I remember using floppy disks in the 90s up to mid 00s. Their storage capacities were pretty bad compared to CD-ROMs which were being introduced around that time, but they were cheap, convenient and you could edit and remove data from them unlike CD-ROMs which were locked in after burning data on them once. I used them all the time for games, text, image, sound and MS-Office files.
I have a Commodore 64 computer that I use mainly for retrogaming. I grew up with a C64, and got back into it during the mid-2010s. I have the same floppy disks I've had since the late 80s and early 90s. These are 5 1/4" floppy disks.
I remember even in the late 90s, being somewhat annoyed by their small storage, especially as friends had games and things that just wouldn't fit on a floppy.
I still have my old 5.25" floppies with the programs I wrote for my Commodore 64 back in the 80s. I am hoping to be able to acquire a working C64 and Commodore 1541 disk drive in the near future to be able to relive the old days and have a kind of "my personal computing history" collection at home. I hope the disks are still readable and, if they are, that their contents can be transferred to fresh floppies and maybe other media.
I'm one of those weirdos who stores video files on floppies for the hell of it. Also had to write a copy of Blue Monday on mp3 to a 5.25" disk because of the vinyl cover. It was also fun trying to get as many compact games, demos and tracker songs as I could onto an ancient single sided 180k floppy. I think it's possible to get Shakespeare's entire works on a 3.5" floppy if you use 7z and DMF. My boot disks, essential software, games and multimedia examples for old CDless computers are a slightly more practical.
I loved those as a kid and obviously moved on starting with my first 64MB USB 1.1 flash drive in the early 2000's. BUT I too have a somewhat vintage laptop with a floppy drive in it. Dunno if it still works but I'd like to try it. There are many cool games which just feel better on a 4:3 screen.
Not actively, but have kept all my pc games and some computers/external drives to use them. Way more reliable than the trouble I'm having with a western digital external address today :-(
from the 90s till the 2000s? Well, no 🙂 If you don't take the big 8" Floppies from the 70s in account, floppies were also very popular in the 80s and more or less the dominating media. Also the shown 3,5" disk was invented by Sony already at the beginning of the 80s.
8" Floppies were the first big floppy disk format, from the 1970s and early 80s. Back in the 90s, I had a Xerox 820 computer that used those. 5 1/4" floppies were the second generation, from the late 70s through the 80s. My Commodore 64 uses these. 3 1/2" floppies were the 3rd generation, from the mid-80s into the early 2000s. My first 2 PCs used these, and I still have a 3 1/2" floppy USB disk drive.
I bought two brand new store-bought boxes of floppy discs in 2019. So even if the big brands stopped making them in 2011, someone still made new floppy discs five years ago.
That could have been new-old stock: manufactured over a decade ago, and sitting on a shelf forever. There's also the last floppy disk business, which refurbs existing disks (reformatting them, replacing labels, and putting into new packaging) - all those disks were made before 2011, even if the box is new.
I remember using floppy disks in the 90s up to mid 00s. Their storage capacities were pretty bad compared to CD-ROMs which were being introduced around that time, but they were cheap, convenient and you could edit and remove data from them unlike CD-ROMs which were locked in after burning data on them once. I used them all the time for games, text, image, sound and MS-Office files.
I have a Commodore 64 computer that I use mainly for retrogaming. I grew up with a C64, and got back into it during the mid-2010s. I have the same floppy disks I've had since the late 80s and early 90s. These are 5 1/4" floppy disks.
I remember even in the late 90s, being somewhat annoyed by their small storage, especially as friends had games and things that just wouldn't fit on a floppy.
I still have my old 5.25" floppies with the programs I wrote for my Commodore 64 back in the 80s. I am hoping to be able to acquire a working C64 and Commodore 1541 disk drive in the near future to be able to relive the old days and have a kind of "my personal computing history" collection at home. I hope the disks are still readable and, if they are, that their contents can be transferred to fresh floppies and maybe other media.
I'm one of those weirdos who stores video files on floppies for the hell of it. Also had to write a copy of Blue Monday on mp3 to a 5.25" disk because of the vinyl cover. It was also fun trying to get as many compact games, demos and tracker songs as I could onto an ancient single sided 180k floppy. I think it's possible to get Shakespeare's entire works on a 3.5" floppy if you use 7z and DMF.
My boot disks, essential software, games and multimedia examples for old CDless computers are a slightly more practical.
I loved those as a kid and obviously moved on starting with my first 64MB USB 1.1 flash drive in the early 2000's.
BUT I too have a somewhat vintage laptop with a floppy drive in it. Dunno if it still works but I'd like to try it. There are many cool games which just feel better on a 4:3 screen.
Two twenty-somethings at the water cooler, when the head of IT approaches: "Silence! It is The Elder! He who speaks of floppy disks."
I still have my original install floppies of 'Pressworks' & 'Designworks', both of which are installed on a XP 'Cube' PC and they still work.
I have an old camera that stores photos on floppy disks, so I use them still sometimes.
Yes, I have a few files on 3½ inch floppies. Key-files and the like. Though I am unsure where the floppies are.
Retro tech circles still use floppies, since its hard to convince these old systems to accept modern solutions such as drive emulators
Not actively, but have kept all my pc games and some computers/external drives to use them. Way more reliable than the trouble I'm having with a western digital external address today :-(
Floppies ...the "USB-Sticks" of the 90s
from the 90s till the 2000s? Well, no 🙂 If you don't take the big 8" Floppies from the 70s in account, floppies were also very popular in the 80s and more or less the dominating media. Also the shown 3,5" disk was invented by Sony already at the beginning of the 80s.
8" Floppies were the first big floppy disk format, from the 1970s and early 80s. Back in the 90s, I had a Xerox 820 computer that used those.
5 1/4" floppies were the second generation, from the late 70s through the 80s. My Commodore 64 uses these.
3 1/2" floppies were the 3rd generation, from the mid-80s into the early 2000s. My first 2 PCs used these, and I still have a 3 1/2" floppy USB disk drive.
I bought two brand new store-bought boxes of floppy discs in 2019. So even if the big brands stopped making them in 2011, someone still made new floppy discs five years ago.
That could have been new-old stock: manufactured over a decade ago, and sitting on a shelf forever. There's also the last floppy disk business, which refurbs existing disks (reformatting them, replacing labels, and putting into new packaging) - all those disks were made before 2011, even if the box is new.
@@pshalleck I don't know. They were all identical, no signs of wear or anything. And the store I bought them at didn't even exist back in 2011.
Ja.