Magnetic Tape Storage Technology: usage, history, and future outlook

Re:Magnetic Tape Storage Technology: usage, history, and fut... by netbioserror on Sunday June 29, 2025 @02:38PM (#44415297)

Given the gains in tape and hard disk densities in recent years, why can't we revisit floppy disks as a potential long-term archival media for the future? Are they particularly volatile? Would the design of the physical disk case be able to solve for such issues?

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Re:Magnetic Tape Storage Technology: usage, history, and fut... by timewizard on Sunday June 29, 2025 @03:07PM (#44415483)

Everytime I see a Zip Drive in an old movie I get a serious pang of nostalgia. I wanted one of these so bad, yet, by the time I could afford it, they were no longer practical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip_drive

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Re:Magnetic Tape Storage Technology: usage, history, and fut... by mystified5016 on Sunday June 29, 2025 @04:26PM (#44416141)

Floppies are, in fact, volatile. They suffer from bit rot like CDs, and (AIUI) the magnetic flux is weaker and more prone to disappearing over time.

Plus, all floppy drives are now multiple decades old.

A new, modern removable magnetic disc format will certainly perform orders of magnitude better, but not anywhere close to to any other modern format in speed, density, or short-to-medium term stability.

We could make fantastic floppy drives today, but there is simply no economic reason to spend a billion dollars in R&D on it.

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