

A List of Lost Formats - ilovecomputers
http://www.experimentaljetset.com/archive/lostformats.html

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lemoinem
Well, quite interesting.

However, these are not format (in the sens "file format") but more storage
media, the title is not really right.

It's really sad that the picture are only "black shadow" representation (I was
hoping that it'd be replaced by a true pict of the medium on :hover.

A few of these mediums are in fact not lost yet (DVD ? Memory Stick ? Smart
Card ? CD ? Holographic Data Storage [this one can't be lost, it does not
exist yet !!]).

Interesting data would have beginning/end date of manufacturing. And sorting
the list would not have hurt.

Finally a few of the storage have way too many data available (18 track tape
=> no data at all, you kidding me right ? what's the point ?) and the
dimensions and capacity does not always use the same units.

tl;dr: The idea is really interesting, but they should come back when they'll
have something better to present. This article has really been botched.

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marcusbooster
Experimental Jetset is a pretty well known graphic design studio (at least in
the design world) so this project is probably best viewed through an aesthetic
lens.

There's always the Computer History Museum if you're interested in such gory
details: <http://www.computerhistory.org>

~~~
stcredzero
_this project is probably best viewed through an aesthetic lens_

In other words, it's a bit technically clueless.

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RBerenguel
Two or maybe three weeks ago I read here|slashdot|reddit (can't remember)
talks about uses of magnetic tapes: they are still being used for large scale
backups. Not outdated (unless you take the point they have a successor, which
I am not sure is valid for those using MT)

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jgrahamc
I attended an interesting event in Silicon Valley last week where storage
media was one of the topics. The view there was that tape is going to finally
die and be replaced by disk. Essentially we'll use disk for long term storage
and flash where we'd use disk today.

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wglb
Was there any discussion about longevity of storage of disk vs tape? I
remember a claim that DAT tape had an expected lifetime of 100 years.

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kprobst
They're missing the not-so-famous Avatar Shark Drive, which had 250MB disks
(built with metal plates, like mini hard drives). I used to own two of them.
Ran fine under Windows 2000, and they were quite fast too. Great for backups.

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houseabsolute
I don't see how the compact disk belongs on a list of lost formats . . . or
the DVD for that matter.

~~~
bombs
I guess they mean lost in the sense that it has an immediate successor
available for its intended use, e.g. BD replacing DVD.

~~~
ilovecomputers
More than likely, the inclusion of modern formats is a preliminary act.

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wglb
Mis-titled. A great number of these are still operational. They are just used
less often or are harder to find. Obsolete or "lost" is not synonymous with
"no longer leading edge".

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dedward
I was always pissed that Sony didn't let Minidisc become the new floppy disk
alternative.... it was perfect.

I know you could get data drives for them - but they were uncommon in the
extreme.

Plus, every TV show and movie that wanted to show someone stealing data,
because they looked cool.

(it was a magneto-optical disk in a hard case, pocket sized.

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dedward
What about: Punchcards, magnetic wire, wax cylinder, paper tape, piano
scrolls, all kinds of film...the polaroid....

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binarymax
Add to the list:

Laserdisc, Kodak APS, MS/MS Duo, CF/CFII, SD/MMC, XD, T-Flash, M2

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joshu
Anyone remember the cauzin strip reader?

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blahblahblah
MOD and DVD-RAM are still in use.

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alexkay
Vinyl LPs are far from being dead, there's a huge (albeit a niche) market.

