6885P5H
Experienced Member
I am looking for disks, preferably 20 of each type. 5 1/4" 360K, 5 1/4" 1.2M, 3 1/2" 720K, 3 1/2" 1.44M. Preferably clean and free of bad sectors.
- VCF South West - June 14 - 16, Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas
- VCF West - Aug 2 - 3, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCF Midwest - Sept 7 - 8 2024, Schaumburg, IL
- VCF SoCal - Mid February 2025, Location TBD, Southern CA
- VCF East - April 2025, Infoage Museum, Wall NJ
-
Please review our updated Terms and Rules here
-
From now on we will require that a prefix is set for any items in the sales area. We have created regions and locations for this. We also require that you select a delivery option before posting your listing. This will hopefully help us streamline the things that get listed for sales here and help local people better advertise their items, especially for local only sales. New sales rules are also coming, so stay tuned.
Disks
- Thread starter 6885P5H
- Start date
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Stone
10k Member
I've got all the mentioned disks. If you want to PM me we can discuss the pricing.
6885P5H
Experienced Member
Sorry Stone, that's too expensive because of shipping and the exchange rate.
I heard that they stopped making disks sometime in the 2010's. That is so stupid. Believe it or not last time I checked they still manufactured magnetic tape for use with those old tape recorders, the ones where you have to thread the tape manually. There can't be much money to be made in that market, but they still do it. How hard can it be to make a disc, instead of a long strip of plastic?
I heard that they stopped making disks sometime in the 2010's. That is so stupid. Believe it or not last time I checked they still manufactured magnetic tape for use with those old tape recorders, the ones where you have to thread the tape manually. There can't be much money to be made in that market, but they still do it. How hard can it be to make a disc, instead of a long strip of plastic?
Chuck(G)
25k Member
You know of someone still manufacturing 1/2" 2400' open-reel computer tape? Care to divulge that information? I suspect that several people would be most appreciative, yours truly being one of them.
maxtherabbit
Veteran Member
joking aside, how much investment do you think we would be talking about to retool to make magnetic tape and disk media?
6885P5H
Experienced Member
Someone wrote something, but it seems the message was deleted. Yes disks are rarer than you'd think, especially the double-density kind. That said they are not "rare" yet but the problem is they are expensive for what they are, that is over 30 years old and untested. Imagine paying 40 dollars for a NOS box of 10 disks, only to find out they are shedding or moldy or both.
See if there's something to your liking: www.atrtape.com
See if there's something to your liking: www.atrtape.com
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Nope, that's all audio tape; different reels and media characteristics.
All the 1/2" open-reel computer tape you'll find today is old(er).
Bottom line is that there's no significant demand today for floppies or open-reel digital tape. Curiously, you can still purchase fresh 16mm film stock.
All the 1/2" open-reel computer tape you'll find today is old(er).
Bottom line is that there's no significant demand today for floppies or open-reel digital tape. Curiously, you can still purchase fresh 16mm film stock.
6885P5H
Experienced Member
Ok. The only computer tape I have ever used is audio tape hooked up to an home computer. I know nothing about the more sophisticated formats.
Unfortunately the diskette could never coexist with the flash drive. While they are about as convenient, with the diskette actually faster at testing and dealing with very small files, the capacity of the flash drive and its speed when dealing with large files is simply impossible to beat.
What surprises me is how many different brands of diskettes there were. There are collections online of records and compact cassettes brands and labels such as tapedeck.org and majesticrecord.com . Wouldn't it be awesome to have the same but for diskettes? Even if I got rid of my entire collection of disks back in March because of mold (that's the reason I'm looking for new ones now), I haven't thrown them in the trash yet. I could still contribute if I find a power supply for my scanner.
Unfortunately the diskette could never coexist with the flash drive. While they are about as convenient, with the diskette actually faster at testing and dealing with very small files, the capacity of the flash drive and its speed when dealing with large files is simply impossible to beat.
What surprises me is how many different brands of diskettes there were. There are collections online of records and compact cassettes brands and labels such as tapedeck.org and majesticrecord.com . Wouldn't it be awesome to have the same but for diskettes? Even if I got rid of my entire collection of disks back in March because of mold (that's the reason I'm looking for new ones now), I haven't thrown them in the trash yet. I could still contribute if I find a power supply for my scanner.
SomeGuy
Veteran Member
What exactly happened to them? Which kinds of disks are these?
Sometimes all poorly stored disks need is a good bath. Sometimes, even well stored ones. Smoke and pollution residue and other crap can collect on the surface and will rip things up if you just plop the disk in the drive. The key is if the crap has already permeated the oxide surface. The better quality media may be re-usable after it is carefully cleaned. 5.25" disks are fairly easy to rinse out, 3.5" disks can be cleaned but are a headache to dry.
Of course, they still won't last forever.
6885P5H
Experienced Member
They are 3 1/2s and 5 1/4s. I live in an extremely humid place but for many years they were fine. Then they started to grow mold I suspect sometime in 2018 but I didn't understand what it was, I thought it was just "age" and I continued to use them. Then it got so bad that in March I finally understood what was going on. I got rid of all of them and I've been living a sad diskless life since then.
The good news is I think I still have images for a bunch of them. The bad news is I didn't bother to image those that were not formatted or had been wiped. I thought it would be too time-consuming so I'd do it "in the future". Oops, it's too late for that now. The other bad news is, well I don't have any left.
I have a "working" (I think) dehumidifier now but either my room can go from 40 humidity to 80 in a minute, which wouldn't surprise me, or the dehumidifier's hygrometer is bugged, which wouldn't surprise me either as it's one of those dumb computerized model. Either way it can't be worse than it was before, but I don't think the dehumidifier is gonna last long with how it power-cycles 1000 times every day. I'd need to find a smarter way to control it. I remember reading somewhere that the dubious Mattel Aquarius home computer had a peripheral that could control home appliances. A small BASIC program to turn it on in continuous mode and off for a certain time would do the trick...
I have no idea how you would clean a mold-damaged disk.
The good news is I think I still have images for a bunch of them. The bad news is I didn't bother to image those that were not formatted or had been wiped. I thought it would be too time-consuming so I'd do it "in the future". Oops, it's too late for that now. The other bad news is, well I don't have any left.
I have a "working" (I think) dehumidifier now but either my room can go from 40 humidity to 80 in a minute, which wouldn't surprise me, or the dehumidifier's hygrometer is bugged, which wouldn't surprise me either as it's one of those dumb computerized model. Either way it can't be worse than it was before, but I don't think the dehumidifier is gonna last long with how it power-cycles 1000 times every day. I'd need to find a smarter way to control it. I remember reading somewhere that the dubious Mattel Aquarius home computer had a peripheral that could control home appliances. A small BASIC program to turn it on in continuous mode and off for a certain time would do the trick...
I have no idea how you would clean a mold-damaged disk.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Wash the cookie with a mild detergent and discard the cover (it's contaminated and you're not likely to be able to clean it). Place in a fresh cover. You may also want to "bake" the cookie at about 58C for a few hours to re-consolidate the binder.
Storage dehumidifiers are available and probably much cheaper to run than regular dehumidifiers. You may also want to consider placing your floppies in well-sealed plastic bags and keep them in a freezer.
Just relating my own experience with customer floppies. I don't have the humidity problem--RH here generally runs between 30-50% year-round.
Storage dehumidifiers are available and probably much cheaper to run than regular dehumidifiers. You may also want to consider placing your floppies in well-sealed plastic bags and keep them in a freezer.
Just relating my own experience with customer floppies. I don't have the humidity problem--RH here generally runs between 30-50% year-round.