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-   -   Do any stores still sell floppy disks? (http://www.win98banter.com/showthread.php?t=52196)

J. P. Gilliver (John)[_2_] November 3rd 17 06:50 PM

Do any stores still sell floppy disks?
 
In message ,
writes:
My bootable DOS floppy disk died. I had not used it in several years,
but wanted to boot up with the floppy to install a new harddrive on an
old Windows 98 machine, with no CD drive.

I have looked in several stores. None sell them anymore.


(I _think_ I've seen them in poundshops in the last five years; I
haven't looked for them lately!)

I found a 5pack on ebay, for $5 and bought them. That was the cheapest I
found for NEW ones. Some were ridiculously priced, and there were some
used ones selling cheap, and saying "no returns" "untested", etc. I'll
pass on those!!!


Would they be unusable, or just have lost any data on them?

Then there was someone selling 20 dead 5.25 inch floppies for around
$29, plus $10 shipping. It said "For Art Projects".... (Apparently his
garbage can is full, and he really thinks he will find a sucker)....

Someone even had some 8" floppies. I heard of them, but never saw them.
That's got to be very old.


When I left my main employer back in March, I think they still had some
machines that used them; I worked in the R&S ("Readiness and
Sustainment", officially - but everyone knew it really was "repairs and
spares") department. It was an avionics company: when companies (or the
military) have spent millions on an aircraft, they expect it to be
supported for several decades, and thus the equipment to service it had
to be kept going. And with some of the units we supported only turning
up once every few years, it wasn't worth the investment to update the
service equipment - if it works, don't fix it ...

Anyhow, I am just curious if anyone has seen any floppies in any stores
lately.


Just curious, how much data did those 8" floppies hold? I have a
feeling they held less than the 360K 5.25 Inch.....

I think it was some tens of k - maybe 80K? (or 64?)

Possibly, not least _because_ of the low capacity (and thus density),
they might actually be quite reliable. I don't think I'd want to try
though (-:!

The 360K was just the IBM PC capacity - and that for double-sided discs;
5¼" discs when used in other machines had different capacities - same
discs. DFS on the BBC Micro, for example, was IIRR 100K a side (and ADFS
on the BBC Master 160K a side). That was for 80 track drives - half that
for 40 track drives.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

What does that even mean, star? It's just 'rats' backwards
- Art Malik in RT 2016/3/12-18


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