3 ms·

Floppy disks actually provide a rather pleasant form factor. It's large enough to feel meaningful, wide enough to not get lost between other objects, flat enoug

Floppy disks actually provide a rather pleasant form factor. It's large enough to feel meaningful, wide enough to not get lost between other objects, flat enough to be included in a binder with printed material. The only downsides are transfer speed, data capacity, and lifespan.

rdc12 12y ago
And the relative rarity of floppy disk drives in machines in the last 10 or so years.
userbinator 12y ago
They're also AFAIK the only removable magnetic disk format that has been standardised (see ECMA-125), is completely open, and the drives are "dumb and simple" so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. From the point of view of openness and simplicity, the floppy has some advantages.
- warfangle 12y ago
  >so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. Unless you boot the machine with the floppy in the drive. Oh, boot sector viruses!
  - cbd1984 12y ago
    > Unless you boot the machine with the floppy in the drive. Oh, boot sector viruses! That's a BIOS configuration issue. And, if the attacker can control the BIOS, in the words of Bokosuka Wars, "WOW! YOU LOSE!" http://darkscarfy.tripod.com/bokosuka/bokosuka.shtml http://darkscarfy.tripod.com/bokosuka/bokosuka.shtml
- dominicgs 12y ago
  >so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. There's a reasonable chance that many of these floppy drives are USB devices, so they'll have all of the disadvantages that come with USB drives. Another approach could be to build a device that sits between a host and a USB drive and verifies that only mass storage operations take place, which should stop some of the badUSB attacks.

3 ms·

Floppy disks actually provide a rather pleasant form factor. It's large enough to feel meaningful, wide enough to not get lost between other objects, flat enoug

by m3talridl3y 12y ago

rdc12 12y ago
And the relative rarity of floppy disk drives in machines in the last 10 or so years.
userbinator 12y ago
They're also AFAIK the only removable magnetic disk format that has been standardised (see ECMA-125), is completely open, and the drives are "dumb and simple" so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. From the point of view of openness and simplicity, the floppy has some advantages.
- warfangle 12y ago
  >so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. Unless you boot the machine with the floppy in the drive. Oh, boot sector viruses!
  - cbd1984 12y ago
    > Unless you boot the machine with the floppy in the drive. Oh, boot sector viruses! That's a BIOS configuration issue. And, if the attacker can control the BIOS, in the words of Bokosuka Wars, "WOW! YOU LOSE!" http://darkscarfy.tripod.com/bokosuka/bokosuka.shtml http://darkscarfy.tripod.com/bokosuka/bokosuka.shtml
- dominicgs 12y ago
  >so they can't hide malware in the same way that the firmware of USB drives, hard drives, and optical drives can. There's a reasonable chance that many of these floppy drives are USB devices, so they'll have all of the disadvantages that come with USB drives. Another approach could be to build a device that sits between a host and a USB drive and verifies that only mass storage operations take place, which should stop some of the badUSB attacks.