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Commercial Filing Cabinet for 8" and 5.25" floppies?

bolex

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
429
Location
Utah
I'm sure someone made media cabinets specifically for floppy media, but google image has failed me. I'd love to see some examples and find something vintage. Does anyone have a metal filing cabinet that was build specifically for floppy disks? I'd love some pictures and details.

I did have some cabinets back in the days that stored 5.25" MO disks. They were similar to these interion cabinets. https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/media-cabinet-4-drawer-putty?
 
Made my own. But then I like to do woodworking (keeps your hands and mind busy at the same time). :) Drawer bodies themselves are 1/2" baltic birch plywood; the remainder is 3/4" oak plywood or 3/4" oak stock. It's held up well for 30 years.
 
Fellowes made some interlocking media drawers (plastic) for 3.5" or 5.25" floppy disks but not 8".
 
Record album storage cabinets got repurposed into 8" floppy storage and some of the larger ones were used for disk cartridges and 9-track tapes. I imagine perusing through back issues of Computerworld might turn up if any were being sold expressly for use with computers. I only had the book style plastic cases and those got part of one shelf in the book case in the computer room.
 
Way back then, the faculty I worked in at university were advised not to store floppies or other magnetic media in metal filing cabinets. The physics department gave us a pretty good demonstration of the magnetic fields they can aggregate over time, and how they can bulk erase media if not occasionally degaussed - though it seemed like it would take a while!
 
For disks and tapes, the media has a pretty square magnetization curve, so it takes quite a bit of magnetic oomph to erase the stuff. But the observation is valid. If you bring a an ordinary magnetic compass into a room with metal filing cabinets and desks, you can tell if the furniture has been moved recently, just by the direction of the remanent magnetic field. After all, that's why color CRT TVs and monitors have built-in degaussing coils.
 
For disks and tapes, the media has a pretty square magnetization curve, so it takes quite a bit of magnetic oomph to erase the stuff. But the observation is valid. If you bring a an ordinary magnetic compass into a room with metal filing cabinets and desks, you can tell if the furniture has been moved recently, just by the direction of the remanent magnetic field. After all, that's why color CRT TVs and monitors have built-in degaussing coils.
But that magnetic field is caused in the metal by the moving thru the magnetic field of the earth, isn't it? How can that ever erase a floppy disk if the magnetic field of the earth can not? If I'm not wrong, a magnetic field itself can not cause another one that is stronger.

Also, I'm pretty sure a closed case made of metal protects from a magnetic field, not the opposite.
 
I'm looking at this cabinet made specifically for sewing patterns tomorrow. The cubbies are 6 inches wide and 9 inches tall. I thought my 5.25" disks would fit nicely. It is metal.

Some of the dividers are missing creating a few 12"wide by 9" tall cubbies. I'd have to make something that would make the 8" disks fit in there.


Cabinet1.jpgCabinet3.jpgCabinet4.jpg
 
But that magnetic field is caused in the metal by the moving thru the magnetic field of the earth, isn't it? How can that ever erase a floppy disk if the magnetic field of the earth can not? If I'm not wrong, a magnetic field itself can not cause another one that is stronger.

Also, I'm pretty sure a closed case made of metal protects from a magnetic field, not the opposite.

I'm pretty sure the argument was that magnetic fields in the cabinets aggregate over time, albeit very slowly, so the strength of the earth's field is not a limiting factor in itself. I do recall a couple of the tests they did, which indicated the inside of a cabinet which had been standing in the same place for a few years had a significant magnetic field, and that the measured signal to noise ratio on an open reel tape left inside decreased markedly - meaning, more noise, less signal - after being left in the drawer for 6 months.

How relevant that might be to data on floppies I don't know, but I don't store mine in metal cabinets or drawers...just in case.
 
That was my thought--analog audio tapes might be affected, but I'm not at all certain that floppies would matter. It's hard enough to erase them with a permanent magnet.

In any case, I'm good--my file is made of good old wood--and it sequesters carbon!
 
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