jjhnsn@ut-ngp.UUCP (03/13/84)
I highly recommend Maxell diskettes. I have never had one fail, and
they make so little noise while turning in their sleeves. I am
astonished that they were rated below Verbatims in the survey. From
what I've seen in surveys and heard from individuals, Dysan and Maxell
make the best diskettes. All other brands are also-rans or disasters.
Both brands are high priced and difficult to find in retail stores. I
believe their high list price and low dealer profit margin is the fault.
I certainly agree with buying the best diskettes you can get. It's
simply not worth the headwear and grief to save a few dollars. With
reasonable care, floppies can be very reliable. DON'T flip diskettes
over to use the back side. This reverses the spin of the diskette and
dislodges oxide particles and other contaminants which may be in the
sleeve, thereby increasing headwear and reducing reliability. I last
ordered diskettes from:
Lyben Computer Systems (313)589-3440
1250-E Rankin Dr. Troy, MI 48083
They carry most brands of floppies at good prices. I got very prompt
service.
James Lee Johnson, U.T. Computation Center, Austin, Texas 78712
ARPA: jjhnsn@ut-ngp
UUCP: {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!ut-ngp!jjhnsnjrh@bunker.UUCP (Jeff Hagen) (03/30/84)
> I certainly agree with buying the best diskettes > you can get. It's simply not worth the headwear > and grief to save a few dollars. I don't understand this. I have never seen a floppy (brand) that didn't fail. The cheap diskettes are about half of the price of the Maxell/Verbatim/Dysan group. If you use both sides this means that you can make four copies for the price of one. So even if you make two backups you're saving money. I agree that after a lot of use the cheap diskettes are less reliable than the expensive ones, but the vast majority of my diskettes sit on the shelf as backups so reliability is not a factor. Buying expensive disketttes is like buying something from IBM, you pay a whole bunch of money for a false sense of security. jrh
mats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann) (04/03/84)
I suppose budgetary considerations are the main ones in selecting a diskette.
From my point of view as a systems manufacturer which ships a relatively
small amount of software on diskette (~500 diskettes per month), a high-
quality diskette pays for itself very quickly. Our software is shipped
already installed on the Winchester; the diskettes are there as a backup
in case this fails. We have tried many brands of diskettes, and Dysan
has been the ONLY one with acceptable results, all guarantees of error-
free media notwithstanding. It costs us a LOT more (having to Fed. Ex.
out a replacement, lost customer confidence, bad PR, etc) to replace
bad diskettes than to get them right the first time. These expensive
diskettes are NOT providing us with a false sense of security. In a
manufacturing situation, we can't afford to make multiple copies of things,
spend a lot of time veryfying contents, etc. This costs us a lot as
well (how much is your time worth?). I once chatted with a guy from a
CP/M based systems house; he said that they get really expensive diskettes
in quantity, expect about 35% of them to be totally unsuable, and still come
out ahead. When we tried other brands, we had fail rates on the order of
10-20% bad copies (frequently this was bad formatting, and could be
repaired by reformatting). On the other hand, for personal use, I would
not spend 80-100 dollars for a box of diskettes that can be obtained
for much less. When talking about personal use, I can afford to spend
the time to verify the copies, make multiple backups, etc. So it really
depends on who you are......
Mats Wichmann
Dual Systems Corp.
...{ucbvax,amd70,ihnp4,cbosgd,decwrl,fortune}!dual!mats