finally tossing all my old floppy disks - the end of an era

[Andrew Hamilton]

I recently connected my 3 1/2" floppy drive to one of my systems, and
discovered that all my old floppies are no longer readable. And, most
of them can't even be formatted successfully.

No real surprise here, since most of the disks are well over 10 years
old, including lots of those AOL freebies.

Fortunately, there was nothing valuable on the floppies. The space in
my closet was worth more than the disks themselves.

So for me, an old PC user from the CP/M days, when a "real system" was
a Z80 with dual 8" floppy drives and a dot-matrix printer, it's the
end of an era.

-AH

 

[Ed Light]

I recently connected my 3 1/2" floppy drive to one of my systems, and
discovered that all my old floppies are no longer readable. And, most
of them can't even be formatted successfully.

It could be the motherboard, floppy drive, or the cable reversed.
--
Ed Light

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[2312]

It could be the motherboard, floppy drive, or the cable reversed.

Nope, the cable reversed would see none of them being able to be formatted successfully.

 

[Man-wai Chang to The Door (+MS=32B)]

Fortunately, there was nothing valuable on the floppies. The space in

my closet was worth more than the disks themselves.
So for me, an old PC user from the CP/M days, when a "real system" was
a Z80 with dual 8" floppy drives and a dot-matrix printer, it's the
end of an era.

Does US EPA have a policy to recycle old floppy diskettes?

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[Roger Blake]

I recently connected my 3 1/2" floppy drive to one of my systems, and
discovered that all my old floppies are no longer readable. And, most
of them can't even be formatted successfully.

I fired up my old Commodore 64 recently and was surprised to find how
many of the 20+ year-old floppy discs would still load up.

 

[Andrew Hamilton]

It could be the motherboard, floppy drive, or the cable reversed.

I considered that, but that wasn't the real problem.

-AH

 

[John Turco]

I recently connected my 3 1/2" floppy drive to one of my systems, and
discovered that all my old floppies are no longer readable. And, most
of them can't even be formatted successfully.

No real surprise here, since most of the disks are well over 10 years
old, including lots of those AOL freebies.

Fortunately, there was nothing valuable on the floppies. The space in
my closet was worth more than the disks themselves.

So for me, an old PC user from the CP/M days, when a "real system" was
a Z80 with dual 8" floppy drives and a dot-matrix printer, it's the
end of an era.

-AH

Hello, Andrew:

I'm planning to build a new computer, and have already gathered all
the necessary components; one of those is a black Sony 3.5" floppy
drive (internal).

Even though I've rarely used diskettes, the past several years --
what can it possibly hurt, to install such a device? :-J

 

[Franc Zabkar]

I'm planning to build a new computer, and have already gathered all
the necessary components; one of those is a black Sony 3.5" floppy
drive (internal).

Even though I've rarely used diskettes, the past several years --
what can it possibly hurt, to install such a device? :-J

Yes, it's hard to beat the old floppy. There's still a long time to go
before I toss mine. ;-)

- Franc Zabkar

 

[Eric Gisin]

Do floppies use plutonium oxide or cadmium as media?
If you really want to recycle cheap plastics, use them as fuel.

 

[Andrew Hamilton]

Hello, Andrew:

I'm planning to build a new computer, and have already gathered all
the necessary components; one of those is a black Sony 3.5" floppy
drive (internal).

Even though I've rarely used diskettes, the past several years --
what can it possibly hurt, to install such a device? :-J

Of course it can't _ hurt _ . The question is how much will it help.
In practical terms, it's easy to get a PowerPoint file that is
2-3-4 MB, or more. Can't move that PPT file with a floppy drive and
diskette.

The other day I paid about $35 for a 16 GB Kingston Data Traveler.
Much more convenient, works without additional drivers on almost all
modern desktops and laptops. Faster, quieter. And about 1200 X the
capacity of the standard 1.44 MB floppy. What's not to like?

-AH

 

[Andrew Hamilton]

Yes, it's hard to beat the old floppy. There's still a long time to go
before I toss mine. ;-)

You'll probably discover that all your old diskettes are no longer
readable. Intrinsic to any magnetic media, including tape, which
means all your old VCR tapes will eventually become unplayable.

-AH

 

[Ed Light]

The other day I paid about $35 for a 16 GB Kingston Data Traveler.
Much more convenient, works without additional drivers on almost all
modern desktops and laptops. Faster, quieter. And about 1200 X the
capacity of the standard 1.44 MB floppy. What's not to like?

Beware that thumb drives can get corrupted. Be sure to have the data
backed up.

--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Bring the Troops Home:
http://bringthemhomenow.org
http://antiwar.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.

 

[John Turco]

Yes, it's hard to beat the old floppy. There's still a long time to
go before I toss mine. ;-)

Hello, Frank:

As you're still using Windows 98, it simply figured that you'd be a
"floppy man," as well. <g>

 

[John Turco]

Of course it can't _ hurt _ . The question is how much will it help.
In practical terms, it's easy to get a PowerPoint file that is
2-3-4 MB, or more. Can't move that PPT file with a floppy drive and
diskette.

Hello, Andrew:

Oh, I wasn't defending the fading floppy, by any means. I just want it
there, on the off chance that it may come in handy.

The other day I paid about $35 for a 16 GB Kingston Data Traveler.
Much more convenient, works without additional drivers on almost all
modern desktops and laptops. Faster, quieter. And about 1200 X the
capacity of the standard 1.44 MB floppy. What's not to like?

-AH

In September, I found some great clearance prices on USB sticks, at
local stores. First, I bought two 2-packs of PNY 2GB "mini Attaché"
puppies ($5 USD apiece), and the following week, I grabbed an 8GB
mini Attaché ($9.99).

That's about $20 (plus sales tax), for a grand total of 16GB...not
bad, at all!

 

[John Turco]

You'll probably discover that all your old diskettes are no longer
readable. Intrinsic to any magnetic media, including tape, which
means all your old VCR tapes will eventually become unplayable.

-AH

Hello, Andrew:

I've never had such a problem, and some of my VHS recordings are
as old as 1983; the newest ones date to 1996.

Of course, it helped that I picked a quality manufacturer, when
purchasing the vast majority of my cassettes. "Scotch" (a 3M
brand) was my overwhelming choice, along with other brand labels
made by 3M.

Sadly, 3M exited the magnetic tape retail market, in 1999 or so.

 

[Lenny_Nero]

John Turco said

Hello, Andrew:

Oh, I wasn't defending the fading floppy, by any means. I just want it
there, on the off chance that it may come in handy.

My thoughts exactly, I have not long had this discussion with some
friends, most of which are a bit younger than I and see no reason for
having a 3&1/4 floppy drive installed.

But I keep saying that for the cost (£5 quid for a new Sony £2 for 10
new disks) I cant see the reason *not* to have one, there is also the fact
that I still have a box of disks that have saved many an install over the
years.

Yes out of the 30~40'ish disks I have that are from 10 to 25+ years old I
did check them and 4 or 5 were no good, most re-used from the front of
magazines and such.

L_N

 

[John Turco]

John Turco said


My thoughts exactly, I have not long had this discussion with some
friends, most of which are a bit younger than I and see no reason for
having a 3&1/4 floppy drive installed.

Well, my first machine was a Pionex 486DX2/66MHz "tower PC" (purchased in
1995), which has 5.25" and 3.5" floppy drives (and both are "high density"
models).

Plus, during this decade, I've obtained two ancient, secondhand notebook
computers: Texas Instruments "Extensa 515" (Intel Pentium 100MHz, circa
1996) and Toshiba "T4400C" (Intel 486DX 50MHz, c. 1992); each contains
a 3.5" device.

But I keep saying that for the cost (£5 quid for a new Sony £2 for 10
new disks) I cant see the reason *not* to have one, there is also the fact
that I still have a box of disks that have saved many an install over the
years.

Yes out of the 30~40'ish disks I have that are from 10 to 25+ years old I
did check them and 4 or 5 were no good, most re-used from the front of
magazines and such.

L_N

With my trio of aforementioned "dinosaurs," I really >need< the floppies, in
order to install the operating system(s), application software and drivers.
These tasks require quite a number of diskettes, which luckily, I still own
(including blank media).