5'25 diskettes

[w1k]

hello, exist onlineshop where i can buy new 5'25 diskettes?

[HiroProX]

As close to "new" as you're going to find in 5.25" DS/DD disks would be "NOS".

[+wood_jl]

In USA there is "www.floppydisks.com." They're likely NOS too, but they're available. Other than that is Ebay. I decided to stock up on low-density 5.25" and low-density 3.5" while they're still available.

 

The ones I received from floppydisks.com are (of course) generic-looking black, and the sleeve says "Advance." I saw an Ebay listing (with picture) that looked like this and the claim was that they are newly-manufactured and not NOS - and I am talking about the Ebay listing, NOT a claim by floppydisks.com. I find it rather dubious that there would be any newly-manufactured ones. HA, I wonder if anybody is even making 1.44MB disks new, much less 360K.

[fibrewire]

I wonder if anybody is even making 1.44MB disks new, much less 360K.

 

Yep, right next to the 8-track and Vinyl factories, located on Battleship Island

[svenski]

I think fibrewire has too much free time on his hands.......

[[email protected]]

hello, exist onlineshop where i can buy new 5'25 diskettes?

 

Not sure if new, but http://www.myatari.com/atarixlh.txt

 

DISKS AND ACC.

SUG062 DISKS 10 5.25 810/1050/XF551 12.00 no box

SUG052 DISKS 10 5.25 ATARI 810 FORMAT 15.00 FROM ATARI

 

ACG060 NOTCHER 5.25 SQUARE DELUX 9.95

[BillC]

hello, exist onlineshop where i can buy new 5'25 diskettes?

There is a thread from a few years back, 2006 to 2008, in the vintage computer forums about a government supplier who still manufactured floppies at that time. The company still has a website listing their products, but without pricing.

 

The thread: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-5069.html

The company: http://www.athana.com/html/diskette.html

[+orpheuswaking]

hello, exist onlineshop where i can buy new 5'25 diskettes?

There is a thread from a few years back, 2006 to 2008, in the vintage computer forums about a government supplier who still manufactured floppies at that time. The company still has a website listing their products, but without pricing.

 

The thread: http://www.vintage-c...php/t-5069.html

The company: http://www.athana.co...l/diskette.html

 

 

I used to use Athana disks almost exclusively back in the day, back then they were very high quality. Not sure about now of course.

[+AtariNerd]

Wouldn't be surprised if certain government/military/space exploration industries, with issues dealing with legacy hardware and dataflow might have kept some of the more antiquarian storage media into production until fairly recently.

[Marius]

You'll be surprised when you know what kind of vintage things are still produced.

 

Recently I found out that the Walkman (with tapes) production was stopped somewhere end 2010 (!!!)

 

They (Sony) produced it for 31 years.

 

It wouldn't surprise me to find one or two producers of 5.25" floppy disks.

 

Last year on a dutch marketplace website I found a seller of NOS and I bought a lot for personal use. I did never regret that.

 

I'm amazed by the realibility of 5.25" floppy disks btw. I have plenty of failing 3.5" diskettes, but my 5.25" disks keep going.

[OldAtarian]

Any floppy disks you find, even unused ones from back in the day still sealed, will likely not have much reliability left. They do deteriorate over time and most of the ones you find will be 20+ years old which is already beyond the normal lifespan for floppies.

[OldAtarian]

hello, exist onlineshop where i can buy new 5'25 diskettes?

There is a thread from a few years back, 2006 to 2008, in the vintage computer forums about a government supplier who still manufactured floppies at that time. The company still has a website listing their products, but without pricing.

 

The thread: http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-5069.html

The company: http://www.athana.com/html/diskette.html

 

 

It figures the government would still be using 5.25" and 8" floppy drives. It really makes you feel good about the security of our personal information that they have on file.

[LYNXGUY]

w1k i have some old 5.25" floppies that are unused that I will sell cheap and I also have some old 5.25" HD floppies that I will give away free.

[SpaceDice2010]

Try these guys, if not I have somewhere someone that got some new ones made -

 

http://www.codemicro.com/store/product/Centech-hr51ddm-New.php

[w1k]

uf.. thanks for all.. www.floppydisks.com will be good

[Hatta]

Any floppy disks you find, even unused ones from back in the day still sealed, will likely not have much reliability left. They do deteriorate over time and most of the ones you find will be 20+ years old which is already beyond the normal lifespan for floppies.

 

You might think so, but you'd be surprised. Properly stored 5 1/4" disks are highly reliable. I've found few from the 80s that can't be read, and none of the NOS floppies that I've written in the past few years have had any problems at all.

[+wood_jl]

Put me in the "surprised" category, too. I haven't had any more bad disks or tapes (!!!) in the last couple of years I've been back into this stuff. The failure rate SHOULD be high, but it still seems about what it was in 1985. Who knew?

[monzamess]

It figures the government would still be using 5.25" and 8" floppy drives. It really makes you feel good about the security of our personal information that they have on file.

 

I don't know personally if the US govt is using 5.25" or 8" floppies, but I do know they use some old equipment--not for storing personal information, but in old legacy weapon systems for example. A weapon system program can go on for decades, and if it uses electronics and software that was first developed 30 years ago, the groups that maintain that system must keep a working set of tools to keep the system going. A lot of things get modernized to help mitigate these sustainment issues, but probably not as much as you'd assume.

 

On a different note, I recently pulled a bunch of my 5.25" floppies from the mid-80s out of storage (climate controlled the whole time) and quite a few can't be read reliably, but I don't know if it's the discs or the drive. Luckily I backed up all of them up to CD about 15 years ago.

Edited March 29, 2011 by monzamess

[SpaceDice2010]

You really may want to look at this -

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130492391671

 

He actually had them made and come with the sleeves. $25 for 25. Not bad at all. He was posting on the Commodore forum and those that bought them liked them. I don't believe that floppydisks.com gives you the sleeves.

[+wood_jl]

You really may want to look at this -

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 130492391671

 

He actually had them made and come with the sleeves. $25 for 25. Not bad at all. He was posting on the Commodore forum and those that bought them liked them. I don't believe that floppydisks.com gives you the sleeves.

 

This listing is what I was talking about (but could not find on Ebay) in message #3 above:

 

The ones I received from floppydisks.com are (of course) generic-looking black, and the sleeve says "Advance." I saw an Ebay listing (with picture) that looked like this and the claim was that they are newly-manufactured and not NOS - and I am talking about the Ebay listing, NOT a claim by floppydisks.com. I find it rather dubious that there would be any newly-manufactured ones. HA, I wonder if anybody is even making 1.44MB disks new, much less 360K.

 

 

Here is an actual pic of the ones that I received from floppydisks.com:

 

 

So they come with sleeves. They're also "free shipping" so they're cheaper, in the long run. I still have to wonder if they're new (although it probably doesn't matter) - to the point that someone would claim they're newly-manufactured. I'd like to know where, and when. But they're the same.

 

EDIT: Shipping is NO LONGER FREE on Floppydisks.com. It's $4.99 flat rate shipping for however many you buy. It was a few days ago. Looks like the Ebay ones are as good of a deal, unless you bought a lot.

 

Edited March 30, 2011 by wood_jl

[lumbee74]

I would like to get some 5.25" disk also. I have some older ones with games on them and find they hold up a lot better than people think. If kept care of can be very reliable.

[SpaceDice2010]

Wood,

 

The guy that I gave the ebay link to got them manufactured from the same manufacturer as floppydisks did it looks like. I know they were asking if the sleeves were blank and he said it would cost extra if he wanted that done. Looks like floppydisks and he both got them from the same place and chose the sleeves with avalanche on them. One thing about those disks and I am not sure if it matters -

 

"The disks are indeed single notch and black. Just to make sure no one gets annoyed that they're getting something other that what is described they are also "hub-ring-less". There was no option to have them made with hub rings. This fact didn't deter me as I ran "ringless" disks for years without issue, and to my recollection they were mostly just added as a "ours are better than yours" factor. They are theoretically there it help with slippage/warping. However, as I said - I've never had a problem with them. "

 

http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36997

 

Anyways, looks like both are from the same manufacturer.

[SpaceDice2010]

Someone got a goo deal on this -

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230599622183

[+orpheuswaking]

I emailed Athana but no reply, wonder if they are still in business at all? site looks very old...

[BillC]

I emailed Athana but no reply, wonder if they are still in business at all? site looks very old...

According to this page they are still under government supply contract for the next 2 years.

http://www.athana.com/html/gsa.html