I would like to know if there are still sources of New disks.
Or is what I can scrounge used all I am going to find.
If you have a source for New disks please share.
I am trying to think this through carefully weather to stay emulator or go hardware.
Source for NEW 5.25 or 3.5 in disks ?
February 5, 2015 - 2:53pm
#1
Source for NEW 5.25 or 3.5 in disks ?
Take a look at ATHANA.
I am local to them, but was able to purchase 2x10pc boxes of DSDD disks from them. Still sealed in shrink-wrap, newly manufactured as far as I can tell.
Absolutely, there are still brand spankin' new floppies of all sizes and shapes available from floppydisks.com site. (140k, 800k, 1440k, SS, DS, HD, they got em all.)
(There is another site called floppydisk.com, and though the sites look different, they actually go to the same company.)
They sell both new and recycled floppies. The recycled 3.5s are a much better deal if you don't have any cosmetic concerns. They use a chemical bath and some other treatment in order to restore the magnetic properties. The only thing that gives them away as not being new is that the original labels still show through the fresh white ones they apply over the top. They also guarantee their products, and the recycled ones are no different than the new ones in that respect.
I have personally ordered from them several times, getting batches of 50 or more at a time, and I've never had a single issue with regards to read/write.
A few of the 5.25s I've received were a little brittle, and using a notcher cracked the sheath. But that's only been the case maybe a handful of times. I'd say less than 2% if I had to put a figure on it. They are very friendly and helpful, my interactions with them have always been positive, and they tend to go out of their way to make sure you get exactly what you're after.
FWIW, in many (if not all) respects, I trust their recycled floppies more than I trust "new" floppies that have been sealed in a box for 20+ years. But as I mentioned, they offer actual new ones too.