbuilt floppy drive already in them however at the time floppy disks were still in use from time to time. It doesn't mean that this can't be used for desktop computers that don't have internal floppy drives. Power ********* Usually when having an external device like an external hard drive or optical drive you would usually need more than one lead. It would usually be a cable for the power into a power socket in the wall and a separate cable to send and receive data between the device and the computer however with this external floppy drive it has completely changed. Now all that is need with this floppy drive is simply just one USB cable with a mini USB connected to the drive making it quick and easy to use when your... Read review

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Advantages: Reliable, relatively cheap, well-known brand, good build quality
Disadvantages: Small capacity, not as reliable as some other forms of storage, slow

...~~~ Overview & Appearance ~~~ The MPF920 is a fairly unremarkable floppy disk drive produced by Sony to be mounted inside your trusty computer. The drive supports 3.5" diskettes up to a maximum capacity of 1.44MB. Measuring just over 3.5" x 4.5" x 1" (approx) the main body of the unit is composed of steel, with a beige fascia at the front. There is a small slot for inserting your diskette, a button to eject the diskette and a small green LED to indicate whether the drive is being read from or written to by your computer. The rear of the unit features a small 4-pin power connector and also a second set of smaller pins for connecting the drive to your motherboard by means of the supplied (sometimes!) lead. The drive features a selection of small holes along each side so that you can screw it securely into your PC case. Interestingly... Read review

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Advantages: More reliable than a floppy
Disadvantages: Quite expensive

...I had just re-started school and when attending my first IT lesson I was immediately informed by the teacher that to securely save my work this year i would be best off buying a USB flash memory drive as lately floppys were far too un-reliable and she didn't want us losing important schoolwork/coursework due to a malfunction of the floppy. With this in mind I started looking around for a USB flash memory drive for a decent price, i already knew that Kingston was a well known (memory) brand and was known to be very reliable and so when looking around paid special attention to theirs. I also knew that i either wanted a 128 or 256 memory capacity as this would mean that I would be able to easily store all my schoolwork with no worries that the space would run out. I decided on the Kingston 256 as i considered it to be a decent price... Read review

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Advantages: quicker than floppys, holds several hundread MBs of data, easy to carry around
Disadvantages: will need a zip drive, not all computers will have them

...drives have been around for a few years now this price is dropping all the time. If you are wondering what 250MB of data storage will hold then think of a CD (Compact Disk); a zip disk can of 250MB can hold roughly half of what a CD can hold. That is pretty impressive as ZIP disks can be easily placed in a pocket and are not so delicate as CDs, for example CDs can be scratched easily and dust settling on them makes them not work. HOW A ZIP DRIVE WORKS (Briefly) When you insert a Zip disk into the drive, the metal sheild slides to one side to expose a small opening along the leading edge of the plastic case. A metal hub in the cookie is engaged by a motor that spins at 3,000 rpm. This gives the drive a faster access time than a regular floppy turning at 360 rpm. When the disk is fully inserted, the hole in its casing matches up with a hole... Read review

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Advantages: I Get Them For Free
Disadvantages: Low Storage, Easily Lost

...-- Preamble or Introduction if you want to call it that -- For those of you old enough to remember the early days of presonal computing. You will remember farting about with 5.25 inch disks which got crumpled and were notoriously unreliable. I first used them on a BBC micro way back in 1985, when I sold out and did a YTS (Youth Training (exploitation) Scheme). When i Bought an Amiga 600 it came with 3.5 inch floppy disk drive inbuilt, and the results were revolutionary to me anyway. To call them floppy was a bit of a misrepresentation as they were not floppy at all, this had the advantage that they did not crumple and if looked after properly they would not crumple like the old ones. -- What I Use Them For -- I have used Maxell MF2HD's for most of my proffessional life as an engineer and never had many problems with them. I use the ten... Read review

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Advantages: Affordable, cool design and handy strap.
Disadvantages: Its protective top is easy to misplace or lose.

...The PNY Attache 128mb data storage key is a fine piece of kit, which is a must have for anyone still carrying around data on a floppy disk. This data key slots easily into any USB connection point and then you can use it as you would a floppy drive - that is if you are running Windows 2000 upwards. I bought the PNY data storage key when I was still running the Windows 98 operating system and the system refused to accept the key, even with the drivers that PNY recommended you download from their very own website. This said, I have never had a problem on any system running Windows 2000 or above. The key holds the equivalent of roughly 80 floppy disks, comes with a handy strap (that can be disconnected if you wish) to keep round your neck and is extremely light. My only gripe is that the protective cap is easy to misplace or lose... Read review

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