When floppy was the future

Once upon a time I used to set up AMPEX 64 track tape recorders used to capture range and flight trial data. Some of the computers used to process this data used 8” single sided floppy discs.

If you’d told me that I would one day be able to buy a data storage device capable of holding an entire flight trial’s worth of data and that it would fit in that weird little pocket in my Levi’s for the at the supermarket, I’d have thought you mad. If you’d told me it would cost less than a large cod and chips, I’d have called the police.
 
Villan said:
Just Zip it...
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From Zip To Nought: The Rise And Fall Of Iomega

If you were anywhere near a computer in the mid-to-late 1990s, you almost certainly encountered a Zip drive. That distinctive purple peripheral, with its satisfying clunk as you slotted in a cartri…
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In the early days of our business, we used ZIP drives for back up. Brings back memories :)
 
Still remember the purple Iomega drive we had. Never really used it as it was a hand me down but it really confused me when it was called a "zip" drive and I had just learnt what WinZip was :D
 
Back in about 1989 I went to one of those Amiga Expo shows down in Earl's Court or somewhere, and I bought a big roll of floppy disk labels from one of the stands. I still have that roll with must be half of it left. Used for impromptu gift labels etc now of course.
 
nft_99 said:
Did Sony ever release a mini-disc for PC?
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It looks like it never really caught on but it was an option at one point however MD-Data and MiniDisc (Audio) discs weren't cross compatible. The cheaper Zip Drive seemed to basically kill if off.
LGR on YouTube has done a fair amount looking at old MiniDisc stuff:



 
CaptainRAVE said:
Weird to see how far we’ve come in our lifetime.
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Aye at one point you only ever saw a touchscreen on Star Trek

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mid_gen said:
One Christmas my only present was a PC upgrade....to a *high density* 3.5" floppy drive. Exciting times.
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Fond memories of putting a tape in the tape deck and listening to it screech as it loaded up Planetoid

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Don't you mean the screech as it got chewed up? :p.

Our first stand alone tape recorder was actually what my mum used for dictation transcribing practice while studying to be a medical secretary.

Trying to remember how many 3.5" floppies Ultima 8 came on, or was that the first in the series on CD?

I used to sell so many Zipp and Jazz drives, very popular. Pretty sure the disks had a decent margin, so they helped towards sales bonuses.
 
adidan said:
Fond memories of putting a tape in the tape deck and listening to it screech as it loaded up Planetoid

hiv2yb.gif
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I can still perfectly imitate the "blooop" "blorrrp" sounds of picking up the little spacedude and putting him down on the land.
 
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