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Driver Discs

seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Driver Discs

For any of you who have been doing a little PC work over the years:
Do you find that you have aquired a collection of driver cd's that are just labeled something like Driver V4.2 or similar? You have no idea what the discs contain drivers for but you are scared to death of throwing them out?
7 REPLIES 7
Waldo
Grafter
Posts: 473
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Driver Discs


$ ls -l /usr/src/linux/drivers
total 2584
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 accessibility
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 2009-09-20 01:20 acpi
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 amba
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 2009-09-20 01:17 ata
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 atm
[big snip]
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 w1
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 2009-09-20 01:21 watchdog
drwxr-xr-x  4 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 xen
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root    4096 2009-06-10 04:05 zorro

Smiley
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Driver Discs

I have a stack of discs that really should be sorted through, but always end up getting the latest driver online anyway - having said that (though it hasn't happened since win7 came out) I have needed to use the CDs to get lan drivers for a motherboard so I could get online and update them, so it is worth keeping the motherboard ones at least. For me that is.
Strat
Community Veteran
Posts: 31,320
Thanks: 1,609
Fixes: 565
Registered: ‎14-04-2007

Re: Driver Discs

Quote from: orbrey
lan drivers for a motherboard so I could get online and update them

That's why I have a USB to LAN adaptor in my tool box. Been caught out a few times with that one Roll_eyes
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seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: Driver Discs

Some drivers can be tricky, worst I have found (or not found as the case may be) is those for some PCI dial up modems which thankfully are not used much now.
As for reinstalling another persons computer I always try to find out what I can about the brand model of the machine before hand so I can have the drivers (especially LAN) ready on site. I also bring my laptop and a spare adsl router in case they have a usb modem. That way I can go online while windows is installing to download drivers/AVG etc etc.
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Driver Discs

I have got lots of old driver disks - only one problem they are on 3 1/2" floppies (or stiffies as they say in South Africa) and I don't have a working 3 1/2" drive as my last two builds didn't have one and on the older ones they have failed and tend to wreck the disk  Shocked
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: Driver Discs

Yeah, for my last two builds I installed a card reader in the 3.5 inch bay but only after being sure that I could flash the bios (if ever needed) with a usb device or even a memory card.
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Driver Discs

Yep, tons of old CDs with version numbers and most of them have now been dumped as i never actually used anything. Instead of keeping them it just seemed easier to dump the disks. I've not really missed them since!
To be honest, I tend to store most of my drivers on hard drives with all my other stuff. That reminds me I really must get myself a thumb drive for those awkward moments when the files aren't accessible (HD failures etc).
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