Data on a 3.5 diskette

[Twayne]

In
Moron.

You said it, not me. You are supposed to answer the OP, not run off on
tangents and make yourself look like a "look mom, no hands!" dummy. Again,
the querant never asked anything about anything but floppies.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Twayne]

In

Not at all. The question is - why would anyone want to use
1.44 MB floppy discs anyway in the 21st century?

And now you have a few reasong; I'm sure there are more.
HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Unknown]

The manufacturer of my computer updates my BIOS by me downloading the update
which is
written to a floppy. I then boot with the floppy inserted and my BIOS is
updated.
Should something happen to my BIOS, I have a copy of it on a floppy.
This is why I use a floppy in the 21st century.

 

[Gordon]

The manufacturer of my computer updates my BIOS by me downloading the
update which is
written to a floppy. I then boot with the floppy inserted and my BIOS is
updated.
Should something happen to my BIOS, I have a copy of it on a floppy.
This is why I use a floppy in the 21st century.

And that's probably the ONLY reason for using a floppy.....

 

[Unknown]

Not really. Whenever friends, relatives etc. want to give others a program
or similar, we do it via the floppy.

 

[Twayne]

Unknown, you may already know, but ... floppies lose their magnetic
properties over time (thus they become unusable or the data corrupts). It
starts at about two month point depending on the quality and age of the
floppy, usually being closer to 6 months for el-cheapos and around a year
for higher quality with good care. Before data corrupts, I mean.

To prevent that, it's best to copy them to CD/DVD for long term storage.
It's quick & easy to make a new floppy.

The way to keep the floppy "refreshed" is to copy all the data off it to
your hard drive and then simply copy all the data back to the floppy. In
business, we used to do that monthly. I'd still do it monthly if I wanted a
floppy to persist for the long term. But don't let the floppy be the only
copy of the files; back them up too so you can always make another floppy.
In the real world, I discovered a cache of about 100 floppies, some with
some interesting files on them, and after over 5 years, still managed to get
the data off over 55% of them. I was astonished! The software I used was a
100-pass program: It would try to read the data 100 times and then pick the
sequence with the same identical data per try, and if it was over a certain
number, call that the "data". It was surprisingly accurate for some of the
"iffy" floppies. Now I have them on CD-R for long term storage - fun to
play with sometimes.

HTH,

Twayne`


n

 

[Twayne]

In

And that's probably the ONLY reason for using a floppy.....

Or to make ASR diskettes and a host of other things. Would you believe even
the CP/M OS is still viable and in use in several places? Just because
something isn't mainstream is no reason to assume it's never used or only
has one use, etc.. MSDOS for instance, is even still mainstream.

HTH,

Twayne`

 

[Gordon]

Not really. Whenever friends, relatives etc. want to give others a program
or similar, we do it via the floppy.

Lat time I saw a PROGRAM that fitted on a floppy there were 24 of them......

 

[Unknown]

It doesn't have to be a "program".

Lat time I saw a PROGRAM that fitted on a floppy there were 24 of
them......

 

[Unknown]

No idea where you get your specs. I have floppies over ten years old and
still working great.
Magnetic media? Disks can retain their data for many years. Tapes? I have 8
tracks and cassettes
over 25 years old and still working.

 

[John John - MVP]

Floppies are known to be rather fragile and they can fail for no
apparent reason but Twayne is making up stories again. Like you I have
floppies from the DOS/Windows 95 era (Chips Challenge, anyone?) and they
are still good. Of course, knowing that they are prone to fail at any
given time, if the floppies contain anything of value they should be
backed up to a more reliable media. Bottom line is yes, floppies are
fragile and they can fail in 15 minutes or in 15 years, there is no 1
year expiry date on them.

John

No idea where you get your specs. I have floppies over ten years old and
still working great.
Magnetic media? Disks can retain their data for many years. Tapes? I have 8
tracks and cassettes
over 25 years old and still working.

 

[Gordon]

No idea where you get your specs. I have floppies over ten years old and
still working great.

Then you a) don't use them much and b) you have been EXTREMELY lucky.

Magnetic media? Disks can retain their data for many years. Tapes? I have
8 tracks and cassettes
over 25 years old and still working.

See above.

Every time you use a cassette and 8 track a little bit of the surface is
worn away. So you obviously hardly use them at all.

 

[Unknown]

I agree 100%. I don't use them for any backup simply because they don't hold
enough data.
There is usually a good reason why a floppy failed.

Floppies are known to be rather fragile and they can fail for no apparent
reason but Twayne is making up stories again. Like you I have floppies
from the DOS/Windows 95 era (Chips Challenge, anyone?) and they are still
good. Of course, knowing that they are prone to fail at any given time,
if the floppies contain anything of value they should be backed up to a
more reliable media. Bottom line is yes, floppies are fragile and they
can fail in 15 minutes or in 15 years, there is no 1 year expiry date on
them.

John

 

[Unknown]

Quote specs not emotional gibberish. An 8 track or cassette has a definite
specification
as to life expectancy.

 

[Unknown]

Do a Google search for 'cassette tape life expectancy'.

 

[Gordon]

Quote specs not emotional gibberish. An 8 track or cassette has a definite
specification
as to life expectancy.

Rubbish - of COURSE it doesn't. All magnetic media such as Audio cassettes,
8 track (which is just a special form of cassette), VHS cassettes, when they
are plaid they CONTACT the playing head. When this happens a minute part of
the surface of the tape is removed by friction on the playing head. The life
expectancy of these magnetic TAPES is in direct proportion to how often they
are played. Play a VHS tape three times a day every day and it won't last
very long. Play a VHS tape once a year and it will ladst FAR longer.

 

[Gordon]

There is usually a good reason why a floppy failed.

Lots of them through sheer age.

 

[Gordon]

Do a Google search for 'cassette tape life expectancy'.

You really are thick aren't you?

I'll explain again. EVERY time you play a TAPE of any sort, the surface of
the tape has particles removed by the CONTACT with the playing head so that
eventually the tape becomes so worn it cannot reproduce whatever is on it.
Unlike media such as CD/DVD where there is NO contact AT ALL between the
playing head and the media.
Thus tapes wear out in direct proportion to HOW OFTEN THEY ARE USED.

 

[Unknown]

But you never quote a spec on times played. You simply present your
emotions.
How many times can a cassette be played?

 

[Unknown]

Lots?????? Meaningless. What percentage?

Lots of them through sheer age.