Library is Rescuing Historical Treasures Trapped on Old Floppy Disks from the ‘Digital Dark Ages’

[Ghoti Ichthus]

Library is Rescuing Historical Treasures Trapped on Old Floppy Disks from the ‘Digital Dark Ages’​

By Andy Corbley
Oct 16, 2025

"Cambridge University archivists are leading an important project to extract and conserve valuable information from floppy disks before they become unusable.

The initiative began when the archive received a box of 5.25-inch floppy disks from a DOS-formatted computer that belonged to none other than physicist Steven Hawking, who was able to use early computers despite his disability from ALS.

The challenges a group of archivists encountered when they attempted to read the disks helped them realize how vulnerable this funny, briefly adopted technology which predate compact disks is to the ravages of time, and how a clock was ticking to get important information off them before they became unusable.

It spawned a project, aptly named in our current pop-culture environment: “Future Nostalgia.”

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Library is Rescuing Historical Treasures Trapped on Old Floppy Disks from the ‘Digital Dark Ages’

Iron oxide on the surface of the plastic may corrode material away, or it may lose its magnetism, preventing it from begin read at all.

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

 

[Baby Yoda]

Some of my older manuscripts and articles/devotionals are on floppy disks... somewhere..... definitely feels like "digital dark ages."

 

[Tall Timbers]

If I still had some floppies and a reader, I doubt any of them would be readable by now.

 

[mattfivefour]

What, brother? Your punch cards have turned to powder? The iron oxide has rusted off your 8-inch floppies? Oh, if you and I could just go back to the permanence of the chisel and stone of our childhoods.

(And for you young whippersnappers reading this, I meant 8 inch. They proceeded the 5-1/4 and 3-1/2 inch disks you may have read about in your ancient history books.)

 

[Ghoti Ichthus]

What, brother? Your punch cards have turned to powder? The iron oxide has rusted off your 8-inch floppies? Oh, if you and I could just go back to the permanence of the chisel and stone of our childhoods.

(And for you young whippersnappers reading this, I meant 8 inch. They proceeded the 5-1/4 and 3-1/2 inch disks you may have read about in your ancient history books.)

The magnetic tapes, 60 inch platters/disks, punch cards, and paper tape are all still good*

* "assuming" proper storage

 

[Tall Timbers]

The magnetic tapes, 60 inch platters/disks, punch cards, and paper tape are all still good*

* "assuming" proper storage

I was using reel to reel terabyte tape before they started putting hard drives in computers.

 

[Baby Yoda]

I miss my (long since disintegrated) 8-track tapes with all my old 70s music on them.