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Balchy

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#25872 4-Sep-2008 16:12
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Anyone remember the 8" floppy? (insert witty suggestive remark here)

I found a whole stack of them at work the other day they hold an immense 1024 Bytes of data - awesome! I think I might frame it or put it on the wall as I doubt it will have a high resale value lol




For billions of years since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your Mum and Dads side, successfully looked after and passed onto you life.  What are the chances of that like?

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Bung
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  #162164 4-Sep-2008 16:17
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But think of the cost at the time. I've used an HP85 computer that had an add-on 8" floppy + 5MB harddrive unit that was approx $16,000 new.



Balchy

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  #162165 4-Sep-2008 16:19
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cheap at twice the price! Laughing




For billions of years since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your Mum and Dads side, successfully looked after and passed onto you life.  What are the chances of that like?

freitasm
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#162166 4-Sep-2008 16:20
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Yes, yes... Those ones. Preferred brands were Maxwell, Nashua and Verbatim. We had to use those at Uni, because of the old MP/M system we had for the students.




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Balchy

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  #162167 4-Sep-2008 16:22
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This one is a genuine IBM Deiskette 2D even has the patent number on the sticker, wanyone got any good ideas for what I can do with it?




For billions of years since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your Mum and Dads side, successfully looked after and passed onto you life.  What are the chances of that like?

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  #162188 4-Sep-2008 17:14
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TinyTim
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  #162369 5-Sep-2008 09:09
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Bung: But think of the cost at the time. I've used an HP85 computer that had an add-on 8" floppy + 5MB harddrive unit that was approx $16,000 new.

 

How big (physically) was that hard drive?

 

The first one I saw in the mid 80s would have had platters the size of a steering wheel. And it  I'm sure it wasn't a sealed unit.





 

Balchy

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  #162371 5-Sep-2008 09:12
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TinyTim:

Bung: But think of the cost at the time. I've used an HP85 computer that had an add-on 8" floppy + 5MB harddrive unit that was approx $16,000 new.


How big (physically) was that hard drive?


The first one I saw in the mid 80s would have had platters the size of a steering wheel. And it  I'm sure it wasn't a sealed unit.



Linked because my skills are somewhat lacking: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Floppy_Disk_Drive_8_inch.jpg




For billions of years since the outset of time, every single one of your ancestors survived, every single person on your Mum and Dads side, successfully looked after and passed onto you life.  What are the chances of that like?

 
 
 

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Bung
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  #162420 5-Sep-2008 11:20
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TinyTim:

Bung: But think of the cost at the time. I've used an HP85 computer that had an add-on 8" floppy + 5MB harddrive unit that was approx $16,000 new.

 

How big (physically) was that hard drive?

 

The first one I saw in the mid 80s would have had platters the size of a steering wheel. And it  I'm sure it wasn't a sealed unit.


It was a sealed Winchester Drive that was about the size of 2 5.25" CD drives stuck together (or about the size of Balchy's image). The HD was actually paired with a 5.25 floppy, the 8" floppy units were in another box that wasn't being used by the time I started.

raytaylor
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  #168929 4-Oct-2008 01:13
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Isnt that 5 and a quarter inch?




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old3eyes
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  #168945 4-Oct-2008 08:37
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Balchy: Anyone remember the 8" floppy? (insert witty suggestive remark here)

I found a whole stack of them at work the other day they hold an immense 1024 Bytes of data - awesome! I think I might frame it or put it on the wall as I doubt it will have a high resale value lol

I still have one around here at home with Opus brand on it..





Regards,

Old3eyes


grant_k
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  #168959 4-Oct-2008 09:17
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Balchy: Anyone remember the 8" floppy?
...
they hold an immense 1024 Bytes of data

I think you will find it was 1024 k Bytes of data.  This was the DS/DD standard, whereas the SSSD version held only 241kB.

grant_k
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  #168960 4-Oct-2008 09:24
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TinyTim: How big (physically) was that hard drive?

The first one I saw in the mid 80s would have had platters the size of a steering wheel. And it  I'm sure it wasn't a sealed unit.

 

Those were Removeable Hard Disk cartridges.  The ones I worked with were on a Wang VS system and it used Phoenix 70MB Removeable Hard Disk cartridges, about the diameter of a steering wheel as you say, and about as thick as 2 or 3 Auckland Phone Books stacked on top of each other.  The Phoenix cartridges were coloured blue IIRC, and I think that other brands of mainframe also used them apart from Wang.


TinyTim
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  #169229 6-Oct-2008 08:41
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grant_k:
TinyTim: How big (physically) was that hard drive?

The first one I saw in the mid 80s would have had platters the size of a steering wheel. And it  I'm sure it wasn't a sealed unit.

 

Those were Removeable Hard Disk cartridges.  The ones I worked with were on a Wang VS system and it used Phoenix 70MB Removeable Hard Disk cartridges, about the diameter of a steering wheel as you say, and about as thick as 2 or 3 Auckland Phone Books stacked on top of each other.  The Phoenix cartridges were coloured blue IIRC, and I think that other brands of mainframe also used them apart from Wang.



That would be it! It came from Tiwai aluminium smelter if I remember correctly.




 

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