It’s been decades since the iconic 3.5-inch floppy disk was a commonplace. In the 1990s people used to store their primary data on it. Back then, floppy disks were also used for backup and data transfer between computers. But if you thought they were dead, you couldn’t be more wrong.
Tom Persky runs a California-based online floppydisk.com recycling service. His business involves taking new and used disks before he sends them to a reliable consumer base. In an interview with Reuters, he mentioned that he can sell 500 disks every day.
When asked who buys floppy disks in a modern age when sophisticated storage devices like CD-ROMS, DVDs and USB flash drives have come, he replied, people who are into the embroidery business, tools, dyeing and airline business usually come and buy these.
He further added that these people need these floppy disks for gathering information.
“People who built a plane some 40 years ago, would use a floppy disk to get information about the application of that aeroplane,” mentioned Persky.
Reuters report further mentioned that while interviewing him, shelves could be seen filled with different colours of floppy disks from around the world. In the corner, there was a huge machine which was used in erasing the information.
The warehouse also houses eight-inch floppy disks, which is an even older version. There were floppy disks labelled as John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon’s US presidential debate.
Persky concluded by mentioning that “floppy disks have several advantages as they are very reliable, stable, and an easy way to get information and most importantly it is not hackable.”
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