BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks>:

But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes
from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with
an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs
and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical
physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices ?
floppy disks.

He used a variety of different floppy formats, it seems.

The differences in disk size and software needed to access the
Hawking material is typical of the early floppy disk era. "There
wasn't one system that dominated the market," Talboom explains.
"It was a bit of a wild west out there."

...

At first, the durable plastic of floppy disks, popular from the
1970s to the 1990s, may seem more secure than fragile manuscripts.
Paper rots, ink fades and runs. Synthetic materials can last much
longer ? that is, after all, why plastic pollution is such a
concern. But the digital information saved inside these rigid
cassettes is more vulnerable than you might think.

Yes, we know ...

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody
remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20251009-rescuing-knowledge-trapped-on-old-floppy-disks>:

But when the library received 113 boxes of papers and mementoes
from the office of physicist Stephen Hawking, it found itself with
an unusual challenge. Tucked alongside the letters, photographs
and thousands of pages relating to Hawking's work on theoretical
physics, were items now not commonly seen in modern offices ?
floppy disks.

He used a variety of different floppy formats, it seems.

The differences in disk size and software needed to access the
Hawking material is typical of the early floppy disk era. "There
wasn't one system that dominated the market," Talboom explains.
"It was a bit of a wild west out there."

...

At first, the durable plastic of floppy disks, popular from the
1970s to the 1990s, may seem more secure than fragile manuscripts.
Paper rots, ink fades and runs. Synthetic materials can last much
longer ? that is, after all, why plastic pollution is such a
concern. But the digital information saved inside these rigid
cassettes is more vulnerable than you might think.

Yes, we know ...

Have a look at the picture of different types of floppy disks: anybody remember the ones in the rectangular cases? I think Amstrad used
those. Why were they rectangular? The disks had to be round, after
all.

It says 'PCW' on the thing! geez, kids today...

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

BBC item on archivists at Cambridge University trying to preserve
information saved on floppy disks ...

Another article about the same group <https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/cambridge-university-rescues-data-from-old-floppy-disks>,
goes into some detail about their techniques. They don?t just stick
the disk in a drive: they have special tools for directly sampling the
magnetic waveform, to maximize the chance of getting a high-quality
data recovery.

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 10/12/25 5:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

Chuck Guzis, who passed away a few months ago, was a master at doing this
for decades.
Unfortunately, he had no apprentices so that knowledge died with him.

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org> wrote:

On 10/12/25 5:57 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:23:49 -0000 (UTC), I wrote:

Of course, they still have to decipher proprietary file formats, many
of them long extinct ...

Chuck Guzis, who passed away a few months ago, was a master at doing this
for decades.
Unfortunately, he had no apprentices so that knowledge died with him.

And no documentations? :(
--
"Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it." --Psalm 34:14. Need more good! Frak evil, sins, devil, satan, etc. Slammy weeky?
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- PyGate Linux v1.0
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)