New floppy disks from old stock, are they still good?

[suttiwit]

I was in a stationary shop when I found brand new floppy disks (1.44MB 3.5in, Imation) sold in sets of 10.
The 10 floppies are in a box with plastic wrapping, no wear and tear to the packaging at all.
So, I can conclude that they are fresh from the factory and new, but has been on the shelf for a long time (years?). I can conclude that they are from the old stock because floppies were not produced recently (tell me if i'm wrong).

Anyway, are these floppy disks still good?

 

[alexoiu]

Hard to say. It depends on the manufacture date : http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/data-storage-lifespan/
However, floppies are still available: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=172461

 

[USAFRet]

They may or not be 'old stock'
They may or may not still work properly

But why? Do you have a system with a 3.5" floppy drive?
What will you use these for?

 

[suttiwit]

Hard to say. It depends on the manufacture date : http://www.storagecraft.com/blog/data-storage-lifespan/
However, floppies are still available: http://www.amazon.com/b?node=172461

well.. the first website you gave me is the lifespan of the data on the floppy disks. However, i don't really care about any existing information (if there is such information, even a single bit), because I will buy it, and format it anyway. Once I format it, i will be more worried about that. However, my question is something like: Will the new floppy disks' materials degrade over time even in the box?

 

[alexoiu]

If like ten years, then yes. You can ask the retailer about the date he got those floppies in his shop. He should have a record.
I'd say that out of ten you might succeed in using at least 5.

However, on Amazon, for the Verbatim floppies:
"Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
Date first available at Amazon.com: May 10, 2004"

Imation:
Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
Date first available at Amazon.com: May 15, 2002

Sonny:
Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
Date first available at Amazon.com: December 31, 2009

 

[jsmithepa]

Will the new floppy disks' materials degrade over time even in the box?

The plastic/mylar material won't degrade they last forever but the magnetic bits which hold your information CERTAINLY WILL DEGRADE. All magnetic medium will. Even the optical medium but that's another discussion.

Do you want 100-year ARCHIVAL QUALITY storage, google the M-DISC.