Today most internal floppy drives can cost anywhere from $8 to $30 depending on brand name and quality. An external floppy drive can be more expensive, ranging from $15 to $60. They usually use a USB connection.
I think that external drives are more expensive mainly because of demand. Most new computers (especially laptops) don't come with a floppy drive anymore. Today everyone uses flash drives or external hard drives. An external floppy drive can come in handy when you are trying to repair a computer. Many times, with older operating systems, a floppy drive is the only way to repair or reinstall the OS. If the computer doesn't have one you can just plug in an external floppy and you're off!
DMA - This is used as a time saver when processing data. It allows data to be transferred directly from the computer's memory to a device without using the CPU.
low level formatting - This is usually preformed by the manufacturer of a hard drive. It creates the initial tracks and sectors on a hard disc. With older hard drives uo could easily preform a low level format and often save a drive but now manufacturers want you to purchase drives more often so they don't suggest that you format anymore and have made it harder for you to do so.
SATA - This is a connector from the hard drive to the motherboard. These connectors are smaller than and IDE connector. This is better because they take up less room which allows for better cooling. It is also a faster connection, especially when it comes to using external drives (much faster than USB connections).
ATA - This is the general interface standards for how devices (HDD, CD, Floppy, etc.) communicate with the computer. There are many forms, such as SATA and IDE listed here. Basically they are the wires or cables that transfer information to the computer from the drive.
IDE - This connection is bulkier but allows for more than one device to be attached to a single connector (master/slave). Actually IDE stands for the how the hard drive works and not the connector but as time goes by words get used for generalizations. Most new computers use SATA for their hard drives but will still use IDE for floppy drives and CD/DVD drives.
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