RFI: Do people in the developing world (or anywhere else) still use floppy disks?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I have about 200 3.5" floppies under my desk. I have no use for them and I need to get rid of them. They all work although some will require formatting.

Question is, does anyone still use them, anywhere? Or alternatively, are they recyclable?

it seems a shame just to chuck them in the bin.

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

along with CDs, VHS tapes, cassettes etc. they should be rounded up, painted or coated in some way and used to form giant exciting models of dinosaurs around the world.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

I still have about six years and hundreds of pages worth of reviews etc, plus buttloads of other documents, on an unused, old and infirm PC that I don't think could be retrieved any way except via floppy disk. So, uh, I guess so

― Hell Hath No Furry (DJ Mencap), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

I still get some editorial content for the Pig Book on floppy each issue. Someday soon, back at the main office, they'll get that computer online and they'll just email me the files.

― Tuesdays With Morimoto (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:12 (eighteen years ago)

hmmmmm.

doesn't sound too hopeful so far....

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

PC World have just announced they're going to stop selling them, right?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

that's true. The exact words of the guy in my friendly local pooter store when I asked him the above question.

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

nobody uses them in my workplace. they are recyclable, as metal and plastic, also the magnetic disk can be recycled i think.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:41 (eighteen years ago)

this isn't especially helpful either, but it is fun:

http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2006/10/diskette_notepa.html

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:45 (eighteen years ago)

We have an office digicam that is so old it saves to floppies - we can usually only get, at most, 20 or so pics on a disc. My computer is the only one in the whole BUILDING (this includes our neighbors - attorney's office and hair salon) with a floppy drive.

― blotter Budweiser Hackeysadk (nickalicious), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 15:50 (eighteen years ago)

finally found a place in New Southgate which recycles 'em.

― New Mark H (New MarkH), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

Always thought they were good for boot disks.

also, good for crafty projecs:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Starship-Enterprise-Out-of-a-Floppy-Disk

― kingfishy (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

i never got a floppy drive with my new PC, i was slightly upset -
i still have a hefty amount of programs and files stored away on floppy.

I have on my desk today a 5 1/4 inch floppy that I found in our store room. It has no labels at all on it and looks brand new! I'm going to do it justice and make it into a clock.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:32 (eighteen years ago)

If you want to install Windows XP on to a top-end machine, you usually need a floppy disk to do it - a top-end machine will probably need a special disk controller driver, and the Windows installer refuses to read any additional low-level drivers off anything other than a floppy disk.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

how top-end are we talking?

― vita susicivus (blueski), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:38 (eighteen years ago)

Wait a few years and sell them off to hipsters on ebay

― is anyone anticipating the new Baaderonixx? (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:47 (eighteen years ago)

in a similar vein to the notepads:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=5336286

i still have an 8" disk or two floating around. and about 3 feet of 3.5" floppies in various piles littering my flat (mainly amiga format cover disks) and i do carry one or two around with me still, just in case.

― Koogy Bloogies (koogs), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

I had to buy a USB floppy drive to install Windows 2003 on this:

http://www.linplus.de/linplus_de_1_0_0/images/uploads/240x190/10.png

because the SCSI drivers aren't in Windows and you can't change CDs in the middle of an install, and the machine doesn't have a floppy drive.

― A knife to his wife Eve and his credibility. (goodbra), Tuesday, 6 February 2007 17:26 (eighteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.