Re: Really Old (tm) floppies...

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Ronny Svedman writes ...
> 
> I am digging through the storeroom at our local Uni Computerclub here in
> Uppsala, Sweden. We have a few AppleII's, and a *lot* of old floppies with
> various stuff on them..
> 
> almost all of these floppies are strangely enough perfectly readable and
> unseable, so i am in the process of making images (dsk) of them for
> backing eveything up. My concern is this:
> 
> These Very Old Floppies (VOF for short) seem to be oxidized or something
> similar, since the media surface is not at all shiny like new floppies,
> but rather dull brown and non-reflecting. some of them are unevenly
> stained on the media (i.e on the disk itself), like they have been exposed
> to moisture (not at all unlikely; they have been in a basement storage for
> years).
> 
> As i said, Most of these floppies, though optically seeming pretty
> damaged, work perfectly fine. Do you think there is any problems re-using
> them, with regard to this oxidized layer on them, or should i just read
> them once to make backup images and then junk them? I don't like theidea
> of throwing away approx. 200 floppies, but i dont like the idea of
> wearing down the Disk][ drive heads either..
>

     Splotches like the ones you describe have been reported by some
other users. In a collection of many old diskettes, some will be messed
up whereas others are unmarked. One idea is that the lubricant used in
some jacket liners becomes a growth medium for a fungus which causes the
splotches on the recording medium.

     Wiping the splotched surface with a light alcohol solution (like
"rubbing alcohol") and making a duplicate (or archiving the contents in
an image file) sounds like a pretty good way to go.

     My inclination would be to not re-use a splotched diskette. If it
splotched once, then, supposedly, it can splotch again. Perhaps, you
could keep these diskettes as last-ditch backups. (Also, it would be
nice to know whether or not, in a few years, the diskettes have new
splotches.)


 
> So far, i have cleaned the driveheads with a cloth & alcohol every 5-or-so
> hours of continuous disk use while ADT-ing images to a pc.

 ....

     You might save some bother by using a 5.25" Head Cleaner Diskette
such as the ones sold at Radio Shack. Using the diskette every hour or
so would take about a minute and the head would be more likely to remain
reasonably clean.

     Supertimer's idea of using Shrinkit may save you a lot of bother in
the future. You can obtain the ShrinkIt programs designed for running on
a II+ or unenhanced IIe at ...

ftp://apple.cabi.net/pub/applegs/Utilities/8bit/


The info file for these programs (SHRINKIT.TXT) is reprinted below ...


>>

SHRINKIT for the APPLE II+ and non-enhanced IIe


     Shrink and UnShrink are separate programs by Andy Nicholas which
let 64k Apple II users create and access ShrinkIt archives.

Files ...

   SHRINK.SYS -- SHRINK for II+/IIe version 2.1, Length: 11472 bytes

   UNSHRINK.SYS -- UNSHRINK for II+/IIe version 2.1, Length: 12511 bytes

The files are not in compressed form.


Equipment required to use the programs ...

   II+ or IIe with two 5.25" drives



Using the Programs

     First, SHRINK.SYS and UNSHRINK.SYS should be placed on a bootable
ProDOS diskette which also has BASIC.SYSTEM. The files have no special
headers; so, they may arrive as type Text or type Bin files. (You can
tell by doing a CAT of the disk on which the files are located.) Use a
filetype changer to change the filetype of each to SYS (which is type
number $FF).

     An alternative way to change the filetype is to boot ProDOS and,
then BLOAD each file and BSAVE it as type SYS.

For example, suppose a CAT shows SHRINK.SYS and UNSHRINK.SYS are TXT
type files. You would ...

BLOAD SHRINK.SYS,TTXT,A$2000
DELETE SHRINK.SYS
CREATE SHRINK.SYS,TSYS
BSAVE SHRINK.SYS,TSYS,A$2000,L11472

and

BLOAD UNSHRINK.SYS,T$TXT,A$2000
DELETE UNSHRINK.SYS
CREATE UNSHRINK.SYS,TSYS
BSAVE UNSHRINK.SYS,T$SYS,A$2000,L12511



To start either program you can use the "-" command.

For example, at the BASIC prompt, you could enter ...

-SHRINK.SYS

to run SHRINK.SYS.


Example A: Using SHRINK.SYS to create a Disk archive (a Shrinked Disk
file)

1. Format a diskette for ProDOS. (You can use Copy II Plus v7.1-v8.3 or
some other utility to do the format. Or, you can copy a ProDOS diskette
and delete all of the files on the copy.)  The diskette can be named
anything you like-- "Target", for example, so long as it follows normal
ProDOS naming rules. It should have no files on it. This will be the
Target diskette for the Shrinked Disk file. 

2. Boot the ProDOS diskette on which Shrink is located and start
SHRINK.SYS.

3. Put the DOS 3.3 or ProDOS disk you want to shrink into Drive 1. Put
your empty ProDOS target disk in Drive 2.

4. Select "SHRINK"

5. Select "DISK"

6. Select the disk to shrink (the one in Slot 6, Drive 1)

7. Select the target disk: Press RETURN until you get to a 'window'
showing the name of your target disk in the upper left corner of the
window. (Should be disk in Slot 6, Drive 2.)

8. Type in the name of Disk archive file. For example, if the source
disk is a bunch of DOS 3.3 utilities, you might type in DOS33UTILS.SDK.
The ".SDK" is optional. It is a handy way to indicate that the file is a
whole-disk ShrinkIt archive. (Remember, total name length can not be
more than 15 characters.)  

9. The program should begin to create the Shrinked disk file on the
target disk. Total time on a 1MHz II+ or IIe should be about 2.5
minutes. If all goes well, the program will BEEP when done and display
"FINISHED".

Note-1: When finished with a session of creating .SDK files, it's a good
idea to use a ProDOS version of Copy II Plus (e.g. v8.3) to VERIFY--FILE
for each archive file you have created. If an error is detected in a
file, try creating it again using a different target diskette.
 
Note-2: A typical .SDK file will take up most of a 5.25" disk side. If
the stuff you want to archive is on a ProDOS disk, you can save space by
selecting "FILES" in Step 5 and selecting individual files as part of
Step 6. A File archive's name usually ends in ".SHK".


Example B: Using UNSHRINK.SYS to create a Disk from a Shrinked Disk file

1. Have a 'blank' diskette ready to serve as the disk which will be
created. Actually, it does not matter whether or not it is formatted or
if anything is on it.

2. Boot the ProDOS diskette on which UnShrink is located and start
UNSHRINK.SYS.

3. Put the ProDOS disk on which the Shrinked disk file is located into
Drive 1. Put your blank disk in Drive 2.

4. Select "UNSHRINK"

5. Use Arrow keys to highlight the disk with the Shrinked disk file (the
one in Slot 6, Drive 1) and press RETURN to select it.

6. Use Arrow keys to highlight the Shrinked disk file to unshrink and
press RETURN to select it.

7. Press RETURN to accept the next display

8. At the "UNSHRINK TO" display, select the blank disk (the one in Slot
6, Drive 2).

9. The program will first format the blank disk and, then, unShrink the
Shrinked disk file to the diskette in Slot 6, Drive 2. Total time on a
1MHz II+ or IIe should be about 1.5 minutes. If all goes well, the
program will BEEP when done and display "FINISHED".

Note: If you are unShrinking a File archive (i.e. an .SHK file instead
of a whole-disk .SDK file) the diskette in Drive 2 must be formatted for
ProDOS and have enough space for the files you unShrink from the
archive.

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Rubywand