# Where's the B drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223 "2006-06-19T00:05:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/61 "2006-06-20T07:43:31Z")
[QUOTE=Revtim] These young’uns today don’t even remember when PCs only had floppies, and no hard disk. This question about the b: drive comes up every once in a while, and it’s probably the question that most makes me feel old. [/QUOTE] How old are you? I am 26. My first computer had two 5.25 floppies and no hard disk. I don’t feel too old 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/62 "2006-06-20T09:53:29Z")
[QUOTE=PBear42] To put dates on this, IIRC, dual floppies were the standard from when the IBM-PC was introduced around 1981, till the XT (with a hard drive) was introduced around 1986. [/QUOTE] Even back in those days, progress was quite a bit faster than that. The original floppy-only [IBM PC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC) appeared in 1981 as you say, but the hard-disk-based [PC XT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_XT) showed up in 1983, the 80286-based [PC AT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PC_AT) in 1984, and by the time the first [386](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80386)-based systems shipped in 1986, hard disk drives were already _de rigeur_ for personal computers. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/63 "2006-06-20T10:58:25Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] My first home computer was an Atari 800, which had “D1:”, “D2:”, etc. for the different drives (up to 4). [/QUOTE] Now you’re talkin’ my language! I had the 800 with a cassette drive, and eventually I got a floppy drive for it, but not much software came on floppies, mostly on cartridges. I had Star Raiders, of course (still one of the most realistic FPS interfaces in terms of a 3D effect, even if it did make the processor crawl). I had a BASIC cartridge, and a cassette-based game called SCRAM, a nuclear reactor simulator (very timely in those post-Three-Mile-Island days). It took a year to load off the cassette drive. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/64 "2006-06-20T17:04:25Z")
As has been mentioned before, the B: drive existed before there were harddrives and it made copying or running large programs eaiser. And for those of you who are really young, back in the day a floppy disk really was floppy. The 5.25 inch floppy disk was quite flexible and by holding one and waving your hand around, it would flop all over the place. When I was in 8th grade, around 1988, the idea of hard drives really started to catch on. My mom worked in a hotel that had a technology convention and she showed up with a bag full of convention crap (buttons, pens, etc.) This was at a time in our culture where the number of buttons on your denim jacket was in direct correlation to how cool you were. So naturally, I was looking for some good buttons to put on my denim jacket. I found the perfect one. It was clever. It made a sex joke. And it referred to computers. The button was huge and read, “Firm up your floppy” in big blue letters. I was cool. I don’t know whatever happened to that button. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/65 "2006-06-20T17:08:57Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] What, nobody gonna claim that real programers toggle the bootstrap sequence into the front panel in hexidecimal? Floppies, pah! Drum memory, that’s the ticket! Tris [/QUOTE] No, but I can say that my first programming job _A Major Airline_ was coding Assembler Language (ACP/TPF). Each program had to fit into a 1K block. If you were smart you left space at the end of the block for emergencies. If you loaded a program into production and it had problems, you’d have to fix it on the fly (it was considered BAD to fall a program back). Fixing it meant you literally code a hard branch in hexidecimal to the unused part of the 1K block (x47F0bddd where b=base register, and ddd=displacement). You would then correct the problem writing more hex code, and finish it with a another hard branch to the Next Sequential Instruction. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/66 "2006-06-20T17:14:32Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Bob Stevens cartoon. An old fighter pilot is telling a story to a group of young fighter pilots. ‘There I was, hanging by my prop…’ ‘What’s a prop, sir?’ [/QUOTE] Several years ago the music version of this joke was: “You mean Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/67 "2006-06-20T17:30:29Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] Humph. I had to grow my own dinosaurs and grind them to get my coal. 😃 [/QUOTE] Hah! We wish we had coal-operated computers. My first computer had a wind-up key. When the spring ran down we’d lose processing speed. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/68 "2006-06-20T18:34:35Z")
I’m only 24, and my first computer was an XT. I still vividly remember putting in a computer game that I’d gotten from a friend (or wherever, I can’t remember) and the program spitting back “Please upgrade to an AT”. Ah… those were the days… I owe a lot to those computers… ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/69 "2006-06-20T19:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] I still vividly remember putting in a computer game that I’d gotten from a friend . . . and the program spitting back “Please upgrade to an AT”. [/quote] What a let-down ending for a game. I can see why it didn’t catch on. Seems a little short, too. I mean sure, the prose is well written, but the game needs some more depth. A helicopter, or a loveable companion robot, or falling hamburger ingredients . . . something. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/70 "2006-06-20T20:29:29Z")
[Grumpy Old Man] In _my day_, processing speed was so slow, instead of the mouse pointer displaying an hourglass, it showed a _calendar_. [/Grumpy Old Man] ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/71 "2006-06-20T21:48:53Z")
[Quote=Musicat] You younguns. Such talk. My first computer was powered by a coal. I mean a windmill. Or a overshot waterwheel. Yeah, that’s the ticket. [/quote] [QUOTE=Joey P] Gee, are you sure it wasn’t mules walking around in a circle attached to a central rotating shaft? Or maybe it was hamsters…nah hamsters arn’t that reliable now are they. [/QUOTE] No, it was the Wheel of Pain™. The standard version used expendable slave children, but I upgraded mine to the Muscular Barbarian drive. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/72 "2006-06-22T02:50:06Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] You younguns. \ We didn’t store bytes on floppies, but put each bit on a separate shelf, by the flour grinder. If the mice didn’t get to it first, we could store 9 bits to make a complete byte. With parity. [/QUOTE] **Musicat** , you were lucky. My university’s storage shelf was so narrow it could only handle 1’s. No zeroes–they were too wide. I know, I know. Someone had to say it. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/73 "2006-06-22T03:16:07Z")
[QUOTE=Caractacus Pott] **Musicat** , you were lucky. My university’s storage shelf was so narrow it could only handle 1’s. No zeroes–they were too wide. [/QUOTE] You had ones? _We_ had to get by with spaces. The Administration said they stacked more easily. I still have my ZX81 _and_ the 64k memorypack in its _extruded aluminum case_. It’s right here next to my 23-inch HD LCD monitor. I’m thinking of connecting the two together. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/74 "2006-06-22T05:30:42Z")
To hijack this thread for a moment and get back to the OP… Most new consumer motherboards still come with a floppy drive header. Most, if not all, should support two floppy drives. It might be a bit hard to find a floppy cable with two connectors. I haven’t seen one in a few years. That said, I haven’t really been looking for them. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/75 "2006-06-22T06:22:25Z")
[QUOTE=Seven] Most new consumer motherboards still come with a floppy drive header. Most, if not all, should support two floppy drives. It might be a bit hard to find a floppy cable with two connectors. I haven’t seen one in a few years. That said, I haven’t really been looking for them. [/QUOTE] Then grab an IDC connector and pound it on the cable. Really. I’ve been using hammers and spare blocks of wood to make my own cables for years. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/76 "2006-06-22T06:38:17Z")
I’ve a clamp tool and a few loose connectors if I REALLY need two floppy drives. Considering my **one** floppy drive is disconnected from the computer and in a bag someplace, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/77 "2006-06-22T09:42:42Z")
My first computer was a VIC-20 and I shortly upgraded to a C-64 and a TRS-80. Then i got smart and bought an AMIGA!!! Bwah hah - I thumbed my nose at the rest of the world for a couple of years until the 386 came and buried us. But there was a day, people, there was a day when AMIGAS RULED THE EARTH! mm ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/78 "2006-06-22T13:30:03Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] So what happened to the B: drive? [/QUOTE] It’s now kept with all the B batteries. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/79 "2006-06-22T15:53:19Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] It’s now kept with all the B batteries. [/QUOTE] Psst! See post 51! ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223/80 "2006-06-22T19:36:04Z")
Anybody ever seen an Actrix “portable” computer? I was suckered into buying one at a computer show in the early '80’s. Z80 CPU, two built-in 5 1/4 floppys, CP/M OS, teeny tiny CRT, fold-down (detatchable?) keyboard in the front, built-in dot-matrix printer and an acoustic-coupled modem on the top. The thing weighed about 30 lbs. and was the size of a stuffed backpack. I look at my ultra-thin Sony VAIO and just laugh… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-the-b-drive/361223.md?page=5)