[ Retro Scan of the Week ] The Lowly Disk Box
February 27th, 2012 by Benj Edwards
The Amaray Corporation DiskBank Media Mate
It’s not every day that I stop and think about floppy diskette storage boxes. I never had a favorite brand of them, but I did find fault with many of the designs I encountered over the years. My least favorite thing about the DiskBank-stye box is if you pick it up by its “handle” (as illustrated here) without locking or properly latching the lid, the lid flops open and you end up with a pile of floppies on the floor.
It would be interesting to catalog and put together a historical timeline of floppy disk box brands…but then again, I don’t see myself doing that any time soon.
Discussion Topic of the Week: What kind of containers do (or did) you use to store your floppy disks?
February 27th, 2012 at 3:12 pm
I think I had this exact box for all of my Apple //e floppy discs. Actually, let me rephrase, i think I still have this exact box. All of my floppy discs from back then have the extra notch so that I could write on both sides of the disc. I still have my floppy notcher.
February 27th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
Mark from Classic Game Room actually posted a 7-minute video review of a Babbage’s-branded floppy disk box some time ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl8xJa6X3r8
…It’s better than it sounds.
February 27th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
I had one similar to this for all of my 3.5″ DOS disks. It had the smoked plastic top, with the tan bottom similar to these. It’s in the closet now, and I can’t recall the brand. I for some reason still have the key for the lock on my keychain still.
February 27th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Somewhere, in some obscure storage box, I *think* I still have one of these. Yup, your standard issue taupe on bottom/smoked on top floppy boxes. I made a rather nice (if I do say so) monitor stand of wood that accommodated my boxes within, so all my DOS software was within easy reach.
Danged if I can’t find what is probably my last one though. If I do find it, it contains my original Master of Orion disks, possibly Savage Empire, the old Star Trek screen entertainment and Star Trek fonts… good times.
February 27th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
I actually had a couple of cool boxy ones that kept the disks clean and dust-free with lockable lids. They were opaque so you couldn’t see through them, but they had stickers you could put on the spine to index all the contents within. I stacked them like books on my computer desk. Super convenient.
February 29th, 2012 at 9:04 am
I just kept them in the same box that they came in. After collecting 500+ floppies, storage boxes became an expensive proposition…
February 29th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
I’ve accidentally dumped the floppies from those things more times than I care to count.
My favorite 3.5″ floppy holder was a 1995 Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia box. Disks fit inside PERFECTLY. http://www.tequilasource.com/cuervoreserva/reserva-familia-1995.htm
February 29th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I never had a computer back when floppies were big, simply because my dad didn’t want computers in the house. But I’d bring them into my school’s computer lab and play them there. I don’t think I ever had enough to warrant buying one of these things.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:07 pm
I had a blue box that could hold 10 discs(5.25 size). it was designed like a cassette case, so you could open it up, and it would be tilted back, like a business card holder.
March 1st, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Those disk-sized snap boxes that held 10 or so were best IMO. You could throw them in your backpack for school, where they actually OWNED a PRINTER! 🙂
March 1st, 2012 at 7:26 pm
I, too, ended up dumping a box of floppies on the floor with this type of box on several occasions. I believe these boxes were designed to hold up to 50 floppies. My favorites were, and still are, the longer ones that hold up to 100 floppies. All of my most important Commodore software is kept in these. 🙂
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:47 pm
@s1500: Those were it! Exactly! The hinged lid opened up and tucked behind it so the box would prop itself up at an angle, just like a cassette case! I remember buying them by the pack. There was a grey, red and blue one for sure.
May 31st, 2012 at 8:01 pm
RING KING brand floppy holders & printer stands were WONDERFUL! I still have some: really thick smoke plastic, rounded edges for an egg-like “mod” look. Metal lock so it didn’t pop open and for a slight chance that your floppies wouldn’t be “borrowed”.
I hope to someday have some project worthy of using them as a case since most of today’s media is NOT 8″ or 3.5″ floppy shaped. Much to my amusement, I kept all my better 5.25″ floppy drawers, boxes & storage devices since they’re just keen for CD and DVD!
November 29th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
I have one of these for 3.5 floppies…I still have it and still hate it as the little hinge pins are just basic plastic buttons that are always popping out when you open the lid. I probably still have one for the 5.25 disks as well. My favorite though are the big doubles that hold up to 100 5.25 floppies. I have one of those with the Elephant Floppy sticker on the front.
May 12th, 2013 at 6:32 am
Just revisited this article after reading the new one (the “Trunks for the memories” ad). These two ads reminded me of a time when practically every make and model of those floppy boxes could be found at the local Salvation Army, Goodwill or even garage/yard sales, when people realized they had no use for them.
They’re harder to come by now since people are actually starting to miss them and other aspects of the good ol’ days of computing. Trippy.