Floppies got worse over time. Stuff that was commercially duplicated was usually high quality, and those are still OK for the most part. The consumer-level blank disks, though? By the late 90s, those were hot garbage. You’d buy a 10 pack and at least 3 of them had to be thrown out. We’re burning through the old stock from that time, and with degradation over time, it’s now more like 6 out of 10 being thrown out. It’s not like the “good” ones in the box are going to last, either.
You can grab a 10 pack of DS, HD 5.25" on Amazon for $30 apparently
Floppies got worse over time. Stuff that was commercially duplicated was usually high quality, and those are still OK for the most part. The consumer-level blank disks, though? By the late 90s, those were hot garbage. You’d buy a 10 pack and at least 3 of them had to be thrown out. We’re burning through the old stock from that time, and with degradation over time, it’s now more like 6 out of 10 being thrown out. It’s not like the “good” ones in the box are going to last, either.
I don’t expect them to, just noting there are still new ones out there.
And while something new is being developed/tested, having a metric fuck ton of backup floppies isn’t the worst idea.