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1. Embed this notice
   Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 18:54:54 JST Charlie Stross

   I can't answer my own poll, but I have used ALL of these formats, even Sinclair Microdrives and 2" floppies (as used by the short-lived Zenith MiniSport). But I started with tape cassettes and probably finished with DC6150 cartridges (thereafter everything was ethernet).

   • Embed this notice
     Manchester SciFi Book Club (mcrscifi@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 19:21:35 JST Manchester SciFi Book Club

     in reply to

     @cstross I still have a box of DAT backup tapes somewhere, the odd exabyte (unreliable) and even a 1/4 mag tape which ATT shipped source code on.
     Only the DAT was usable and reliable.

   • Embed this notice
     Ian Turton (ianturton@fosstodon.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 20:50:30 JST Ian Turton

     in reply to

     @cstross plus whatever size the Amstrad word processors used and ZipDrives.

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 20:50:30 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Ian Turton

     @ianturton Amstrad bought a job lot of 3" drives and floppies from a Japanese manufacturer who were quitting because they were outcompeted by Sony's rival 3.5" format. The early PCW models ran on them.

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 20:52:49 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Piers Cawley

     @pdcawley I never had a QL … but there's the main unit of an ICL One Per Desk on top of a bookcase in the next room. (Needs a monitor to function, though, and the PSU was built into the monitor.)

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     Piers Cawley (pdcawley@mendeddrum.org)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 20:52:50 JST Piers Cawley

     in reply to

     @cstross I didn't use a microdrive 'til dad got a QL. Now there was an unholy hack of a storage medium.

   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 21:04:28 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Cegorach
     • markus

     @drazraeltod @markus I just noticed a dusty box of CD-RWs on the shelf opposite me, and I don't think I've burned more than one in the past decade?

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     Cegorach (drazraeltod@chaos.social)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 21:04:29 JST Cegorach

     in reply to

     • markus

     @markus @cstross CD-Rs

     tons of CD-Rs - the age of throwing around storage media isn't over yet

     I still have a spindle of 50 around somewhere and burn like 5-10 a year.

     (that said I've never really _used_ anything older than 5.25" and even those were really rare - mostly just 3,5" and optical/flash/hdd stuff)

   • Embed this notice
     markus (markus@toot.orchid-cottage.uk)'s status on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 21:04:33 JST markus

     in reply to
     @cstross I have carried a lot of stuff around on USB Sticks...
   • Embed this notice
     Charlie Stross (cstross@wandering.shop)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 02:29:56 JST Charlie Stross

     in reply to

     • Medea Vanamonde

     @MedeaVanamonde I avoided that! (IBM kit was monstrously expensive, so nobody I knew used it. I have un-fond memories of thin ethernet, though.)

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     Medea Vanamonde (medeavanamonde@chaosfem.tw)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 02:29:57 JST Medea Vanamonde

     in reply to

     @cstross did you enjoy the Token Ring Phase?