The dirty disk theory has merit, however. Some of the disks are showing their age. I am going to order some blank floppies. Is there still somewhere I can obtain a cleaning disk, or do I have to take the drive apart each time I want to clean it?
As per another post, the drives aren't eating the disks, the disks are eating the drives, so it's not the capacitor / write bug as per the FAQ.
I am going to start with a good head cleaning, and see if the speed test works. Also planning on checking the power supply. I have a new backup waiting for service.
Also will swap out to another controller just for good measure. Thanks all for the help. -BZ
I occasionally run across very dirty/moldy/flaky 5.25" disks, and I try to read them only on one sacrificial drive that is cleaned often and never used with "good" disks to avoid mold infection. They are usually read only once or twice in order to make copies onto good diskettes. If you do happen to have a bunch of "bad" diskettes, I recommend this approach so that you no longer have to contend with "bad" diskettes. There are enough problems with computers without having to worry about your media. ;-) -michael