Re: Disk rot?

["Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net>]

"Ralph Hyre" <rwhyre@gmail.com> wrote in message 7f18ae2c-993e-4e6d-b8c3-239f97845dc4@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com">news:7f18ae2c-993e-4e6d-b8c3-239f97845dc4@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> I'm backing up some 5.25 disk (mostly from the 1980s), and having a
> few problems with I/O errors on about 10% of my disks.
>
> One of the disks is my Apple SCSI Card Utilities.  My Apple II system
> utilities can read the directory track on DOS 3.3 and ProDOS tracks,
> but
> has issues actually copying the files.
>
> Is it more likely the disk media has given up after 18 years (for the
> Apple card), or is it more likely my MicroSci disk drive is starting
> to fail?  The original Disk ][ from 1981 couldn't read much of
> anything.  I have 26-year old floppies that are reading just fine, and
> there's no rhyme or reason to it.
>
> - Ralph

Chances are that if you are able to read older disks, then it is not
the drive. However, if after the read failed you no longer can read
anything, then you've dirty'd the read head with the moldy disk, but,
if you can still read any disks after the bad one, then just that disk
is bad. Apple SCSI Utilities are all over the internet, including my
own web space, IIRC. If you can't find it, let me know, and I'll
dig up copies of it for you.

Bill Garber from GS-Electronics
http://www.garberstreet.com