Floppy “experts” are standing by at Cambridge to copy your floppy.

On the afternoon of Thursday 9 October, Cambridge University Library are hosting a floppy disk workshop where experts will attempt to copy the data from your floppy disk onto a modern format.

We can handle most common floppy disk types and systems, but there are a few limitations, and we require you to book a slot in advance. This ensures we have the right equipment ready for your disk and can give each one the best possible chance of being read.

The experts will aim to look at one floppy disk per person.

They make magnetic media sound so exciting and exotic. I have a lot of them, so the idea of a single slot that has to be booked in advance sounds very… retro. You would think by 2025 someone could show up to a copy party with more than a single floppy at a time. They also describe the formats as if varied or extensive, when just 5.25 and 3.5 are coming, because nobody is going to show up with an 8.