Finally, Death of the 3.5 inch floppy disk

[Don McKenzie]

Sony to discontinue 3.5 inch floppy disk
April 24, 11:34 PMJapan Headlines ExaminerJoshua Williams

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a
major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the
company helped to pioneer.

According to Sony, they introduced the 3.5 inch floppy disk size to the
world in 1981, and began sales within Japan in 1983. Sony had shipped
approximately 47 million disks within the country at its peak around the
year 2000, but that number had fallen to around 8.5 million by 2009,
Sankei News reported.

http://www.examiner.com/x-16352-Japan-Headlines-Examiner~y2010m4d24-Sony-to-discontinue-35-inch-floppy-disk-in-Japan

Cheers Don...



--
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[Don McKenzie]

larwe wrote:

On Apr 26, 4:02 pm, Don McKenzie <5...@2.5A> wrote:

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a

Hardly "death of the 3.5 inch floppy disk" to announce that one vendor
will stop making them. Even 5.25" DSDD media and some 8" formats are
still in production, as well as 3" flippies.

Hi Lewin,

Considering Sony produced the first 3.5" floppies, and currently hold
70% of the world market, and many other manufacturers have pulled the
plug, I would say death is very close to describing what the usage will
be in 2011.

Some people still go to drive-in cinemas, use Betamax video format,
rotary dial phones, and Edison wax cylinders, so these aren't dead either.

Only thing that is really dead, are people that fall off the perch.


Cheers Don...


--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
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These products will reduce in price by 5% every month:
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[Jon]

"Don McKenzie" <5V@2.5A> wrote in message
news:83mgi7Fu8vU1@mid.individual.net...

Hi Lewin,

Considering Sony produced the first 3.5" floppies, and currently hold 70%
of the world market, and many other manufacturers have pulled the plug, I
would say death is very close to describing what the usage will be in
2011.

Some people still go to drive-in cinemas, use Betamax video format, rotary
dial phones, and Edison wax cylinders, so these aren't dead either.

Only thing that is really dead, are people that fall off the perch.


Cheers Don...

They still charge us a 'service fee' on the phone bill if we opt for touch
tone service.






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[Don McKenzie]

Jon wrote:

"Don McKenzie" <5V@2.5A> wrote in message
news:83mgi7Fu8vU1@mid.individual.net...
Hi Lewin,

Considering Sony produced the first 3.5" floppies, and currently hold 70%
of the world market, and many other manufacturers have pulled the plug, I
would say death is very close to describing what the usage will be in
2011.

Some people still go to drive-in cinemas, use Betamax video format, rotary
dial phones, and Edison wax cylinders, so these aren't dead either.

Only thing that is really dead, are people that fall off the perch.


Cheers Don...


They still charge us a 'service fee' on the phone bill if we opt for touch
tone service.

Just a thought.
How many kids 15 or under would know what a rotary dial is, or ever used
one?

Then, how many kids 15 or under, have ever written, or read a file
to/from a 3.5" floppy?.

Not a lot I would think.
I can't remember when I last used a floppy, must be many years. Would
have been to prop up a short leg on a table.

Footnote **
I laugh when the little ones of today, have to look at the back of your
camera, after you take a picture. What did we do before they put the
screen there?

Cheers Don...




--
Don McKenzie

Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
E-Mail Contact Page: http://www.dontronics.com/email
Web Camera Page: http://www.dontronics.com/webcam
No More Damn Spam: http://www.dontronics.com/spam

These products will reduce in price by 5% every month:
http://www.dontronics-shop.com/minus-5-every-month.html

 

[larwe]

On Apr 26, 4:02 pm, Don McKenzie <5...@2.5A> wrote:

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a

Hardly "death of the 3.5 inch floppy disk" to announce that one vendor
will stop making them. Even 5.25" DSDD media and some 8" formats are
still in production, as well as 3" flippies.

 

[Mr.T]

"Don McKenzie" <5V@2.5A> wrote in message
news:83mihlFa06U1@mid.individual.net...

Footnote **
I laugh when the little ones of today, have to look at the back of your
camera, after you take a picture. What did we do before they put the
screen there?

Most people waited 3 months to get their film processed before they found
out he photo was no good!
Digital camera's have at least seen a rise in people thinking about what
they have shot. Unfortunately camera phones have seen a fall in the quality
of many of those "photo's".

MrT.

 

[Mr.T]

"Don McKenzie" <5V@2.5A> wrote in message
news:83m9q8FlphU1@mid.individual.net...

Sony to discontinue 3.5 inch floppy disk
April 24, 11:34 PMJapan Headlines ExaminerJoshua Williams

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a
major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the
company helped to pioneer.

According to Sony, they introduced the 3.5 inch floppy disk size to the
world in 1981, and began sales within Japan in 1983. Sony had shipped
approximately 47 million disks within the country at its peak around the
year 2000, but that number had fallen to around 8.5 million by 2009,
Sankei News reported.

WOW, still 8.5 million sales in 2009 from one company alone! So far from
dead then.

MrT.

 

[John Tserkezis]

Don McKenzie wrote:

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a
major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the
company helped to pioneer.

Someone forgot to tell microsoft.

The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your
only option.

Short of creating a magical alternate boot install CD/DVD for every new
model of box we get. Not looking forward to it.

 

[larwe]

On Apr 26, 5:57 pm, Don McKenzie <5...@2.5A> wrote:

Considering Sony produced the first 3.5" floppies, and currently hold
70% of the world market, and many other manufacturers have pulled the
plug, I would say death is very close to describing what the usage will
be in 2011.

I'm sure I don't need to start hoarding them the way I hoard DSDD
5.25" and SSSD soft-sectored 8" media though

Some people still go to drive-in cinemas, use Betamax video format,
rotary dial phones, and Edison wax cylinders, so these aren't dead either..

You've been peeking in my windows again! Except that I don't have a
landline. But anyway - I think the only item you have on that list
that isn't in active production is the drive-in theater, so you're
right, they're not dead.

Quiz: Which music format showed the greater percentage sales growth in
2009; was it (a) Compact Disk - Digital Audio, or (b) stereo vinyl 33
1/3rpm LP?

 

[Mr.T]

"larwe" <zwsdotcom@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:689e0ac7-8aff-4af7-aa33-ed48e0c9b24a@k36g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...

Quiz: Which music format showed the greater percentage sales growth in
2009; was it (a) Compact Disk - Digital Audio, or (b) stereo vinyl 33
1/3rpm LP?

(c) Digital music downloads.
(d) Music DVD's


Vinyl rose from a *VERY* small base, and CD's fell due to digital downloads
and DVD's.

Once again proving that unqualified statistics prove nothing at all!

MrT.

 

[Royston Vasey]

"Mr.T" <MrT@home> wrote in message
news:4bd61f38$0$5591$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...

"Don McKenzie" <5V@2.5A> wrote in message
news:83mihlFa06U1@mid.individual.net...
Footnote **
I laugh when the little ones of today, have to look at the back of your
camera, after you take a picture. What did we do before they put the
screen there?

Most people waited 3 months to get their film processed before they found
out he photo was no good!
Digital camera's have at least seen a rise in people thinking about what
they have shot. Unfortunately camera phones have seen a fall in the
quality
of many of those "photo's".

MrT.

Yeah, unless it was steam, that one of Lara was quite blurry.

 

[Mr.T]

"larwe" <zwsdotcom@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e553ee20-3038-472f-b8f3-5414db5bbf51@z33g2000vbb.googlegroups.com...

I explicitly did not include digital downloads for obvious reasons.

Yes you appeared to be making an invalid point.

I consider all physical media formats equally obsolete, so obviously it
doesn't make sense to measure buggy whip sales against gasoline sales.

How silly, even digital downloads must end up on some "physical media
format", even if it's a hard drive.
And IF you consider vinyl to be analogous to buggy whips, why the silly quiz
in the first place?

BTW, I refuse to believe the music DVD one - I've never even SEEN a
music DVD. It's like SACD; it's an acronym, there were/are devices
that can play them, but they're a mythical unicorn format.

Now that's *really* silly. I have about a hundred, and there are *many*
thousands currently available.

MrT.

 

[Jon]

"Stuart Longland" <redhatter@gentoo.org> wrote in message
news:b6306cf1-8271-4dc7-90e6-c8cecb52edb4@k33g2000prk.googlegroups.com...

Someone forgot to tell microsoft.

The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your
only option.

Short of creating a magical alternate boot install CD/DVD for every new
model of box we get. Not looking forward to it.

Actually, rumour has it, this is not the case in the two latest
revisions of their OS. I say rumour as I have not ever tried
installing one of these latest creations -- the one Windows Vista
machine I used had it preloaded, and I've never touched Windows 7.

But yes, you make a valid point ... and I shall make a note to stock
up on 3.5" floppy disks while they're easily available, as some of the
ones I have at home are slowly decaying with age.

Server 2003 needs the floppy drive to load SCSI and SAS drivers, there
is no option to read from a USB device.

I'll soon be installing Server 2008 and we'll see if the floppy is still
needed.



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[Stuart Longland]

On Apr 27, 10:56 am, John Tserkezis
<j...@techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> wrote:

Don McKenzie wrote:
Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a
major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the
company helped to pioneer.

 Someone forgot to tell microsoft.

 The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:.  And that's your
only option.

 Short of creating a magical alternate boot install CD/DVD for every new
model of box we get.  Not looking forward to it.

Actually, rumour has it, this is not the case in the two latest
revisions of their OS. I say rumour as I have not ever tried
installing one of these latest creations -- the one Windows Vista
machine I used had it preloaded, and I've never touched Windows 7.

But yes, you make a valid point ... and I shall make a note to stock
up on 3.5" floppy disks while they're easily available, as some of the
ones I have at home are slowly decaying with age.

 

[larwe]

On Apr 26, 10:06 pm, "Mr.T" <MrT@home> wrote:

Quiz: Which music format showed the greater percentage sales growth in
2009; was it (a) Compact Disk - Digital Audio, or (b) stereo vinyl 33

(c) Digital music downloads.
(d) Music DVD's

Vinyl rose from a *VERY* small base, and CD's fell due to digital downloads
and DVD's.

I explicitly did not include digital downloads for obvious reasons. I
consider all physical media formats equally obsolete, so obviously it
doesn't make sense to measure buggy whip sales against gasoline sales.

BTW, I refuse to believe the music DVD one - I've never even SEEN a
music DVD. It's like SACD; it's an acronym, there were/are devices
that can play them, but they're a mythical unicorn format.

 

[John Tserkezis]

Stuart Longland wrote:

The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your
only option.
Short of creating a magical alternate boot install CD/DVD for every new
model of box we get. Not looking forward to it.

Actually, rumour has it, this is not the case in the two latest
revisions of their OS. I say rumour as I have not ever tried
installing one of these latest creations -- the one Windows Vista
machine I used had it preloaded, and I've never touched Windows 7.

No idea about Vista, but have installed Win7 several times so far, and
yes, your only option is F6 to look at drive A:.

But yes, you make a valid point ... and I shall make a note to stock
up on 3.5" floppy disks while they're easily available, as some of the
ones I have at home are slowly decaying with age.

Indeed. I've never had much luck with the longevity of 3.5" disks.
They simply do not last. And, owning to the fact we don't use them too
often, (we get boxs with newfanged interfaces when we're least expecting
it) we grab the first disk that's been kicking around in cabinet here.
After we go through several bad ones, we throw them out to find there
are none left.

As I said, we can create a custom boot disk, this is very doable, but
we could have that box up and running in several minutes verses lots more.

Contrary to popular belief we DO have more important things to do than
screw around with installs that don't like to play with the other children.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:56:18 +1000, the renowned John Tserkezis
<jt@techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> wrote:

Don McKenzie wrote:

Sony announced on April 23rd that they will be discontinuing sales of
the classic 3.5 inch floppy disk in Japan in 2011. The news marks a
major end to a nearly three decade history of the disk type that the
company helped to pioneer.

Someone forgot to tell microsoft.

The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your
only option.

My latest machine lacks floppy support on the motherboard (Asus P6T
WS). They suggest using a USB flash drive or USB floppy for RAID
drivers.

Short of creating a magical alternate boot install CD/DVD for every new
model of box we get. Not looking forward to it.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

 

[John Tserkezis]

Didi wrote:

But when I tried to write to some of them they all failed miserably,
even the newest ones. Non-formattable, complete scrap. And some of
them had been written just once or twice, so my guess is that even
unused new disks will age and become unusable within max. 10 years.
As if the brownish magnetic stuff they are covered with dries and
hardens
over the years and the tiny magnets inside remain stuck forever .

Now that you mention it, my experience mimics that too. Long term
storage appears to be very much pot luck, but much longer than what I
would have though reasonable for floppy media.

Writes on the other hand, pretty much all long term age disks proved
failure prone in this regard.

 

[John Tserkezis]

Spehro Pefhany wrote:

The only way to load device drivers (drive interfaces, SCSI drivers
etc) when installing windows is via the drive at A:. And that's your
only option.

My latest machine lacks floppy support on the motherboard (Asus P6T
WS). They suggest using a USB flash drive or USB floppy for RAID
drivers.

That's nice, but USB flash drives won't ever map to A: or B:. This is
done intentionally, and it makes perfect sense. But it doesn't help the
fact that Windows will not look at *any* other drive than A:.

So, that leaves USB interfaced FDDs, or, as already suggested, creating
an alternative boot disk with the drivers included.

 

[Didi]

On Apr 27, 2:07 pm, John Tserkezis
<j...@techniciansyndrome.org.invalid> wrote:

....
But yes, you make a valid point ... and I shall make a note to stock
up on 3.5" floppy disks while they're easily available, as some of the
ones I have at home are slowly decaying with age.

 Indeed.  I've never had much luck with the longevity of 3.5" disks.
They simply do not last. ....

Stocking a lot is unlikely to help. Not so long ago I did a final
transfer
of data I had on floppies from the early 90-s. They were all readable
and
in good health (some were even from the late 80-s), I moved them to
images on newer media (HDD, which I currently backup on DVDs) all
right.

But when I tried to write to some of them they all failed miserably,
even the newest ones. Non-formattable, complete scrap. And some of
them had been written just once or twice, so my guess is that even
unused new disks will age and become unusable within max. 10 years.
As if the brownish magnetic stuff they are covered with dries and
hardens
over the years and the tiny magnets inside remain stuck forever .

Dimiter

------------------------------------------------------
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http://www.tgi-sci.com
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