Floppy Disks Are Unreliable

There are two great evils in the world (besides oppression and cryptic commercials), and they are the floppy disk and the computer virus. Let me explain.

Floppy disks, at, first, seem very convenient. They are small. They are tough. They are like the rare dog known as a fyce. Holding approximately 1.5 megabytes (MB) of data, they easily store a plethora of papers and other moderately-sized files. Transporting them is no big deal, as they could probably fit inside your sock.

However, anyone who has used these little demons extensively knows how disastrous they can be. After a few months, the storage capabilities of floppy disks become unreliable. They are easy to lose, confuse or erase. And last but not least, they are prime victims for virus infection.

Like normal viruses, computer viruses need a host to survive and grow. This ideal host is the promiscuous floppy disk. Exchanging data with any desktop it comes across, the floppies can infect an entire computer lab, campus or the world!

The virus that causes the most trouble for document creators is the macro virus, which infects primarily Microsoft Word and Excel files and of which there are over 2,000 variants.

Word allows users to create "macros"--short, simple programs that can automate various processes--and a macro virus is just a macro that is destructive.

Macro viruses such as "Concept" and "Wazzu" can do everything from preventing you from saving your document to actually destroying data. They are spread by the opening of infected documents, and often exist unannounced, wreaking havoc without taking credit.

Of course, one solution is to use an anti-virus program such as F-Prot (available for free from www.datafellows.com) to prevent and disinfect viruses. But, as the saying goes, one ounce of prevention beats 100 pounds of cure, and avoiding a virus in the first place is the best option.

So, given that floppy disks are ripe for viral infection, and recognizing that avoiding infection is the goal, the logical conclusion is to avoid floppies. But how?

To modify a popularized phrase, "the network is the disk."

Everyone with an account on fas.harvard.edu has at least 6.5MB of disk space in his or her home directory. Some of this space is consumed by Pine mail folders, Web page files and other configuration files. However, most users have enough room to store at least a few floppy disks' worth of data there as well.

In order to do this, the computers you work on must be connected to the Internet.

While working on your paper (or any other file, for that matter), save it to the computer's local hard disk. But before you leave, do not save it on a floppy. Instead, transfer the file to your Faculty of Arts and Sciences (fas) account.

The process is simple on both Macintoshes and IBM-compatible computers. On the Macintosh side, you need to use a program called Fetch. Open it, (it is usually located with Internet software) and connect to fas.harvard.edu, providing it with your username and password (just like telnet).

Once connected, you will be presented with a list of the files in your fas home directory. To put a file there, select "put," but be sure to remove any spaces from the filename before sending it.

On PCs, the process is not much different. From the Internet software group, run the program WS FTP. Provide the same information as that described for Macintoshes. Once connected, you will be presented with two panes. In the left is your local PC; in the right is your fas home directory.

Just find your file on the left, and click the arrow between panes to transfer it.

Your file cannot become infected in this space, and the odds of your data being lost or corrupted in any other way are even smaller. Your fas home directory is probably the safest place to store your files.

When you want to work on the file in the future, just transfer it out of your fas account onto the local computer.

Some final thoughts: first, keeping files in your home directory solves more than just the problem of virus transfer. If you have ever had to use a file on both Mac and PC hardware, you know the nightmare of moving diskettes between machines. Using the network avoids this because disk format is not an issue.

Second, be sure to delete files from your home directory every so often so as not to go over your disk quota.

Third, although people cannot simply look into your home directory, networks are inherently less secure than isolated disks. You always run a risk, if very minute, that your files could be accessed. So, if you have some private document (say plans to take over the world), you should just avoid network storage for those files altogether.

Baratunde R. Thurston '99 is a user assistant for Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Service (HASCS) and a Crimson On-line director and News Executive. He has not used a floppy disk since 1995.