Post your Old CDs & FDs, from back in the day thread.

[MCJAxolotl7]

LOL You kids are funny.

View attachment 389011

Now who can tell us what that pink thing is and why was it used? And when?

Ha ha, thats a write protect hole punch, used to make 1980s 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (which were actually floppy!) write protected permanently. Unless you had a sticky note, of course.

 

[iameatingjam]

Hah I'm still proudly keeping hold of a Windows 7 SP1 on disc, in original case with a license code too Just in case Windows truly goes to shit some day.

And have a few 100-thick CD spindles full of burned CDs, with some random music CDs in between for god knows why

I have hundreds of blank cd and dvds. I had a bunch, then I found a box more on the side of the road so now I have a ridiculous amount. I've used them mostly for burning psx and old mac games.

When my laptop got water damaged (along with my last optical burner on a modern machine) I modded my case to put one in. Just feel like I need to have one. Old habits die hard I guess.

I had to rip out all the hdd mounts and a bunch of metal crap to make this abomination of a mod, but it works, and it can be hidden by simply folding up the air filter thing. So good enough for me........... Yes, I know its crooked lol.

 

[Paganstomp]

Just a small sampling... mostly have DOS CD-ROMs. I have MS-DOS 6.22 / Win 3.xx on CD as well from a rare AT&T system.

 

[the54thvoid]

OP Title changed as requested.

 

[Hyderz]

got doubles of ff7, 8 n 9

 

[lexluthermiester]

Do DVDs count?

This was the last time I bought a physical copy of an operating system. The OEM disc came with an OptiPlex 380.

The most important CDs I still have are these ones, and stop me if this is too obvious...

Those manuals definitely aren't as thick as some of the ones from PC games and software from the earlier years (and the second one is merely a filthy promotion for PlayOnline and the movie!), but it had them still.

I'm not a physical game collector because I don't particularly mind digital, so the physical games I have are merely those that I've retained over the years, but I'll never get rid of those of this game. They're not particularly valuable monetarily, so that's not why I'll always holding onto them (in fact, I was considering buying a second copy for redundancy precisely because they're not expensive right now), but the game means the world to me and it's the original one I owned (the first copy I ever played was sort of long term borrowed from a friend's sibling so this isn't it).

I've tried to keep it in good condition and there's not really any scratches on the discs, compared to most of my other games I had at the time which eventually got fairly scratched. Since I'm the second owner, the first owner either never played it much and/or kept it in good condition. Remember those discs with brushes to clean the console lens, and the instructions for cleaning discs to wipe gently from the center out towards the edge? Yeah, I originally thought you were supposed to wipe in a circular pattern (similar to how you would expect them to be read) and learned later that was wrong.

I'm betting they do. I think the OP just used "CD" as a generic term. BTW, very nice! Windows 7 and Final Fantasy 9. Two of the best for each of their respective platforms. Hell yeah!

View attachment 389160
got doubles of ff7, 8 n 9

Wow! Add Tactics to that and you'd have a complete set.

I have hundreds of blank cd and dvds. I had a bunch, then I found a box more on the side of the road so now I have a ridiculous amount. I've used them mostly for burning psx and old mac games.

When my laptop got water damaged (along with my last optical burner on a modern machine) I modded my case to put one in. Just feel like I need to have one. Old habits die hard I guess.

View attachment 389132

I had to rip out all the hdd mounts and a bunch of metal crap to make this abomination of a mod, but it works, and it can be hidden by simply folding up the air filter thing. So good enough for me........... Yes, I know its crooked lol.

If case makers didn't have their heads up their bums and made versions of cases with drive bays, you wouldn't have to do that. I say well done.

 

[MCJAxolotl7]

I'm betting they do. I think the OP just used "CD" as a generic term. BTW, very nice! Windows 7 and Final Fantasy 9. Two of the best for each of their respective platforms. Hell yeah!


Wow! Add Tactics to that and you'd have a complete set.


If case makers didn't have their heads up their bums and made versions of cases with drive bays, you wouldn't have to do that. I say well done.

I'm going with the fractal pop air xl for my next build, it has 2 5.25 in bays.

 

[stahlhart]

If you can insert the disk in either of these two orientations:

View attachment 389059

then the index hole is in one of two different locations. So for the sensor to work, you either need a pair of sensors (to the left and to the right of spindle), or an additional hole in the black envelope (but not the rotating disk), where I made a red mark.

I note that you also say "even if needed". Not all systems needed the index hole. I don't know about the PC and the C64.

Wouldn't that only matter if the drive were double sided, and didn't require flipping the media? I don't think that the C-64 cared, as I never noticed any difference in drive behavior between either side of the disk facing the read/write head.

Even with all of the more modern options for storage we have today for a C-64, there is something cathartic about the mechanical noises that a slow, constantly overheating 1541 makes in use. That said, I am so thankful for the Zoom Floppy and having the ability to archive disk images. That was a real game changer for getting the house in order.

Purchased new at either Babbage's or Electronics Boutique back in the day. A lot of folks used paper hole punchers, which was so ugly.

 

[Wirko]

Ha ha, thats a write protect hole punch, used to make 1980s 5 1/4 inch floppy disks (which were actually floppy!) write protected permanently. Unless you had a sticky note, of course.

What sticky note?! Every box of 10 floppies came with a sheet of 10 little black or silver labels exactly for this purpose.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Got a couple CD-Sleeve binders (remember those?)

I still have mine.

On this note, I took a look and decided to share. As there are a lot of photo's here, just doing thumbnails.











I have even more, but you all get the idea.

Now who can tell us what that pink thing is and why was it used?

5.25" Floppy Write Protect notch puncher.

Here is my contribution...per the OP..had to make me go to the bone yard again.

View attachment 389118
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Now THAT is a very different collection! Interesting and impressive.

I'm going with the fractal pop air xl for my next build, it has 2 5.25 in bays.

Nice! I looking at the white version as a possibility for my next rebuild.

Pop XL Air

Fractal fuse flair with function in the new Pop series of cases that doesn’t skimp on aesthetics or flexibility. The entire series offers a solid foundation and excellent build quality, giving all users plenty of options and room to maneuver.

www.fractal-design.com

 

[neatfeatguy]

I have hundreds of blank cd and dvds. I had a bunch, then I found a box more on the side of the road so now I have a ridiculous amount. I've used them mostly for burning psx and old mac games.

When my laptop got water damaged (along with my last optical burner on a modern machine) I modded my case to put one in. Just feel like I need to have one. Old habits die hard I guess.

View attachment 389132

I had to rip out all the hdd mounts and a bunch of metal crap to make this abomination of a mod, but it works, and it can be hidden by simply folding up the air filter thing. So good enough for me........... Yes, I know its crooked lol.

Just get a better case that offers a 5.25" bay. Don't hide your shame inside the actual body of your current case, display it proudly on the outside where everyone can see!

Optical drives FTW!

 

[iameatingjam]

Just get a better case that offers a 5.25" bay. Don't hide your shame inside the actual body of your current case, display it proudly on the outside where everyone can see!

Optical drives FTW!

I wish I could go spending money like that, but when a few hand tools will do the job, seems like a better option. Especially when there was a place in my case that served no active function (holding 3.5" drives) and that is easily accessible. Seemed perfect for it, other than revealing my psu and some cables.

I'm not hiding the optical drive, just hiding the poor installation of it, there were some.... obstacles to getting it in there straight that resulted in.... less than optimal results from a visual perspective.... but function over form I was thinking at the time.... Besides if I didn't close that panel, dust would get in the case! Can't have that!

But yeah if I had infinite money maybe a new case but certainly not if it meant giving up a fan, that would mess up my air pressure! And I wouldn't want an external solution either, well I would prefer internal anyway.

You know it hasn't been that long since I got my first case without a 5.25" bay. In like ~2021. I couldn't believe how much free space there was! ( I was coming from an ivy bridge machine).

--------

But to get back on topic, I found warcraft II! Cept it was only the case. Then I thought to look into my beige g3s cd drive, and there it was. Also, I noticed the power button on the machine had disappeared so I replaced it with a button from a busted psx style usb controller and its a perfect fit I couldn't believe it.

And the new power button just cause its funny:

 

[R-T-B]

LOL You kids are funny.

View attachment 389011

Now who can tell us what that pink thing is and why was it used? And when?

That's a disc eraser that uses a magnet, or possibly a floppy notcher as another user suggested.

It is - but I'm asking, why would anyone want or need to cut a notch in floppies?

And to narrow it down a bit, it was only used with 5 1/4" floppies.

Write protection or later on, to do a capacity detection trick.

 

[Bill_Bright]

@R-T-B and others - as revealed earlier in post #30, it is a floppy disk notcher used to turn single sided 5 1/4 inch floppies into double sided.

But to get back on topic as requested, it seems my oldest CD is a 2-disk set for The Design Search V3.1 program from Dream Home. I cannot find a date on the disk but the earliest timestamp for the files on the disk are from July 11, 1995.

I also have a still shrink-sealed in the package, OEM Windows XP Professional Version 2002.

***

@admin - thanks for fixing my account and email notifications. All seems to be working now.

write protected permanently.

Actually, the other way around. It removed the write protection from the 2nd side.

 

[Wirko]

@admin - thanks for fixing my account and email notifications. All seems to be working now.

Not sure if you can summon anyone by this name. @admin username doesn't appear to be active. But references to it may still be forwarded to the admin(s).

 

[Bill_Bright]

Not sure if you can summon anyone by this name. @admin username doesn't appear to be active.

Yeah, I knew that going in. But since I have no clue who responded to my two "contact us" cries for help, I just figured I would use that. I had and have no intention of "summoning" anyone - just acknowledging my appreciation for fixing my issue.

 

[MCJAxolotl7]

@R-T-B and others - as revealed earlier in post #30, it is a floppy disk notcher used to turn single sided 5 1/4 inch floppies into double sided.

But to get back on topic as requested, it seems my oldest CD is a 2-disk set for The Design Search V3.1 program from Dream Home. I cannot find a date on the disk but the earliest timestamp for the files on the disk are from July 11, 1995.

I also have a still shrink-sealed in the package, OEM Windows XP Professional Version 2002.

***

@admin - thanks for fixing my account and email notifications. All seems to be working now.


Actually, the other way around. It removed the write protection from the 2nd side.

Oh yeah.

On this note, I took a look and decided to share. As there are a lot of photo's here, just doing thumbnails.
View attachment 389189View attachment 389190
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View attachment 389209
I have even more, but you all get the idea.


5.25" Floppy Write Protect notch puncher.


Now THAT is a very different collection! Interesting and impressive.


Nice! I looking at the white version as a possibility for my next rebuild.

Pop XL Air

Fractal fuse flair with function in the new Pop series of cases that doesn’t skimp on aesthetics or flexibility. The entire series offers a solid foundation and excellent build quality, giving all users plenty of options and room to maneuver.

www.fractal-design.com

Yeah, that case gets soooo little awareness,, in my local micro center there is no display model, just some boxes stacked over by ...the 3d printers for some reason?

 

[onemanhitsquad]

can't find any of the magazines that those demo discs came from...must have tossed them , stupidly.

 

[JIWIL]

No longer have the disc for this one, but I'm pretty sure Spaceship Warlock was the first commercial data CD i ever owned. I was digging around looking for it and found my old Minidisc player and disc collection, good times

 

[R-T-B]

Yeah, I knew that going in. But since I have no clue who responded to my two "contact us" cries for help, I just figured I would use that. I had and have no intention of "summoning" anyone - just acknowledging my appreciation for fixing my issue.

Most likely the bossman w1zzard.

 

[kilo]

Bunch of dell oem OS disks is about all I have left. A windows 7 disk hiding in the corner. I got that back in the day when I still wrote my name on things I owned. Ah, to be young(er) again

 

[JIWIL]

My dad had a bunch of baseball cards from the 50's and 60's.... yeah, he wrote his name on the back of all of em.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Yeah, that case gets soooo little awareness,, in my local micro center there is no display model, just some boxes stacked over by ...the 3d printers for some reason?

That's just stupid. Someone at MicroCenter needs a pimp-slap to the face...

 

[onemanhitsquad]

Time to play 'What is in the old school floppy caddy?'...haven't seen this in years...let's just see. Various drivers , game patches , and mysteries...and a batch of Imation SuperDisk LS-120 floppy, I still have a couple of Internal LS-120 drives , had a portable at one time...I am going to have to see what is on them.

 

[JIWIL]

Is that Hotrod floppy for a Hanaho deck?