Even 25 years ago, I was scared crapless of my floppies
failing. Many a BBS backup got corrupted.
I haven't forgotten corrupted floppies either, though I think it's an example of "the more things change, the more they stay the same" in some ways - the modern replacement of floppy disks being USB flash storage. Flash storage is simultaneously one of the most useful products in tech and also one of the most cursed.
There's important tricks done by the flash controller (invisible to us), some may have better implementations than other controllers - these "tricks" exist to cover up the inherent unreliability of flash memory storage (specifically NAND memory which is the type used for mass storage). Data is shifted between blocks and a certain level of errors are expected (and correctible by the memory controller), but one too many errors and a block is lost. Write to the same block of flash memory too many times and it wears out - so flash storage implements wear leveling to reduce the creation of bad blocks. But that doesn't mean bad blocks don't happen, it just means they usually take longer to develop. Flash storage is a game of "errors will always occur, but we're pretty sure we can stay ahead of them with algorithms." (ECC error correcting codes are pretty incredible.)
I guess this is just my long-winded way of saying "USB flash disks are the modern equivalent of floppy disks, both in portability and in unreliability."
Though I gotta admit that USB flash disks tend to survive longer in a pocket than a floppy disk would. Once the little metal cover got bent and ripped off, it was all over.
Chris/akacastor
--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)