Luke Judge

You snot nosed kids might think that your USB flash drives are the be-all and end-all of storage, but us old coots were there on the front lines back when the data you could fit on a disk could be counted not in gigabytes, but kilobytes. Back in those days, the 3.5-inch reigned supreme over its inferior density progenitor, the 5.25-inch floppy. Not only could you fit it right in your pocket, but it could fit an amazing 1.44 megabytes of information on a single disk.

Amazing, right? That’s how hardcore we were. Unfortunately, times and standards change, and what was once the hottest thing in storage media is now a dusty old relic. you can’t even buy a computer that comes with a 3.5-inch disk drive anymore, and if you want to read those disks, well, you need to buy a USB reader from a specialty shop.

The form factor of the 3.5-inch drive, though, remains as functionally sexy as it ever did. Perhaps that what prompted one modder to launch a neat DIY project, in which he converted an old 3.5-inch floppy into a working USB flash drive. the USB cord even retracts: simply slide the disk protector to the side and out pops the cable. Ingenious, and to make the whole mod even cooler, the maker in question installed a small red LED in the write/protect switch which will tell you when the data within is being accessed.

Pretty cool, and we approve. I’m just waiting for the day someone figures out how to do this with a 5.25-inch floppy.

Read more at Technabob

floppy Drives flash drive, megabytes, storage media

Detect and display hard disk drive and SSD health and temperature information without starting the installed operating system. The software can be started from a suitable bootable floppy, CD, pendrive, memory card or USB hard disk to diagnose IDE/SATA hard disks and SSD devices in the system without touching any data stored on them.

Perfect tool to diagnose hard disk issues and manage hard disk noise by setting the acoustic level of the disks.

HDSDOS after startup immediately displays

- detected hard disk controllers and their vendor and device IDs

- size, model ID, serial number, revision of all IDE/S-ATA hard disks connected to the motherboard or these devices

- current temperature and highest temperature ever measured by the hard disk

- health and performance values

- full text description with the details of errors, problems, recommended actions

- optionally: current acoustic level (configurable)

- optionally: complete S.M.A.R.T. details

- optionally: hard disk hardware security status

Detailed reports can be saved to floppy or the USB pendrive about the current status.

Comes in different formats to make bootable floppy, CD, USB drive (pendrive, memory card, etc)

Freeware!

floppy Drives current status, hard disk controllers, hardware security, serial number