Re: How to damage a floppy?

[mister_boffo@hotmail.com (Mr. Boffo)]

On Wed, 13 Dec 2000 20:13:12 -0800, Wayne Stewart
<waynes@intergate.bc.ca> wrote:

>I guess I phrased things poorly again. The magnet I used wasn't a small
>fridge
>magnet but likely strong enough to hold a pair of sneakers to the fridge.
>
>After 2 years the program on the disk stuck to the disk still ran fine with
>no
>noticable difference.

Steady-state fields aren't as harmful as cycling fields.

It's like applying a slow, but firm pressure to a big object,
or grabbing the side and start shaking it back 'n forth. Your
fast shaking may make the object change position sooner than
the slow, firm pressure.

The cycling field of your graphics tablet is therefore more
likely to "break loose" the data on the disk than your
steady-state refrigerator magnet..

I believe the commercial bulk-erasers all tend to use AC
electromagnets to thoroughly scramble VCR tapes and such.

-Mr. Boffo

Email: mister_boffo@hotmail.com