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FLOPPY DISK STORAGE CASE ALTERNATIVES?

CloudInMyHead

CloudInMyHead

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Laguna Hills. California
Surely someone has found a good storage case alternative for 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" floppies.

Please share anything you've found that works. I'm getting back into vintage PCs and I need some good large storage cases. Perhaps 30-50 floppy capacity. I miss those old retro ones, but they are getting costly on eBay. Well, when you add in the shipping costs they are at least.

I 3D printed a 5 1/4 case that holds 10 but that took a while, and I really need a bigger case that hold 50 of them. I may buy some of eBay but I figured I'd ask.
I need to get two or 3 cases of both sizes.

Any recommendations?
 
If you don't need a lid, two intriguing things that came up searching briefly are:
iDesign Plastic Drawer Organizer - at Michael's - 4 inches wide, 3.25 inches tall, 12 inches deep
Mainstays Clear Plastic Refrigerator Soda Can Dispenser - at Walmart - 5.5 inches wide, 4 inches tall, 13.5 inches deep
 
Fold your own boxes using thick paper (not cardboard). Like the boxes the disks came in, except use boxes that can house more disks.

Or just use drawers that happen to have more or less the correct height?
 
CloudInMyHead said:
Surely someone has found a good storage case alternative for 5 1/4" and 3 1/2" floppies.

Please share anything you've found that works. I'm getting back into vintage PCs and I need some good large storage cases. Perhaps 30-50 floppy capacity. I miss those old retro ones, but they are getting costly on eBay. Well, when you add in the shipping costs they are at least.

I 3D printed a 5 1/4 case that holds 10 but that took a while, and I really need a bigger case that hold 50 of them. I may buy some of eBay but I figured I'd ask.
I need to get two or 3 cases of both sizes.

Any recommendations?
Click to expand...
I use old shoe boxes, they last awhile and can be replaced easily.
 
US $4.97 (plus shipping) for 2 disk storage boxes with flip-up lids. I bought 4 of these a few years ago. The web site doesn't say it, but these are for 5-1/4" floppy diskettes. The plastic in these doesn't seem to to have dried out or become brittle, but I haven't tried beating on them to test them to destruction.

https://colemans.com/plastic-storage-case-heavy-duty-2-pack
 
zamp said:
US $4.97 (plus shipping) for 2 disk storage boxes with flip-up lids. I bought 4 of these a few years ago. The web site doesn't say it, but these are for 5-1/4" floppy diskettes. The plastic in these doesn't seem to to have dried out or become brittle, but I haven't tried beating on them to test them to destruction.

https://colemans.com/plastic-storage-case-heavy-duty-2-pack
Click to expand...
The shipping is pricey but all together it's still worth it!
 
I kept my Fellowes interconnecting floppy disks drawers (both 3.5" and 5.25") from back in the day and purchased more when eBay was an infant. No idea what I would do now for them.

Woodworking might be a good idea, but I would think somebody has an app where you take a sheet of cardboard and cut it so that you can fold and make a long box to perfectly fit your disks (kind of like those old cardboard boxes you used to store a years' worth of baseball cards in).

card box.webp
 
DougM said:
This feels like a woodworking project. And at our (my) age either you are, have been, or know a woodworker :)

also Etsy
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Yes, I have made boxes out of wood.

But if you have a couple of Wine stores near you can ask for some old wooden wine boxes. They work great for disks and CDs. Not sure about 8" disks. They may be a little short for those.

Seaken

P.S. I also have a few desk drawers that I have used for storing floppies. My wife had a tendency to buy used furniture like bedroom dressers and bureaus. So I have a few in the basement where I store my old computers.
 
Unknown_K said:
I kept my Fellowes interconnecting floppy disks drawers (both 3.5" and 5.25") from back in the day and purchased more when eBay was an infant. No idea what I would do now for them.

Woodworking might be a good idea, but I would think somebody has an app where you take a sheet of cardboard and cut it so that you can fold and make a long box to perfectly fit your disks (kind of like those old cardboard boxes you used to store a years' worth of baseball cards in).

View attachment 1302358
Click to expand...

A group buy of 3,5 and 8" sturdy cardboard boxes (preferaby acid-free) would be a good thing.
I have thousands of disks to store and the right sizes don't seem to exist
any more. We used to buy them from archival supply companies but they
no longer sell them.
 
zamp said:
US $4.97 (plus shipping) for 2 disk storage boxes with flip-up lids. I bought 4 of these a few years ago. The web site doesn't say it, but these are for 5-1/4" floppy diskettes. The plastic in these doesn't seem to to have dried out or become brittle, but I haven't tried beating on them to test them to destruction.

https://colemans.com/plastic-storage-case-heavy-duty-2-pack
Click to expand...
I also bought these a few years ago. They are very nice, NIB complete with dividers. SRW brand IIRC. I got 8 total, even with shipping it came out to only $6 each. Much less than anything on ebay.
 
johnx993 said:
Does anyone have a solution for 8" floppies?
Click to expand...
A tip for finding vintage cases for 8" floppies is to ask around among vinyl record enthusiasts. Sometimes 8" floppy boxes got repurposed for 7" vinyl records. It was probably a really rare crossover, but I've seen it happen.
 
I get the feeling from DougM and Al Kossow that there are 2 separate needs:

1) bulk storage for large numbers of disks - like cardboard boxes
2) storage for a limited number of diskettes for display/presentation/daily use - like a nice wooden cabinet

I personally could use both.
Currently, for bulk storage I put diskettes in their original boxes then put the box in a ziploc bag.
For daily use, I have some ugly plastic boxes for 3.5 and 5.25. But for 8, I just use the original boxes - which are getting frayed.
 
I find that 3.5" and 5.25" plastic cases, often lockable, are still very available and look the part and aren't that expensive. Lots of sellers on Ebay.

From time to time you even get a huge batch of NOS ones someone finds in a warehouse.
 
Btw, if the keys are lost for those plastic cases, it's worth knowing that the locks tend to be so bad that you can kind of open them by wiggling the wrong key :)
 
johnx993 said:
I get the feeling from DougM and Al Kossow that there are 2 separate needs....
Click to expand...
Don't forget the third one: a box to carry around and protect a half dozen to dozen diskettes. I would love to have one of the classic portable boxes that folds open into a stand that I used to use long ago, but I can't get them for a reasonable price now. (Actually, the site from which I got that image is not unreasonable, except that it's in the U.K. and doesn't ship internationally. If they did, I'm sure their shipping prices to Japan would be the usual $30-$40 that other vendors of these types of boxes are charging on Ebay.)

1749547354073.png
 
cjs said:
Don't forget the third one: a box to carry around and protect a half dozen to dozen diskettes. I would love to have one of the classic portable boxes that folds open into a stand that I used to use long ago, but I can't get them for a reasonable price now. (Actually, the site from which I got that image is not unreasonable, except that it's in the U.K. and doesn't ship internationally. If they did, I'm sure their shipping prices to Japan would be the usual $30-$40 that other vendors of these types of boxes are charging on Ebay.)

View attachment 1302372
Click to expand...
Ah yes. I remember lots of these in different colors from my Osborne days. Still have a dozen or so. And the plastic holds up over time too.
 
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cjs said:
Don't forget the third one: a box to carry around and protect a half dozen to dozen diskettes. I would love to have one of the classic portable boxes that folds open into a stand that I used to use long ago, but I can't get them for a reasonable price now. (Actually, the site from which I got that image is not unreasonable, except that it's in the U.K. and doesn't ship internationally. If they did, I'm sure their shipping prices to Japan would be the usual $30-$40 that other vendors of these types of boxes are charging on Ebay.)

View attachment 1302372
Click to expand...
Yeah, Would like a few of those too. I think I have 2 or 3 but five or more would be great. One is perfect for my Osborne, another for my Otrona, etc. Perfect when I don't have more than 10 floppies for one system.
 
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