🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <sc6ph09790rnmm4jh7tnrrnrc4bb6g63f0@4ax.com>, default <none@defaulter.net> wrote:
>On Sat, 07 Aug 2004 21:55:58 GMT, howardbschwartz@california.com
>(howard schwartz) wrote:
>
>>In connection with the recent thread regarding backing up files over a series 
>>of CDs:
>>
>>Lots of even new PCs still contain the humble, simple floppy  disk drive - 
>>perhaps selling for $10. american, if you want a new one.
>>
>>To my horror, I found a remarkable hardware failure  rate of floppies, even
>>from large companies like TDK, made (I think ) after  the mid 80's. My ancient
>>floppies seems to last forever. But a newer ``preformatted'' floppy can be  
>>readable/writable and then an hour later when I go to a friends house, I
>>find his/her PC can not  read the thing. Later,  on examination I find scandisk 
>>or some lookalike reporting bad clusters, even at the beginning of the floppy 
>>where the boot information is supposed to go: Result most programs can
>>not even read enough to scan it for errors.
>>
>>I would think virus, with the prevalance, if this did not happen on so many
>>machines, with so many brands of floppies and floppy disk drives (no I am not
>>migrating a virus!).
>>
>>I have been told the QA failure rate for floppies can be as high at factories 
>>as 33%. I wonder if drives are also made quickly and badly so the heads can
>>easily damage  the disk?
>>
>>It seems a shame that a time honored quick portable medium should be produced
>>so badly, now that its speed and size outdated it. Many were predicting that 
>>zip drives would replace it, but not so far.
>
>Very interesting.  And I thought it was just me and my local storage
>conditions . . .
>
>Did some serious analysis and experimentation and concluded that the
>cause of my failures was mildew (mold growing on the surface of the
>floppy media).  The media of most floppy drives supports it and it
>only has to see a high humidity once to become suspect, or reasonable
>humidity over a long period.  In rare instances it is visible on the
>surface and sometimes the floppy can be taken apart and cleaned (But
>that is difficult to pull off without killing it)

Yeah.  Three months in unairconditioned household storage in the wet 
tropics along the coast around here is more that enough to kill 
floppies due to fungal growth.  On the other hand, in the dry 
tropics 20 km inland, floppies will last at least twelve years in 
airconditioned storage (12 hour/day Mon-Fri), in my experience.

>VCR and audio tape media also are also affected, but only at the edges
>where they are exposed to atmosphere.  

Still bad enough to kill the recording down on the coast around here; 
and consequently the drive when an attempt is made to play the moldy 
tape.

>With floppies the mildew is transferred to the heads on the drive and
>can, in severe cases, cause the drive to fail.  Cleaning the head with
>a floppy cleaner will often restore it.

Perhaps too optimistic.  Let's say "may restore it"?

>The floppies I store in hermetic containers, away from heat and light,
>and packed with desiccant seem to survive indefinitely
>I think it was TDK, some time ago, that offered and archival quality
>floppy that was supposed to be resistant to mildew.

Here, it was 3M that offered floppies with a fungicidal treatment.  
Maybe TDK did too; but, if so, it didn't make it up this way AFAIK.


Cheers, Phred.

-- 
ppnerkDELETE@THISyahoo.com.INVALID