Are floppy disks safe to store wallets?

[dsyahputera]

I was doing some cleaning on my room and I found some floppy disks, they are around 15 years old! from the Sony brand. I don't have a floppy disk device anymore on my computer, so I used an older computer because I was curious to see if they would still work.
To my surprise, they worked and all the files were accessible.

This made me think that, you could store some Bitcoin related stuff in floppy disks too? Obviously having backups in other places too.. but floppy disks may be yet another cheap way to store files. If I put my seed key in a txt (compressed in a 7z file with a pass) and my wallet.dat file on that floppy disk, it would have lasted for 15 years. I hope that if I do this, in the next 15 years when I find the floppy disks again, I will be rich

In the next 15 years, you will find that your floppy disk has been damaged and the wallet data in it is lost, lol. Better print your private key in a laminated paper. Then put in your attic, and hope in the next 15 years that paper wallet is not eaten by rats

[27QVUTZj8rgZP1]

Forget floppies they degrade over time (even CDs do).

Actually, everything degrades over time in this world.

I believe CDs are much more reliable than magnetic tapes, even if not "perfectly" stored.

I have CD that are over a decade old and can still be read flawlessly. Given the careless way they were treated for all these years, it is a great achievement and a good solution for not so "short term" backups.

[Cyaren]

To my understanding, floppy disks provide the same security measures as USB disks. Except they are a bit more dusty, and floppy

Keep in mind that you won't be able to access your bitcoins if you ever need them for an emergency situation on most PCs and laptops. Nobody uses floppy disks anymore. As long as you keep it completely offline, it'd be safe. But a USB stick would be way more accessible.

[Labumi]

Quite an interesting concept, but keep in mind that Floppy disks will be used on the computer is an old version and if indeed it can be done to save the data of the Bitcoin. Then you also have to keep the old version of the computer in order to operate your Bitcoin. Dreams that might be realized when world-renowned Bitcoin and 80% of people use the Bitcoin for each transaction

[Monnt]

To my understanding, floppy disks provide the same security measures as USB disks. Except they are a bit more dusty, and floppy

Keep in mind that you won't be able to access your bitcoins if you ever need them for an emergency situation on most PCs and laptops. Nobody uses floppy disks anymore. As long as you keep it completely offline, it'd be safe. But a USB stick would be way more accessible.

A floppy disk is an ancient USB. Has the same "plug & play" principle, but has alot of storage (32 MB lel) and is floppy!

IIRC a floppy is a strip of magnetic tape. Doesn't seem very good longevity wise.

[matt4054]

No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation

Probably the best post yet.

Floppy disks aren't safe to store anything. Period.

There are plenty of alternatives whose degradation is much more manageable.

[vrm86]

To my understanding, floppy disks provide the same security measures as USB disks. Except they are a bit more dusty, and floppy

Keep in mind that you won't be able to access your bitcoins if you ever need them for an emergency situation on most PCs and laptops. Nobody uses floppy disks anymore. As long as you keep it completely offline, it'd be safe. But a USB stick would be way more accessible.

A floppy disk is an ancient USB. Has the same "plug & play" principle, but has alot of storage (32 MB lel) and is floppy!

IIRC a floppy is a strip of magnetic tape. Doesn't seem very good longevity wise.

3.5" floppy disk has a size of 1.44 MB. It's one of the worst ideas of storing any data for long-term 

[Bitcoinpro]

Use a texta and write the private key on the floppy disk might be the best solution

[sana54210]

No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_degradation

Probably the best post yet.

Floppy disks aren't safe to store anything. Period.

There are plenty of alternatives whose degradation is much more manageable.

Floppy disks are only good for short-term storage, it was widely used before so it kinda 'was' good for storage.
Well, considerin the current technology that we have, it's nowhere near 'good' anymore.
USBs aren't even a good alternative just to say. The longevity of USBs aren't that much long either.

[jacobmayes94]

1.44MB... I used to format them as a kid with maxidisk DMF style to get 1.66MB The original windows 95 set up disks were on DMF formatted floppies to hold more, you could format any 1.44MB floppy DMF style.

Might be able to store 1 - 2 blocks per disk depending on transaction volume, imagine trying to sync the blockchain from floppies

[yenxz]

I was doing some cleaning on my room and I found some floppy disks, they are around 15 years old! from the Sony brand. I don't have a floppy disk device anymore on my computer, so I used an older computer because I was curious to see if they would still work.
To my surprise, they worked and all the files were accessible.

This made me think that, you could store some Bitcoin related stuff in floppy disks too? Obviously having backups in other places too.. but floppy disks may be yet another cheap way to store files. If I put my seed key in a txt (compressed in a 7z file with a pass) and my wallet.dat file on that floppy disk, it would have lasted for 15 years. I hope that if I do this, in the next 15 years when I find the floppy disks again, I will be rich

its safe just because not many people use floppy disk nowdays,but its not safe if you lost that floppy disk because sometime you will forgot that you keep your wallet on that floppy disk,why are you forget?because you will rare to use that device.

[akamit]

               
Such a long time gone, when I last saw a floppy disk.

Really miss you floppy.

Things are modernizing day by day, so we will always miss our old stuffs.

[Oralmat]

I was doing some cleaning on my room and I found some floppy disks, they are around 15 years old! from the Sony brand. I don't have a floppy disk device anymore on my computer, so I used an older computer because I was curious to see if they would still work.
To my surprise, they worked and all the files were accessible.

This made me think that, you could store some Bitcoin related stuff in floppy disks too? Obviously having backups in other places too.. but floppy disks may be yet another cheap way to store files. If I put my seed key in a txt (compressed in a 7z file with a pass) and my wallet.dat file on that floppy disk, it would have lasted for 15 years. I hope that if I do this, in the next 15 years when I find the floppy disks again, I will be rich

Floppy disks are really old, i still have some lying around too. If you have an old model pc that accepts PC you could probably use it but its quite risky because these kind of things can be erased due to magnetic interference. I suggest you keep them really safe and dust free otherwise just don't use them at all.

[bittrojan]

To my understanding, floppy disks provide the same security measures as USB disks. Except they are a bit more dusty, and floppy

Keep in mind that you won't be able to access your bitcoins if you ever need them for an emergency situation on most PCs and laptops. Nobody uses floppy disks anymore. As long as you keep it completely offline, it'd be safe. But a USB stick would be way more accessible.

that's what i think,storage like USB disk,CD or floppy disk,have same security and its all safe,and one that make different on floppy disk its a rare device,you might unable open floppy disk on every computer,you need you grandpa computer to open floppy disk.

[matt4054]

In other news, US military uses 8-inch floppy disks to coordinate nuclear force operations.

Beyond pure nostalgia, you've got to tell me why the sudden love for floppy disks all around. I've been using them for plenty of time back in the days (both 5.25'' and 3.5''), and these are the words that will stay associated with them, as well as the distinctive noise of the step motor in much moments:

Code:

General failure reading drive A:
CRC Error

[GoldBit89]

The United States Nuclear program still uses the floppy disks since 1976. Thats 40 years of usage and while they are are being finally phased out by end of 2017, i would say 40 years is not a bad run.

the article just posted on may 25th 2016 is here : http://time.com/4348494/pentagon-nuclear-floppy-disks/

[sbtctalk]

The United States Nuclear program still uses the floppy disks since 1976. Thats 40 years of usage and while they are are being finally phased out by end of 2017, i would say 40 years is not a bad run.

the article just posted on may 25th 2016 is here : http://time.com/4348494/pentagon-nuclear-floppy-disks/

"If it is not broken, don't fix it?" mindset? But that legacy system that is running for so many years had its ROI many times over.

[Hazir]

instead of a floppy disk save it on to a usb pen drive floppy disks are going way too back in the 90's and it won't be a good way to save data because they can get corrupted and damaged easily. To me it just looks like flat fragile plastic which wasn't engineered tough enough like a hard disk drive.

USB external pendrives are not good for storing sensitive data over longer periods of time either.
The problem with USB sticks is - if they are left alone without power for too long memory cells can degenerate.
If you want to keep data on your USB you have to plug it in from time to time.

[n3o111]

Floppy disks are extremely fragile and are often destroyed even when you treat them with care. That is also one of the big reasons why they are not used anymore in modern computers. Also don't see the point to use outdated floppies when there are more good options available.

[Newcoins2020]

Haha.
I'd never recommend you to store your wallet.dat files on a floppy disk.
If you're planning to store it for a long term, Floppy disk readers would be an antique in the near future.

If I were you then I should not save my bitcoins on a floppy disk because those things are pretty old and they do not have much storage space.
I suggest that you save them on a usb stick or hard drive.