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[Fun-fact] (Floppy) disk celebrates its 50th birthday!

I guess a lot of the community members know this piece of IT-history:

Other will even know this guy:

 

Its a floppy disk! First of these were able to safe 0,24MB (!) And these first ones came out 1971!

 

Is such a disk still in use? Yes it is! Here are a few examples:

 

You can still buy new disk? Of course, but at a rather high price.

For those not knowing disks, you can listen here how they sound.

Want to use them to make music?! Yes you can!

24 comments

Chris.Childerhose
Userlevel 7
Badge +21

50 years wow! 

I remember loading the WordPerfect disks (small ones) and it was like 10+ disks. 

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2024 | VMCE2023 | Veeam Vanguard 7* | Veeam Legend 4* | vExpert 5* | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

50 years wow! 

I remember loading the WordPerfect disks (small ones) and it was like 10+ disks. 

yes, time goes by! still remember days of “Secret of Monkey Island” on a Amiga 500. It needs 11 disks. You felt like a disk jockey :joy:

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Happy anniversary…

But 50 years ago there were 8” floppies if I remember correct. 😎

 

And do you remenber this guy?

With this you can punch a hole in one side of the floppy to be able to use a one sided floppy double sided and double the capacity by doing this.

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Happy anniversary…

But 50 years ago there were 8” floppies if I remember correct. 😎

you do!

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
bp4JC
Userlevel 7
Badge +3

I remember getting my first Zip Drive and being elated and excited that I could finally save 100MB of data on a single disk. That was HUGE! We were still rocking the 3.5” floppies when I was in High School, so getting a Zip Drive (I think my Junior year), was so exciting.

JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Yes, the Zip file media were huge with 100 MB.

But the reliability was a nightmare. I had several unreadable disks after one year or so.

And the Jazz drive with 1 GB disks was even worse….

Not really good for backups… and I wanted them for exactly this usecase 🙁🙁🙁

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Yes, the Zip file media were huge with 100 MB.

But the realibility was a nightmare. I had several unreadable disks after one year or so.

And the Jazz drive with 1 GB disks was even worse….

Not really good for backups… and I wanted them for exactly this usecase 🙁🙁🙁

DAT-tapes was the better choice! :joy: But I do not know any more if they were current at the same time.

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

I am not sure about the DAT tapes, too.

The Zip and Jazz drives were affordable for private use. But the reliability…..

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
bp4JC
Userlevel 7
Badge +3

I am not sure about the DAT tapes, too.

The Zip and Jazz drives were affordable for private use. But the reliability…..

I somewhat envy those of you who got to be in industry during that time. I think it would be neat to have seen all of it from the professional sysadmin/technician/engineer perspective, but at the same time, there is also a lot I am glad I have not had to deal with in my career that you all did, back then.

 

The one thing I do want to work with, for some inexplicable reason, is tape media. I don’t know why, but I want to get to work with tape backups, at some point.

JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

LTO or Jaguar tapes are rather easy to handle. And the capacity is really good in the current versions. 😎

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
bp4JC
Userlevel 7
Badge +3

LTO or Jaguar tapes are rather easy to handle. And the capacity is really good in the current versions. 😎

If you think about it, it’s really amazing that it is still considered a viable media source, given how antiquated the technology is. It is my understanding that tape is the best choice for archival storage, correct?

JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Tape is a very reliable medium. You can checkout the tapes and put them somewhere elso into a safe, so the data is save from ransomware and virus attacks and so on.

And it is for big amounts of data rather cheap, because the tapes are inexpensive. For smaller amounts of data the costs for the library and the drive(s) are too high.

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
MicoolPaul
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

This is awesome! It’s scary how quickly technology that was revolutionary gets leap frogged and how other technologies continue to grow. LTO and HDD are old tech, but continue to evolve and prove themselves. When SSD was first released it was considered the demise of disk based storage, but just this week we see Gostev sharing more stories of how fragile they are!

 

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Michael Paul - Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Veeam | https://micoolpaul.com | Twitter: @MicoolPaul | Mastodon: @micoolpaul@masto.nu | Bluesky: @micoolpaul.com
JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
MicoolPaul
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Fun fact, my dad’s been in his job so long when he started looking for another job recently we had to find his CV on a floppy! 😆

 

That’s awesome you still have a drive, I had to search through my old tech bins for one!

Michael Paul - Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Veeam | https://micoolpaul.com | Twitter: @MicoolPaul | Mastodon: @micoolpaul@masto.nu | Bluesky: @micoolpaul.com
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Fun fact, my dad’s been in his job so long when he started looking for another job recently we had to find his CV on a floppy! 😆

 

That’s awesome you still have a drive, I had to search through my old tech bins for one!

Was certainly a nice trip into the past! Great!

although i must say that the last disks i used were far less reliable! not in comparison to the good old Monkey Island disks :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
MicoolPaul
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Fun fact, my dad’s been in his job so long when he started looking for another job recently we had to find his CV on a floppy! 😆

 

That’s awesome you still have a drive, I had to search through my old tech bins for one!

Was certainly a nice trip into the past! Great!

although i must say that the last disks i used were far less reliable! not in comparison to the good old Monkey Island disks :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

I didn’t have to work with 5.25” disks too much, but I did have one scenario where I needed them. Lemmings on Windows 3.1!

 

 

Michael Paul - Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Veeam | https://micoolpaul.com | Twitter: @MicoolPaul | Mastodon: @micoolpaul@masto.nu | Bluesky: @micoolpaul.com
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Fun fact, my dad’s been in his job so long when he started looking for another job recently we had to find his CV on a floppy! 😆

 

That’s awesome you still have a drive, I had to search through my old tech bins for one!

Was certainly a nice trip into the past! Great!

although i must say that the last disks i used were far less reliable! not in comparison to the good old Monkey Island disks :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

I didn’t have to work with 5.25” disks too much, but I did have one scenario where I needed them. Lemmings on Windows 3.1!

 

 

YES! One of the greatest games in history!!!

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Yes, Lemmings was a great game :grin::grin::grin:

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

We may no longer use floppies during a day to day but the durability of them was fantastic!

Correct. I have still a floppy drive in a old computer and most 3,5” disks are still readable or mostly readable.

So, I could rescue some of my wifes files she has written 20 years ago as she needed some old texts… Only one file was damaged. Good ratio….

Fun fact, my dad’s been in his job so long when he started looking for another job recently we had to find his CV on a floppy! 😆

 

That’s awesome you still have a drive, I had to search through my old tech bins for one!

Was certainly a nice trip into the past! Great!

although i must say that the last disks i used were far less reliable! not in comparison to the good old Monkey Island disks :see_no_evil::hear_no_evil::speak_no_evil:

I didn’t have to work with 5.25” disks too much, but I did have one scenario where I needed them. Lemmings on Windows 3.1!

 

 

Oh, I used 5.24” disks on my Commodore C64. This was after the data cassettes!

 This was “fun”! A game like Bruce Lee needed about 15 minutes to load - and had just 192kb.

 

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
wolff.mateus
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Floppies of the Caribbean was the best part! :joy:

 

But how @MicoolPaul said. It is a little bit scary how fast the technology runs. 

So.. What you think about 50 years in the future? Can you imagine what kind of storage device we will have?

 

IT Lover | Veeam Vanguard | VUG Leader | Blogger
JMeixner
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

Dilithium crystals, sure thing…. 😉

Jochen (Joe) Meixner | Veeam Vanguard 2024 | Veeam Legend 2021 - 2023 | Veeam Certified Architect (VMCA) | Twitter: @JoMeix | BlueSky: @jmeixner.bsky.social
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Floppies of the Caribbean was the best part! :joy:

 

But how @MicoolPaul said. It is a little bit scary how fast the technology runs. 

So.. What you think about 50 years in the future? Can you imagine what kind of storage device we will have?

 

human DNA :scream:

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42
vNote42
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Dilithium crystals, sure thing…. 😉

or Graphene (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene)

Wolfgang | vnote42.net | @vNote42

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