BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks>:

But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes
from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with
an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs
and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical
physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices ?
floppy disks.

He used a variety of different floppy formats, it seems.

The differences in disk size and software needed to access the
Hawking material is typical of the early floppy disk era. "There
wasn't one system that dominated the market," Talboom explains.
"It was a bit of a wild west out there."

...

At first, the durable plastic of floppy disks, popular from the
1970s to the 1990s, may seem more secure than fragile manuscripts.
Paper rots, ink fades and runs. Synthetic materials can last much
longer ? that is, after all, why plastic pollution is such a
concern. But the digital information saved inside these rigid
cassettes is more vulnerable than you might think.

Yes, we know ...

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody
remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks>:

But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes
from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with
an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs
and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical
physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices ?
floppy disks.

He used a variety of different floppy formats, it seems.

The differences in disk size and software needed to access the
Hawking material is typical of the early floppy disk era. "There
wasn't one system that dominated the market," Talboom explains.
"It was a bit of a wild west out there."

...

At first, the durable plastic of floppy disks, popular from the
1970s to the 1990s, may seem more secure than fragile manuscripts.
Paper rots, ink fades and runs. Synthetic materials can last much
longer ? that is, after all, why plastic pollution is such a
concern. But the digital information saved inside these rigid
cassettes is more vulnerable than you might think.

Yes, we know ...

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

It says 'PCW' on the thing! geez, kids today...

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks ...

Another article about the same group <https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/cambridge-university-rescues-data-from-old-floppy-disks>,
goes into some detail about their techniques. They don?t just stick
the disk in a drive: they have special tools for directly sampling the
magnetic waveform, to maximize the chance of getting a high-quality
data recovery.

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 10/12/25 5:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

Chuck Guzis, who passed away a few months ago, was a master at doing this
for decades.
Unfortunately, he had no apprentices so that knowledge died with him.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> wrote:

On 10/12/25 5:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

Chuck Guzis, who passed away a few months ago, was a master at doing this
for decades.
Unfortunately, he had no apprentices so that knowledge died with him.

And no documentations? :(
--
"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." --Psalm 34:14. Need more good! Frak evil, sins, devil, satan, etc. Slammy weeky?
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
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--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <10chiqc$1sivq$1@dont-email.me>,
Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

they have special tools for directly sampling the magnetic waveform, to >maximize the chance of getting a high-quality data recovery.

I'm trying to get into this myself! I bought a GreaseWeazle[1], a used
5.25" floppy, and a power supply. I still need to get the drive cable,
but then I should be able to read some of these disks. I also need an
internal 3.5" drive--keeping an eye out. (I have a USB 3.5" drive that
can read PC disks.)

A buddy of mine picks up 5.25" floppies from estate sales and flea
markets. Who knows what we might find?

[1] https://decromancer.ca/greaseweazle/

--
Brian "Beej Jorgensen" Hall | beej@beej.us

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

I have a 3" floppy drive somewhere. Amstrad used those as they got a good
deal from the drive manufacturer, and they always liked to cut costs.

This has a picture of the insides - apart from a spring, largely empty space
in the rectangular bit. I'm not sure what the spring is doing: https://bytecellar.com/2019/02/25/a-look-at-the-short-lived-3-inch-compact-floppy-disk/

Theo

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks
<https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks>:

But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes
from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with
an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs
and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical
physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices ?
floppy disks.

He used a variety of different floppy formats, it seems.

The differences in disk size and software needed to access the
Hawking material is typical of the early floppy disk era. "There
wasn't one system that dominated the market," Talboom explains.
"It was a bit of a wild west out there."

...

At first, the durable plastic of floppy disks, popular from the
1970s to the 1990s, may seem more secure than fragile manuscripts.
Paper rots, ink fades and runs. Synthetic materials can last much
longer ? that is, after all, why plastic pollution is such a
concern. But the digital information saved inside these rigid
cassettes is more vulnerable than you might think.

Yes, we know ...

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

i've not ever seen those before but i have used 8 inch, 5&1/4 inch
and 3&1/2 floppies. and also one of those (Iomega i think it was?)
zip drives that failed shortly after i got it and since i was using
it as a backup for some pictures those were also lost. i'd given a
copy of those files to a relative on a cd but they never have found
it so i could try to get those files back.

i'd lost my original copies when i an old hard drive crashed but
i had done a recovery from it and had thousands of files and various
chunks of files to wade through and eventually i got most of what i
wanted and then discarded the rest of it. now of course i regret
doing that because there are better tools now and perhaps i could
have gotten more recovered. however, i probably also saved myself
many hours by having just gotten rid of it all when i did. :)


songbird

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 19 Oct 2025 10:07:47 +0100 (BST), Theo wrote:

This has a picture of the insides - apart from a spring, largely
empty space in the rectangular bit. I'm not sure what the spring is
doing: https://bytecellar.com/2019/02/25/a-look-at-the-short-lived-3-inch-compact-floppy-disk/

I see some in the comments claiming those cases were even tougher than
Sony?s 3«-inch format.

Did the extra part stick out when the disk was in the drive? Perhaps
it was to provide a handhold for removing the disk, or something.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)