VOGONS


First post, by AntiRevisionism

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have about 20 of these generic Staples branded 3.5 floppy disks from the early 2000s. They worked ok back when I bought them.

Lately though since getting back into retro computing, I've been experiencing tons of issues formatting, copying files, booting from them, etc regardless of the drive used. Most annoyingly I'll write an image to them 'successfully', but then have read errors when trying to use the disk.

Are there any tools out there for testing floppy disks or should I just toss the lot?

I have sealed box of Sony branded disks on order from eBay.

Attachments

Reply 3 of 12, by snufkin

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I remember using Norton Disk Doctor. It would do a surface scan and mark any bad sectors.

Found a couple of references to FormatQM being good for testing lots of floppies in a row. Looks like it's shareware from 1991, $10 for non-commercial use. And they're still around : https://www.sydex.com/
Found a .zip file of version 1.72 here:
https://archive.org/download/msdos_festival_FORMQ172

Reply 4 of 12, by darry

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Do not put staples through your floppies.

Seriously, by the early 2000s, most floppies being sold new were crap . If you want quality floppies, try to get some that were produced in the media's heyday .

Reply 5 of 12, by chinny22

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
darry wrote on 2021-03-24, 22:42:

Seriously, by the early 2000s, most floppies being sold new were crap . If you want quality floppies, try to get some that were produced in the media's heyday .

This is true but the problem is even these quality disks will be around 25 years old. You want some that have spent all this time stored somewhere dark, cool and dry not kicking around in someone's dusty old basement, garage or whatever but no one ever advertises this?

It's just like old hard disks, you buy them expecting a percentage will be bad.
Or you get something like a gotek emulator, bit more expensive up front but possibly save in the long run no longer needing to buy disks

Reply 6 of 12, by gerry

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

floppy discs are a mixed bag for sure. sometimes I'll use one that I know is 25+ years old and its fine, at other times I'll get a 'new' one from an old pack never used and stored safely and its a dud

i have enough overall that I know there are good ones among them for the purpose of rescue / startup disks for old systems - but at some point the last will fail 🙁

what is odd is that sometimes i'll persist with an apprently hopeless floppy drive and through grimly determined reading, formatting and so on it works again! - but i'd guess not for long

Reply 8 of 12, by darry

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
chinny22 wrote on 2021-03-25, 09:29:
This is true but the problem is even these quality disks will be around 25 years old. You want some that have spent all this tim […]
Show full quote
darry wrote on 2021-03-24, 22:42:

Seriously, by the early 2000s, most floppies being sold new were crap . If you want quality floppies, try to get some that were produced in the media's heyday .

This is true but the problem is even these quality disks will be around 25 years old. You want some that have spent all this time stored somewhere dark, cool and dry not kicking around in someone's dusty old basement, garage or whatever but no one ever advertises this?

It's just like old hard disks, you buy them expecting a percentage will be bad.
Or you get something like a gotek emulator, bit more expensive up front but possibly save in the long run no longer needing to buy disks

I agree and even mentioned the storage conditions as being an unknowable variable myself in this thread Quality HD 3.5" floppy disks?

A Gotek is the best still affordable long-term solution if you deal a lot with floppy disks (I only do so occasionally).

Reply 9 of 12, by maxtherabbit

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Interacting with physical disk media is an integral part of the retro experience. With wise purchasing and rigorous testing protocols it's not too difficult to amass enough reliable drives and media to be able to use them rather effortlessly on an ongoing basis.

Any drive of unknown origin should have its heads cleaned before even testing it. Sufficient buildup on the head can score the disk surface and ruin an otherwise good disk. Disks of unknown origin should be inspected visually to look for debris or grooves on the surface. Once a disk has started to shed its oxide layer it can very quickly create enough buildup on a head to ruin subsequent disks.

If all this sounds like too much work for you, sure get a gotek, but you're not really getting the genuine experience then

Reply 10 of 12, by darry

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
maxtherabbit wrote on 2021-03-25, 14:44:

Interacting with physical disk media is an integral part of the retro experience. With wise purchasing and rigorous testing protocols it's not too difficult to amass enough reliable drives and media to be able to use them rather effortlessly on an ongoing basis.

Any drive of unknown origin should have its heads cleaned before even testing it. Sufficient buildup on the head can score the disk surface and ruin an otherwise good disk. Disks of unknown origin should be inspected visually to look for debris or grooves on the surface. Once a disk has started to shed its oxide layer it can very quickly create enough buildup on a head to ruin subsequent disks.

If all this sounds like too much work for you, sure get a gotek, but you're not really getting the genuine experience then

These are good points . My occasional need for floppies (mainly 3 1/2" ) ones is satisfied with real legacy floppy drives, an LS-120 and USB floppy drives . I keep drives clean and have amassed what a hope is a lifetime supply of quality blank media . Visually inspecting any floppy before using it is (even a relatively recently tested good one) a good idea, IMHO .

As for the Gotek solution, I agree that it is a compromise that can take away from the experience . I personally would consider one, if I needed one. One thing that would make me hesitate is the aesthetic aspect : a floppy drive looks a lot nicer than a Gotek (IMHO) .

Reply 11 of 12, by waterbeesje

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I use faulty floppy disks as coasters, they will protect my wooden desk from hot mugs perfectly.

For data transfer, use CF cards or a gotek 😀
You may even keep the floppy drive installed and connect the gotek only when it's needed

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 12 of 12, by AntiRevisionism

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Good idea on cleaning the heads. I think I will make that a small project to go through and clean all of my 3.5 drives.

I only needed this batch of disks for installing DOS on a CF card. After that I doubt I'll have any need for floppies on this particular system.