Re: What kind of 5 1/4 disc can I use in my apple II drive??

[Ronny Svedman <rosv4119@student.uu.se>]

> 
> Regarding the ds-dd diskettes:  cut a notch on the other side of the
> diskette, and you can use both sides by manually flipping the diskette
> over.  I call them "flippies".  :-)  Just be careful with this though.
> The diskettes I've done this to seem to have a higher failure rate than
> if I had left them alone.
> 
> Steve


Flippies in a DiskII is normally not a problem. - Or atleast i thought
so, until i discovered taht one of the disk]['a at Updatre computer
society that i use for my small nostalgia project was trashing flippies,
but not floppys (i.e un-notched disks).

I ripped the Drive apart, and found that the felt puff that provider
pressure against teh drivehead from the backside of the disk had turned
into goo over the years, and was carving small spiral chips out of teh
plastics. (so it would eventually have carved a hole in the disk,
actually)

i used a tiny flat screwdriver to dig out the goo from the little cup ,
and folded in a small piece of soft cloth, and glued it to the bottom of
the cup, and since the drive doesnt cut the disks anymore.

It would probably be better to try to get a thick felt fabric and punch
out a round puff of the right size, but i took what i had at hand. The
point is:

* If you have an old Disk][ drive taht you dont know where it comes from
or what it's been through - open it up and clean it. use isopropyl or
plain alcohol on a cotton pin, and rub the head clean, check the felt
pressure puff for goo and if needed, replace it. Or your flippy disks
may be thrashed on teh side you are *not* using when it happens.

Just some advice from a guy who zapped the second side of "The Hobbit"
.-( 

i managed to get a cracked .dsk image from asimov, but that wont make up
for a zapped original disk :-/

"flip disk and press return"