Slowly They Modernize: A Federal Agency That Still Uses Floppy Disks

The New York Times ^ | December 7, 2013 | JADA F. SMITH

[Hojczyk]

The technology troubles that plagued the HealthCare.gov website rollout may not have come as a shock to people who work for certain agencies of the government — especially those who still use floppy disks, the cutting-edge technology of the 1980s.

Agencies are also permitted to submit the documents on CD-ROMs and floppy disks, but not on flash drives or SD cards. “The Federal Register Act says that an agency has to submit the original and two duplicate originals or two certified copies,” said Amy P. Bunk, The Federal Register’s director of legal affairs and policy. As long as an agency does that through one of the approved methods of transmission, she said, “they’ve met the statutory requirement.”

But the secure email system — which uses software called Public Key Infrastructure technology — is expensive, and some government agencies have not yet upgraded to it. As a result, some agencies still scan documents on to a computer and save them on floppy disks. The disks are then sent by courier to the register.

[markomalley]

8 inch floppies. Single Sided. Single Density. That was the way to go!

[Neidermeyer]

I have to correct myself , that’s a 3340 which had a removable head of string and then the rest of the string was 3350... That HDA doesn’t have enough platters for a 3330.

[The_Reader_David]

Actually, I could see a non-volatile medium requirement for some sorts of documents: paper, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM but not floppies, flash drives or SD cards.

But allowing floppies, but not flash drives or SD cards makes no sense at all — either can be rewritten.

[tacticalogic]

But allowing floppies, but not flash drives or SD cards makes no sense at all — either can be rewritten.

Somebody's brother-in-law has a whole bunch of floppies to unload.

[dhs12345]

Lol. Good point.

Some of our equipment and the PCs that run them use floppy disks. We had to search the Internet for a 5.25” floppy drive and floppy disks. Paid $20 for a box. A lot more than I would have paid many years ago. Lol. Supply and demand.

The equipment is old but it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to replace.

[duckman]

Wang Compatible eh?
Back in the day, nothing said computing like a Wang on your desk. Old data processing joke.

[duckman]

Wang Compatible eh?
Back in the day, nothing said computing like a Wang on your desk. Old data processing joke.

[cyclotic]

Sounds like my last trip(s) to the Maryland MVA. To get license plates on a used car required 4 trips and at least nine hours.

THe needed a release of lien. Trip 2-Would not accept the fax. Trip 3, would not accept the sealed envelope form the bank. Trip 4. Would accept a fax directly to them.

Total government hack morons.

[Hardastarboard]

Gov. Bill Clinton had an 8" floppy.

Only with a concrete block tied to it. :-)

[C210N]

It is my understanding that the Air Traffic Control for the US still has paper slips that contain Aircraft ID, equipment code, flight plan, destination, fuel, etc.

Now, granted, this is the “backup” for when the computers are down.

OTOH, the computers DO go down. Sometimes with the COMs as well.

I was looking at this recently... because I wanted to add a particular remark (place for a special note) on a flight plan, and was told that “Remarks” ONLY appears on the paper slip, and not carried in the computer packets that controllers view on their displays.

[Vigilanteman]

I always get a charge out of federal cube critters pedantically following rules while higher-ups abuse their powers of office in cahoots with their lefty political comrades. IRS, NSA et al

Sort of like journalists who pedantically parrot the party line in hopes they will eventually get promoted to a large news bureau in Los Angelese, Chicago, New York or, the biggest plumb of all, Washington, DC.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Flash drives and SD cards are seen as too easy to compromise and counterfeit, even having the equivalent of hardware viruses in their wiring. Plug them in once and you’re boned. In many government agencies, US and foreign, they are banned outright.

[Texas Fossil]

Interesting.

Thanks

[bigdaddy45]

Nah... he strikes me as a 5 1/4” kind of guy.

[EVO X]

They would accept a fax, but I could not email a scanned copy of the document.

That is standard operating procedure. Sending personal info with SS numbers via unsecured email is a big no no.

[Cyber Liberty]

It was considered “old” in 1985. That’s ‘70’s tech there. First generation hard-disk. What was the capacity of a stack like that? About 1 MB?

[dhs12345]

Then there is the issue of play back. Good luck trying to find a CD or DVD drive in 20 years.

Storage is very important for writeable disks. Cool and dark.

And the file formats will be different then too. Will JPEG or MPEG be readable in 20 to 30 years. Lets hope so.

Requires maintenance and update every few years. Check, back up, verify, check and update if necessary.

Ironically, low technology is the best way to go. Photographs.

[dhs12345]

Exactly. And very wise.

[angry elephant]

It struck me as odd some years ago when I upgraded to Win 7 64 bit it would not take just any exterior CD drive. I had to buy a Samsung CD to get it to work because Samsung had developed the new drivers.

But my 20 year old exterior floppy drive worked with the new program. So perhaps some of that is going on, floppy drives survive the updates and require no new drivers.

[a fool in paradise]

By the time Bill Clinton took the White House, 3.5" was the rage.