Floppy disks and the files on them

BrianD3

I've spent a couple of days getting files off floppy disks that I had hoarded. About 500 disks in total, all of them are 3.5 inch. I do have about fifty 5.25 inch ones but I saved the files from those a few years ago

The vast majority of the 3.5 inch disks are readable which surprised me. Probably 90% of disks that were bought as blank disks are readable. Original software disks are nearly 100%. E.g. Windows 3.1 disks which are nearly 30 years old at this stage.

Where did the 500 disks come from, many were bought new by me and used in college in the mid-late 90s. Some were discarded/left behind by others in college and workplaces and "rescued" by me as you could never have too many disks and also for nosiness reasons.

It's funny to see how many split files are on the disks, I used to do this all the time, download large files in college and split them across multiple floppies to bring them home - if a file was more that 1.44 megabytes and wouldn't compress this was useful. This must seem comical to younger people who grew up in the USB, writable DVD, flash storage era.

As for the files on the work disks - plenty of reports, memos, spreadsheets, access databases, work that was done by me and others. At the time, that work was "very important" and some boss or other wanted it done NOW. 20+ years later, where did that work end up? On a hard drive which was subsequently dumped, on a floppy disk which was dumped or lost. If hardcopy, mixed in with other crap in a filing cabinet never to be found or looked at again. Where's the boss that wanted it done - retired or dead maybe. Goes to show that much of what happens in workplaces is pointless bollocks.

Rodney Bathgate

I developed a system around 20 years ago, including writing the documentation. Not massive, just me working on it for maybe 3 months.

Got a call from a former work colleague a couple of years ago to say he was migrating some systems including this one, he saw my name on the documentation, and rang to ask was it me.

So don’t assume the work you did 20 years ago isn’t still in use.

BrianD3

Rodney Bathgate wrote: »

I developed a system around 20 years ago, including writing the documentation. Not massive, just me working on it for maybe 3 months.

Got a call from a former work colleague a couple of years ago to say he was migrating some systems including this one, he saw my name on the documentation, and rang to ask was it me.

So don’t assume the work you did 20 years ago isn’t still in use.

Something like this happened to me just once I think, the person was surprised and delighted that I was able to help them with some data from 15 years ago.

On the flip side, there was a situation where 3 people were working on a project for over a year and generated a large amount of data that went into an Access database that I developed. Work then moved on to "the next big thing", bosses retired or moved on and the project was quickly forgotten about. The data will never be looked at again. Were it not for weirdos like me hoarding files, the Access database would have been lost years ago.

ShatterAlan

BrianD3 wrote: »

I've spent a couple of days getting files off floppy disks that I had hoarded. About 500 disks in total, all of them are 3.5 inch. I do have about fifty 5.25 inch ones but I saved the files from those a few years ago

The vast majority of the 3.5 inch disks are readable which surprised me. Probably 90% of disks that were bought as blank disks are readable. Original software disks are nearly 100%. E.g. Windows 3.1 disks which are nearly 30 years old at this stage.

Where did the 500 disks come from, many were bought new by me and used in college in the mid-late 90s. Some were discarded/left behind by others in college and workplaces and "rescued" by me as you could never have too many disks and also for nosiness reasons.

It's funny to see how many split files are on the disks, I used to do this all the time, download large files in college and split them across multiple floppies to bring them home - if a file was more that 1.44 megabytes and wouldn't compress this was useful. This must seem comical to younger people who grew up in the USB, writable DVD, flash storage era.

As for the files on the work disks - plenty of reports, memos, spreadsheets, access databases, work that was done by me and others. At the time, that work was "very important" and some boss or other wanted it done NOW. 20+ years later, where did that work end up? On a hard drive which was subsequently dumped, on a floppy disk which was dumped or lost. If hardcopy, mixed in with other crap in a filing cabinet never to be found or looked at again. Where's the boss that wanted it done - retired or dead maybe. Goes to show that much of what happens in workplaces is pointless bollocks.

My question is why?


What possible use could you have for files that are nearly 30 years old?
Files that you have survived without in all those years.

Is any of it any use?

Risingshadoo

BrianD3 wrote: »

I've spent a couple of days getting files off floppy disks that I had hoarded. About 500 disks in total, all of them are 3.5 inch. I do have about fifty 5.25 inch ones but I saved the files from those a few years ago

The vast majority of the 3.5 inch disks are readable which surprised me. Probably 90% of disks that were bought as blank disks are readable. Original software disks are nearly 100%. E.g. Windows 3.1 disks which are nearly 30 years old at this stage.

Where did the 500 disks come from, many were bought new by me and used in college in the mid-late 90s. Some were discarded/left behind by others in college and workplaces and "rescued" by me as you could never have too many disks and also for nosiness reasons.

It's funny to see how many split files are on the disks, I used to do this all the time, download large files in college and split them across multiple floppies to bring them home - if a file was more that 1.44 megabytes and wouldn't compress this was useful. This must seem comical to younger people who grew up in the USB, writable DVD, flash storage era.

As for the files on the work disks - plenty of reports, memos, spreadsheets, access databases, work that was done by me and others. At the time, that work was "very important" and some boss or other wanted it done NOW. 20+ years later, where did that work end up? On a hard drive which was subsequently dumped, on a floppy disk which was dumped or lost. If hardcopy, mixed in with other crap in a filing cabinet never to be found or looked at again. Where's the boss that wanted it done - retired or dead maybe. Goes to show that much of what happens in workplaces is pointless bollocks.

I don't know where I would get a machine to do that, even if someone wanted me to do it.

Hand in Your Pants

Marvellous OP.

Samuel T. Cogley

What's a modern PC and a woman got in common? Neither will accept a 3.5" floppy.

Rodney Bathgate

You can get a USB 3.5” disk drive fairly easily.