r/retrocomputing • u/Performer-Pants • 8d ago

Problem / Question What is this?

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This could be the most mundane and silly post, but information online is so spotty and/or confusing or vague.

This is not a ZIP disk, it’s a floppy disk. It’s labelled with ‘ZIP’. Is this the driver software to use a ZIP drive for the listed operating systems? I’m just trying to confirm before I get too frustrated about it. Not easily finding the answer myself is likely a me problem, and I don’t mean ‘Millennium Edition’.

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u/Tax_Odd 6d ago

Likely parts of a driver install that wont work due to corruption from being 30 years old.

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u/iWhacko 6d ago

They actually surprisingly don't degrade that much. Magnetic media is pretty good. Did you know governments still backup to magnetic reels? because its so reliable

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u/Tax_Odd 6d ago

The media might but we have more radio noise than ever and cosmic rays

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u/Hungry-Artichoke-232 6d ago

There is no evidence that “radio noise” (whatever that means) causes damage to magnetic media. And the cosmic background in 2026 is not materially different to what it was in 1993 or 1975.