braner@batcomputer.UUCP (04/30/87)
[] I've been using 3.5" diskettes for about a year now. When I got my ST, I bought a bunch of BASF brand diskettes 'cause they were cheap. They are rated DSDD and "guaranteed for life". I have had about 8 or 9 of them go bad on me since. They seem to go bad quite predictably, after about 2 months of almost-daily light use. Something physically breaks down, since reformatting them fails. I have refrained from flaming BASF on the net till now, but this is ridiculous! I have used SONY diskettes a lot too, and _not_one_ has given me problems yet. Moral: DON'T USE BASF 3.5" DSDD DISKETTES! - Moshe Braner PS: Just yesterday I called a mail-order place that advertises Sony diskettes for a good price. They told me they were out of Sony, but have BASF. They never mentioned BASF in their ad. Do you smell something fishy?
jeff@jplpub1.UUCP (04/30/87)
In article <843@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> braner@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu.UUCP (braner) writes: >given me problems yet. Moral: DON'T USE BASF 3.5" DSDD DISKETTES! > >PS: Just yesterday I called a mail-order place that advertises Sony diskettes >for a good price. They told me they were out of Sony, but have BASF. They >never mentioned BASF in their ad. Do you smell something fishy? "Fishy", as in BAIT and switch? Yes! Who are these people? "out of Sony", meaning they don't want to send someone back to Tokyo to pick up more? They don't have a distributor? Isn't there a mail order association to report this company to? What a bunch of nonsense! They don't want to sell Sony at that price, or want to get rid of the BASF junk! On the other hand, I'd think that a company that's been in the magnetic media business as long as BASF would want to rectify any problems with their product... There might be some temporary QC problems... Jeff Skaletsky Jet Propulsion Laboratory System Engineering Group Computing and Communication Network Support Services Try these: jeff@jplpub1.JPL.NASA.GOV seismo!cit-vax!elroy!jplpub1!jeff elroy!jplpub1!jeff@csvax.caltech.edu jeff@jpl-milvax.ARPA Mail: 464 W. Woodbury Rd. Altadena, CA 91001 Phone: (818)354-7677
jdn@homxc.UUCP (J.NAGY) (05/01/87)
[]
I'm sorry to read on the net that Moshe had such problems with
BASF floppies and I appreciate the posting. I've had good luck
with SONY floppies but have also had some problems locating them
in stores. In this case, I often buy the Verbatim DataLife. The
larger disk packs ( for DEC RM05 and RP06 drives ) manufactured by
this company came out on top in rather thorough tests performed here
some years ago. I'm hoping that they have maintained their high
manufacturing standards, and that this holds true for their mico-
floppies as well.
What have other peoples' experiences been with the various brands
of micro-floppies available?
Jonathan Nagy
{ihnp4|harvard|allegra}!homxc!jdnmanis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vincent Manis) (05/02/87)
In article <289@homxc.UUCP> jdn@homxc.UUCP (J.NAGY) writes: >What have other peoples' experiences been with the various brands >of micro-floppies available? I've found that Sony and Fuji seem to be pretty good, while "no-names" seem to span a pretty broad quality control range. I've now settled on buying those two brands (either of which is generally on sale at less than the list price, if you're careful, without going the mail-order route). I have had one interesting experience: when I moved up from a Mac to an ST, I was left with several dozen ssdd disks which were really of no use to me. Most of these disks were acquired a couple of years ago, at a time when one rarely saw dsdd disks anywhere (at least in Vancouver). They were all Sony. I've found that almost all of these will format dsdd with no problems (i.e., Format reports 726016 bytes), and, in general, I've had no data loss problems with them. (Anything *really* important goes on new dsdd disks; I may be stingy, but I'm not foolish.) However, ssdd disks which were acquired within (say) the last year or so seem to be much riskier, and, in general, they aren't worth the trouble. Conjecture: at one time, Sony (at least) was not bothering to differentiate between single and double sided. Anything that passed the single-sided test was marketed that way (presumably because the dsdd market was limited to low-volume machines such as the DG1). Now that dsdd disks are more in demand, they test disks as double-sided, and only market disks as single-sided if they fail the double test. ----- Vincent Manis {seismo,uw-beaver}!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!manis Dept. of Computer Science manis@cs.ubc.cdn Univ. of British Columbia manis%ubc.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 manis@ubc.csnet (604) 228-6770 or 228-3061 "The difference between capitalism and communism is obvious: under capitalism, man exploits man, while under communism, it is exactly the opposite."
billw@wolf.UUCP (Bill Wisner) (05/03/87)
I don't know about test results, but I almost always use Sonys. Here they are
just about all I can find, and I have never had any problems with the quality.
I have a few Maxells laying around, as well. They have never given my any
trouble, either.
--
Bill Wisner
..{sdcsvax,ihnp4}!jack!wolf!billwtrb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey ) (05/05/87)
Sony SSDD and Fuji SSDD both seem very reliable on both SS and DS drives for the ST. My Mac and Amiga seem a little pickier and really seem to need DS diskettes for DS drives for some reason. (I have about 600 disks worth of stuff on my computers (most FUJI) and have only had two failures (coca cola incidents). BTW if you ever completely soak a disk with pop or something sticky, pouring alcohol (pure stuff, not rubbing) over the disk seems to save 'em. -Todd Burkey ...ihnp4!meccts!stag!trb (Polled sort of daily) ...ihnp4!meccts!zeke!stag!trb (Polled more often)
cew@ELVIRA.ISI.EDU.UUCP (05/09/87)
I might as well put my two cents in for this. The only floppy to fail me was a Verbatim ValueLife DSDD. This is their low end disk so I guess I should have expected it. Their top line disks (only SS) have performed like champions. Other lines I've used are Maxell, 3M, BASF and Dysan. Summary: Brand SS DS In Use Failed ----- -- -- ------ ------ Maxell X ~10 BASF X ~15 Verbatim ValueLife X ~20 Verbatim ValueLife X ~20 1 Verbatim* X ~15 3M X ~10 Dysan** X 1 *I don't remember what they call their top line. **Haven't really gotten to these yet, but ISI buys a lot of their 5.25 floppies for the IBM PCs.
john@viper.UUCP (John Stanley) (05/09/87)
>In article <289@homxc.UUCP> jdn@homxc.UUCP (J.NAGY) writes: >>What have other peoples' experiences been with the various brands >>of micro-floppies available? > I have over 200 single sided Sonys formatted double sided and have had no problems with any of them. I also have several boxes of other brands I bought when I was first getting into 3.5" floppys. The "other" brands I've learned to respect the SS | DS indications but the Sonys are a joy... (It doesn't hurt that I've located a local source that sells SS Sonys for $14.50 per box of 10... :) --- John Stanley (john@viper.UUCP) Software Consultant - DynaSoft Systems UUCP: ...{amdahl,ihnp4,rutgers}!{meccts,dayton}!viper!john
rjd@nancy.UUCP (05/11/87)
In article <8705090050.AA25476@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> cew@ELVIRA.ISI.EDU writes: >I might as well put my two cents in for this. The only floppy to fail >me was a Verbatim ValueLife DSDD. This is their low end disk so I guess >I should have expected it. Their top line disks (only SS) have performed >like champions... My experience (recently) with Verbatim has been poor. Before leaving my old job, I purchased a box of Verbatim disks *issued "For Government and Educational Use"* Whether these disks are Verbatim's normal brand, or whether they are retreads sold to unsuspecting government and educational institutions is anyone's guess. The statistics? Out of a box of 10 DSDD diskettes, a whopping 8 disks have failed in a six month period. (The failed disks even refuse to format.) At first I thought it was my drive, but I have access to many Atari and MacIntosh drives and the results are the same. If Verbatim is selling retreads to the US govt and universities, they should be ashamed of themselves. If these disks are their normal product line, they should be doubly ashamed of themselves. In the several years I have been using floppies (3.5", 5.25", or the old large format floppies) I have *never* come across a failure rate like that. - Rob DeMillo Brown University - Planetary Science Group UUCP: ...{seismo!harpo}!ihnp4!brunix!rjd -- or -- ...{seismo!harpo}!ihnp4!brunix!europa!rd BITNET: GE702025@BROWNVM SPAN: BRNPSG::RD CompuServe: 73537,2737 ------ "...I am not so sure what you want me for! Either your machine is a fool, or me..." -- "WarGames", CSN
cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (05/11/87)
In article <952@viper.UUCP>, john@viper.UUCP (John Stanley) writes: > ... (It doesn't hurt that I've located > a local source that sells SS Sonys for $14.50 per box of 10... :) > John Stanley (john@viper.UUCP) One Hour Photo in the San Francisco Bay area sells *Double* sided Sonys for 14.50 for a box of 10. So the point kinda becomes moot. The whole SS/DS debate rages on and off every year and everyone decides to make up their own minds in the matter. My only comment is that the incremental cost of DS disks is not enough to discourage use. As the IBM PS/2 stuff gears up the difference in price will eventually erode to near zero. -- --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses. But you knew that, didn't you.