The Usenet Oracle has pondered your question deeply. Your question was: > Oracle! Oracle! Thou art magnificent! > Grant thy humble slave the benefit of thy wisdom! > > Why is it that some floppy disks make a shhukka-shukka-shukka sound > when placed in a drive, and some do not? And in response, thus spake the Oracle: } According to the Grand Unified Breakfast Cereal Theory of the Universe, } the molecular structure of everything (including floppy disks) is } modelled on American commercial breakfast cereals. Let's take a few } floppies at random and see how they sound: } } Sound Description } ===== =========== } } "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" Often indicative of a defective disk, } this sound is characteristic of } diskettes composed from a rice paper } substrate [try eating the diskette } envelope (5.25") or "Plastique [tm]" } wrapper (3.5") to make sure.] As it is } edible, this diskette type is } particularly useful in data-security } applications. The Japanese are also } working on a soybean-based version (the } miso flavour has been particularly } popular in tests). } } "ChockaChockaChocka!" Chocolate-covered diskette; this was } once used extensively on Apple II } computers. As they used to say, "an } Apple a day keeps the disk doctor } away". (This diskette type was } abandoned when the Macintosh went into } production, a move which gave many the } pip.) } } "FRRROOOOOOOT!...LOOOOOOPS!" This onomatopoeically-named diskette } is not recommended unless you also use } a spell-checker. } } "WeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeEEEET!" Shredded Wheat [tm] inspired design, } once a favourite with operating system } programmers for archiving their } multi-tasking kernel software. Now used } for sensitive data that is to be } destroyed afterwards (saves the user } time as data on the disk is already } shredded, and in byte-sized chunks!) } } "MmmmmMMMYYYOOOOOOZZZLLEEEE" Floppy disk structured after wholesome } natural meusli. This design ensures a } good rapid movement of data to and from } your system, particularly good if your } data contains 0xBC (B-12) characters. } } "BrrrRrrRRrRAAAAANNNNNNNN..." The boring counterpart of the meusli } disk, this diskette will get the job } done, at the expense of being dull and } dreary. The diskette of choice at IBM. } } "Shhukka-shukka-shukka!" Generic sugar- (shhukka-) coated } diskette. After a few years using these } diskettes, your disk drive's read/write } circuitry will rot. Avoid at all costs! } If you must use them, make sure you } clean your drive head immediately } afterwards. } } (Note that Kellog's has recently withdrawn from the diskette market, } as their corn-based products were found to be a bit flakey...) } } You owe the Oracle a cup of coffee, orange juice, and some toast.