Question about floppy disks

[Amiga4k]

How many of you still use floppy disks? How many use the older 880k Amiga DSDD disks?
The reason I asked it that I posted an item in the classified section, and had over 40 reads on the subject. With that many reads, I would have thought there would be some interest.
Am I missing something in the "reads"?

[justthatgood]

Really the only reason why I would use DD disks would be to use in my Apple IIGS.  I guess for other reasons if I'm using them in the Amiga.  That's why I'm so glad I can use High Density disks.

[Oliver]

I still use 880k floppies with my miggies.  I use them for rarely played games, or system disks.  I also don't have my 1200 networked, so they get used for the odd transfer as well.  I sometimes read ebay adds out of curiosity, with no intention to buy.  Also, if the specifics of the product/sale do not match my requirements, the add will have been read with no bid.  If it's an online auction you're talking about, then there may also be people waiting before bidding.

[InTheSand]

I still use floppies too - for a few older games and demos that won't install to HD, or for use on my A1000 when I sometimes boot that up.

I also make use of them for small file transfers - it helps that my PC has a Catweasel in it, so it's easy to use DD disks as a transfer mechanism.

Anything of any importance is already backed up on to CD or DVD though for archiving purposes.

 - Ali

[TjLaZer]

I use them for my Amiga and Atari ST series of computers all the time!

[steve30]

Every single one of my Amiga games in on DD floppies. I even bought a pack of 50 brand new dd floppies the other day. The reason I don't use HD is because I don't have an HD floppy drive so it's more reliable to use proper 880k DDs.

I also still use HD floppies in my PC. They are great for transfering small files. I don't know why most people seem against using them. I have Loads of ICT coursework, and a few bits of electronics coursework, as word and publisher files, and there's still plenty of room left.

[amigagr]

i have about 1500 dd and hd disks of amiga stuff, so i don't see a reason not to use them if there's a need for this. in dayly use, i use floppys for transfer small files updates from aminet as my amigas are not networked yet, a problem i hope to solve in the near future. for games i prefer to use the fmsdisk.device solution mounting dd disks from hardfiles, that's all :-)
by the way, is the hd floppy drive of the a3000 working in the a1200? does anyone here tryed this?

[Amiga4k]

My apologies to all I did not mention this sale was NOT on Ebay, as I do value my reputation. I have heard the horror stories about faluty Amiga goods on Ebay. Not whitewashing the whole system, but I have sold literally $1000's in Amiga and CBM gear over the past decade, and I have only used E-bay once. That item did not sell. Will probably part out the A4000 Toaster (new software) and the DKB3128 (128 meg loaded) after I get moved to FL.

[Zero]

I still use them.
In fact I bought some last year form ebay.
They were new and sealed, £8.99 for 50, I think.

Although I am begining to use HD floppys more now, as I have an Amiga 4000/40.

 :-D

[justthatgood]

Well the whole eBay scene was good, but too many people got greedy.  Sometimes greed makes people do stupid stuff and it ruins it for everyone.  I'm surprised that eBay hasn't shutdown the Computer section all together.

[motorollin]

justthatgood wrote:
I'm surprised that eBay hasn't shutdown the Computer section all together.

Why would they do that? That's probably where they make most of their money.

--
moto

[Hyperspeed]

Someone mentioned on another thread that WinXP won't allow you to format a Double Density/720k and since they only sell High Density in shops I'm wondering if re-using the 20yr old stuff is safe.

Don't the magnetic surfaces degrade?

I kinda like the vanilla Amiga branded Maxell disks that came in the A1200 packs.

[amigagr]

yes that's truth i wrote it once too, and i discover day by day that the old dd disks falling apart.. but the new hd floppys of today they are not good and dropping down dead quickly too...

[justthatgood]

Yeah I know Windows XP is terrible when it comes to 720K disks, that's why you have to use something like Linux or OpenDOS...  Yeah the the bit rot will get you all the time. It's even worse with the 5 1/4 disk.  I've had to throw out a lot of Apple II and Atari disk for my 1050 drive.

[InTheSand]

Hi,

This comes up a lot - Windows XP will allow you to format a 720Kb disk, just not from the formatting GUI.

To do it, open a command prompt (a.k.a DOS prompt) and type the following:
format a: /t:80 /n:9

Another XP-based program that might be of interest regarding all sorts of floppy formats is OmniFlop, which will allow your PC's disk controller to read/write a multitude of disks (including Atari ST, various CP/Ms, Sinclair, Acorn/BBC, etc). It won't read/write Amiga disks due to PC disk controller hardware (you'll need a Catweasel for that) but it's still very useful and it's free.

 - Ali