Reliable 3.5" DSHD diskettes

[Chuck Guzis]

On 11/6/2005 at 10:45 PM ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:

>Thing is, those disks are still readable. I wish I could pay that sort of 
>price _now_ for a 3.5" disk and get something that I could read back 
>again in <n> years time. My data is worth a lot more than that.

...and most of my 8" floppies are readable error-free after between 25-30
years.

>(Oh and don't tell me to use CD-Rs or DVDs, or whatever. I've yet to find 
>such devives with an HPIL interface (for example)).

CD-R's are going the way of floppies--there seems to be a drive toward the
cheapest price, regardless of quality or lack thereof.  I submitted to
temptation after finding a coupon redeemable at the local Office Depot that
would reward me with a spindle of 100 CD-Rs for what amounted to $0.  What
miserable trash they were--after awhile I determined that my time was worth
more than the trouble and went back to Mitsui CD-Rs.

What I'd like a straw poll on is who makes the best new 3.5" D2HD floppies.
 Imation, Maxell, Sony, Nashua, Verbatim....?

HP-branded floppies used to be pretty good.  I just recovered an operating
diskette for an X-ray machine that had parts of the medium so worn that you
could see through it.  I think we got what was needed, though.  FWIW, I
think the machine was powered by something very akin to a Ampro Little
Board...  

Cheers,
Chuck