Brand new floppy disks on sale in 2020 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 03:37:02 am
content: I was at the local supermarket inLyons, ACTthis weekend and noticed they were still selling brand new boxes of 1.44MB BASF/EMTEC floppy disks for AUD$7.75.The guy at the counter had a chuckle that I got a kick out of it, although I'm assuming the disks are older than he was considering BASF haven't made floppy disks for some 20+ years.On the shelf above they were also selling blank VHS tapes.I'm guessing by now they are there more a novelty for the store than an actual serious shelf item. Needless to say, I was tempted to buy a few boxes. ;-)

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 03:51:38 am
content: Wonder if they found a few cases of them in the back somewhere?I still use floppy disks for my scope and a few vintage computers, not much else though.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 03:55:44 am
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 20, 2020, 03:37:02 amProbably they are not that old, just sold under BASF brand but produced by someone else. When BASF sold off floppy production facilities, they still continued to be sold under BASF brand.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 03:57:38 am
content: Quote from: wraper on January 20, 2020, 03:55:44 amAs far as I know, Verbatim and Sony were the only ones actually manufacturing new floppy disks until recently (apart from maybe a few select no-name Chinese companies). BASF sold their magnetic disk business to Turkish company RAKS in the late 1990's.I might buy a few boxes and see if there are any indications of a date, however I suspect they are new-old stock.The guy at the store said they had been there that long, they have been deleted from the POS system (presumably whenever they last updated it). I'm guessing they just run it through as a manual item now.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 04:01:57 am
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 20, 2020, 03:57:38 amSony is out of that business since 1998. BASF sold magnetic division to RAKS Holdings A.S. in 1996.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 04:05:30 am
content: Quote from: wraper on January 20, 2020, 04:01:57 amSony were still making new disks well into the 2000's. Some reports suggest up tolate 2009, even aslate as 2011.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 04:15:01 am
content: If you will be again in that store, I suggest looking for any date code or actual manufacturer name.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 03:16:44 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 20, 2020, 03:37:02 amLooking at the surrounding shelves, it seems floppies are considered a snack these days...

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 04:04:33 pm
content: Looks like they are below the prevailing ebay price.... be brave... buy the lot!

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 07:41:34 pm
content: Quote from: NivagSwerdna on January 20, 2020, 04:04:33 pmI think there is a good reason why so many remain on the shelf ;-)

author: NivagSwerdna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 07:57:23 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 20, 2020, 07:41:34 pmCoward

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 08:56:25 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on January 20, 2020, 07:41:34 pmEarly BASF floppies had a mixed reputation in Germany even when new. The popular quip was that the company name was an acronym for the unique feature of these floppies, the "Byte-Abweisende Schutz-Folie" -- "byte-repellent protective film".

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2020, 09:50:00 pm
content: Hold on to your hats, with the popularity of retro computers they will make a fortune out of it !

author: austfox
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2020, 05:56:36 am
content: What brand were the VHS tapes, and at what price?

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 21, 2020, 09:58:21 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on January 20, 2020, 08:56:25 pmBrilliant!Quote from: austfox on January 21, 2020, 05:56:36 amThey were AUD$4.49 each for an E180 tape. I can't recall the brand but I think they were possibly Maxell.

author: bsudbrink
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2020, 08:08:21 pm
content: A shame they don't have 8 incher's or 5 1/4 hard sectored.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2020, 06:03:43 pm
content: A Local internet store of surplus electronics (BGMicro) had several boxes of floppies unlabeled but the sleeve said they were Compaq. I bought a few units and found out they were 2S-DD after finding out they could only be reliably formatted with oldes OSes, as the " /4" option did not work on XP and newer.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2020, 10:25:56 pm
content: I have several wrapped NOS boxes of BASF 5.25" floppies... Now I might toss them.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2020, 10:39:01 pm
content: might be of interest to some of you..

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 04, 2020, 10:16:55 am
content: Quote from: Alex Eisenhut on February 01, 2020, 10:25:56 pmCan you toss them in my direction?

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2020, 11:18:52 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on February 04, 2020, 10:16:55 amPM me your address.I can send you two unwrapped boxes but the disks look new in one of them.My hoarding OCD forces me to hang on to the shrink-wrapped ones. One box says IBM formatted.What kind of vintage system are you using?

author: bsudbrink
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2020, 12:01:11 am
content: I hate to do this to Halcyon, but if that "reversible" box contains its original disks, they are a bit rare and collectable. They will be factory punched with two write protect notches and two index "access windows" so that they can be inserted into a single sided floppy drive in either orientation. Nicknamed "flippies" they were only manufactured for a year or so.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2020, 01:17:46 am
content: Damn, sir or madam, you know your floppies! That is indeed what they are. But that's OK, my floppy weirdness knows no bounds.https://youtu.be/-pXLLb2alI4?list=PLfABUWdDse7ZrFxNtQapQXYRRxto4C9ZH&t=297I really can't use all these disks. They're more like trophies at this point.

author: daveyk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2020, 09:03:15 pm
content: "BASF haven't made floppy disks for some 20+ years."My understanding is that 3.5" floppies were last produced in 2012. I don't know what brand, but a few years ago, I bought a bunch of boxes (from Staples of all places still had them). There is an industrial instrument that I repair and calibrate. Its primary method of allowing me to get a test data calibration table file off its hard drive is via a 3.5" floppy. Also setup files. other than from the hard drive, can only be load from floppy. The bad thing is because of some special software you can only put one setup file per disk. It's not space, but when you save a setup, two files are saved. Only one had a unique name, the other file is a common name (used by all setup files) and that files contains most of the unique setup parameter. The name file is only for the directory display. Stupid instrument software. So, that's not a problem keeping 20 floppies for 20 setups, the big problem is keeping 20 floppies that can be read by the instrument (never an issue) and read by a USB-Floppy drive. Those "newer" USB-FLOPPY drives are very picky to which floppies they work with.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2020, 04:23:34 pm
content: A thought I just had - isn't there still maybe a (very) small market for floppy disks outside of vintage computer afficionados?I think many older CNC machines used floppy disks to transfer machining code, and I guess some of these machines must still be used today.

author: guenthert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2020, 04:34:25 pm
content: Quote from: daveyk on March 09, 2020, 09:03:15 pmFloppy drives almost universally (*) used the Shugart bus, so it ought to be possible to replace the hardware for which one can't find the media anymore with some emulator. Ah, google finds such floppy emulators starting at $16.*) all IBM PC clones, good share of CP/M machines (including the Amstrad CPC home computers), but not Apple or Commodore home computers.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 10, 2020, 07:10:26 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on March 10, 2020, 04:23:34 pmI thought older CNC machines used punched paper tape?