ACML Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 My experience has been that as long as they were stored indoors (i.e. cool & dry), most name and no-name brands hold up pretty well. The exception was the blue label Verbatims. The pink label Verbatims are fine, just had some data loss issues on the blue label after even only 10-15 years. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I'd like to find a way to identify who made a particular diskette and when. There's got to be a way to correlate failures across different brands (at least the catastrophic binder failures). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam242 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 My old disks are mainly Fuji, some Memorex and a few Kodak. I have had zero problems with any of them 30 years on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I'd like to find a way to identify who made a particular diskette and when. There's got to be a way to correlate failures across different brands (at least the catastrophic binder failures). Send them to the C.S.I. team -- they can find out anything from the smallest of clues! -Larry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Send them to the C.S.I. team -- they can find out anything from the smallest of clues! -Larry Yes, yes they can. And all within an hour too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 This is a test I did not mean to perform. I've had a box of Atari floppies sitting here since I moved to Costa Rica 3 years ago. I recently opened it and it reeks of mildew and moisture. These are the brands of disks that still work (spin quietly, and don't shed oxide) and the ones that have become garbage (squeal loudly against the head, shed oxide, don't load). The good ones: Sony (these are amazing, they all glide like new) Maxell (also excellent) 3M BASF (not as quiet as the others) Precision/Xidex (only had 1 test sample, but it worked) Memorex (found 2 of them and they worked fine) Verbatim DataLife Plus (very quiet disks, obviously better construction than Datalife) The middle ground: Fuji (most worked) Nashua (they work, but they're noisy enough to make me nervous) The ones that failed: Kodak Polaroid TDK (I was shocked. I have a lot of them and they're all trash) ISC Scotch (also expected more from this one!) Elephant Sentinel Opus Quill Janus Verbatim Datalife (only one worked and it was one of my oldest pink ones. It seemed okay whereas all others were useless. I'm guessing the quality changed at some point) 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 I haven't checked mine for a few years. Possibly the majority brand of my collection is Memorex. I found them to be pretty reliable. I think I had one 10 pack of Fuji which I actually found to be of good quality. Verbatim I found to be OK too but don't have too many. Funny thing is in the modern day, I found Verbatim to be the best of the generic DVD-R. TDK I stuck with for a while but dumped them after I bought 2 lots which were just pathetic. Kodak I have bought as well and found to be good especially since they went under and went cheap on stock clearances. Though the thing with DVDs is there's only a few fab plants and most branded ones are outsourced and suppliers will often change. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 I wish I had some Memorex in the box to test. I'll go through it again. EDIT: I found 2 unformatted 1S2D Memorex disks. They both seem to format and work quietly. I'll add them to the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 My subjective view is this: - Good Brands (low failure rate): Sony Fuji Maxell JVC 3M Commodore (unbelievable, but true; e.g. the ones with an Amiga picture on them) - Not so good brands (high/er failure rate): BASF (no matter if red or yellow) Edixa (though not really a brand) Kodak (okayish with paper sleeve, high failure rate with thick cardboard sleeve) Nashua (most ones I bought from ebay were bad) Elephant (again, most ones I got via ebay were bad) no-Name disks (mostly those with white sleeves and "Mini Diskette" printed on them) Athana (unbelievable, since they still produce disks...) Alas, most good brand diskettes are really expensive nowadays. On ebay you pay the same (or even higher) prices as in the 80s - for disks that are 20 or 30 years old... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Larry Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Always a good thread... I had good luck with all "name brands." BASF were (audibly) noisy and some had tight jackets. 3M were superb. Ditto Maxell. My very favorite was Verbatim. I just this year opened a new box of the teflon-coated "Data Life Plus." Never cared for Atari brand. Poor polish. No reinforced hub ring which can occasionally lead to difficulty centering on the drive spindle. Elephant -- no way! -Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low.blow Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 In the early eighties, my friend's dad worked at a company called mag-media that made floppy disks. I don't think they sold their own brand, but they made disks for several companies. I don't recall the names(I want to say verbatim was one, but don't quote me), but no name cheapo brands came off the same production line that a couple of the big name brands did. Just different art/packaging. I would guess the big name brands had several of these companies producing disks for them. Quality was probably more of an issue of which of these contract manufacturers made the disks rather than the branding. Although some of the bigger names may have had there own production lines with tighter control of quality... He used to give me garbage bags full of "reject" floppies, and most of them worked fine! I wonder if I had been smart enough to keep my old stuff if any of those reject disks would still work.I think most of the rejects just didn't seal at the folds properly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Always a good thread... I had good luck with all "name brands." BASF were (audibly) noisy and some had tight jackets. 3M were superb. Ditto Maxell. My very favorite was Verbatim. I just this year opened a new box of the teflon-coated "Data Life Plus." Thanks for reminding me. I had a box of DataLifePlus in that box and they all work and run quietly. They're definitely better disks than the standard Datalife. In the early eighties, my friend's dad worked at a company called mag-media that made floppy disks. I don't think they sold their own brand, but they made disks for several companies. I don't recall the names(I want to say verbatim was one, but don't quote me), but no name cheapo brands came off the same production line that a couple of the big name brands did. Just different art/packaging. I would guess the big name brands had several of these companies producing disks for them. Quality was probably more of an issue of which of these contract manufacturers made the disks rather than the branding. Although some of the bigger names may have had there own production lines with tighter control of quality... He used to give me garbage bags full of "reject" floppies, and most of them worked fine! I wonder if I had been smart enough to keep my old stuff if any of those reject disks would still work.I think most of the rejects just didn't seal at the folds properly... I wonder how many actual plants there were in the day. The difference in longevity all comes down to the binder (oxide glue) and coating used on the surface. The worst I've ever seen was Wabash. A friend of mine used to buy them at a local store and they ALL failed within 10 years. You could take the oxide off with a fingernail. I wish I had one because it would be interesting to compare the construction of them with other brands. Regarding the rejects, you would think that the surface of the diskettes would be checked before they went into jackets. So maybe the problems were mostly cosmetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low.blow Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Ya, i think the rejects were mostly cosmetic, but there were definitely some bad discs in there as well. Although i wonder if maybe the discs were ok, but just were binding up in the sleeve or something and not turning? I had so many, i dont think i ever bothered with the bad ones... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Ya, i think the rejects were mostly cosmetic, but there were definitely some bad discs in there as well. Although i wonder if maybe the discs were ok, but just were binding up in the sleeve or something and not turning? I had so many, i dont think i ever bothered with the bad ones... You were lucky. Most of us were trying to save up for another box! You probably could have made some $$$ on 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 These guys still make new media: http://www.athana.com/html/diskette.html -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Also these guys: http://floppydisk.com/5point25.htm -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 Went through more of my sealed boxes of disks (I based the earlier post on my used software disks). All sealed Blue-box Datalife (Made in Mexico) disks are hosed. A Pink box of Datalifes (No origin given) is fine. New Maroon TDK's have a milky look to the surface and are bad. The other sealed disks I have are Kodak's in card-stock sleeves from Mexico (instead of the earlier Tyvek sleeves). They mostly seem to work but don't glide as quiet as the better disks. The surface is probably losing its polish. Boy it hurts to throw out whole boxes of unused disks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillC Posted May 13, 2016 Share Posted May 13, 2016 I hope you are cleaning the head after each test, bad coating from one disc could damage any tested afterwards otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ripdubski Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I used a ton of Dyson and TDK floppies long time ago. Never had issues with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I wish I had some Memorex in the box to test. I'll go through it again. EDIT: I found 2 unformatted 1S2D Memorex disks. They both seem to format and work quietly. I'll add them to the list. Don't get too excited. Memorex was a special of the week type product if memory serves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fujidude Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I always liked Verbatim, TDK and Maxel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Lots of good info here. By the way, anyone know the real name of those white floppy sized cards that came in the FD drives when they were new. Those safety cards that were inserted in the drives to protect the heads during transport? also maybe where to get some? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I hope you are cleaning the head after each test, bad coating from one disc could damage any tested afterwards otherwise. Oh yeah, I've gone through a stack of Q-tips trying to get stuff copied off some of these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I used a ton of Dyson and TDK floppies long time ago. Never had issues with them. I don't think they're bad, it's just that some disks can survive in worse conditions than others. Those are the disks that will probably last longest overall. Lots of good info here. By the way, anyone know the real name of those white floppy sized cards that came in the FD drives when they were new. Those safety cards that were inserted in the drives to protect the heads during transport? also maybe where to get some? I just put a disk in sideways. Many of the cardboard disks had a special shape to hold the head carriage back as well (this would make them specific to the drive). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwampFox56 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 (edited) Always been a HUGE fan of "Elephant Memory System". In fact, because of this topic, I dug out a case of some brand new Elephant 5 1/4" floppy diskettes (just to see if I had any around still) and I just found out that they've been sitting next to my jar of neodymian magnets that I've pulled out of dead harddrives. Just tested a couple using one of my better PC clones and they're still going strong. Impressive... especially for floppy disks. Still I wouldn't dare store anything sensitive on these disks now that they've been sitting next to some pretty strong magnets... EDIT:I found this gem of a sticker when I bought a Commodore lot probably... 4-5 years ago now? Edited May 14, 2016 by SwampFox56 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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